Gaza - Saba:
Doctors Without Borders (MSF) has raised the alarm over rapidly increasing levels of acute malnutrition in the Gaza Strip due to the ongoing genocide and blockade.
In a statement issued Friday evening, the organization said, “MSF teams are witnessing a sharp and unprecedented increase in acute malnutrition among the population of Gaza.”
MSF confirmed that cases of acute malnutrition have surged dramatically in two of its clinics operating in the Gaza Strip. “In our clinic in Al-Mawasi in southern Gaza and another in northern Gaza, we are witnessing the highest number of malnutrition cases our teams have ever recorded in the Strip,” the statement noted.
Currently, the two clinics are treating more than 700 pregnant and breastfeeding women and around 500 children suffering from severe and moderate malnutrition.
The number of malnutrition cases in MSF’s Gaza City clinic has nearly quadrupled in less than two months—from 293 cases in May to 983 at the beginning of July.
“This is the first time we have witnessed malnutrition on such a large scale in Gaza,” said Mohammed Abu Mughaisib, MSF’s Deputy Medical Coordinator in Gaza. He added, “The starvation of people in Gaza is deliberate,” stressing that “this could end tomorrow if the Israeli authorities allow food into Gaza on a large scale.”
For over two months starting in March, the Zionist occupation forces prevented the entry of food and essential supplies into Gaza, triggering widespread warnings of famine. Much of the territory has been devastated by Israeli bombardment since October 7, 2023.