West Bank: New MSF report on the escalation of attacks and obstructions to healthcare
Israeli forces and settlers have increased the use of extreme physical violence against Palestinians in the occupied West Bank since the all-out war on Gaza began in October 2023, according to a new report by Médecins Sans Frontières / Doctors Without Borders (MSF).
In total, at least 870 Palestinians have been killed and over 7,100 injured between October 2023 and January 2025.
According to the MSF report, Inflicting harm and denying care, the escalation of violence in the West Bank has severely hindered access to healthcare. This is part of a pattern of systemic oppression by Israel which has been described by the International Court of Justice (ICJ) as amounting to racial segregation and apartheid.
“Palestinian patients are dying because they simply cannot reach hospitals”
The report, which covers a one-year period from October 2023 and 2024, provides in-depth interviews from 38 MSF patients and personnel, hospital staff paramedics and volunteers supported by MSF. These interviews report prolonged and violent Israeli military incursions and stricter movement restrictions, all of which have severely hindered access to essential services, particularly healthcare.
The situation has further deteriorated since the ceasefire in Gaza and has exacerbated dire living conditions for many Palestinians who are paying an immense physical and psychological toll.
“Palestinian patients are dying because they simply cannot reach hospitals,” says Brice de le Vingne, MSF emergency coordinator.
“We're seeing ambulances blocked by Israeli forces at checkpoints while carrying critical patients, medical facilities surrounded and raided during active operations, and healthcare workers subjected to physical violence while trying to save lives.”
Healthcare under attack
An increased number of attacks on medical personnel and facilities has been reported to MSF teams, including attacks on hospitals, destruction of makeshift medical sites in refugee camps, as well as the harassment, detention, injury, and killing of first responders and medical workers by Israeli forces.
Inflicting harm and denying care
Attacks and obstructions of healthcare in the West Bank
Between October 2023 and December 2024, WHO has recorded 694 attacks on healthcare in the West Bank, with hospitals and healthcare structures often besieged by military force. Healthcare workers express a feeling of insecurity as they are frequently harassed, detained, injured and even killed.
“Israeli forces surrounded the stabilisation point [in Tubas], closing both its entrances, even though it was very clear that this was a medical building. They ordered all the paramedics to exit the stabilisation point.”
“There were around 22 of us paramedics there. Israeli soldiers shot inside and outside the building, damaging our supplies and the stabilisation point,” says a medic from the Palestinian Red Crescent Society, supported by MSF.
When there is a medical emergency, restrictions of movement can have deadly consequences.
People’s access to healthcare has been severely impeded by the obstruction and targeting of ambulance movements and the escalation of violent military raids resulting in injuries, fatalities and the destruction of vital civilian infrastructure. This includes roads, healthcare, water pipelines and electrical systems, particularly in Tulkarem and Jenin refugee camps.
In remote areas and outskirts of cities like Jenin or Nablus, the situation is especially dire. Patients with chronic conditions, such as those who need regular dialysis treatment, are forced to stay home due to the untenable obstacles to reaching healthcare.
A state of perpetual emergency
On top of the frequent Israeli military incursions, settler violence and the ever-increasing expansion of settlements have left many Palestinians vulnerable to violence and afraid to move across the West Bank.
In total, 1,500 attacks by Israeli settlers against Palestinians have been reported by OCHA between October 2023 and 2024.
As the occupying power, Israel has legal obligations under international law to ensure access to healthcare and protect medical personnel.
The healthcare system in the West Bank is under immense strain and forced into a state of perpetual emergency.
MSF calls Israel to stop the violence against healthcare workers, patients and health facilities and to stop obstructing medical personnel from performing life-saving duties.
MSF and the Israel - Gaza war
An unprecedented humanitarian crisis is unfolding in Gaza. MSF teams have worked to treat the wounded and supply overwhelmed hospitals as indiscriminate airstrikes and a state of siege threaten millions of men, women and children.