As Israeli settlers and armed forces increase attacks across the West Bank of Palestine unabated, Palestinians are struggling to access basic healthcare due to restrictions, insecurity, and systematic violence. Despite Israeli authorities limiting our capacity to respond to major health concerns, Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) has expanded mobile clinic activities in Hebron, including to support people with their mental health needs that are driven by intentional violence.  

Violence driving physical and mental health needs

Repeated attacks, displacement, movement restrictions, and deteriorating living conditions are impacting people’s physical and mental health in Hebron.

Ismail Ibrahim, a patient from outside Yatta, a city in Hebron governorate, says he has been attacked three times in recent months.

“Settlers sprayed pepper spray on my face while I was working in an olive grove the family had been raising for years,” he says. “They grazed animals among the olive trees, damaging the land, destroying and breaking the trees. When the police arrived, they told us we weren’t allowed to speak to the settlers.”

“Every day the situation becomes worse,” says Ibrahim. “Many people in our community have been attacked. Once they came at night and stole 200 sheep. They cut the gate to the sheep enclosure. We managed to recover only a few.”

At least 77 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli forces and settlers this year in the West Bank, according to United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA).[1] This figure is already higher than the whole of 2025.  Since March, between 17% and 38% of our psychological consultations were driven by events of intentional violence compared to a range of 13% or less at the beginning of the year.

Between January and July, MSF teams provided over 1,930 individual consultations for mental health and conducted 436 group therapy sessions through mobile activities and a fixed consultation room. In the same time period, our teams in Hebron also received nearly 170 alerts for incidents such as home demolitions, injuries, or attacks on the water and sanitation system. We ran 27 rapid responses, which can include mental health support, or the donation of essential items like mattresses or tarpaulin.

Growing barriers to medical care

In addition to escalating violence, movement restrictions and a collapsing healthcare system are also causing barriers to care.

“We have noticed a growing demand for our medical services because people are facing difficult economic conditions and cannot afford private healthcare,” says Dr Mohammad Haroub, assistant medical coordinator for MSF in Hebron.

A shortage of healthcare workers compounds the issue. Following its offensive in Gaza, Israel has withheld billions of dollars of tax revenue from the Palestinian Authority. This has severely impacted the payment of health workers, resulting in medical staff working reduced hours, and in some cases clinics are completely closed.

“The limited availability of health services, and shortages of healthcare workers and medicines within the Ministry of Health have created an additional burden,” says Dr Haroub. “Some patients tell us they have been without medication for several days.”

On top of this, reaching healthcare has also become increasingly difficult for many Palestinians. This is due to insecurity, checkpoints, and road closures.

“Life has become a heavy burden because of settler attacks,” says Aisha*, a woman from a village near Yatta who reached an MSF clinic in Khallet Al Mai. “I’m afraid all the time. My relatives hardly sleep. They’re afraid settlers might come.” Although only kilometres away, Aisha’s journey to the clinic was made longer by insecurity and detours.

Her mother-in-law suffers from diabetes and high blood pressure but, she says, “not all the medicines are available” where the family lives.

[1] OCHA: https://www.ochaopt.org/content/humanitarian-situation-report-23-july-2026

Operational constraints amid uncertainty

Despite the constraints, between January and July, MSF carried out 7,595 medical outpatient consultations in Hebron, including 1,910 for sexual and reproductive health. In June and July, having expanded from five to eight mobile clinics, MSF teams provided 1,450 and 1,397 outpatient consultations respectively. These were the highest monthly figures in 2026, a 26 per cent increase compared with the previous two months. The most common issues people required healthcare for were gynaecological conditions, non-communicable diseases, upper respiratory infections, and conjunctivitis.

This comes after we were forced to reduce more than half our mobile activities in the first quarter of the year amid deregistration by the Israeli authorities. This limited access to areas such as the militarised H2 neighbourhood in Hebron City and villages in Masafer Yatta hills, which are prone to violence and attacks. To reach patients from communities that could no longer be visited by MSF, we launched new clinics close to the edge of Area C, an area exclusively controlled by the Israeli forces, ensuring people there could still access our services.

Despite adapting activities, MSF teams continue to face significant operational constraints.

“Every day, we don’t know whether we will even reach the clinic. The context is constantly changing,” says Elisa Tamimi, MSF humanitarian affairs officer in Hebron. “Sometimes entire areas are placed under closure for a day, two days, or even a week. This has a huge impact on people’s lives. Many have lost their jobs and cannot find new work.”

“Israeli authorities must halt all measures that force Palestinians from their homes, ensure unhindered access to healthcare and humanitarian assistance, protect civilians, and comply with international law,” says Joan Tubau, MSF head of mission for Palestine.

Aisha says they are not asking for much: “I hope life can return to how it was before the war. I hope people can live with dignity. I want people to go out without fear, to have healthcare, education, and basic necessities.”

ENDS 

*Name changed to protect identity.

Beyond the devastation in southern Lebanon and Beirut’s southern suburbs, the war’s consequences have also reached the Bekaa Valley, a vast agricultural region in eastern Lebanon bordering Syria. This adds yet another layer to the overlapping crises the region has endured, including economic collapse, underfunded healthcare facilities, inadequate water and sanitation infrastructure, and a protracted refugee situation. 

Since Israeli bombardment escalated on 2 March, people fleeing blanket evacuation orders have sought refuge across the Bekaa, where already vulnerable communities, including Syrian refugees, face mounting pressure. Displacement in the governorate peaked in April, with 52,935 people recorded as displaced in shelters and within host communities. Today, many of the families returning to their homes and neighborhoods within Bekaa are facing facilities damaged by Israeli bombardment and different barriers to accessing healthcare. 

Many have settled in the Bekaa, renting what they can afford, staying in collective shelters, or returning to family homes left years earlier. For them, displacement didn’t end when the bombardment became less intense; it became the slower work of rebuilding with no income and often no health coverage, in a governorate where public attention has largely moved on. 

Displaced, Without Stability 

In Kamed El Loz, in Lebanon’s West Bekaa, the landscape opens into farmland and wide valley views, but for families like Maha and Hassan, finding a place to live does not mean finding stability. In a rented room, Maha cares for her husband, Hassan, since March, when the war forced them out of Al Khiyam, southern Lebanon, where their house was destroyed. Hassan cannot move independently; Maha is his only caregiver. Staying at her sister’s second-floor apartment proved unworkable, so they moved to Kamed El Loz, with no income and no immediate prospect of returning home.  

“Since we left our home, everything has become more difficult. I must take care of my husband and manage everything on my own,” Maha said. 

 Maha had stopped taking the medication she needs as she could no longer afford it.  

Through outreach visits, MSF teams met Hassan and Maha, and helped them access the healthcare services they need.  

 Since 2 March, MSF teams in the Bekaa have provided 13,722 medical consultations, including 7,505 for acute conditions, 6,760 for non-communicable diseases, 2,570 sexual and reproductive health interventions, and 852 consultations for children under five, alongside 3,270 health promotion sessions. 

In Zahle, Bekaa governorate, another family faces a different upheaval, as they prepared to welcome a new member of the family. Before the war, the family was living in Nabatiyeh, southern Lebanon, building a life around agriculture. Khalil and his pregnant wife, Mirna, returned to his hometown, Zahle, into an old family house inherited from his grandfather; shelter, but not stability. With Mirna close to giving birth, the family had no way to cover the cost. 

“Our work is gone, and our lives are torn,” Khalil said. 

The consequences of the war have affected families like Mirna and Khalil far beyond their homes, disrupting their income, housing, and ability to prepare for the birth of their child.  

“When you are preparing for your child to be born, you should think about the future. Instead, I was worried about how we would pay for the delivery and how we would rebuild our lives.” Khalil reflected.  

 Through its partnership with Libano-Français Hospital in Zahle, MSF helped ensure Mirna could access the hospital’s specialized maternity care and give birth safely.  

What Access to Healthcare Means  

“The Lebanese population is enduring difficult living conditions due to the protracted economic crisis exacerbated by the ongoing armed conflict and political instability. Internally displaced people, refugees, and less privileged communities are among those most affected, often facing overcrowded living conditions, limited access to healthcare, and growing difficulties affording food and shelter. Civilians must be protected, and safe, timely access to humanitarian assistance and healthcare must be ensured for everyone in need,” said Amro Ibrahim, MSF Bekaa project coordinator. 

MSF has maintained a long-term medical presence in the Bekaa, adapting its response as needs change. In Baalbek-Hermel, MSF operates an essential healthcare center in Hermel and a mobile clinic, while across the Bekaa, mobile teams continue to reach communities where access to healthcare is limited. 

Since the escalation of Israeli bombardment on 2 March, MSF has also supported people displaced into the Bekaa, including those living in collective shelters and public spaces.  Teams provided essential relief items, rehabilitated water and sanitation systems, supplied fuel and water, and delivered healthcare through mobile clinics. 

In the Bekaa, MSF has distributed 1,796 hygiene kits, 1,020 blankets, 962 mattresses, 109,691 liters of drinking water, 929,000 liters of water, 31,200 liters of fuel, and 32 cleaning kits since 2 March.  

“In a context where people face multiple barriers to healthcare, access is not simply about having a service available. Partnering with an existing operational hospital allowed us to respond rapidly to those needs and provide safe access,” said Loubna Marouf, MSF emergency coordinator in Bekaa. MSF’s team also supports access to emergency obstetrics care at secondary health facilities in the Bekaa, strengthening hospital capacity and supporting the provision of quality, timely care to communities. 

Bridging Gaps  

For those who were displaced, those returning home, and those who stayed, the crisis continues to shape daily life; through lost livelihoods, damaged homes, and pressure on essential services.  

 MSF’s response has therefore evolved alongside these changing needs: from emergency support during displacement to longer-term healthcare activities, mobile clinics, hospital support, essential healthcare and referrals for specialized treatment. 

The crisis may have moved out of the headlines, but for many in the Bekaa, its effects still shape everyday life. Maintaining access to healthcare means continuing to reach communities where they are, supporting health facilities under pressure, and ensuring that communities can receive the care they need. 

 The Needs That Remain  

Across the Bekaa, Lebanese communities, Syrian refugees, internally displaced people and returnees continue to face the consequences of overlapping crises. For many, immediate danger may no longer be the only concern. Rebuilding a home, recovering income, and accessing healthcare can become a longer struggle. 

 In Bekaa, the effects of crises continue to shape where people live, how they earn a living, and whether they can access the care they need. 

 “I don’t feel stable, and I don’t think I will ever feel that stability again because my home is gone. I only feel at ease in my own home, in my own village,” Maha says. 

Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) strongly condemns the decision by the Israeli Military Advocate General (MAG) to close, without opening a criminal investigation, the cases MSF itself submitted for review: the multiple attacks on an MSF convoy in Gaza City in November 2023 that killed two, and the February 2024 strike on an MSF shelter in Khan Younis that killed two and injured six.

Unfortunately, this does not come as a surprise. These responses come nearly two years after MSF’s request was submitted, which was followed by a submission to the Israeli High Court of Justice challenging the MAG’s failure to provide any answer to our formal requests.

This is not justice. Two years of silence, followed by closures that raise more questions than they answer, is unacceptable. However, it is the predictable output of a military apparatus investigating itself: a system which has demonstrated itself unwilling to respond to the extent of violations that may amount to war crimes emerging from Gaza.

MSF staff and their family members are dead. Their names are known. Their locations were shared. Their vehicles were identified.  We have always maintained that all elements point to a clear responsibility of the Israeli army for the deadly attacks. And yet, those responsible for their deaths have declined to pursue any criminal investigation.

With this decision, the MAG has made clear that there is no prospect of accountability within the Israeli legal system for the killing of our staff, just as there has been no accountability for Israel’s ongoing genocide against Palestinians. 

A total of 15 MSF staff members have been killed in Gaza by Israeli forces since October 2023. This is just a fraction of the 1,700 healthcare workers who have been killed in that time. Israeli forces continue to kill civilians with impunity, something these decisions by the MAG, make clear.

The decision to ‘close’ these incidents must be understood in their proper context: in Gaza, tens of thousands of Palestinians have been killed. Healthcare facilities have been destroyed. Humanitarian convoys have been struck. Journalists, medical personnel, UN personnel, and aid workers have been killed in numbers unprecedented in any recent conflict.

MSF reaffirms what it has stated since the beginning of this violence: there is no military objective that justifies the wholesale sacrifice of civilians. And there is no internal military review that can substitute for genuine, independent, and impartial accountability.

We demand that the cases involving our colleagues be reviewed by an impartial investigative body.

To our colleagues we have lost, and to the countless civilians and humanitarian workers who have perished in Gaza: we will not let your deaths be filed away as procedural inevitabilities. You deserved protection. You deserve justice.

Dr Javid Abdelmoneim
International President, Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF)

Amman/Jerusalem, 12 August – Thousands of people in Gaza, Palestine, are at heightened risk of death and severe illness, as Israeli authorities continue to restrict the entry of engine oil and spare parts into the enclave, warns Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF). These supplies are needed to keep hospital generators, ambulances, water pumps and water trucks running. The impediment of these essential services is emblematic of Israel’s systematic destruction of the necessities for life in Gaza.

Dr Hussam Abu Safiya, director of Kamal Adwan Hospital in Gaza, remains in solitary confinement, after being detained for 1.5 years. MSF is outraged by the treatment of healthcare workers, most of whom are being detained in dire conditions, without justification or cause. We join global calls for their immediate release. Dr Abu Safiya’s placement into solitary confinement and reported torture follows an appalling pattern of the Israeli authorities detaining and targeting medical staff across Palestine. 

His case is not isolated. According to the Healthcare workers watch, 95 Palestinian healthcare workers who remain detained by Israeli authorities since October 2023. During the same time, 1,700 health staff have been killed, as well as 15 MSF colleagues. 

MSF orthopaedic surgeon, Dr Mohammed Obeid, has been detained in Israel for more than 600 days, in difficult conditions, and without any contact with his family. He was arrested on 26 October 2024 by Israeli forces while on duty at the Kamal Adwan Hospital in northern Gaza, Palestine.  We continue calling for his immediate and unconditional release. 

The practice of arbitrarily detaining, torturing and abusing Palestinian medical staff in Israel is unacceptable. For too long, too many world leaders have failed to condemn Israel’s conduct in Palestine. Silence has become complicity. 

We call for the release of all arbitrarily detained medical personnel immediately. Pending their release, they must be granted access to adequate medical care and dignified detention conditions.