MSF doctors warn of sharp rise in malnutrition in Gaza Strip

Doctors Without Borders (MSF) has warned that the population in the heavily embattled Gaza Strip is increasingly suffering from hunger.

Teams on the ground have observed “a sharp and unprecedented rise in acute malnutrition among people in Gaza,” the organization said.

In its two health centres in Gaza City and the coastal town of Al-Mawasi, more than 700 pregnant and breastfeeding women and almost 500 children with severe and moderate malnutrition are currently receiving outpatient treatment.

According to MSF, the number of malnutrition cases at its Gaza City location almost quadrupled in less than two months, from 293 cases in May to 983 cases in early July. Of these, 326 cases involve children between the ages of 6 and 23 months.

“This is the first time we have witnessed such a severe scale of malnutrition cases in Gaza,” the statement quoted Mohammed Abu Mughaisib, deputy medical coordinator for MSF in Gaza, as saying.

“The starvation of people in Gaza is intentional, it can end tomorrow if the Israeli authorities allow food in at scale,” he said.

Israel restricts food imports to the bare minimum and militarises their subsequent distribution. MSF is urgently calling for unhindered access for humanitarian aid, including food and medicine, and for the protection of the civilian population.

Israel controls all access to the Gaza Strip and thus also the transport routes for any humanitarian aid. In March, it blocked all aid deliveries and only eased the blockade slightly at the end of May.

Israel justifies the restriction of aid deliveries by claiming that Hamas would steal the goods. According to UN organizations, there is no evidence of this happening.

The war was triggered by the massacre of 1,200 people and the taking of 250 hostages by Hamas and other extremists from Gaza in Israel on October 7, 2023.