Former MSF leader says Doctors Without Borders are Hamas accomplices

Médecins Sans Frontières, or Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF), is an organization that many assume is focused on providing much-needed aid and supplies in harsh environments without prejudice or favor. But one of the organisation’s former leaders has criticized MSF’s handling of the situation in Gaza, even going so far as to say its members are behaving like “accomplices of Hamas”.

Alain Destexhe, who worked as a doctor for MSF in the 1980s and served as the group’s general secretary in the 1990s, told Fox News Digital that the organization had moved away from its neutral, humanitarian roots.

Speaking to Fox News Digital, Destexhe said: “Yes, when I was secretary general of MSF, it was impossible to be as prejudiced as MSF (Doctors Without Borders) is now in Gaza. We defined ourselves as a neutral, impartial and humanitarian organisation.” he said. “I think now MSF in Gaza is actually taking sides [of] “Against Hamas and Israel.”

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He later added: “Americans need to know that Médecins Sans Frontières is no longer the organization it was 15-20 years ago. It has become a prejudiced, biased and militant organization.”

On October 12, 2023, less than a week after Hamas carried out its brutal massacre and took more than 250 people hostage. MSF condemns the massacre but he also called for an end to Israel’s actions in Gaza, without mentioning the hostages.

“Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) is appalled by the brutal mass killings of civilians by Hamas and the massive attacks on Gaza and Palestine currently being pursued by Israel,” the organization wrote. “MSF calls for an immediate halt to indiscriminate bloodshed and the urgent provision of safe spaces and safe passages for people to reach them.”

Beyond the organisation’s condemnation of both the massacre and Israeli actions, Destexhe uncovered numerous social media posts on accounts purportedly belonging to MSF staff celebrating the 7 October massacre. Destexhe explained to Fox News Digital that most of MSF’s staff in the Gaza Strip are Palestinians, not foreign workers.

Palestinians examine the site of the Israeli attack in Zawayda, in the central Gaza Strip, on July 1, 2025. (REUTERS/Ramadan Abed)

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Destexhe acknowledged that in order for MSF to operate in Gaza, it had to work with Hamas because the terror group had control over “all civil society and all medical facilities” in the area. He said that during his time as secretary general he would say that it would be impossible to operate alone and that the organization could not work with a “totalitarian and terrorist organisation”.

“The only thing MSF can do is say, ‘No, we don’t want to be part of this. We have to leave Gaza. We don’t want to be complicit in a terrorist organization like Hamas,'” Destexhe told Fox News Digital.

MSF has faced scrutiny for its actions and statements regarding the situation in Gaza.

Earlier this year, MSF launched advertising against the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), a US and Israeli-backed organisation. MSF accused GHF of participating in “systematic violence”.

GHF spokesperson Chapin Fay described MSF’s accusations as “false and shameful”. He said the organization was amplifying misinformation.

Palestinians who fled their homes in the north of the Gaza Strip on May 16, 2025, after Israeli air strikes, set out with their belongings. (REUTERS/Mahmud Isa)

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Last month, Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-Y) asked 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 attacks on GHF “are a mirror propaganda continually waged by Hamas and threaten to undermine the only large-scale humanitarian food operation currently operating in Gaza.”

Destexhe also stated in an interview with Fox News Digital that MSF reflects the views and statistics of the Hamas-run Gaza Ministry of Health. These included swift condemnation of the explosion at Al Akhali Hospital.

It was later revealed that the explosion was caused by the misfiring of a Palestinian Islamic Jihad rocket, but MSF neither corrected nor deleted its condemnations. Still available on X but there is a community note.

“MSF lies, MSF takes sides, MS is biased and MSF is complicit with Hamas,” Destexhe said. he said.

Destexhe believes that the solution to MSF’s prejudice problem in Gaza is for the organization to leave the region.

“If MSF withdraws, the humanitarian situation in Gaza will not change,” he said.

Destexhe said that if MSF did not exist in Gaza, there would still be doctors caring for patients in need, and that he thought the organization did not have “any added value” in the region.

Hamas terrorists line up as Palestinians gather on the street to watch the handover of three Israeli hostages to the Red Cross team in Deir al-Balah, central Gaza, on February 8, 2025. (Majdi Fathi/NurPhoto via Getty Images)

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He recalled previous moments when he prioritized ethics over presence, such as when MSF withdrew from the Democratic Republic of Congo, a decision he made during his tenure as secretary-general.

During the Rwandan genocide in 1994, some of the organization chose to leave because they felt that staying would only legitimize the violence that was taking place.

An MSF document He explains that the organization “had to choose between continuing to work in the camps, further strengthening the power of the genocide over the refugees, or withdrawing from the camps and leaving the population in distress.”

Ultimately, the French branch of the organization withdrew in late 1994, while the Dutch, Belgian and Spanish branches chose to remain. However, MSF Belgium and MSF Netherlands 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.

Fox News Digital’s Beth Bailey contributed to this report.