GAZA, (Palestine Foundation Information Center), Médecins Sans Frontières or Doctors Without Borders (MSF) warns that Israel is progressively asphyxiating Gaza and continuing its genocide: the space in which people can live is vanishing, while the conditions people need to survive are being systematically destroyed through continued violence, the deliberate blockade of essential supplies, and the destruction of healthcare and vital infrastructure.
Over the past year, according to MSF, the physical trapping of people in Gaza has been made increasingly definitive by the establishment of Israel’s Yellow Line. Originally presented as a temporary, first-phase military withdrawal position and a key part of maintaining the so-called ceasefire.
However, MSF said the line is now reinforced by military positions, berms and ongoing demolitions and has continued to move west, squeezing people into a smaller and smaller area. Israeli forces now occupy approximately 65 per cent of Gaza, using the line to draw a clear border around this area.
Violence, however, is not limited to areas surrounding the Yellow Line.
Doctors Without Borders teams treated more than 1,200 people for violence-related injuries across the Gaza Strip during June and July, despite the so-called ceasefire.
According to the organization, the injuries included those caused by explosions, burns and physical assaults, while Gaza’s health system continues to operate under extremely difficult conditions.
MSF said access to health care in Gaza has deteriorated sharply over the past three years, with hospitals facing growing shortages of essential supplies and patients being deprived of life-saving medicines and treatment.
The organization warned that the destruction of Gaza’s health system, combined with damage to more than 80% of all buildings and the potentially lifelong physical and psychological consequences of repeated violence and displacement, will have repercussions far beyond the present and obstruct any meaningful recovery for years to come.
Since the genocide began on October 8, 2023, with US support, Israel’s war has killed more than 74,000 Palestinians and injured more than 175,000, according to Palestinian figures, while approximately 90% of Gaza’s civilian infrastructure has been damaged or destroyed.
