Gaza City, Gaza Strip – Doctors without Borders (MSF) announced on Friday, September 26, 2025, that it has been forced to suspend its vital medical activities in Gaza City, as advancing Israeli tanks and relentless air strikes have created an “unacceptable level of risk” for staff and patients.
The suspension of aid comes amid a brutal, escalating Israeli assault on Gaza City, which medical sources tell Al Jazeera has killed 30 people in the area alone since dawn on Friday, contributing to a total of 58 deaths across Gaza.
MSF’s emergency coordinator in Gaza, Jacob Granger, stated that the group’s decision was a last resort, given the dire needs of the population. “Our clinics are encircled by Israeli forces… this is the last thing we wanted, as the needs in Gaza City are enormous,” Granger said.
Despite the intense offensive, MSF facilities managed to carry out over 3,640 consultations last week, providing care for malnutrition, trauma injuries, and maternal health. However, the current level of hostilities has made continued operations impossible.
The international medical humanitarian organisation warned that hundreds of thousands of people remain trapped in Gaza City, unable to flee, while the enclave’s partially functional hospitals are already overwhelmed and desperately short of essential supplies, fuel, and staff.
The humanitarian crisis extends beyond the immediate fighting. At a ministerial meeting on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly, UNRWA Commissioner-General Philippe Lazzarini stated that nearly two years of “appalling disregard for life and international law” have resulted in famine in Gaza.
Lazzarini disclosed that at least 370 UNRWA staff have been killed and most of the agency’s facilities in Gaza destroyed. Furthermore, he noted that supplies needed to sustain Gaza’s population for three months have been blocked since March. The Commissioner-General also warned that a “well-funded disinformation campaign spearheaded by Israel” is attempting to delegitimise UNRWA and choke its funding, leaving the agency facing a $200 million shortfall by early 2026. He urged member states to push for an immediate ceasefire.
Meanwhile, in the occupied West Bank, armed Israeli settlers attacked Palestinian homes in the village of al-Halawa in Masafer Yatta, south of Hebron, according to the Wafa news agency. Local activist Osama Makhmara reported that settlers from a nearby illegal outpost hurled stones, assaulted members of the Abu Aram family, and stole two donkeys. Israeli soldiers subsequently detained a young man, Mohammed Ahmed Abu Aram, after he attempted to confront the settlers, who caused extensive damage to property.
The regional tensions are also escalating. Yemen’s Houthis announced that the death toll from Thursday’s Israeli air raids on the capital, Sanaa, has climbed to nine fatalities, including four children and two women, with at least 174 others wounded. The Houthis, who control Sanaa, condemned the strikes, asserting they targeted residential neighbourhoods and civilian infrastructure.
