Diseases directly linked to poor living conditions account for 70 per cent of all of MSF’s outpatient consultations in our healthcare centres in southern Gaza in 2025.

Jerusalem, 24 October 2025 – More than one million people are still being forced to survive on a tiny patch of land, and in dangerous living conditions, in southern Gaza, Palestine. This displacement, along with the massive destruction of civilian infrastructure and the health system by Israeli forces, is creating the perfect storm for disease and illness to spread, warns Médecins Sans Frontières/Doctors Without Borders (MSF). Israeli authorities should immediately allow a massive scale up of humanitarian assistance to flow freely into Gaza.

Despite the ceasefire, people in Gaza continue to endure extreme suffering, as Israel’s two-year-long genocidal campaign has left them traumatised, injured, and dangerously exposed to the elements as winter approaches. Without immediate improvements to water, sanitation, shelter, and nutrition, more people will die from entirely preventable causes.

“In southern Gaza, families who have been forced to flee repeatedly are crammed into a sea of makeshift tents, packed into the few remaining schools, or sleeping in the open amid rubble, piles of garbage, animal waste, and overflowing sewage.” says Aitor Zabalgogeazkoa, MSF emergency coordinator in Gaza. “It's utterly unacceptable.”

As the temperature drops, people’s fragile living conditions will heighten their exposure to extreme weather. This, combined with people’s exhaustion, will further heighten health risks.

MSF medical data from 2025 shows that diseases directly linked to poor living conditions, such as skin, eye, respiratory, and gastrointestinal infections, as well as generalised aches and pains, account for 70 per cent of all outpatient consultations in our healthcare centres in southern Gaza.

“Malnutrition, inadequate sanitation, and poor living conditions are taking a devastating toll on people’s health — they’re especially getting sick because of the conditions they’re forced to live in,” says Adi Nadimpalli, MSF medical coordinator.

The collapse of the water and sanitation system — a direct result of targeted destruction and the systematic blockages on reconstruction materials imposed by Israeli authorities — has triggered a surge in waterborne diseases, particularly diarrhoeal illnesses, since the first week of April 2025. Over the past two years, MSF teams have treated more than 78,000 cases of diarrhoea, including over 24,000 cases since April of this year. Many families are unable to acquire or safely prepare food, and limited access to clean water is worsening the situation.

From October 2024 to September 2025, MSF teams at Nasser hospital, in Khan Younis, screened pregnant women for malnutrition, with 1,366 being diagnosed. In Gaza, many mothers are struggling to safely feed their babies — some are so malnourished that they are unable to produce enough breast milk, while ready-to-use infant formula is in short supply. Finding clean water and sterile materials to prepare milk is nearly impossible, and even boiling water has become a challenge, with most families lacking access to cooking gas and resorting to burning scarce and expensive wood.

Recovery from trauma is also compromised by these harsh living conditions. The lack of mobility aids, such as crutches and wheelchairs, makes it extremely difficult for thousands of people with amputations or disabilities to move around tents, access latrines, or reach clinics.

“We see many people with large open wounds, burns, or external fixators who are living in tents without proper hygiene, waste management, or climate control,” says Nadimpalli. “Infections that would normally be preventable are now common, leading to worsening health conditions and repeated hospitalisations.”

Since May — with a sharper increase from mid-August — MSF teams have observed a significant rise in respiratory tract infections, which are typically more common during the winter months. According to the Ministry of Health, acute respiratory infections now account for 67 per cent of total morbidity.

MSF has also witnessed an increase in skin diseases, including scabies, lice, and other infectious and non-infectious conditions, since mid-August.

The Israeli authorities must immediately allow a massive scale up of unimpeded humanitarian assistance into Gaza, so that people’s suffering and vulnerability to the elements can be addressed.

MSF is an international, medical, humanitarian organisation that delivers medical care to people in need, regardless of their origin, religion, or political affiliation.  MSF Australia was established in 1995 and is one of 24 international MSF sections committed to delivering medical humanitarian assistance to people in crisis. Every year more than 120 Australians and New Zealanders go on assignment with Médecins Sans Frontières  working as: doctors, midwives, psychologists, laboratory technicians, human resource/finance coordinators, pharmacists, mental health specialists and logisticians. MSF delivers medical care based on need alone and operates independently of government, religion or economic influence and irrespective of race, religion or gender. For more information visit msf.org.au  

(Washington, D.C., October 23, 2025) – The United Nations Security Council (UNSC) should incorporate an immediate arms embargo on Israel, international control of Gaza’s borders to end Israel’s siege, and a mandate for an international fact-finding mission as part of the International Stabilization Force (ISF) resolution currently under negotiation, said DAWN today.

In addition, the UNSC should ensure that the task force created under the ceasefire agreement to discover human remains provides equal resources and urgency to identify Palestinian victims as it does Israeli victims.

“If the purpose of the International Stabilization Force is to protect Palestinians from further violence, it must have the authority to control all borders into Gaza and allow the unhindered delivery of aid to the besieged territory,” said Sarah Leah Whitson, executive director of DAWN. “Deploying peacekeepers to Gaza without curbing weapons to Israel will do nothing to curb its capacity to resume its atrocities.”

Egyptian Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty confirmed that Egypt is advocating for a UNSC resolution to establish an ISF, and that negotiations for such a resolution, led by France, Britain, and the United States, are currently underway. DAWN first called for international peacekeeping forces to protect Palestinian civilians and end Israel's atrocities in Gaza in March 2024, subsequently explaining that “Israel has made clear that no amount of pleading, pressure or negotiation will end its atrocities; only international peacekeeping forces can achieve that.” In August 2025, the State of Palestine formally requested protection forces for Gaza.

The new UNSC resolution should include an immediate, comprehensive arms embargo on Israel, as recommended by the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in its July 2024 advisory opinion and UNGA Resolution ES-10/24 passed in September 2024. Only such an arms embargo will curb Israel’s ability to resume its atrocities in Gaza. The Security Council has repeatedly imposed arms embargoes explicitly in response to systematic international law violations, including in South Sudan in 2018, Central African Republic in 2013, and Yemen in 2015, establishing a clear precedent for such measures when parties commit atrocities against civilians.

On October 22, 2025, the ICJ issued an advisory opinion finding that Israel “deliberately prevented food from reaching the civilian population in Gaza” and violated its obligations under international law to ensure the basic needs of Palestinians are met. The court ruled that “[t]he occupying power may never invoke reasons of security to justify the general suspension of all humanitarian activities in occupied territory,” rejecting Israel's justifications for blocking aid and ordering it to grant access to humanitarian organizations, including the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees. The UNSC resolution should also authorize the ISF to assume full operational control over all crossing points into Gaza, including Rafah, Kerem Shalom, and Erez, with authority to inspect, approve, and facilitate all humanitarian and commercial flows. Such control is essential to the ISF's mandate, as the ISF cannot function effectively if Israel retains veto power over the force's own supply lines and humanitarian operations.

The UNSC resolution should ensure access for a ground investigation by the Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory (IOC) to document the full scope of atrocities in Gaza. The IOC, established by the U.N. Human Rights Council in May 2021, has an ongoing mandate to investigate violations and, in September 2025, concluded that Israel is committing genocide in Gaza. Despite Israel’s ban on the IOC’s access to Gaza, the IOC has submitted 7,000 pieces of evidence to the International Criminal Court for its ongoing investigation into crimes in Palestine since 2014.

The Security Council should ensure the Commission has adequate resources, including forensic specialists in pathology, anthropology, odontology, and explosives analysis; DNA laboratories; and geospatial analysis capabilities. The investigators should have freedom of movement to document evidence of Israeli crimes, establish protected evidence zones at mass-casualty sites, hospitals, schools, shelters, and known or suspected graves, and create a secure central repository for material needed in future judicial proceedings.

“Gaza is an active crime scene where the UNSC has an opportunity to ensure that evidence of genocide, war crimes, and crimes against humanity is preserved before it is destroyed forever,” said Raed Jarrar, DAWN’s advocacy director. “Accountability for Israeli crimes will bolster the credibility of international law as a viable tool for justice.”

Current plans to identify remains of victims in Gaza exclude any meaningful focus on Palestinian victims, prioritizing Israeli remains. The Trump-backed October 2025 ceasefire agreement established an international task force led by Israel, in cooperation with the United States, Egypt, Qatar, Turkey, and the Red Cross, to locate bodies of deceased Israeli captives and transfer remains for identification to Israel's National Institute for Forensic Medicine.. Egyptian teams are currently operating in Gaza to help locate Israeli hostage remains. Turkish specialists, composed of an 81-member expert team with specialized excavation equipment, bulldozers, cranes, search dogs, and life-detection devices, have been waiting at the Egyptian border since October 17, 2025 to assist with body recovery, but Israel has blocked their entry.  While at least 10,000 dead Palestinians remain under rubble in Gaza, the international community has not mobilized an equivalent task force, equipment, or resources for Palestinian families searching for their loved ones. The UNSC resolution should ensure that the task force devotes equal resources and dignity to recovering the remains of Palestinian victims.

“Palestinians are human beings too, and our families deserve the same dignity, the same urgency, and the same international support to recover and identify our loved ones as Israeli families receive,” said Jarrar. “There are over 10,000 dead Palestinians under the rubble in Gaza, yet the remains recovery mechanism has focused exclusively on Israeli victims while Palestinian families continue searching for loved ones without adequate equipment or international support.”

About DAWN:

DAWN is a dedicated group of analysts, researchers, lawyers, and activists who aim to fulfill Jamal Kashoggi's vision of helping to promote democracy and human rights in the Middle East and North Africa.

ASB economists say the proposed sale of Fonterra’s Anchor and Mainland brands could unlock around $4.5 billion in additional spending as any sales proceeds flow through the New Zealand economy, with nearly half ($2.2 billion) going to three key sectors: manufacturing, retail/accommodation, and real estate.

Fonterra’s proposed sale of its Anchor and Mainland brands to Lactalis is expected to deliver a tax-free capital return of approximately $3.2 billion to around 8,000 shareholding farms. If the sale goes ahead, following a vote by shareholders this month, it will come into effect in early 2026, subject to regulatory approval.

Commenting on an Economic Note by Wes Tanuvasa released today, ASB Chief Economist Nick Tuffley says Fonterra’s capital return would represent a meaningful financial uplift for dairy farmers. “The average return would be around $392,000 if the sale goes ahead, and we estimate around 60% of shareholding farms could receive at least $200,000.”

“This capital injection is expected to energise key sectors – particularly manufacturing, retail, accommodation, and real estate – supporting local businesses and communities.

“While many farmers are likely to save or pay down debt to some extent, their investment in cost-saving upgrades and equipment is expected to indirectly lift demand in these sectors. For example, investment in new equipment or infrastructure can stimulate manufacturing, while increased financial confidence may support local retail and property markets.”

Nick adds: “This capital return would be a welcome tailwind for farmers, offering a timely boost to confidence and investment. While it may not single-handedly drive a broader economic recovery, it strengthens the foundation for growth in key sectors.”

The proposed capital return comes at a time when dairy incomes remain robust. Strong global demand and resilient commodity prices are expected to keep dairy farm profitability high in the year ahead, with rural areas generally outperforming urban centres.

The note also highlights that Fonterra’s strategic shift back to a commodity focus brings both opportunities and risks, including greater vulnerability to global trade shifts and changing consumer preferences, particularly in developed markets.