Doctors Without Borders, also known as Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF), is commonly viewed as an organization dedicated to delivering crucial aid and supplies in challenging settings without showing bias or preference. Nonetheless, a past leader of MSF is critiquing the organization’s approach to the Gaza situation, even claiming that its members have acted as “accomplices of Hamas.”
Alain Destexhe, an MSF doctor in the 1980s and the group’s former secretary-general in the 1990s, shared with Fox News Digital his concerns that the organization has strayed from its neutral, humanitarian origins.
“Back when I was secretary-general of MSF, it would have been inconceivable to display the kind of bias MSF — Doctors Without Borders — is showing today in Gaza. We identified ourselves as neutral, impartial, and committed to humanitarian causes,” Destexhe said to Fox News Digital. “Currently, it seems MSF in Gaza is aligning with Hamas and opposing Israel.”
Recently, Rep. Elise Stefanik, R-N.Y., called for Attorney General Pam Bondi to investigate MSF under the Anti-Terrorism Act. In a letter obtained by Fox News Digital, Stefanik claimed that MSF’s criticisms of GHF resemble propaganda frequently propagated by Hamas and pose a risk to undermining the sole large-scale humanitarian food operation ongoing in Gaza.
In his discussion with Fox News Digital, Destexhe pointed out that MSF appeared to reflect the views and data from the Gaza Health Ministry, which is under Hamas’s control. This was evident in their quick denouncement of a blast at Al-Ahli Hospital.
Despite the later revelation that the explosion resulted from a misfired rocket by Palestinian Islamic jihad, MSF did not amend or remove its condemnation statement, which remains accessible on X but now includes a community note.
“MSF is lying, MSF is partial, MS is biased and MSF are accomplices of Hamas,” Destexhe said.
Destexhe believes the solution to MSF’s bias problem in Gaza is for the organization to leave the enclave.
“If MSF withdraws, the humanitarian situation in Gaza is not going to change,” he said.
Destexhe said he thinks that without MSF in Gaza, there would still be doctors attending to patients in need and that the organization does not “have any added value” in the area.
Hamas terrorists stand in formation as Palestinians gather on a street to watch the handover of three Israeli hostages to a Red Cross team in Deir el-Balah, central Gaza, Feb. 8, 2025. (Majdi Fathi/NurPhoto via Getty Images)
He recalled earlier moments when MSF prioritized ethics over presence, such as when it pulled out of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, a decision made during his tenure as secretary-general.
In 1994, during the Rwandan genocide, part of the organization made the choice to leave because it thought staying would only legitimize the violence that was taking place.
An MSF document explains that the organization “was forced to choose between continuing to work in the camps, thereby further strengthening the power of the génocidaires over the refugees or withdrawing from the camps and leaving a population in distress.”
Ultimately, the French section of the organization withdrew in late 1994, while the Dutch, Belgian and Spanish sections chose to remain. However, MSF Belgium and MSF Holland were forced to end their programs in July 1995.
Fox News Digital reached out to MSF for comment but did not immediately receive a response.
