Doctors Without Borders warns that acute malnutrition soaring in Gaza

Doctors Without Borders warns that its teams on the ground in Gaza are witnessing surging levels of acute malnutrition in the besieged and war-ravaged territory.

The medical charity, known by its French acronym MSF, says levels of acute malnutrition have reached an “all-time high” at two of its facilities in the Gaza Strip.

MSF says it now has more than 700 pregnant and breastfeeding women and nearly 500 children with severe and moderate malnutrition currently enrolled in ambulatory therapeutic feeding centers in both clinics.

The numbers at the Gaza City clinic have almost quadrupled in under two months, from 293 cases in May to 983 cases at the start of this month, it says.

MSF maintains Friday that “the existence of malnutrition in Gaza is the result of deliberate, calculated choices by the Israeli authorities” — a charge Israel has denied, pointing to the tons of aid that it has allowed into Gaza throughout the war. Aid groups say the assistance has been insufficient.

Far more babies were also being born prematurely, while six-month pregnant women often weighed no more than 40 kilos (88 pounds), MSF says.