Gaza hunger crisis: Medecins du Monde condemns 'Israel'
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Medecins du Monde warns of critical hunger levels in Gaza, accusing "Israel" of using starvation as a weapon amid the worsening aid blockade.
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Raed Zaharna, right, and his sister Sally sit in their family tent after their mother, Ward, returned empty-handed from trying to receive donated food at a community kitchen in Khan Younis, in the southern Gaza Strip, May 9, 2025 (AP/Abdel Kareem Hana)
The months-long blockade imposed by the Israeli occupation is worsening an already dire hunger crisis in the Gaza Strip, according to Medecins du Monde (MDM), which accused "Israel" of using starvation as a weapon of war.
The medical charity issued a stark warning on Tuesday, reporting that acute malnutrition rates in Gaza have reached levels comparable to those seen in countries facing prolonged humanitarian disasters over decades.
On March 2, 2025, "Israel" initiated a comprehensive blockade on the Gaza Strip, halting all humanitarian aid deliveries through key crossings, including Rafah, Beit Hanoun, and Karem Abu Salem.
Aid cutoffs linked to spikes in child hunger
Although aid flows into Gaza have long been limited, the total shutdown at Israeli-controlled entry points has pushed conditions to critical levels. According to MDM, data gathered from six health centers in Gaza revealed that peaks in acute malnutrition, especially among children and pregnant or breastfeeding women, directly coincided with sharp reductions in the number of aid trucks allowed through.
One such spike occurred in November 2024, when MDM documented child acute malnutrition reaching 17% amid one of the most drastic declines in humanitarian deliveries.
MDM: Hunger used as a weapon of war
The medical organization emphasized the human-driven nature of the crisis, stating that malnutrition rates are contingent on the Israeli occupation’s choices regarding aid access. "Acute malnutrition rates among pregnant and breastfeeding women and children depend on the Israeli authorities' decisions to allow or block humanitarian aid," MDM said.
Jean-Francois Corty, president of the organization, described the current conditions as a collapse of moral norms in Gaza: "We are not witnessing a humanitarian crisis but a crisis of humanity and moral bankruptcy with the use of hunger as a weapon of war."
Access to Gaza remains severely restricted, with all crossings under Israeli control. The Rafah crossing with Egypt, previously a key channel for aid, has remained closed since the Israeli army seized control of the surrounding city in the spring of 2024.
While the Israeli security cabinet approved limited humanitarian distributions in early May, it insisted that “currently enough food” exists in the territory. This claim about Gaza was challenged by the World Food Programme, which declared in late April that it had exhausted all its food stocks in Gaza.
MDM reported that in April alone, in Gaza, one in five pregnant or breastfeeding women and nearly one in four children were either suffering from or at high risk of acute malnutrition. The organization also pointed to the destruction of agricultural infrastructure and water sanitation systems as compounding the crisis.
A high risk of Famine persists across the whole of the #Gaza Strip as long as conflict continues, and humanitarian access is restricted.
— The Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (@theIPCinfo) June 25, 2024
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Although it refrained from officially declaring a famine due to the lack of comprehensive data, MDM’s findings align with those of the UN-backed Integrated Food Security Phase Classification, which warned Monday that Gaza is at “critical risk of famine,” with 22% of the population facing an imminent humanitarian catastrophe.
Corty warned that international failure to act could amount to complicity, "The failure of other countries with the power to pressure the Israeli authorities to lift this deadly siege is unacceptable and could be seen as complicity under international law."
