NGO Monitor, a research group that tracks non-governmental organizations, says a review of Doctors Without Borders’ public communications found repeated use of the term “genocide” to describe Israel’s actions in Gaza since Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023 attack, and argues the group did not apply the same label to other wars.
NGO Monitor says it has compiled a media and communications analysis accusing Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF), also known as Doctors Without Borders, of abandoning neutrality in its public messaging about the Gaza war.
In an opinion essay published by The Daily Wire on May 18, 2026, NGO Monitor founder Gerald M. Steinberg cited a “detailed research report” by NGO Monitor asserting that MSF used the term “genocide” to describe Israel’s actions at least 272 times in social media posts following Hamas’ October 7, 2023 attack on Israel. The same essay said the label was not applied by MSF to Russia’s war in Ukraine or to the Syrian government’s aerial bombardment during the Syria conflict.
MSF itself has publicly used the term in relation to Gaza in recent years. For example, MSF Canada published a page titled “Genocide in Gaza” stating that its teams were “witnessing Israel commit genocide,” and MSF USA has run advocacy materials calling on governments to “stop the genocide in Gaza.”
