Under the threat of aerial bombardment, an estimated 1.7 million men, women and children have been forcibly displaced to Rafah, a tiny sliver of land in the south of the Gaza Strip, in Palestine. However, even in Rafah people have not found safety.

Military operations are ongoing in Rafah and the confirmed threat of a full-scale imminent military incursion by Israeli forces looms over people there, who now face the risk of death by disease or starvation in a place where the healthcare system has been decimated.

On 13 October 2023, our medical teams, alongside civilians, were forced to evacuate from north to south Gaza, where they rapidly established emergency medical responses in Rafah and Deir Al-Balah.

This Médecins Sans Frontières report, Gaza’s Silent Killings: The destruction of the healthcare system and the struggle for survival in Rafah, draws upon medical data and the testimony of patients to demonstrate that even in Rafah, conditions for survival are not in place.

Gaza’s entire healthcare system has been decimated and people are under siege. Without access to medical care, thousands more lives will be lost, beyond those killed in the Israeli bombardments seen in the news – these are Gaza’s“silent killings”.