Israel to ban Doctors Without Borders from operating in Gaza over refusal to provide staff list

Israel says it will terminate the humanitarian operations of Doctors Without Borders, known by its French acronym MSF, in Gaza after it refused to hand over a list of its Palestinian staff in the war-devastated territory.

“The Ministry of Diaspora Affairs and Combating Antisemitism is moving to terminate the activities of Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) in the Gaza Strip,” the ministry said on Sunday.

The decision followed “MSF’s failure to submit lists of local employees, a requirement applicable to all humanitarian organizations operating in the region,” it added.

The ministry had earlier asserted that two MSF employees had links with Palestinian resistance groups Hamas and Islamic Jihad, which the charity has rejected.

On Sunday, the ministry announced that MSF had agreed in early January to provide the staff list requested by the Israeli authorities.

However, the aid organization ultimately decided against this, expressing worries about the safety of their staff and the absence of guarantees regarding the use of the information.

“Subsequently, MSF announced it does not intend to proceed with the registration process at all, contradicting its previous statements and the binding protocol,” the ministry added, saying, “MSF will cease its operations and depart the Gaza Strip by February 28.”

On December 30, Israel announced that it was going to revoke the licenses of 37 international non-governmental organizations working in Gaza and the occupied West Bank from March 1, saying they had failed to submit detailed information about their Palestinian employees.

MSF said it had tried for months to engage with Israeli authorities over the issue, but its attempts were unsuccessful.

The medical charity said the move was a “pretext to obstruct humanitarian assistance” to Palestinians in the besieged coastal sliver.

“Israeli authorities are forcing humanitarian organizations into an impossible choice between exposing staff to risk or interrupting critical medical care for people in desperate need,” it said in a statement issued on Sunday.

Israeli attacks kill two more Palestinians in Gaza shortly after widespread strikes claim dozens

Israeli attacks claim the lives of two more Palestinians across Gaza, shortly after strikes targeting various areas across the coastal sliver killed dozens of Palestinians.

“MSF did not hand over staff names because Israeli authorities failed to provide the concrete assurances required to guarantee our staff's safety, protect their personal data, and uphold the independence of our medical operation,” it said.

Such demands by Israel will force aid organizations to pull out when “needs are overwhelming and health services are collapsing” in Gaza, it said.

“At a moment when more humanitarian assistance is urgently needed, it is being restricted rather than facilitated,” the charity said, adding that it remained open for dialogue with Israeli authorities to maintain its services in Gaza and the occupied West Bank.

MSF said 15 of its employees have been killed over the course of Israel’s genocidal war in Gaza, which began on October 7, 2023.

The aid organization said it currently provides at least 20 percent of hospital beds in Gaza and operates about 20 health centers in the territory.

It carried out more than 800,000 medical consultations and more than 10,000 infant deliveries in 2025 alone. The charity also provides drinking water.

The Gaza ceasefire agreement ended a two-year Israeli genocidal war that killed at least 71,795 Palestinians and wounded 171,551 others, although the occupying regime continues to violate the ceasefire deal.

The bloody onslaught has destroyed roughly 90% of the civilian infrastructure in Gaza, with UN estimates placing reconstruction costs at about $70 billion.

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