Mark Lankester

Comms @MSF_UK / Médecins Sans Frontières / Doctors Without Borders | Writer of things | Pizza-powered marathon runner | Cat apologist | Views mine

[MSF International @MSF]

Earlier today, two Israeli strikes hit Nasser hospital in Gaza, killing at least 20 people. Jerome Grimaud, our emergency coordinator in Gaza, shares his reaction:

“We denounce in the strongest possible terms Israel’s horrendous attacks on the Nasser medical complex today – the only partially functioning public hospital in the south of Gaza. Israeli forces killed at least 20 people and injured 50 more in consecutive strikes, including healthcare workers, rescuers, and journalists.

“Among them was Mariam Abu Dagga, a freelance photographer who frequently worked with MSF. We are heartbroken by her death. Mariam leaves behind a son who must now grow up without his mother. At least four other journalists were also killed today.

“Some MSF staff members were forced to shelter in the laboratory as Israel repeatedly struck the building amidst rescue efforts. We are outraged as the Israeli forces continue to attack healthcare workers and journalists with impunity.

“For the past 22 months, we have watched as healthcare facilities have been levelled, journalists silenced, and healthcare workers buried beneath the rubble by the Israeli forces. As Israel continues to shun international law, the only witnesses of their genocidal campaign are deliberately being targeted. It must stop now.”

[Mark Lankester @markrlankester]

At least 192 Palestinian journalists have now been killed covering genocide in Gaza
https://t.co/utl8sAJUSu

[Mark Lankester @markrlankester]

"Designed to control independent organisations, silence advocacy and censor humanitarian reporting," say @MSF and other NGOs
https://t.co/FjWBq2p0zy

[Mark Lankester @markrlankester]

"Israel is running two Gaza campaigns: one for military control of the strip; another for narrative control of how the world understands what happens there"
https://t.co/gBVIKlPeps

[Krishnan Guru-Murthy @krishgm]

Israel says it killed these Palestinian Al Jazeera journalists, claiming - without providing any evidence - that Al Sharif was a terrorist. Previous Israeli claims about him were rejected as unsubstantiated smears by Al Jazeera and the Committee to Protect Journalists. International journalists remain banned by Israel from working independently in Gaza so all major news organisations rely on a number of Palestinians, of which more and more have been killed by Israel.

[MSF International @MSF]

What we think about GHF-run food sites in Gaza:

• This is not aid. This is orchestrated killing. 
• GHF must be dismantled immediately. 
• No state donor should fund GHF. 
• The UN-led coordination system must be restored. 
• The siege on Gaza must be lifted to allow safe, large-scale aid delivery.

[Mark Lankester @markrlankester]

Institutionalised starvation and dehumanisation
https://t.co/Em6hjltX1b

[Mark Lankester @markrlankester]

“Those who go to the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation's food distributions know that they have the same chance of receiving a sack of flour as they do of leaving with a bullet in their head.” - Dr Mohammed Abu Mughaisib, @MSF deputy medical coordinator in Gaza
https://t.co/2UIbbKT5yl

[Mark Lankester @markrlankester]

"Our colleagues and those we serve are wasting away": the message from more than 100 aid agencies including @MSF
https://t.co/dVJ5B3FKhW

[Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus @DrTedros]

.@WHO’s staff residence in Deir al Balah, #Gaza, was attacked three times today as well as its main warehouse.

Israeli military entered the premises, forcing women and children to evacuate on foot toward Al-Mawasi amid active conflict. Male staff and family members were handcuffed, stripped, interrogated on the spot and screened at gunpoint.

Two WHO staff and two family members were detained. Three were later released, while one staff remains in detention.

32 WHO staff and family members were evacuated to the WHO office once access became possible.

WHO demands the immediate release of the detained staff and protection of all its staff.

The latest evacuation order in Deir al Balah has affected several WHO premises, compromising our ability to operate in Gaza and pushing the health system further towards collapse.

WHO’s main warehouse located in Deir al Balah is within the evacuation zone, and was damaged yesterday when an attack caused explosions and a fire inside.

With the main warehouse nonfunctional and the majority of medical supplies in Gaza depleted, WHO is severely constrained in adequately supporting hospitals, emergency medical teams and health partners, already critically short on medicines, fuel, and equipment.

WHO urgently calls on Member States to help ensure a sustained and regular flow of medical supplies into Gaza.

As the lead agency for health, compromising WHO’s operations is crippling the entire health response in Gaza.

A ceasefire is not just necessary, it is overdue.

[Mark Lankester @markrlankester]

"MSF has a responsibility to act with moral clarity and humanitarian consistency in the face of mass atrocities. The same should apply to the UK government."

Our op-ed on Gaza by @docnat, in the Guardian today: https://t.co/Q4uPFXD4y2

[Mark Lankester @markrlankester]

A message to the UK Government: MSF is witnessing a genocide in Gaza. And you are complicit.
https://t.co/c1Ncxbd1q5

[TechnicallyRon (On all the platforms) @TechnicallyRon]

Four minutes into the new presidency and the richest man in the world is doing a nazi salute on global TV but don't worry the real problem is pronouns

[Nick Pettigrew @Nick_Pettigrew]

This inauguration is like a Comic-Con for pieces of shit.

[Mark Lankester @markrlankester]

The temporary ceasefire agreement in Gaza is a relief, but it arrives more than 465 days and 46,000 lives too late
https://t.co/OTs27ODPfe

[Mark Lankester @markrlankester]

Reports now from across the news spectrum: A Gaza ceasefire and hostage deal between Israel and Hamas has been reached after 15 months of brutal violence and dehumanisation
https://t.co/LVRSltu7uZ

[Mark Lankester @markrlankester]

“The nationalities reflect the wars of this region. Our patients are from Syria, Iraq, Libya, Yemen, Somalia, Gaza. Almost all have PTSD or some kind of survivor guilt."

Inside MSF's specialist reconstructive and rehabilitative hospital in Amman

https://t.co/U137zPDEHG

[MSF International @MSF]

“The total destruction of Palestinian life in Gaza must stop.”
@Chris_lockyear highlights our new report, Gaza: Life in a death trap, which outlines what our teams are seeing in Gaza, including signs of ethnic cleansing in the north, as people are forcibly displaced and bombed.

[Mark Lankester @markrlankester]

"What our medical teams have witnessed on the ground throughout this conflict is consistent with the descriptions provided by an increasing number of legal experts and organisations concluding that genocide is taking place in Gaza"
https://t.co/OXyO2xB3Eo

[MSF International @MSF]

🚨We are closely monitoring the situation in the French overseas department of Mayotte, following the passage of cyclone Chido on 14 December. We are currently gathering information and setting up a team to visit the island as soon as the situation allows, to assess needs and define the scope for a potential response.

Initial reports indicate a very serious situation on the island, with water and electricity cut off, roads severely damaged, communication difficulties, and a number of lives lost, the true extent of which remains unknown at this stage.

We are particularly worried about the people living in neighbourhoods of insecurely built houses, which have been completely destroyed. The living conditions of residents were already precarious before the cyclone hit.

Between May and August 2024, we responded to a cholera epidemic on Mayotte, and improved access to water, hygiene and sanitation, and supported local associations in health promotion on diarrhoeal diseases and cholera.