Updates from Gaza
The situation in Gaza is devastating.
Since October 2023, almost 60,000 people have died and more than 115,000 are injured (OCHA). More than two million are displaced.
Our team in Gaza continue to respond to the countless health needs of the population, through our Primary Healthcare Clinic in al-Qarara and support activities at the Outpatient Clinic in al-Mawasi.
We attend to hundreds of patients every day, while health conditions continue to deteriorate.
On this page, you can learn more about EMERGENCY’s work through updates from our colleagues in Gaza.
11 July 2025
“A horror within a horror.”
Several children were killed and injured in a strike whilst waiting for therapeutic food and treatment at a clinic in Deir al-Balah yesterday.
Our colleagues in Gaza report that strikes have intensified in recent days, and so have civilian casualties.
We demand a permanent ceasefire and the entry of humanitarian aid.
8 July 2025
“There is food outside, but this food is not getting in.”
In Gaza, we see the consequences of hunger, malnutrition and famine every day: for people to have the chance to survive, humanitarian aid must be brought in as soon as possible.
From our Outpatient Clinic in Khan Younis, our Medical Coordinator Giorgio provides an update:
“I want to talk about hunger, malnutrition, and famine. These are very serious problems when viewed from a clinical perspective, with an increase in pain, increasingly severe organ damage, and a rise in psychiatric and psychological problems.
Who is the most vulnerable? Children.
The United Nations has released an extremely alarming report which states that in the northern part of Gaza, which is the worst affected, four out of five families are skipping a meal every day because they cannot find enough food. In the rest of Gaza, half the population faces the same issue.
It is too late. We must act. We must do something.
Meanwhile, there is food outside, but this food is not getting in. This war is not ending. It must be stopped immediately. Humanitarian aid must be allowed in.
These people must be given a chance to survive.”
8 June 2025
The daily struggle is to stay alive
A few days ago, one of our Gazan colleagues told us that he had survived a bombing by accident: he had been on his way to a gathering place for displaced people in search of an internet connection. Shortly before he arrived, the area was hit.
When he eventually reached the site, he found that some of his friends had been killed. He was saved only by a handful of minutes.
In Gaza, every aspect of daily life has been shattered and disrupted.
In a routine marked by terror, hunger and a lack of basic necessities, the absence of electricity is further isolating the population. Recharging a phone or connecting to the grid cannot be taken for granted. Yet in such an extreme context, staying connected to the world is an essential need: to receive news of loved ones, to learn critical information, to share an unimaginable situation.
In Gaza, the daily struggle is to stay alive.
4 June 2025
Chaos and insecurity at aid distribution points
“I couldn’t take anything. I left empty-handed and I returned empty-handed, because of the crowds waiting to receive something, the gunshots, the checkpoints. So I left.”
One of our Gazan colleagues recounts how people’s lives are being put at risk amid panic, chaos and insecurity at the distribution points set up to deliver what little humanitarian aid is allowed into the Strip.
“When the delivery of humanitarian aid was managed by the United Nations, there were about 400 active distribution points. Today there are only four, serving more than two million people. The consequences are horrific: there are already more than 100 dead and injured,” says Andrea Bona, our doctor in Gaza.
After two months of blockade, the suffering of civilians in Gaza is an unspeakable atrocity. What we bear witness to every single day is difficult to see, to understand or to accept.
The people of Gaza are at risk of famine: humanitarian aid must enter as soon as possible and be distributed unconditionally and safely.
27 May 2025
Forced evacuations in Khan Younis
More than 80% of Gaza is subject to forced evacuation orders. One of the latest involved Khan Younis, the governorate where our clinic is located.
“This morning, the number of patients has doubled, if not tripled: it is a consequence of the displacements towards the coastal areas,” says Giorgio Monti, our Medical Coordinator in Gaza. “We have already seen 300 people.”
It has become increasingly difficult for people to escape the bombardment. Those who manage to survive the attacks are suffering from constant displacement, combined with hunger, lack of water and care.
22 May 2025
Explosions. Columns of smoke. This is “normalcy.” We see them rising into the sky from our house, car, clinic. No place is safe here. Here, people are denied everything.
“This is every day,” says Eleonora, our nurse in Gaza. “On our way to and from work, we see columns of smoke rising over Khan Younis. The sound of explosions is constantly around us, even when we visit our patients.“
Without food, water, care, every day that passes without the necessary aid entering turns into a death sentence for millions of people.
In Gaza, every limit has already been crossed. An immediate ceasefire is needed. We need all the aid that remains blocked to be made unconditionally accessible to the population as soon as possible.
20 May 2025
EMERGENCY on the entry of the first five aid trucks
Yesterday, five trucks of aid crossed the Kerem Shalom crossing. The first to enter Gaza since 2 March. Before 7 October, 500 trucks entered every day.
The population is living in dire, inhuman conditions. After more than two months of an aid blockade, there is a shortage of medicines, a shortage of fuel, a shortage of food, a shortage of everything.
“I have never seen such devastation,” says Giorgio, our Medical Coordinator. “The survival of the population is unsustainable.”
In addition to the bombs, people are endangered on a daily basis by the lack of access to medical care, water, sufficient food.
We demand respect for civilians and the immediate, impartial and independent distribution of essential aid.
We demand respect for medical facilities, for patients, for aid workers.
We demand a CEASEFIRE NOW.
19 May 2025
Today is more difficult than usual
The morning of 19 May, an Israeli military operation struck Khan Younis, in southern Gaza. The same governorate where our clinic is located.
Our Medical Coordinator Giorgio Monti sent an update:
“When there is talk of the end of the war, when there is talk of accords… well, on the ground these words seem empty, they seem so far away.
I am in the clinic and this morning, being in the clinic is news. An attack at dawn this morning in Khan Younis has created many problems. Nasser Hospital, the biggest hospital in the area, is closed because it was hit. Many centres remained closed for security reasons. A couple of our nurses called and said they could not leave their homes, they were in danger and therefore could not reach the hospital.
We decided to open anyway.
We found a small crowd of patients waiting for us: children, mothers, people with chronic diseases and acute illnesses. So, today is a special day. It’s a bit more difficult than usual. A few more worries. In the meantime, we keep going and keep working every day, trying to wait for the day when there will be no more need for these worries.”
CEASEFIRE NOW.
8 May 2025
The words of the people we meet every day
“Without food, water, shelter or medicine, the conditions for the population in Gaza are worsening day by day. We are doing what we can, but with the aid blockade it is becoming increasingly difficult.”
In Gaza, attacks are constant and the aid blockade is increasingly impacting the health and survival of the most vulnerable. The number of patients we see has nearly doubled, and needs continue to multiply.
“Until mid-March, we were seeing an average of 70 patients a day. After the ceasefire ended on 18 March, the number rose to 135 per day,” reports Andrea Bona, our doctor in Gaza.
“We are fed up with burying our dead”; “I don’t know how to feed my family”; “We can’t take this anymore”: these are the words of the people we speak to every day.
7 May 2025
Nearly 10 weeks into aid blockade, lack of food and medicine
On 5 May, the Israeli government announced its approval of a plan for military escalation in the Gaza Strip and for privately contracting the distribution of humanitarian aid.
We have been present in Gaza since August 2024, witnessing a dramatic situation nearly 10 weeks since the beginning of the blockade on the entry of any humanitarian aid.
According to a report by the UN World Food Programme, the price of essential foods has increased by 1,400% compared to the ceasefire period.
Food supplies are running out, putting the health and lives of the most vulnerable members of the population at risk.
30 April 2025
Prices of essential foods have skyrocketed
The blockade of aid to Gaza aggravates an already severe situation, leaving more than two million civilians without access to food, water, medicines and essential care.
Every week, the health and humanitarian conditions continue to worsen. People are struggling to find food and care for themselves.
Our staff have started to ration stocks of medicines and medical supplies, which are essential for the continuity of our work.
Alessandro Migliorati, logistic coordinator for EMERGENCY’s projects in Gaza, shares what our team is seeing every day:
“Raw materials have reached crazy prices: 50 euros per kilo of flour, 7 euros per kilo of sugar, 13 euros per litre of petrol. And to even find these goods is incredibly complicated. The bakeries have been closed for weeks, so there is no more bread. Medicines and food supplies no longer arrive.”
24 March 2025
Attack on Nasser Hospital: Our Team’s Testimony
Three EMERGENCY staff members were working in the Intensive Care Unit of the Nasser Hospital in the Gaza Strip when it was attacked last night, on 23 March.
They are unharmed but shaken.
“We were preparing two patients for the operating theatre, both of whom were seriously injured by explosions yesterday,” says Filippo Pelagatti, EMERGENCY’s anaesthetist in Gaza. “Then we heard an explosion and the walls started shaking. We were taken to a safe room on the ground floor together with the hospital’s staff. As soon as possible, we went back to our patients. Without that surgery, they would have died.”
19 March 2025
“It already feels apocalyptic.”
“The latest bombings in Gaza struck people at their most vulnerable moment: whilst they were sleeping. With the roar of the explosions, the windows of our compound literally burst open. Nobody saw it coming, there was no warning.”
Even now, the attacks continue, albeit with less intensity.
Giorgio Monti, our Medical Coordinator, reports on recent events in Gaza.
18 March 2025
Renewed Attacks in Gaza: Health Activities Temporarily Suspended
Following the attacks last night in the Gaza Strip, EMERGENCY has temporarily suspended the movement of its personnel pending a better understanding of how to guarantee the safety of its national and international colleagues.
As a result, activities at the Primary Healthcare Clinic in al-Qarara (Khan Younis), first opened in January 2025, are currently suspended.
28 January 2025
Our clinic opens in al-Qarara
EMERGENCY has opened a new primary healthcare clinic in the Gaza Strip, in al-Qarara (Khan Younis).
“Our clinic will respond to the enormous needs of the population in this area, which continue despite the ceasefire,” says Francesco Sacchi, EMERGENCY’s Head of Mission in Gaza. “The construction of the clinic has had to contend with long bureaucratic delays and the enormous difficulty of finding materials, due to the insufficient flow of humanitarian aid in recent months.”
17 January 2025
The ceasefire does not mean the end of the suffering
“We have anxiously waited for this ceasefire, which is a great achievement. Unfortunately, it doesn’t mean that everything is over,” commented Francesco Sacchi, EMERGENCY’s Head of Mission in Gaza. “The issues generated by the last 15 months of violence are enormous. The humanitarian situation is catastrophic, and there is a long and difficult road ahead to reach a semblance of normality. For those who have been forced to leave their homes in northern Gaza in recent months, simply returning is difficult, since much of the territory has been completely destroyed by bombing.”
15 January 2025
Potential Ceasefire in Gaza
If approved, the proposed ceasefire in Gaza would be the first concrete step towards ending violence that, in the space of more than 15 months, has left more than 47,525 dead, 117,168 injured and 1.9 million displaced.
9 January 2025
“Eat? Eat what?” | A story from Gaza
Gaza. A man of around 25 years old arrives at the clinic. He is very thin, walking with two crutches. A scarf covers his right leg and foot, hiding the surgical rods that have been placed to stabilise the most complex fractures.
He weighs just 40 kilos. When we tell him that eating is important for recovery, he laughs: “Eat? Eat what? At the market there is no meat, and an egg and a kilo of flour cost almost $15…”
25 October 2024
“The needs here are all-encompassing.”
“Stress, fear, pain: this is life for people in Gaza. And leaving the territory is unimaginable, because all the crossings are closed or inaccessible,” reports Stefano Sozza, EMERGENCY’s Head of Mission.
7 October 2024
Update from Stefano Sozza, Head of Mission
19 September 2024
There are no safe places in Gaza.
In recent weeks, the EMERGENCY team in Gaza has been conducting site visits for a health clinic that will provide essential first aid and medical care.
Stefano Sozza, Head of Mission, recounts, “There are no safe places in Gaza. Displaced families live in dilapidated structures, tents or very basic shelters consisting of a few wooden planks and tarps.
10 September 2024
We call for protection of civilians and humanitarian workers, and a cessation of hostilities.
There are dozens of dead and wounded following last night’s military operation in al-Mawasi, Gaza, west of Khan Younis.
In the area, defined by the parties as a humanitarian zone, thousands of displaced people arriving from places that have been evacuated – now covering about 86% of Gaza — are concentrated in tent camps. As of 12 August, the humanitarian zone has shrunk to around 46 square kilometres, down from 58.9 square kilometres at the beginning of 2024.
“The consequences of the violence that war brings are everywhere,” explains Stefano Sozza, EMERGENCY’s Head of Mission in Gaza. “Those who pay these consequences are always the civilians. This is why we appeal for a cessation of hostilities as soon as possible.”
27 August 2024
We are in Gaza to open healthcare clinic
After several months of waiting to obtain humanitarian permits, EMERGENCY has entered the Gaza Strip to provide healthcare support to a population devastated by war.
During this period, EMERGENCY has been working to define the project and establish coordination with UN agencies and other partners in the area.
“The possibility of bringing aid to the Strip has to deal with great limitations in the access of humanitarian organisations, amid difficult security conditions,” explains Stefano Sozza, EMERGENCY’s Head of Mission in Gaza. “Meanwhile, humanitarian space has been continuously shrinking since November. Today, about 305 square kilometres, or almost 84% of the Gaza Strip, have been placed under evacuation orders.”