Israel Terminates Doctors Without Borders Operations in Gaza

Israel announced on Sunday (February 1) that it would terminate the operations of the international charity Doctors Without Borders (Médecins Sans Frontières, MSF) in Gaza because the organization failed to provide a list of its Palestinian staff.

According to Agence France-Presse, the Israeli Ministry of Diaspora Affairs and Combating Antisemitism said: "We are proceeding with the termination of Doctors Without Borders' activities in the Gaza Strip."

The ministry said this was because "humanitarian organizations operating in Gaza must submit a list of their local employees, but Doctors Without Borders did not submit one." It added that Doctors Without Borders would cease its work in Gaza and withdraw by February 28.

Last December, the Israeli Ministry of Diaspora Affairs and Combating Antisemitism announced that it would ban 37 aid organizations, including Doctors Without Borders, from operating in Gaza starting March 1, due to their failure to provide detailed information about their Palestinian employees.

The ministry had accused two Doctors Without Borders employees of having ties to Hamas and Islamic Jihad, an accusation strongly denied by Doctors Without Borders.

The Israeli Ministry of Diaspora Affairs and Combating Antisemitism said on Sunday that Doctors Without Borders had promised in early January to provide a list of staff as requested by the Israeli authorities.

"Despite the organization's public commitment, it did not submit the list."

Subsequently, Doctors Without Borders announced that it was abandoning the registration process altogether.

Doctors Without Borders issued a statement on its website on Friday (January 30) stating that it had agreed to share lists of its Palestinian and international staff with the Israeli authorities.

"However, despite our repeated efforts, it became clear that we could not reach an agreement with the Israeli authorities on the specific guarantees required."

"These guarantees included: that any employee information would only be used for its stated administrative purposes and would not put colleagues at risk."

Doctors Without Borders said that they did not receive these guarantees and therefore decided not to share employee information under the current circumstances.

Fifteen Doctors Without Borders staff members were killed during the war in Gaza.