JERUSALEM: Israel announced Sunday it was terminating Doctors Without Borders’ humanitarian operations in Gaza after the charity failed to provide a list of Palestinian staff, a move MSF said was a “pretext” to obstruct aid to the war-devastated territory.
In December, Israel announced it would prevent 37 aid organizations, including MSF, from working in Gaza from March 1 for failing to submit detailed information about their Palestinian employees, drawing widespread condemnation from NGOs and the United Nations.
“The Ministry of Diaspora Affairs and Combating Antisemitism is moving to terminate the activities of Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) in the Gaza Strip,” the ministry said on Sunday.
The decision follows “MSF’s failure to submit lists of local employees, a requirement applicable to all humanitarian organizations operating in the region,” it added.
The ministry had earlier alleged that two MSF employees had links with Palestinian militant groups Hamas and Islamic Jihad, which the charity has vehemently denied.
