The well-known medical organization is one of several dozen NGOs that have been banned from operating in Gaza and the West Bank since January 1.
Doctors Without Borders (MSF) “practiced the promotion of an extreme anti-Israel narrative under the guise of humanitarian work,” claim Israeli ministry documents seen exclusively by The Jerusalem Post.
The well-known medical organization is one of several dozen NGOs banned from operating in Gaza and the West Bank since January 1. The move was announced by Israel on Monday and was met with significant international outrage.
In a letter to the media on Wednesday, the Minister of Diaspora Affairs and Combating Anti-Semitism, Amichai Chikli, claimed that security investigations had established that employees of certain international organizations operating in Gaza were directly involved in terrorist activities.
Regarding MSF specifically, Chikli claimed that it maintains active ties to designated terrorist organizations: in June 2024, a Palestinian Islamic Jihad operative was identified as an MSF employee, and in September 2024, another MSF employee was identified as a Hamas sniper.
Chikli added that “despite repeated and explicit requests”, the organization has not provided full transparency about the identities, roles and activities of those individuals.
Under Israel’s current regulatory framework, licenses can be revoked for the following reasons: participation in efforts to delegitimize the state of Israel; legal war against IDF soldiers; Denial of the Holocaust; and the denial of the October 7 massacre.
As seen, revocation is explicitly allowed for organizations that are actively pro-boycott, divestment and sanctions, which MSF is.
VIEW Humanitarian supplies for Gaza, with the logos of Médecins Sans Frontières (Doctors Without Borders) and the World Health Organization, stored at the Egyptian Red Crescent warehouses storing aid, in the Egyptian border town of El-Arish, Egypt, April 8, 2025. (Credit: REUTERS/Benoit/TeFissileer Photo)
“Israel will not allow humanitarian workers to be exploited for terrorism,” Chikli said. “The message is unequivocal: humanitarian aid is welcome; terror under the guise of humanitarianism is not.”
Documents viewed by Post sheds more light on the reasoning behind the banning of MSF, the best known and perhaps most reputable of the banned groups.
One reason cited in the documents is that none of the organization’s four branches, which registered in 2025 for a license to operate in Gaza, have passed scrutiny.
MSF Spain, Belgium, France and the Netherlands are alleged to have failed to provide comprehensive staff lists – including details of Palestinian employees – as explicitly required by the registration guidelines.
MSF accused of terrorist links
Israel assessed that MSF affiliates were operating “under the guise of humanitarian work”, while “in practice they were promoting an extreme anti-Israel narrative, maintaining affiliations with terrorist entities, promoting boycotts and willfully disregarding registration obligations”.
What terrorist links is the organization accused of maintaining?
Israel’s inter-ministerial team said it had identified substantial indications of direct or indirect affiliations between MSF Belgium and terrorist organizations.
An MSF employee in Gaza, Fadi Al-Wadiya, revealed himself to be a senior Islamic Jihad operative and missile systems expert, as stated in the MSF Belgium report and corroborated by IDF publications.
Another staff member, Mahmoud Abunejeila, has publicly expressed his support for the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP).
Under section 7.1(3) of the guidelines, Israel may refuse an organization that has members who are terrorist operatives or maintain ties to a proscribed terrorist group.
As for MSF France, Israel claims it has an “explicit agenda promoting political boycotts and arms embargoes against Israel.”
He cited the organization’s calls for an end to military support for Israel, as well as public support for BDS events.
MSF France has also repeatedly accused Israel of “genocide” and “ethnic cleansing” as well as deliberately starving the people of Gaza. Israel considered this to be “contrary to expected neutrality” and therefore grounds for denial.
“Such narratives, when disseminated by an international humanitarian body, have dangerous implications: they undermine Israel’s legal status, fuel hostile initiatives in the diplomatic and legal arenas, and serve as a catalyst for boycott, sanctions and isolation campaigns,” the documents read.
“Such narratives, when disseminated by an international humanitarian body, have dangerous implications: they undermine Israel’s legal status, fuel hostile initiatives in the diplomatic and legal arenas, and serve as a catalyst for boycott, sanctions and isolation campaigns,” the documents read.
MSF Belgium has also accused Israel of crimes against humanity and, according to Israel, portrays the Jewish state as “systematically oppressive, colonial and discriminatory”.
The documents accused MSF Belgium of seeking “to undermine the very status of the State of Israel as a democratic state”.
Following an assessment of all of the above, the inter-ministerial team concluded that MSF’s operations are at an “extremely high risk level” and “pose a significant exposure to Israel’s security”.
The documents cited the organization’s failure to comply with basic registration as a further sign of bad intentions and lack of transparency.
As an alternative to MSF subsidiaries, the documents recommend expanding the entry of professionals and teams from other health and medical organizations that “meet regulatory requirements and adhere to the principles of neutrality and transparency.”
It lists IMC, MedGlobal and UK-MED as potential alternatives.
MSF International said on Wednesday that the Palestinian health system is “decimated, essential infrastructure is destroyed and people are struggling to meet basic needs”.
“People need more services, not less. If MSF and other NGOs lose access, hundreds of thousands of Palestinians would be cut off from essential care,” it said.
The IDF, however, disputed this, saying that the banned groups produced only 1% of aid and that many of them were banned throughout the war, so the current ban does not change anything on the ground.
Overall, the 24 organizations that were not banned produce 99 percent of the total aid volume, according to Israel, the IDF added.