Israel’s siege that started on 9 October 2023 left hundreds of thousands of people in Gaza without power, food, or fuel, causing a humanitarian catastrophe. After 15 months of bombings, displacement, and disease outbreaks, aid efforts remained restricted by mandatory pre-clearance requirements from Israeli authorities, or else rejection, of so-called dual-use items.
“Like all humanitarian organisations, MSF is forced to adapt to conditions imposed by Israeli authorities as part of a system designed to maintain the blockade of Gaza,” says Laaroussi. “Although more trucks have entered during the ceasefire, the Israel authorities’ goods entry system, systematically used to obstruct humanitarian aid, has made it impossible for us to scale-up properly, even before this blockade.”
This system, which is conducted with no transparency, systematically obstructs and restricts the entry of lifesaving supplies including scalpels, scissors, oxygen concentrators, desalination units, and generators. Even when approved, the process takes a long time and continues to be a complex bureaucratic impediment.