MSF halts medical services in Gaza City as Israeli offensive escalates
Gaza City: Médecins Sans Frontières (Doctors Without Borders) announced on Friday that it has suspended lifesaving medical activities in Gaza City, citing an “unacceptable level of risk” to staff and patients as Israeli forces intensified their assault.
The humanitarian group said continued airstrikes and advancing tanks less than a kilometre from its healthcare facilities forced the suspension. “We have been left with no choice but to stop our activities, as our clinics are encircled by Israeli forces,” said Jacob Granger, MSF’s emergency coordinator in Gaza.
According to MSF, the halt comes at a critical time when needs are immense. Infants in neonatal care, patients with severe injuries, and people with life-threatening illnesses remain in grave danger. Tens of thousands have fled south following evacuation orders, but hundreds of thousands are still trapped in Gaza City without a safe route out.
Hospitals across the enclave are struggling with shortages of staff, supplies, and fuel, leaving many patients arriving too late and in critical condition. Despite the deteriorating situation, MSF clinics in Gaza City provided more than 3,600 consultations and treated 1,655 cases of malnutrition just last week, alongside trauma, burn, and maternity care.
While suspending activities in Gaza City, MSF said it would continue supporting services at Al-Helou and Al-Shifa hospitals as long as they remain functional. Teams in southern Gaza are still operating at Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis, Al-Aqsa Hospital in the Middle Area, and several field hospitals.
MSF called for an immediate halt to hostilities and urged Israeli authorities to guarantee unhindered humanitarian access. “People in Gaza City have been repeatedly and relentlessly bombed. They are exhausted and are being deliberately deprived of the essentials needed to survive,” the group said.
The ongoing Israeli offensive has killed at least 65,549 people and wounded 167,518 since October 2023, with thousands more believed to be trapped under rubble.
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We will move court again to resist voter deletions: Mamata
Kolkata (PTI): West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Wednesday hit out at the BJP and the Election Commission over voter deletions during the SIR exercise and said her party will move a court again to resist the removal of electors from the rolls.
Her comments came after nearly 91 lakh voters' names were deleted from the electoral rolls following the completion of the Special Intensive Revision in the state.
“You will not be able to defeat the TMC by deleting names. We will move a court again to resist the exclusion of names," Banerjee said while attacking her principal challenger BJP over the roll revision exercise.
Banerjee had in February argued in the Supreme Court as she sought an intervention in the SIR process.
The EC figures, which pushed the total deletion to over 90.83 lakh names from the original voter base of 7.66 crore in October 2025, showed that the proportion of removal of electors now remains at over 11.85 per cent.
Criticising the poll panel over the SIR process, she also said, "We will fight legally to get the names included on the list as per the Constitution. If people cannot cast their votes, what is the need to frame the tribunal? And then you are saying that the list has been frozen. What is this? We will challenge it and try to understand it."
Addressing a poll rally at Arambagh in Hooghly district, the TMC supremo accused the saffron party of trying to manipulate the electoral rolls and offering money to woo voters.
Banerjee also charged the Election Commission with intimidating people over the phone.
“It (EC) is working at the behest of the BJP. It is calling people over the telephone to threaten and intimidate them,” she claimed.
Later, while speaking at a rally in Balagarh in the same district, Banerjee warned that voting for the BJP would effectively mean "giving up fish, meat, and speaking in Bengali".
“People are not allowed to eat eggs, fish, or meat in the BJP-ruled states like Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, and Maharashtra. The same will happen here if the BJP comes to power," Banerjee claimed.
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