Chris Lockyear, Secretary General of Doctors Without Borders (MSF) on Thursday briefed the UN Security Council. He said: “Israeli forces have attacked our convoys, detained our staff, and bulldozed our vehicles, and hospitals have been bombed and raided. Now, for a second time, one of our staff shelters has been hit. … [See video clips.]

“Our colleagues in Gaza are fearful that, as I speak to you today, they will be punished tomorrow. Madame President, every day we witness unimaginable horror. …

“There is no health system to speak of left in Gaza. Israel’s military has dismantled hospital after hospital. What remains is so little in the face of such carnage. It is preposterous. The excuse given is that medical facilities have been used for military purposes, yet we have seen zero independently verified evidence of this. …

“We are appalled by the willingness of the United States to use its powers as a permanent council member to obstruct efforts to adopt the most evident of resolutions: one demanding an immediate and sustained ceasefire. Three times this council has had an opportunity to vote for the ceasefire that is so desperately needed. And three times the United States has used its veto power, most recently this Tuesday. A new draft resolution by the United States ostensibly calls for a ceasefire. However, this is misleading at best. This council should reject any resolution that further hampers humanitarian efforts on the ground, and leads this council to tacitly endorse the continued violence and mass atrocities in Gaza. …

“Surgeons have had no choice but to carry out amputations without anaesthesia, on children. …”

“Medical teams have added a new acronym to their vocabulary: WCNSF — wounded child, no surviving family. Children who survive this war will not only bear the visible wounds of traumatic injuries but the invisible ones, too — those of repeated displacement, constant fear, and witnessing family members literally dismembered before their eyes. These psychological injuries have led children as young as five to tell us they would prefer to die.”

Contact: MSF press team: press_inquiries@newyork.msf.org