MSF Taiwan urges end to weaponization of aid in Gaza

Taipei, June 20 (CNA) The Taiwan branch of Doctors Without Borders on Friday called for an end to the blockade of Gaza and urged Israel to stop using humanitarian aid as a weapon, while the Israel Economic and Cultural Office in Taipei responded that essential supplies are "continuously entering the Gaza Strip."

"Aid is not a weapon, stop the blockade of Gaza!" chanted around 20 participants at a press event held by Doctors Without Borders, also known by its French name, Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF), in Taipei on Friday morning.

"Our MSF team in Gaza witnessed signs of ethnic cleansing, the killing of humanitarian workers, the bombing of medical facilities and shelters, the blockade, cutting of access to food, water and essential medicine," said Ludivine Houdet, executive director of MSF Taiwan.

Since the start of the Gaza war in October 2023, MSF has been forced to withdraw from at least 20 health facilities in the war-torn region, Houdet said at the event, which was held near a building in Taipei's Xinyi District that houses the Israel Economic and Cultural Office in Taipei -- the de facto Israeli embassy in Taiwan.

During the ongoing blockade -- the longest in Gaza's history, according to MSF Taiwan -- the international non-governmental organization has also faced 50 violent incidents in Gaza, including the killing of 11 of its staff members, Houdet said.

"Today, the only lifeline of Gaza -- humanitarian assistance -- is being weaponized, conditioned, or blocked," she said, noting that under the newly established United States and Israel-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), aid -- including food and medicine -- is no longer delivered safely or impartially in Gaza.

"Supplies [of humanitarian aid] are re-routed to advance military and political objectives," Houdet added.

Wu Yi-chun (鄔逸群), a Taiwanese plastic surgeon who joined two MSF missions to Gaza in July-August 2024 and January-February 2025, said that as Israeli attacks continued, "large numbers of wounded patients kept pouring into the hospital."

"The number of patients was overwhelming -- even major hospitals in Taiwan would struggle to handle such a volume," Wu said, recalling his two missions at Nasser Hospital in southern Gaza, where he treated patients with blast and gunshot injuries.

He said that Nasser Hospital -- one of the largest hospitals in the Gaza Strip -- has come under attack, but many newborns and critically ill patients cannot be moved and have to remain in the hospital despite the ongoing strikes from Israeli forces.

"I want to stress here that medicine is not a weapon, and hospitals should never be battlefields," Wu said. "Under no circumstances is it acceptable to attack medical personnel or facilities."

Asked by CNA why Taiwanese should care about the Gaza war and those affected by it, Hung Shang-kai (洪上凱), a Taiwanese emergency physician who joined an MSF mission at a hospital in northern Gaza from July to November 2023, said that people in Taiwan and Gaza are "human beings."

"By sharing the common bond of being human, we must not look away from those who are suffering -- we must take action," Hung said.

Asked by CNA for a response to MSF's remarks, the Israel Economic and Cultural Office in Taipei said that Israel is "enabling" the GHF and international aid agencies to "distribute assistance directly to the residents of Gaza, and not to the Hamas terrorist organization."

"Food, medicine, basic goods, and medical equipment are continuously entering the Gaza Strip," the office said. "Medical teams from international organizations continue to enter Gaza on a regular basis."

In addition, the office noted that GHF has distributed over 30 million meals in its first three weeks of operation, with over 3 million meals distributed on Wednesday across three locations in Gaza.

"We continue to monitor and follow the humanitarian situation in the Gaza Strip," the office added.