Doctors Without Borders says may have to halt Gaza operations in March

GAZA STRIP: Banned from the Gaza Strip with 36 aid bodies, medical charity Doctors Without Borders said Saturday (Jan 3) it will have to end its operations there in March if Israel does not reverse its decision.

UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres called on Friday for Israel to end a ban on humanitarian agencies that provided aid in Gaza, saying he was "deeply concerned" at the development.

Israel confirmed on Thursday it is barring 37 major international humanitarian organisations from entering the Gaza Strip, accusing them of failing to provide the list of their employees’ names, which is now officially required for "security" reasons. 

Doctors Without Borders called this demand a "scandalous intrusion", but Israel says it is needed to stop jihadists from infiltrating into humanitarian structures.

"To work in Palestine, in the occupied Palestinian territories, we have to be registered...That registration expired on December 31, 2025,” said Isabelle Defourny, a physician and president of Doctors Without Borders France, on France Inter. 

"Since July 2025, we have been involved in a re-registration process and to date, we have not received a response. We still have 60 days during which we could work without being re-registered, and so we would have to end our activities in March," if Israel maintains its decision, she said. 

Doctors Without Borders has around 40 international staff in the Gaza Strip and works with 800 Palestinian staff across eight hospitals. 

"We are the second-largest distributor of water (in the Gaza Strip). Last year, in 2025, we treated just over 100,000 people who were wounded, burned, or victims of various traumas. We are second in terms of the number of deliveries performed," the president of Doctors Without Borders, France said.

According to her, the Israeli decision is explained by the fact that NGOs "bear witness to the violence committed by the Israeli army" in Gaza.