MSF, Doctors Without Borders, Starvation in Gaza
Palestine

As mass starvation spreads across Gaza, our colleagues and those we serve are wasting away

Doctors Without Borders (MSF) joined a statement with more than 100 other organisations to sound the alarm that lifesaving aid must enter Gaza, Palestine.

As the Israeli government’s siege starves the people of Gaza, Palestine, aid workers are now joining the same food lines, risking being shot just to feed their families. With supplies now totally depleted, humanitarian organisations are witnessing their own colleagues and partners waste away before their eyes.

Exactly two months since the Israeli government-controlled scheme, the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, began operating, more than 100 organisations are sounding the alarm, urging governments to act: open all land crossings; restore the full flow of food, clean water, medical supplies, shelter items, and fuel through a principled, UN-led mechanism; end the siege; and agree to a ceasefire now. 

Each morning, the same question echoes across Gaza: Will I eat today? Agency Representative.
MSF, Doctors Without Borders, Starvation in Gaza
Wife, sisters, and mother of a man killed by Israeli forces’ bullets at US-American food distribution center. Grieving for his loss at the MSF supported field hospital in Deir Al Balah.
Nour Alsaqqa/MSF

Massacres at food distribution sites in Gaza are occurring near-daily. As of 13 July, the UN confirmed 875 Palestinians were killed while seeking food, 201 on aid routes and the rest at distribution points. Thousands more have been injured. Meanwhile, Israeli forces have forcibly displaced nearly two million exhausted Palestinians with the most recent mass displacement order issued on 20 July, confining Palestinians to less than 12 per cent of Gaza. The World Food Programme warns that current conditions make operations untenable. The starvation of civilians as a method of warfare is a war crime.

Just outside Gaza, in warehouses - and even within Gaza itself - tonnes of food, clean water, medical supplies, shelter items and fuel sit untouched, with humanitarian organisations blocked from accessing or delivering them. The Government of Israel’s restrictions, delays, and fragmentation under its total siege have created chaos, starvation, and death. An aid worker providing psychosocial support spoke of the devastating impact on children: “Children tell their parents they want to go to heaven, because at least heaven has food.” 

MSF, Doctors Without Borders, Starvation in Gaza
Multiple babies share one incubator in the neonatal intensive care unit of Al Helou hospital north Gaza because of a lack of incubators. Having babies sharing one incubator highly increases the chances of infection. The immune system of newborns, especially premature ones, is not yet developed.
Joanne Perry/MSF

Doctors report record rates of acute malnutrition, especially among children and older people. Illnesses like acute watery diarrhoea are spreading, markets are empty, waste is piling up, and adults are collapsing on the streets from hunger and dehydration. Distributions in Gaza average just 28 trucks a day, far from enough for over two million people, many of whom have gone weeks without assistance.

The UN-led humanitarian system has not failed; it has been prevented from functioning.

Humanitarian agencies have the capacity and supplies to respond at scale. But, with access denied, we are blocked from reaching those in need, including our own exhausted and starved teams. On 10 July, the European Union and Israel announced steps to scale up aid. But these promises of ‘progress’ ring hollow when there is no real change on the ground. Every day without a sustained flow means more people dying of preventable illnesses. Children starve while waiting for promises that never arrive.

MSF, Doctors Without Borders, Starvation in Gaza
A Palestinian mother receives medication from the pharmacy at the MSF clinic Gaza city.
Nour Alsaqqa/MSF

Palestinians are trapped in a cycle of hope and heartbreak, waiting for assistance and ceasefires, only to wake up to worsening conditions. It is not just physical torment, but psychological. Survival is dangled like a mirage. The humanitarian system cannot run on false promises. Humanitarians cannot operate on shifting timelines or wait for political commitments that fail to deliver access.

Governments must stop waiting for permission to act. We cannot continue to hope that current arrangements will work. It is time to take decisive action: demand an immediate and permanent ceasefire; lift all bureaucratic and administrative restrictions; open all land crossings; ensure access to everyone in all of Gaza; reject military-controlled distribution models; restore a principled, UN-led humanitarian response, and continue to fund principled and impartial humanitarian organisations. States must pursue concrete measures to end the siege, such as halting the transfer of weapons and ammunition.

Piecemeal arrangements and symbolic gestures, like airdrops or flawed aid deals, serve as a smokescreen for inaction. They cannot replace states’ legal and moral obligations to protect Palestinian civilians and ensure meaningful access at scale. States can and must save lives before there are none left to save.

  1. American Friends Service Committee (AFSC)
  2. A.M. Qattan Foundation
  3. A New Policy
  4. ACT Alliance
  5. Action Against Hunger (ACF)
  6. Action for Humanity
  7. ActionAid International
  8. American Baptist Churches Palestine Justice Network
  9. Amnesty International
  10. Asamblea de Cooperación por la Paz
  11. Associazione Cooperazione e Solidarietà (ACS)
  12. Bystanders No More
  13. Campain
  14. CARE
  15. Caritas Germany
  16. Caritas Internationalis
  17. Caritas Jerusalem
  18. Catholic Agency for Overseas Development (CAFOD)
  19. Center for Mind-Body Medicine (CMBM)
  20. CESVI Fondazione
  21. Children Not Numbers
  22. Christian Aid
  23. Churches for Middle East Peace (CMEP)
  24. CIDSE- International Family of Catholic Social Justice Organisations
  25. Cooperazione Internazionale Sud Sud (CISS)
  26. Council for Arab‑British Understanding (CAABU)
  27. DanChurchAid (DCA)
  28. Danish Refugee Council (DRC)
  29. Development and Peace – Caritas Canada
  30. Doctors against Genocide
  31. Episcopal Peace Fellowship
  32. EuroMed Rights
  33. Friends Committee on National Legislation (FCNL)
  34. Forum Ziviler Friedensdienst e.V.
  35. Gender Action for Peace and Security
  36. Glia
  37. Global Legal Action Network (GLAN)
  38. Global Witness
  39. Health Workers 4 Palestine
  40. HelpAge International
  41. Human Concern International
  42. Humanity & Inclusion (HI)
  43. Humanity First UK
  44. Indiana Center for Middle East Peace
  45. Insecurity Insight
  46. International Media Support
  47. International NGO Safety Organisation
  48. Islamic Relief
  49. Jahalin Solidarity
  50. Japan International Volunteer Center (JVC)
  51. Justice for All
  52. Kenya Association of Muslim Medical Professionals (KAMMP)
  53. Kvinna till Kvinna Foundation
  54. MedGlobal
  55. Medico International
  56. Medico International Switzerland (medico international schweiz)
  57. Medical Aid for Palestinians (MAP)
  58. Mennonite Central Committee (MCC)
  59. Medicine for the People - Belgium (MPLP/GVHV)
  60. Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF)
  61. Médecins du Monde France
  62. Médecins du Monde Spain
  63. Médecins du Monde Switzerland
  64. Mercy Corps 65. Middle East Children’s Alliance (MECA)
  65. Movement for Peace (MPDL)
  66. Muslim Aid
  67. National Justice and Peace Network in England and Wales
  68. Nonviolence International
  69. Norwegian Aid Committee (NORWAC)
  70. Norwegian Church Aid (NCA)
  71. Norwegian People’s Aid (NPA)
  72. Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC)
  73. Oxfam International
  74. Pax Christi England and Wales
  75. Pax Christi International
  76. Pax Christi Merseyside
  77. Pax Christi USA
  78. Pal Law Commission
  79. Palestinian American Medical Association
  80. Palestinian Children’s Relief Fund (PCRF)
  81. Palestinian Medical Relief Society (PMRS)
  82. Peace Direct
  83. Peace Winds
  84. Pediatricians for Palestine
  85. People in Need
  86. Plan International
  87. Première Urgence Internationale (PUI)
  88. Progettomondo
  89. Project HOPE
  90. Quaker Palestine Israel Network
  91. Rebuilding Alliance
  92. Refugees International
  93. Saferworld
  94. Sabeel‑Kairos UK
  95. Save the Children (SCI)
  96. Scottish Catholic International Aid Fund
  97. Solidarités International
  98. Støtteforeningen Det Danske Hus i Palæstina
  99. Swiss Church Aid (HEKS/EPER)
  100. Terre des Hommes Italia
  101. Terre des Hommes Lausanne
  102. Terre des Hommes Nederland
  103. The Borgen Project
  104. The Center for Mind-Body Medicine (CMBM)
  105. The Global Centre for the Responsibility to Protect (GCR2P)
  106. The International Development and Relief Foundation
  107. The Institute for the Understanding of Anti‑Palestinian Racism
  108. Un Ponte Per (UPP)
  109. United Against Inhumanity (UAI)
  110. War Child Alliance
  111. War Child UK
  112. War on Want
  113. Weltfriedensdienst e.V.
  114. Welthungerhilfe (WHH)