MSF: Israel's Hunger Policy Exacerbates Child Malnutrition In Gaza

The WCK mobile team toured the Gaza Strip to distribute food to Palestinian civilians. (Twitter/@WCKitchen)

JAKARTA - International health humanitarian organization Doctors Without Borders (Mredecins Sans Frontières - MSF) on Thursday warned of an ever-increasing nutritional crisis affecting children in the Gaza Strip, Palestine, that the condition was rapidly deteriorating due to continued Israeli military attacks and prolonged blockades in the region.

According to the organization, the number of children under the age of five suffering from acute malnutrition in Gaza has tripled in recent weeks. The MSF medical team is now treating an average of 25 new cases of severe malnutrition every day.

Communications staff for the Middle East and North Africa MSF Enass Abu Khalaf described the situation as "disaster in every way," citing a live report from a medical team working in the field.

UNRWA, the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, also issued a grim assessment, describing the situation as "the worst scenario for hunger."

The agency stressed that the only way to prevent further damage is through the delivery of large and sustainable humanitarian aid to Gaza.

"This is an unprecedented humanitarian catastrophe. Our team has been operating in Gaza continuously for 25 years, and we have never seen anything like this before even during previous wars," Abu Khalaf said.

He detailed the collapse of basic services, saying: "There is no electricity, no food, no humanitarian access. This is a continuous systematic campaign of hunger, forced evacuation, and military attacks. Israel is pushing civilians - including our staff, patients, and even babies - into the war zone every day."

Abu Khleif also confirmed that an MSF staff and his son were seriously injured in an Israeli attack targeting a church, underscoring that there is no remaining safe or holy place in Gaza.