Many in Gaza to ‘Lose Access to Critical Medical Care’ as Israel Suspends Doctors Without Borders
According to the Associated Press,
Israel’s Ministry of Diaspora Affairs “said the organizations that will be
banned on January 1 did not meet new requirements for sharing staff, funding,
and operations information.” The Israeli government specifically accused
Doctors Without Borders, known internationally as Médecins Sans Frontières
(MSF), of “failing to clarify the roles of some staff that Israel accused of
cooperation with Hamas and
other militant groups,” AP reported.
In addition to providing medical assistance to
desperate Palestinians,
MSF has been an outspoken critic of what has it described as Israel’s “campaign of total destruction”
in Gaza. The group
said in a report released last December that its teams’ experiences on the
ground in Gaza were “consistent with the descriptions provided by an increasing
number of legal experts and organizations concluding that genocide is taking
place.”
EDITOR'S DISCLOSURE: Cathy and I have been long-time major donors to Doctors without Borders. They send doctors and medical professionals into war, plague, famine and disaster zones regardless of the risk to render aid to all who need it. Since the October 2023 Hamas attack and ensuing Israeli retaliation, 15 staff have been killed in the fighting. - Will Collette
Ahead of Tuesday’s announcement, Doctors Without Borders warned that the looming withdrawal of registration from international NGOs “would prevent organizations, including MSF, from providing essential services to people in Gaza and the West Bank.”
“With Gaza’s health
system already
destroyed, the loss of independent and experienced humanitarian
organizations’ access to respond would be a disaster for Palestinians,” the
group said in a statement last week. “The humanitarian response in Gaza is
already highly restricted, and cannot afford further dismantlement.”
“If Israeli authorities revoke MSF’s access to Gaza in 2026,
a large portion of people in Gaza will lose access to critical medical
care, water, and
lifesaving support,” the group added. “MSF’s activities serve nearly half a
million people in Gaza through our vital support to the destroyed health
system. MSF continues to seek constructive engagement with Israeli authorities
to continue its activities.”
Pascale Coissard, MSF’s emergency coordinator for Gaza,
noted that “in the last year, MSF teams have treated hundreds of thousands of
patients and delivered hundreds of millions of liters of water.”
“MSF teams are trying to expand activities and support
Gaza’s shattered health system,” said Coissard. “In 2025 alone, we carried out
almost 800,000 outpatient consultations and handled more than 100,000 trauma
cases.”
Israel’s announcement came shortly after Prime
Minister Benjamin
Netanyahu met with Donald Trump in
Florida, where both dodged questions about their supposed “peace plan” for Gaza
after more than two years of relentless bombing. The Israeli military has
been accused of violating an existing ceasefire agreement
hundreds of times since it took effect in October.
Al Jazeera reported Tuesday that “Israeli forces have carried out
strikes across the Gaza Strip as they continue with their near-daily violations
of the ceasefire agreement, with Israel’s genocidal war on the besieged enclave
continuing apace and displaced Palestinians enduring the destruction of their
few remaining possessions in flooding brought about by heavy winter rains.”
