Doctors Without Borders has accused U.S.-affiliated food distribution centres in Gaza of becoming “sites of organised killing and humiliation,” where Israeli forces and U.S. private military contractors allegedly target starving civilians. The organisation says what is presented as humanitarian aid has been transformed into a militarised trap, forcing desperate Palestinians to risk their lives for food.

Based on medical data and eyewitness accounts from its clinics in Rafah’s Al-Mawasi area and Khan Younis, MSF describes civilians being gunned down in queues, crushed in stampedes, or shot in the chest, head, and stomach while trying to collect rations. An analysis of wounds revealed patterns suggesting deliberate targeting, with a significant number of injuries to vital areas. Survivors recounted scenes of bodies strewn across aid points, most killed instantly.

MSF says these operations, run by the so-called “Gaza Humanitarian Foundation”, a joint Israeli-American initiative, are deepening Gaza’s humanitarian catastrophe, fuelling mass trauma, and weaponising hunger. The group is calling for the immediate restoration of UN-led aid coordination, investigations into possible war crimes, and an international ban on arms sales to Israel.

As Gaza’s siege grinds on and food remains scarce, MSF warns that the very structures meant to save lives are now complicit in taking them, turning the act of seeking bread into a potential death sentence.