Jenin, in the West Bank, Palestine, is one of the biggest cities, located in the north where MSF teams are trying to bridge the gaps between patients and their growing lack of access to healthcare, due to ongoing violence and restrictions.

Palestinians in the West Bank are living in the shadow of the war in the Gaza Strip while being subjected to increasing attacks, harassment and restrictions by Israeli forces and settlers.

According to the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), in the months following October 2023, 479 Palestinians have been killed, including 116 children, of whom 462 were killed by Israeli forces, ten by settlers and eight where it remains unknown whether the perpetrators were settlers or soldiers.

It’s estimated that around 61 per cent of the West Bank is off-limits to Palestinians (source: the UN). Checkpoints, roadblocks, and the unprecedented incursions by the Israeli army and Israeli settlers have long cut off towns and villages from each other, blocked Palestinians from accessing basic services including health care and food markets.

With this increasing violence and access challenges in the West Bank, MSF teams are trying to bridge the gap between healthcare services and patients' needs, by running mobile clinics, with teams traveling to where the patients are. They are also providing first aid training to medical and non-medical volunteers to be able to respond on site, in the event that an ambulance is delayed or stopped at a check point, unable to reach people in need of urgent medical care. This includes Palestinian Red Crescent Society (PRCS) trainings organized by MSF, which include First Responder, First Aid, and PFA.