JAVID ABDELMONEIM | Palestine’s main health issue is Israel’s occupation

Across Palestine, the cumulative effect of Israel’s actions on Palestinians since October 7 2023 is clear: they have eroded the ability for Palestinians to live a dignified, healthy life. This must be named clearly. Policies applied in Gaza, and the trajectory observed in the West Bank, point to the broader Israeli project of colonisation of Palestine through occupation.

It has been more than 1,000 days since Israel’s genocide in Gaza began, and the collective punishment of Palestinians continues to this day. Amid a so-called ceasefire, the world has normalised seeing Palestinians being maimed and killed daily in their tents, in hospitals, and on the street.

The word “ceasefire” has lost all meaning. As I write these lines, the number of casualties keeps growing, as does the disinterest towards the catastrophic situation in Gaza, the world’s most striking political failure in recent decades.

June was the deadliest month since October 2025. As of July 14 this year, Israel has killed a total of 1,110 Palestinians and injured 3,599 since the start of the ceasefire while expanding military control of Gaza. Israel’s “yellow line” is a shifting boundary that divides the strip into Palestinian and Israeli-controlled areas. It keeps expanding and puts anyone who approaches it — often simply trying to reach their shelters, gather firewood, or find food — at risk of being shot.

Israel has continued to systematically obstruct access to health care in the West Bank and deliberately dismantled the health-care system in Gaza

But it is not just the violence. As the line moves westward, it compresses more than 2-million people into just one-third of Gaza. This is not incidental. It produces conditions of extreme overcrowding where disease spreads easily and basic needs go unmet. We see the consequences in our clinics: respiratory infections, skin diseases and diarrhoeal illnesses, driven by the lack of clean water and sanitation and the inhumane living conditions.

The West Bank has also undergone a violent, profound transformation since October 7 2023. The Israeli government, military and state-sponsored settlers have accelerated ethnic cleansing, land dispossession, territorial fragmentation and economic strangulation, further eroding Palestinian presence and continuity.

Palestinians are being hunted in their homes, schools and on their land, while the attackers enjoy complete impunity. In Nablus and Hebron, we receive patients experiencing trauma and depression linked to the growing violence and movement restrictions, which impede every aspect of their lives, including getting to hospital.

Israel has continued to systematically obstruct access to health care in the West Bank and deliberately dismantled the health-care system in Gaza.

Health-care workers, patients, ambulances and hospitals have all been targeted.

On October 26 2024, during a raid on the Kamal Adwan hospital in Gaza, Doctors Without Borders (MSF) surgeon Dr Mohammed Obeid was arrested with 57 others. He is one of more than 95 Palestinian health-care workers who remain detained by Israeli forces. To this day, Dr Obeid remains in an Israeli prison without charge. We continue to call for his unconditional and immediate release.

The genocide has decimated the health system’s workforce in Gaza, and this will take years to replace. At least 1,700 health-care staff have been killed since October 2023, as well as 15 of our own MSF team members, many of whom worked tirelessly for decades. Nobody is safe in Gaza.

People’s access to health care is being further restricted since the Israeli authorities deregistered 37 humanitarian organisations in January. Israel is blocking us from bringing international staff and critically needed supplies into Gaza and the West Bank. While some humanitarian supplies have entered Gaza, it is not enough. These arbitrary restrictions are part of a long-standing punitive policy enforced by Israel.

Whether through direct violence, dismantling the health-care system or obstructing humanitarian assistance, inducing famine, weaponising water, causing higher levels of prematurity and mortality among infants and high levels of miscarriage, or denying care, from where I am sitting it’s clear: the number one health issue in Palestine is Israel’s occupation.

Israel’s methods have become accepted; world leaders have normalised Israel’s conduct. Through political support, military aid, or silence, they have enabled the continuation of its policies.

The situation is not only intolerable; it is entrenched. In Gaza the genocide continues, and in the West Bank ethnic cleansing accelerates.

A drastic shift in policy is urgently needed, one that prioritises the dignity of Palestinians, the protection of civilians, ensures unimpeded humanitarian access and holds all governments accountable. Without that shift, the next 1,000 days will not mark a turning point but a continuation of the same devastating reality.

• Dr Abdelmoneim is the international president of Doctors Without Borders (MSF) and worked as an emergency doctor in Gaza in 2024