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INTERNATIONAL MEDICAL CHARITY Doctors Without Borders (MSF) has urged Israel to allow it to continue operating in Gaza and the occupied West Bank in 2026.
Israel plans to ban 37 aid organisations from operating in Gaza from 1 January for not complying with new requirements for sharing staff, funding and operations information.
Several NGOs have told AFP the new rules will have a major impact on food and medical shipments to Gaza, and humanitarian groups warn there is already not enough aid to cover the devastated territory’s needs.
“We call on the Israeli authorities to ensure that MSF and other INGOs (international non-governmental organisations) are registered in Israel to continue working in the West Bank and Gaza in 2026,” MSF said in a statement.
The organisation said it had been informed by Israel that its registration will be revoked today and the charity would have to cease its operations by 1 March.
Israel has singled out MSF, alleging that it had two employees who were members of Palestinian militant groups Islamic Jihad and Hamas.
MSF said Israel considers the charity’s registration application to be incomplete.
“We continue to seek reassurances and clarity over a concerning request to share a staff list, which may be in violation of Israel’s obligations under international humanitarian law and of our humanitarian principles,” the charity said.
“We will be exploring all possible avenues to alter the outcomes of this decision.”
For 2026, MSF has committed an estimated €100m to €120m for its humanitarian response in Gaza, it said, adding that many of the services provided by MSF are largely unavailable elsewhere in Gaza due to the destruction of the health system in the territory.
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.
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.
Gilad Zwick, a spokesman for the Israeli Ministry of Diaspora Affairs, said that 37 NGOs have so far failed to meet the new requirements.
“They refuse to provide lists of their Palestinian employees because they know, just as we know, that some of them are involved in terrorism or linked to Hamas,” he said.
“I highly doubt that what they haven’t done for 10 months, they will suddenly do in less than 12 hours. We certainly won’t accept any cooperation that is just for show, simply to get an extension.”
Hamas has branded the Israeli decision “criminal behaviour” and urged the broader international community to condemn it.
Apart from MSF, some of the 37 NGOs to be hit with the ban are the Norwegian Refugee Council, World Vision International, CARE and Oxfam, according to the list given by Zwick.
United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Turk today described Israel’s decision as “outrageous”, calling on states to urgently insist Israel shift course.
“Such arbitrary suspensions make an already intolerable situation even worse for the people of Gaza,” he said.
The EU warned that Israel’s decision would block “life-saving” assistance from reaching Gazans.
“The EU has been clear: the NGO registration law cannot be implemented in its current form,” EU humanitarian chief Hadja Lahbib posted on X.
UN Palestinian refugee agency chief Philippe Lazzarini said the move sets a “dangerous precedent”.
“Failing to push back against attempts to control the work of aid organisations will further undermine the basic humanitarian principles of neutrality, independence, impartiality and humanity underpinning aid work across the world,” he said on X.
With reporting by David MacRedmond
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