The unbearable life

This report sheds light on the extraordinary pressure applied by Israeli authorities to push local communities to leave Masafer Yatta, in the southern West Bank of the Occupied Palestinian Territories and the impact of this on people’s physical and mental health. 

MSF’s report reveals that patients are routinely denied access to villages where MSF provides medical services if their identity card shows they are from a different village. In other instances, ambulances trying to reach Masafer Yatta are delayed or even blocked and residents trying to reach hospitals are stopped at the checkpoints and face long delays. As a result, many residents report that the uncertain access to medical care in Masafer Yatta has forced medically vulnerable people – including pregnant women in their final trimester, elderly people with chronic health conditions and people with serious illnesses – to leave their homes and families for nearby Yatta city.