Israel gives Doctors Without Borders until end of February to leave Gaza

The Israeli government has given Doctors Without Borders (M.S.F.) until the end of February to pull out of the Gaza Strip and has cut off its ability to bring in supplies, after the aid group refused to comply with new Israeli rules restricting speech and demanding information on staff.

The new regulations require international aid groups to provide lists of Palestinians on their Gaza payrolls, which Israel says is intended to ensure militants do not infiltrate organizations. Israeli officials have cited evidence that one M.S.F. worker killed in an airstrike in 2024 was a member of Palestinian Islamic Jihad and involved in rocket production; M.S.F.

said it vets all new hires, was unaware of that worker’s P.I.J. activity and would never knowingly hire a militant. The policy also gives Israeli officials the right to bar groups for certain political speech; officials have said M.S.F.’s denunciations of the Gaza war as "genocidal" and accusations of war crimes amounted to prohibited efforts to "delegitimize" the country.

Visits to several M.S.F. clinics and hospitals in Gaza described busy wards, overworked staff and crowded waiting rooms, and patients and staff warned that shutting down operations would be devastating. "If M.S.F. stops working, people will lose their lives," said Aseel Hamada, 24, awaiting physical therapy.

Key Topics

World, Doctors Without Borders, Gaza Strip, Israel, Palestinian Islamic Jihad, World Central Kitchen