European 'empty rhetoric' is not enough to stop Israel's 'ethnic cleansing' of Gaza, MSF says
That's what European government leaders have been told in an open letter written by the heads of the medical charity Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF), eleven of whose staff members have been killed during the 20 months of war on the besieged Palestinian territory.
Dr Christos Christou, MSF International's president and Christopher Lockyear, the NGO's secretary general, described Israel's campaign against the Palestinian people in Gaza as 'ethnic cleansing, wrapped in the rhetoric of security defence'.
'On a daily basis, MSF teams witness patterns consistent with genocide through deliberate actions by Israeli forces – including mass killings, the destruction of vital civilian infrastructure, and blockades choking off access to food, water, medicines, and other essential humanitarian supplies,' they wrote.
Israel is systematically destroying the conditions necessary for Palestinian life.
This pattern of violence and disregard for international humanitarian law, the said, 'shows that this war run by Israel in Gaza is against Palestinians as a whole'.
Israel stands accused of committing genocide in Gaza in a case taken by South Africa at the International Criminal Court.
It has also been accused of genocide by NGOs Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International.
Taoiseach Micheál Martin has also
described Israel's actions in Gaza as genocidal.
Despite these allegations, European support for Israel has remained steadfast, with some exceptions.
Last month, some European states closely allied with Israel openly criticised Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's war and the ongoing military operations and settlement expansions in the occupied West Bank.
That tone has
since shifted back to support for Israel
in the wake of its attack against Iran last Friday, which has also drawn attention away from the plight of the people of Gaza.
Weaponising aid
MSF pointed to the spate of massacres that have been committed by Israeli forces while hungry people have been waiting for humanitarian aid handed out by the so-called Gaza Humanitarian Foundation(GHF), an organisation the UN and NGOs refuse to work with.
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'The GHF launched its activities on 27 May, as part of the US-Israeli plan that instrumentalises aid,' the letter reads.
'Since then, hundreds of Palestinians have been treated in hospitals, and scores have been killed, after being shot at these aid distribution sites while waiting to receive basic necessities for survival.
'Humanitarian aid is being weaponised. It is being used as leverage to forcibly displace people, to meet military objectives, or blocked entirely.
Aid is not a bargaining chip. It is a lifeline.
'Denying it is collective punishment – a war crime.'
Yesterday, Israeli forces killed 34 people near a GHF distribution site. Today, Israeli forces
killed at least 51 people and wounded more than 200
while they waited to get flour from a UN site.
The war in Gaza is becoming ever more deadly and devastating. In what's become a macabre daily routine, more desperately hungry people were gunned down today, as they tried to collect food aid from the new US and Israeli backed distribution centre.
pic.twitter.com/X80yRWuPHd
— Channel 4 News (@Channel4News)
June 16, 2025
'Empty rhetoric'
'The European Union and European governments have the political, economic, and diplomatic means capable of exerting real pressure on Israel to stop this assault and open Gaza's border crossings to unhindered humanitarian aid,' the MSF letter said.
'These are not theoretical instruments; they can be effectively mobilised in defence of international law and to protect civilians.
The letter noted the recent rebukes of Israel by European leaders.
'Yet these words ring hollow, as they fail to take the substantive action needed to stop the slaughter, and hypocritically continue to provide weapons to Israel that kill, burn, or permanently disable the people who end up in our hospitals. This must stop.'
MSF said the words and actions of European leaders are 'a test of your credibility and leadership'.
Now is a moment that will define your legacy and determine whether laws meant to protect civilians in war retain any meaning at all.
'It requires political courage, legal responsibility, and moral commitment. The scale of suffering in Gaza demands more than your empty rhetoric.
'Every delay, every equivocation, and every policy that permits the machinery of devastation to roll forward with impunity is an act of complicity.'
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