After 15 months Israel‘s war on Gaza, Palestine, and the implementation of the ceasefire on 19 January 2025, displaced Palestinians are attempting to return home to the southern city of Rafah. While people try to rebuild the ruins, Rafah is totally destroyed, with homes, shops, streets and healthcare facilities in ruins and electricity and water systems damaged – and unsafe due to scattered unexploded ordnance in the ruins of buildings.

In May 2024, Rafah had the largest concentration of displaced Palestinians in the Strip with an estimated 1.5 million Palestinian living in tents and makeshift shelters. People were living in inhumane conditions, facing disease outbreaks, malnutrition, and the psychological impact of being forcibly displaced multiple times. Médecins Sans Frontières / Doctors Without Borders teams working in Rafah were providing primary health care, mental health support in the Shabboura clinic and supporting pediatric and maternity care in the Ministry of Health Emirati hospital in Rafah.

Eventually, MSF teams were forced to close activities and evacuate the area after continuous bombings and evacuations orders by Israeli forces, as the looming threat of a ground invasion by Israeli forces, which began on May 6, 2024. The military operations by Israeli forces led to the emptying of Rafah, mass destruction of the city, and to the closure of the Rafah crossing, severely hindering the delivery of humanitarian aid into the Strip. Rafah was also the home to many of MSF colleagues, many who had fled other parts of the Gaza Strip.