MSF suspends operations in Haiti’s Cité Soleil as gang clashes force hospital evacuations

Haiti Gang Violence Forces Hospital Evacuations in Cité Soleil

Hospitals in the Cité Soleil neighborhood of Haiti’s capital, Port-au-Prince, evacuated their patients on Monday as Doctors Without Borders suspended all operations in the area amid escalating clashes between rival armed groups, according to Reuters. The violence, which intensified over the weekend, has left the densely populated district — home to hundreds of thousands — without a single functioning hospital.usnews

A Healthcare Collapse

MSF, which operates the only trauma hospital accessible to Cité Soleil’s residents, said it was forced to evacuate the facility and temporarily halt all medical activities as fighting engulfed the area. In the days leading up to the suspension, MSF teams had treated a surge of patients with gunshot wounds and sheltered more than 800 people who fled to the hospital compound seeking safety. Hôpital Fontaine, a family-run facility that houses the neighborhood’s only neonatal intensive care unit, also evacuated its patients, including newborns.doctorswithoutborders

The clashes stem from a fracture within the Viv Ansanm gang coalition, an alliance of Haiti’s most powerful armed groups that has controlled more than 90 percent of Port-au-Prince since consolidating power in 2024. A rift that first emerged in December 2025 over the continued use of kidnappings has since deepened, triggering factional fighting across several neighborhoods. MSF warned in April that Haiti’s humanitarian situation had “continued to deteriorate sharply, with violence restricting access to healthcare”, and noted that more than 60 percent of medical facilities in Port-au-Prince are now shuttered or only partially functioning.securitycouncilreport

A Mounting Death Toll

The hospital evacuations come days after the United Nations Integrated Office in Haiti released a report documenting at least 1,642 people killed and 745 injured in the first three months of 2026 alone. Gang members were directly responsible for 27 percent of those killed and injured, while more than 69 percent of casualties resulted from security force operations against gangs, sometimes involving drone strikes by a private military company. The report detailed sexual violence against more than 292 victims, mainly women and girls aged 12 to 17, and recounted the execution of a 13-year-old boy who had served as a gang lookout.unmissions

A Country Under Siege

The crisis in Cité Soleil reflects a broader pattern of collapse across Haiti. Viv Ansanm has expanded beyond Port-au-Prince into three of the country’s ten departments, displacing 1.4 million people. The International Crisis Group noted in January that the coalition had “achieved a level of military might far beyond anything previously seen” in Haiti. Carlos Ruiz Massieu, the UN’s special representative in Haiti, said that “despite security advances in certain areas of downtown Port-au-Prince, insecurity is a daily and unbearable reality for a large number of Haitians”.hrw