A study published today by the Lancet documents the immense human toll of indiscriminate attacks on people in the Gaza Strip, based on an analysis of medical data from Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF).
An analysis of more than 200,000 medical consultations in six MSF-supported health facilities in 2024 found that explosive weapons, such as bombs and grenades, were responsible for 83 percent of wound-care consultations for victims of violence. Explosive weapons were designed to be used in open battlefields but are increasingly used in urban settings, causing widespread carnage.
"Explosive weapons are indiscriminate, causing complex injuries due to blast, fragmentation, and heat," said Meinie Nicolai, former MSF emergency coordinator in Gaza. "In two hospitals, we observed that nearly 60 percent of the injuries were related to explosive weapons. The makeshift shelters in which the population is forced to live offer little to no protection against these weapons."
The data analysis finds a very high wound infection rate—more than 18 percent—among patients seeking care for the first time. This is a result of unhygienic living conditions for people who have been forcibly displaced multiple times.
The lack of protection of civilians is clear: 29.6 percent of all medical consultations for wounds were for children below 15 years of age, and 32 percent of the consultations were for women.
This lack of protection is also a reality for health care workers in Gaza, 1,580 of whom have been killed since October 2023. Twelve MSF staff members have been killed. Not a single hospital in Gaza is fully functional.
MSF reiterates our call for an immediate and standing ceasefire and a stop to indiscriminate attacks. MSF calls for the protection of civilians and respect for essential medical and humanitarian work. MSF urges Israel to directly allow and protect, impartial and unrestricted medical aid.
