MSF statement on the Rafah Crossing
All Médecins Sans Frontières international staff unable to leave Gaza since 7 October have successfully crossed the Egypt border via the Rafah Crossing. A window has been negotiated to allow for foreign passport holders and international aid workers to cross.
This group includes 22 MSF staff. Although some names have been circulated on social media, we ask for their privacy and wellbeing to be respected.
This comes as a number of severely injured patients have also been allowed to leave Gaza to receive critical care. However, there are still over 20,000 injured people in Gaza with limited access to healthcare due to the siege.
A new team of international staff, including a specialised medical team, has already been identified and is ready to enter Gaza as soon as the situation allows, to support the humanitarian and medical response.
Meanwhile, many of our Palestinian colleagues continue to work and provide lifesaving care in hospitals and across the Gaza Strip, while the most basic protections for hospitals and medical personnel are not guaranteed.
Around two million Palestinians are still trapped in Gaza under shelling, including 300 Palestinian MSF staff and their families. Those who wish to leave Gaza must be allowed to do so without further delay. They must also be allowed the right to return.
Furthermore, we have to be able to move medical supplies and personnel into Gaza immediately to be able to respond to the desperate needs on the ground.
We reiterate our call for an immediate ceasefire. Critically needed humanitarian supplies and staff must be allowed into Gaza where hospitals are overwhelmed and the healthcare system is facing total collapse.