Israel bans Doctors Without Borders and around 25 other NGOs from working in Gaza

ISRAEL HAS ANNOUNCED the suspension of more than two dozen humanitarian organisations from working in Gaza, including Doctors Without Borders (MSF), in its latest action taken against NGOs that operate in Palestine.  

The Israeli Ministry of Diaspora Affairs said around 25 international organisations would be banned on 1 January for not complying with new requirements for sharing staff, funding and operations information. The organisations make up about 15% of those that operate in Gaza but apart from MSF, Israel has not disclosed their names.

While Israel has accused MSF and others of not complying with the new registration requirements, the charity told The Journal that as of today, they had not received an official decision from Israeli authorities regarding registration applications.

“But if MSF is prevented from providing services this will have devastating consequences for Palestinians,” a spokesperson said. 

“We are urgently seeking solutions so that we can continue providing services to Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank.”

They added that MSF supports one in five hospital beds and the delivery of one in three babies in Gaza. 

Israel has previously accused Doctors Without Borders, one of the largest health organisations operating in Gaza, of failing to clarify the roles of some staff that Israel accused of co-operation with Hamas and other militant groups.

The charity said it takes allegations that its staff are linked to armed groups “extremely seriously”.

“As previously stated, MSF would never knowingly employ people engaging in military activity.

“Any employee who engages in military activity would pose a danger to our staff and our patients.

“Publicly making such claims without substantiated evidence puts humanitarian staff at risk and undermines life-saving medical work.” 

Israel used the same claim to justify its banning of the largest humanitarian body working in Palestine, UNRWA, last year. 

As of October 2025, 15 MSF healthcare workers had been killed in Gaza in the space of two years. This did not include the other non-medical staff and family members who had been killed. 

Advertisement

Overall, more than 1,700 health workers have been killed in Gaza since October 2023, an average of two per day. 

The new requirements have been condemned by NGOs who say they would put staff at risk through the disclosure of sensitive personal information to a state that already keeps the occupied Palestinian population under intense surveillance. 

Earlier this year, UNWRA’s senior deputy director with responsibility for operations in Gaza, John Whyte, told The Journal the new requirements were an attempt by Israel “to just undermine the humanitarian effort, which has been the case right throughout the war”.

Israel’s COGAT, the agency that oversees the occupied Palestinian territories, today sought to downplay the activities of the affected organisations in Gaza and claimed they “did not bring aid into Gaza throughout the current ceasefire, and even in the past their combined contribution amounted to only about 1% of the total aid volume”.

It also accused them of having “terrorists” among their staff, a claim that has been made repeatedly by Israeli officials about NGOs throughout the assault on Gaza. 

NGOs and UN agencies have consistently disputed Israeli claims about how much aid is entering the devastated territory, while Israel maintains it is complying with the terms of the ceasefire agreement with Hamas.

COGAT named MSF in particular in a post on social media today, saying the charity had overstated its impact on healthcare provision in Gaza, while also contradicting its own claim about the NGOs affected by the ban bringing no aid into the territory during the current ceasefire. 

It said that “from the start of the current ceasefire until today, the organisation (MSF) has brought in only 95 aid trucks, a negligible number compared to the tens of thousands of trucks that entered during the ceasefire”. 

The social media post added: “At the same time, Israel continues to work to strengthen the healthcare system in the Gaza Strip.”

Israel has bombed, attacked or occupied every hospital in Gaza since it began its assault on the territory following the Hamas-led attack of October 2023 and its assault on the healthcare system there is one of the main arguments made by South Africa in its genocide case against Israel at the International Court of Justice. 

With reporting from Press Association and AFP 

Need more information on what is happening in Israel and Palestine? Check out our FactCheck Knowledge Bank for essential reads and guides to navigating the news online.

Visit Knowledge Bank

Readers like you are keeping these stories free for everyone...
A mix of advertising and supporting contributions helps keep paywalls away from valuable information like this article. Over 5,000 readers like you have already stepped up and support us with a monthly payment or a once-off donation.
Learn More Support The Journal