Israel orders Doctors Without Borders to end operations in Gaza

Doctors Without Borders said Tuesday that Israel had ordered it to cease operations in the Gaza Strip after the group failed to comply with new restrictions requiring registration of Gazan employees and limiting criticism of Israel’s conduct of the war. The group warned the move threatens one of the largest humanitarian operations in the enclave.

Doctors Without Borders said it runs or supports more than 20 percent of remaining hospital beds, operates clinics for traumatic injuries and chronic illnesses, treats malnourished children, and distributed 700 million liters of water last year. It said it has 40 to 50 international doctors in Gaza at any time, about 1,000 permanent Palestinian workers, another 1,000 Gaza medical workers whose Ministry of Health salaries it augments, performed more than 22,000 operations and treated more than 100,000 trauma cases in 2025.

Claire San Filippo, the group’s emergency coordinator for Gaza, said the organization was told on Sunday it could no longer bring supplies into Gaza and on Tuesday that it could no longer bring doctors, nurses or other international aid workers. She said Doctors Without Borders was given until the end of February to cease all activities in Gaza and pull out its international staff.

"If we can’t work, it will have catastrophic consequences for hundreds of thousands of Palestinians," she said.

Key Topics

World, Doctors Without Borders, Gaza Strip, Israel, Claire San Filippo, Palestinian Workers