MSF has been a key provider of medical and humanitarian aid in Gaza, particularly since the October 7, 2023, Hamas-led invasion and massacre in southern Israel triggered a two-year war in the enclave.<\/p>\n
\t The charity says it currently provides at least 20 percent of hospital beds in the territory and operates around 20 health centers.<\/p>\n In 2025 alone, it carried out more than 800,000 medical consultations, treated more than 100,000 trauma cases, and assisted more than 10,000 infant deliveries.<\/p>\n It also provided more than 700 million liters (almost 185 million gallons) of water, Lockyear pointed out.<\/p>\n \u2018Impossible choice\u2019<\/p>\n Israel announced on January 1 that it would enforce a ban on the activities of 37 international NGOs operating in Gaza, including MSF, over their failure to comply with stringent new \u201csecurity and transparency\u201d requirements concerning their employees.<\/p>\n The standards were put in place under a government resolution from March 1, requiring NGOs to submit a raft of documentation about their organization and identify all foreign and Palestinian employees, including their passports and personal identification numbers.<\/p>\n Some of the NGOs targeted have said the requirements flout, or at least erode, international humanitarian law, and Israel has faced widespread condemnation from NGOs and the United Nations.<\/p>\n Israel has accused MSF of having two employees<\/a> who held membership in the Palestinian Islamic Jihad and Hamas terror groups.<\/p>\n The medical charity has denied the allegations, saying it would \u201cnever knowingly employ anyone involved in military activities.\u201d<\/p>\n \t \u201cIf Israel has any evidence of such things, then they should share that evidence,\u201d Lockyear said, insisting that \u201cthere\u2019s been no proof given to us.\u201d<\/p>\n He decried \u201can orchestrated campaign to delegitimize us,\u201d calling on other countries to defend efforts to bring desperately needed humanitarian aid into Gaza.<\/p>\n \u201cThey should be speaking to Israel, pressuring Israel to ensure that there is a reverse of any banning of humanitarian organizations.\u201d<\/p>\n Lockyear said MSF, which counts around 1,100 staff inside Gaza, had been trying to engage with Israeli authorities for nearly a year over the requested lists.<\/p>\n But it was left with \u201can impossible choice,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019ve been forced to choose between the safety and security of our staff and being able to reach patients.\u201d<\/p>\n Contrary to Lockyear\u2019s insistence that Israel had not provided evidence, the IDF published a photograph last year of MSF staffer Fadi al-Wadiya<\/a> wearing a Palestinian Islamic Jihad uniform and identified him as a rocket expert after he was killed in an Israeli drone strike.<\/p>\n Al-Wadiya was involved in \u201cthe development and advancement of the organization\u2019s missile array,\u201d the military said at the time.<\/p>\n It released the images of him wearing a PIJ uniform after MFS denied he was linked to the terror group.<\/p>\n \u2018Can only get worse\u2019<\/p>\n MSF said it decided not to hand over staff names \u201cbecause Israeli authorities failed to provide the concrete assurances required to guarantee our staff\u2019s safety, protect their personal data, and uphold the independence of our medical operation.\u201d<\/p>\n Lockyear insisted that was a \u201cvery rational\u201d decision, pointing out that 15 MSF staff had been killed in Gaza during the war, out of more than 500 humanitarian workers and more than 1,700 medical workers killed in the Strip.<\/p>\n \t Lockyear highlighted that without independent humanitarian organizations in Gaza, an already \u201ccatastrophic\u201d situation \u201ccan only get worse.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWe need to increase massively the humanitarian assistance that\u2019s going into Gaza,\u201d he said. \u201cNot restrict it, not block it.\u201d<\/p>\n \u2018Publicity games\u2019<\/p>\n Israel\u2019s Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories (COGAT) has said that \u201cMSF continues to play publicity games instead of complying with the registration process.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThe continued withholding of basic staff information raises serious questions on the involvement of MSF staff with Hamas,\u201d COGAT charged.<\/p>\n In a separate statement, COGAT said that \u201cmany other medical organizations, without terror links, have been approved and are stepping up. MSF\u2019s role is neither unique nor as essential as it claims.\u201d<\/p>\n
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\n\t\tPalestinian patients wait to be seen at the Doctors Without Borders, or Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF), clinic, in Gaza City on December 31, 2025. (Omar al-Qattaa\/AFP)<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/AFP__20251231__89CP6A9__v1__HighRes__PalestinianIsraelConflictGazaAid-640x400.jpg\")
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\n\t\tA Palestinian man walks on his crutches to the Doctors Without Borders or Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) clinic, in the al-Rimal neighborhood of Gaza City on New Year\u2019s Eve, December 31, 2025. (Omar AL-QATTAA \/ AFP)<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/AFP__20251002__77FP463__v2__HighRes__TopshotPalestinianIsraelConflict-640x400.jpg\")
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\n\t\tPalestinians transport the body of a member of Doctors Without Borders (MSF) who was killed in an Israeli strike in Deir al-Balah, into Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in the central Gaza Strip on October 2, 2025. (Bashar Taleb\/ AFP)<\/p>\n
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