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doctors without borders
As Israeli Forces Seize Final Sumud Boat, Another Flotilla Sails Toward Gaza
"As journalists and medical professionals, we carry the responsibility to speak truth and preserve life," said an Italian surgeon.
Oct 03, 2025
As Israeli forces on Friday captured the last remaining vessel from the Global Sumud Flotilla that aimed to break Israel's blockade of the Gaza Strip and deliver humanitarian aid, another group of boats was headed for the Palestinian territory.
The 11 vessels, most of which started sailing last week, are "carrying over 150 healthcare workers, journalists, and activists," according to organizers, the Freedom Flotilla Coalition (FFC) and Thousand Madleens to Gaza.
"As journalists and medical professionals, we carry the responsibility to speak truth and preserve life," said Dr. Ricardo Corradini, a general surgeon from Italy, in a statement. "This mission is an appeal to our colleagues—and to the institutions that represent us globally—to break their silence, uphold their ethics, and stand on the right side of history."
FFC highlighted earlier this week that the ship "Conscience, bombed by Israel off the coast of Malta in May 2025, has returned to serve as a vehicle for medics and media determined to reach their colleagues in besieged Gaza."
Huwaida Arraf, an FFC steering committee member aboard Conscience, said that it "is the latest and largest boat in this historic flotilla—and its name represents not only steadfast resistance to Israel's illegal blockade, but a call to awaken the conscience of the world."
Since Israeli forces began intercepting Global Sumud Flotilla vessels late Wednesday, a fresh wave of global protests has occurred. People around the world have repeatedly taken to the streets over the past two years, as Israel has responded to the Hamas-led October 7, 2023 attack by devastating infrastructure across Gaza, including healthcare facilities, wounding at least 169,165 Palestinians, and slaughtering at least 66,288.
Experts warn the true death toll in Gaza is likely much higher. Among the dead are many doctors and nurses—one count, from Healthcare Workers Watch, said at least 1,200 as of February. Israel's killing of Gaza's healthcare professionals continued this week with the death of Omar Hayek from Doctors Without Borders, or Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF).
The Israeli attack that killed Hayek and wounded four others "took place on a street where our teams were waiting to take a bus to the MSF field hospital in Deir al-Balah. All staff were wearing MSF vests, clearly identifying them as medical humanitarian workers," the group said Thursday. "We express deep sorrow and outrage over the killing, which occurs less than two weeks after another MSF colleague, Hussein Alnajjar, was killed by the Israeli forces, in Deir al-Balah."
Also among the dead are over 200 journalists, with recent tallies ranging from 223 to 270. The Israeli government has prevented international reporters from entering Gaza—and has been widely accused of intentionally killing Palestinian journalists who have reported on the genocide while trying to survive it.
Global press freedom groups have frequently spoken out against Irsael's treatment of journalists, including this week, when Israeli forces took members of the media into custody while blocking the Global Sumud Flotilla from reaching Gaza.
"Arresting journalists and preventing them from doing their work is a serious violation of the right to inform and be informed," said Martin Roux, head of the Crisis Desk at Reporters Without Borders, or Reporters Sans Frontières (RSF), in a Thursday statement.
"RSF condemns the illegal arrest of the news professionals who were on board these ships to cover a humanitarian operation of unprecedented scale," Roux continued. "The Israeli army, which has killed over 210 Palestinian journalists in the Gaza Strip, is continuing its media blockade of the Gaza Strip with these illegal arrests at sea, with the obvious goal of covering up the crimes it is committing against the Palestinian population. RSF urges Israel to respect the status of journalists, protect them, and guarantee their safety in accordance with international law."
Early Friday, the flotilla announced on Instagram that "Marinette, the last remaining boat of the Global Sumud Flotilla, was intercepted at 10:29 am local time, approximately 42.5 nautical miles from Gaza."
According to the flotilla, whose more than 450 members included politicians, actors, and activists from dozens of countries:
Over 38 hours, Israeli occupation naval forces illegally intercepted all 42 of our vessels—each carrying humanitarian aid, volunteers, and the determination to break Israel's illegal siege on Gaza.
Marinette sailed forward with the spirit of sumud—steadfastness—even after seeing the fate of 41 boats before her.
But this is not the end of our mission. Our determination to confront Israel’s atrocities and stand with the Palestinian people remains unshaken.
As people rise up in cities worldwide to demand an end to these horrors and to take a stand for humanity, we rise together with one voice.
We will not stop until the genocide ends. We will not stop until Palestine is free.
Until the interception, the flotilla faced repeated attacks widely believed to be from Israel, whose Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Friday continued to smear the peaceful humanitarian mission as the "Hamas-Sumud provocation" and a "sham."
"Already four Italian citizens have been deported. The rest are in the process of being deported. Israel is keen to end this procedure as quickly as possible," the ministry said on social media. "All are safe and in good health."
In a Friday statement about the Global Sumud Flotilla, Nihad Awad, national executive director of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), the largest Muslim civil rights group in the United States, said that "the detention of these humanitarian volunteers, including American citizens, is deeply troubling and completely unacceptable."
"These are civilians engaged in delivering essential aid to people in desperate need in Gaza," he continued. "Denying them legal counsel, holding them incommunicado, and putting them at risk for simply performing humanitarian work is a flagrant violation of human rights and the principles the United States stands for. We urge the US government to act immediately to secure their safe release and make clear that targeting Americans performing humanitarian missions will not be tolerated."
Under President Donald Trump and his Democratic predecessor, the United States has provided Israel with diplomatic support on the global stage and billions of dollars in military aid. Joined at the White House on Monday by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu—who is wanted by the International Criminal Court—Trump unveiled a proposed peace plan for Gaza.
In a long post on his Truth Social platform Friday morning, Trump railed against Hamas and gave the group that has governed Gaza for the past two decades until Sunday at 6:00 pm Eastern Time to agree to his proposal. Trump wrote, "If this LAST CHANCE agreement is not reached, all HELL, like no one has ever seen before, will break out against Hamas."
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Doctors Without Borders Suspends Operations at Gaza City Clinics ‘Encircled by Israeli Forces’
"We have been left with no choice but to stop our activities,” said the humanitarian group's Gaza coordinator. "This is the last thing we wanted."
Sep 26, 2025
The humanitarian organization Doctors Without Borders has been forced to suspend all its medical operations in Gaza City as its clinics have come under "escalating attacks from Israeli forces."
In a statement published Friday, the group—officially known as Médecins Sans Frontières—said "the relentless Israeli offensive in Gaza City, Palestine, has forced [MSF] to suspend vital medical activities in the area due to the rapidly deteriorating security situation.
"The situation includes continued airstrikes and advancing tanks less than one kilometer from our healthcare facilities," the group continued. "The escalating attacks from Israeli forces have created an unacceptable level of risk for our staff, forcing us to suspend lifesaving medical activities."
As the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) have pushed further into Gaza's largest city in recent days, hundreds of thousands of people have been forcibly displaced, and hundreds of thousands more have been trapped in the besieged city.
Israel's genocidal assault on Gaza has destroyed much of the strip's healthcare infrastructure and inflicted widespread disease and starvation.
Since it began in October 2023, MSF has provided over 1.1 million medical consultations, including in over 347,000 emergency cases, according to its website.
Just this week, even as Gaza City was pounded with airstrikes, the group says it carried out over 3,640 consultations and treated 1,655 people with malnutrition. They have also treated patients with severe trauma injuries and burns, as well as pregnant women and others who are unable to leave the city.
Earlier this month, Israel ordered everyone in Gaza City, over 1 million people, to evacuate or face the threat of military force. Hundreds of thousands have fled south. When the order was issued, MSF warned that it would be a "death sentence" for the many critically ill patients and newborn babies who'd be forced to abandon medical treatment.
"While large numbers of people have fled south due to evacuation orders, there are still hundreds of thousands in Gaza City, who are unable to leave and have no other option but to stay," MSF said. "Those who are able to leave face an impossible choice: either remain in Gaza City under intense military operations and the deterioration of law and order, or abandon what’s left of their houses, their belongings, and their memories, to move to areas where humanitarian conditions are rapidly collapsing."
The Gaza Health Ministry reported that 60 Palestinians have been killed and dozens more injured since dawn on Friday, bringing the official death toll since October 2023 to 65,549 people and the number of wounded to 167,518.
Meanwhile, at least seven hospitals have been forced to close due to heavy bombardment. Munir al-Bursh, the director general of Gaza’s Health Ministry, told Al Jazeera on Tuesday that Israeli attacks have killed at least 1,723 healthcare workers and damaged 38 hospitals since the war began in October 2023.
“We have been left with no choice but to stop our activities, as our clinics are encircled by Israeli forces,” says Jacob Granger, the emergency coordinator for MSF in Gaza. “This is the last thing we wanted, as the needs in Gaza City are enormous, with the most vulnerable people—infants in neonatal care, those with severe injuries and life-threatening illnesses—unable to move and in grave danger.”
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Over 40% of Pregnant, Breastfeeding Women Who Visit Save the Children's Gaza Clinics Are Malnourished
"These are realities no mother should ever have to face," said one Save the Children official.
Aug 04, 2025
Save the Children on Monday released a report outlining the dire humanitarian situation in Gaza for pregnant and breastfeeding women.
The organization said that 43% of pregnant and breastfeeding women who showed up to its clinics in Gaza last month were malnourished, which represented a threefold increase since March, when the Israeli military imposed a total siege on the area.
"Since April, staff at Save the Children's two primary healthcare centers operating in Gaza have reported monthly increases in the number of pregnant and breastfeeding women found to be malnourished, with food, water and fuel almost entirely unavailable," said Save the Children. "Poor nutrition and malnutrition during pregnancy can cause anaemia, preeclampsia, hemorrhage, and death in mothers, lead to stillbirth, low birthweight, stunted growth, and developmental delays for children."
Instead of breastfeeding, said Save the Children, many mothers are resorting to giving their babies water mixed with ground chickpeas or tahini, which the organization noted were poor substitutes for breast milk or baby formula.
"Mothers are arriving at our clinics hungry, exhausted, and terrified their babies won't survive," said Ahmad Alhendawi, Save the Children's regional director for the Middle East, North Africa, and Eastern Europe. "Some are asking for formula so their baby can still be fed if they die. These are realities no mother should ever have to face."
Alhendawi went on to say that "extreme stress can disrupt breastfeeding" and that "displacement and hunger in Gaza are taking a devastating toll on all mothers" in the region. Save the Children then called upon the Israeli government to lift its blockade of aid supplies into Gaza and give international humanitarian organizations license to help millions of people currently facing acute starvation and other health threats.
Save the Children is not the first organization to point out the crisis facing pregnant and breastfeeding women in Gaza.
Doctors Without Borders last month similarly reported that "the number of people enrolled for malnutrition" at its Gaza City clinic "has quadrupled since May 18, while rates of severe malnutrition in children under 5 have tripled in the last two weeks alone." In all, Doctors Without Borders estimated that 25% of children, pregnant women, and breastfeeding women at the clinic were malnourished.
Amande Bazerolle, the Doctors Without Borders head of emergency response in Gaza, accused the Israeli government of deliberately inflicting starvation on the people living there.
"What we are seeing is unconscionable; an entire population being deliberately cut off from food and water, all while the Israeli forces commit daily massacres as people scramble for scraps of food at distribution sites," Bazerolle said. "Any shred of humanity in Gaza has been wiped out in the ongoing genocide."
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