Doctors Can T Stop A Genocide World Leaders Can

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What is happening in Gaza is not just a humanitarian catastrophe, it is the systematic destruction of a people. Médecins Sans Frontières/Doctors Without Borders (MSF) is clear: Israel is committing genocide against Palestinians in Gaza and doing so with absolute impunity. 
Each day, our 1,399 MSF colleagues working in Gaza face the devastating reality that they cannot stop a genocide. But world leaders can, if they choose to act.
As the second anniversary of this relentless and extreme violence approaches, the political choices required to end it are long overdue. We commend Malaysia’s leadership in fearlessly calling out Israel’s actions in Gaza and urging the world to stand in solidarity.
We now ask that Malaysia - through its medical professionals, associations, civil society, and the wider public - continue to demonstrate courageous leadership and rally Asean to act with one voice on Gaza.
The human toll of the war is staggering. According to the latest Health Ministry figures, more than 64,000 people have been killed, including 20,000 children. The true death toll is likely higher, with many more buried under the rubble of hospitals, schools, and homes.
The Israeli military has attacked everything and everyone in Gaza. Entire families have been wiped out sheltering in their homes. Health workers have been killed whilst tending to the sick. Journalists have been targeted for bearing witness. There is no safe place in Gaza.
High-intensity weapons designed for open battlefields – some sold to Israel by US and European governments - are being used in densely populated urban areas, where people are sheltering in tents. We are treating devastating injuries as a result.
Patient and injury statistics
Routine medical data from six MSF-supported healthcare facilities in 2024 (Jan 1- Dec 31) indicated 207,942 general outpatient consultations were conducted, of which 55 percent were for women and 20 percent were for children younger than five years.
Wound care alone accounted for 93,254 consultations, with 32 percent for women and 29.7 percent for children younger than 15 years, with 9,179 for children younger than five years. Violent trauma presented in 39,700 wound care-related consultations, 83 percent caused by bombs and shells, as well 11.3 percent by gunshots.
In two hospitals, we observed that nearly 60 percent of lower-limb wounds were related to explosive weapons, often with open injuries to bone, muscle, or skin. These injuries are consistent with the wide-area effects of explosive weapons as reported by our clinical staff.
On average, 18.3 percent of patients coming to health facilities for the first time had infected wounds, which is especially concerning considering the high prevalence of antimicrobial resistance in the region and lack of fully functional microbiology laboratories or suitable antibiotics. In one MSF-supported health facility, wound infections were as high as 28 percent.
The Israeli authorities have systematically targeted Gaza’s healthcare system - bombing hospitals, raiding medical facilities, and endangering the lives of staff and patients – acts that may amount to war crimes.
The few hospitals that remain are overwhelmed and undersupplied. Patients suffer and die needlessly as a result. 
Twelve of our colleagues have been killed, and MSF orthopaedic surgeon, Dr Mohammed Obeid, has been detained by Israel since October 2024. In total, more than 1,500 health workers have been killed. Each one is a devastating loss – for their families and for Gaza’s besieged health system.
Famine, intentional shooting of children
The impact of the genocidal war extends beyond direct attacks.
Israeli authorities have deliberately choked Gaza, imposing a total siege, with severe restrictions on fuel, water, food, and medical supplies.  A policy of collective punishment, including starvation by design, has achieved its brutal objective – famine has been declared.
A recent survey at MSF clinics in Gaza showed 25 percent of pregnant or breastfeeding women were malnourished, which can increase the risk of stillbirth, miscarriage, and premature birth.
The limited food assistance available has been cynically weaponised. The so-called Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), an Israeli-run, US-funded operation, is responsible for killing 1,400 people and injuring 4,000 more.
We have treated children shot in the chest while reaching for food, and people crushed or suffocated in stampedes. Detailed analysis of gunshot wound patients at one of our clinics found 11 percent of bullets struck the head or neck, and 19 percent hit the chest, abdomen, or back.
These distinct patterns and anatomical precision of injuries strongly suggest the intentional targeting of people inside and around the distribution sites, rather than accidental or indiscriminate fire, claimed to be “crowd control”.
There is no other way to describe the murder of children as anything but intentional. This level of cruel brutality is unconscionable.  
And despite the condemnations and calls for dismantling it, the global inaction to stop GHF is baffling. 
Deliberate shortages of water are fueling disease. Last month, MSF medical staff treated 4,000 people for watery diarrhoea - potentially deadly for malnourished children. We could increase the supply of clean water, but we are regularly blocked from doing so by import restrictions.
Halt arms, secure ceasfire
Meanwhile, settler and state violence in the occupied West Bank is accelerating. Land theft, forced displacement, and attacks on communities are intensifying, as part of policies designed to change the demographic makeup of the West Bank.  
Governments around the world – through political, military, or material support to Israel, or through silence – are complicit in the genocide. They have a moral and legal obligation to respond.
This means real political pressure, not empty words, using every available political, diplomatic, and economic measure to stop these atrocities. This includes ensuring all countries halt arms transfers used to kill and injure people and destroy civilian infrastructure in Gaza.
States must urgently secure a ceasefire, lift the siege, and ensure that Israeli authorities allow immediate and unhindered delivery of large-scale, independent humanitarian aid. Medical facilities and health workers must be protected. The emergency evacuation orders and mass forced displacement of people must stop.
Release hostages, evacuate patients
The attacks by Hamas in October 2023 were horrific, and all the remaining hostages must also be allowed to return home, as must Palestinians held in arbitrary detention. 
Borders must be opened to allow the evacuation of people who want to leave, and patients in urgent need of specialist care. Governments must actively facilitate these lifesaving pathways and a right of return when conditions are truly safe to do so.  
The genocide must stop. And world leaders are the only ones to do this. Doctors cannot. That is why we ask for your support now, rally Asean, today.
Stop the genocide against Palestinians in Gaza. Stop ethnic cleansing and forced displacement. Secure an immediate and sustained ceasefire.
Lift the siege and allow immediate, unhindered delivery of large-scale, independent humanitarian aid. Stop the attacks on medical facilities and health workers. - Mkini
WILSON LI is an orthopaedic surgeon from Hong Kong and the vice president of the Médecins Sans Frontières Hong Kong Regional Association. He has worked as an MSF trauma surgeon in Iraq, Afghanistan, and Haiti.
VEENA PILLAI is a medical professional from Malaysia and a board member of Médecins Sans Frontières Hong Kong Regional Association. She has led clinical and coordination work in MSF projects in South Sudan and Ethiopia.
The views expressed here are those of the author/contributor and do not necessarily represent the views of MMKtT.

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