MedGlobal Warns of Catastrophic Humanitarian Conse

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
August 8, 2025

MEDIA CONTACT:
Prapti Ajmera, West End Strategy Team
[email protected] | 202-867-5231

MedGlobal is deeply alarmed by the Israeli government’s reported plans for a renewed military offensive on Gaza City and the forced displacement of its civilian population, as part of wider plans for the full occupation of Gaza. If it moves forward, such an operation would have a devastating impact on the roughly one million Palestinians who live in the Gaza City area – half of Gaza’s entire population. 

Many of the civilians now residing in and around Gaza City fled there in search of safety during earlier phases of the conflict. Forcibly driving them out now could become one of the largest displacements of the entire conflict to date. It could also prove to be a death sentence for many malnourished children and adults, cutting off their limited remaining access to lifesaving medical care. Gaza City is an epicenter of malnutrition in Gaza – the Global Acute Malnutrition (GAM) rate there has soared 122%, from 4.4% in May to an alarming 16.5% in July, surpassing the famine threshold for acute malnutrition. Gaza is now facing mass starvation and famine risk, leaving many people too weakened to flee again.

“Gaza City has some of the highest levels of malnutrition in Gaza,” said Salwa Al-Tibi, MedGlobal’s Gaza Country Representative. “MedGlobal has three outpatient therapeutic programs, numerous distribution points for nutrition supplements, and two warehouses holding aid supplies in the area. Both of MedGlobal’s nutrition stabilization centers are in Gaza City – where we are treating many malnourished children hovering between life and death. They cannot be moved. If their medical care stops, they will die.”

Eighty-six percent of Gaza is already under displacement orders or located in a militarized zone, while Gaza City has been one of the few remaining places that is not. If these new plans go forward, effectively putting the entirety of northern Gaza in a “no-go area,” it would put hundreds of thousands of weak, malnourished people directly in harm’s way, and wipe out some of Gaza’s only remaining healthcare services. MedGlobal teams have also consistently seen that “displacement camps” throughout Gaza force people to live in inhumane conditions. They are unprotected from further attacks and lack access to basic shelter, food, medical and nutrition care, or other humanitarian aid amid the ongoing blockade on aid.

“MedGlobal’s medical and humanitarian workers in Gaza City and throughout Gaza are working tirelessly in a desperate situation to do everything in their power to save lives in the midst of a collapsed healthcare system, even as they themselves are exhausted from very limited access to food, humanitarian supplies and basic necessities,” said Dr. Zaher Sahloul, president and co-founder of MedGlobal. “We have 200 staff in and around Gaza City who would be at risk of forced displacement and harm. If this offensive goes forward, we fear for their safety and their ability to remain at their posts. Their rights as aid workers under international law must be upheld – and the patients in their care must be protected.”

MedGlobal stands in unwavering solidarity with Gaza’s healthcare workers and patients and reaffirms its mission to facilitate the uninterrupted delivery of essential aid to crisis-affected populations. The organization calls on parties to the conflict and the international community to do everything possible to halt these reported plans of displacement and military offensives, restore full humanitarian access for the humanitarian response, allow all humanitarian aid into Gaza, secure the release of the hostages, and secure an immediate ceasefire.

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About MedGlobalMedGlobal is a humanitarian nonprofit organization that provides emergency medical response and health programs to build resilience among vulnerable communities around the world. The organization’s health programs support victims of crisis and conflict, refugees, internally displaced persons, and marginalized communities in disaster-affected and low-resource settings.