Doctors Without Borders Has Been Forced By Israel To Share Its Staff’s Personal Details To Keep Working In Gaza
“Israel has knowingly given MSF and our Palestinian colleagues an impossible choice: Either we provide this information or abandon the hundreds of thousands of Palestinians who need vital medical care,”
Doctors Without Borders (MSF) has said it will provide Israel with the personal details of some of its staff working in Gaza and the occupied Palestinian territories to avoid being forced to suspend its operations.
On Jan. 1, Israel revoked the license of 37 international non-governmental organizations (INGOs) from operating in Gaza and parts of the occupied Palestinian territories, including MSF, after introducing new “security and transparency standards”.
The standards required the INGOs to expand disclosure of their funding sources, provide detailed information about Palestinian staff and make declarations rejecting support for what Israel defines as “hostile activity”.
MSF initially refused to disclose its staff information on Jan. 9 due to safety concerns as Israel has killed more than 1,700 health workers, including 15 MSF employees, since it began its genocide in Gaza on Oct. 7, 2023.
Israel also claimed some MSF staff had ties to Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad.
“MSF would never knowingly employ anyone involved in military activities, which contradicts our core values and ethics. If the descriptions of what our teams see with their own eyes in Gaza—death, destruction, and the human consequences of genocidal violence—are unpalatable to some, the fault lies with those committing these atrocities, not with those who speak out about them,” it said.
However, on Saturday, Jan. 24, MSF said in a statement it had informed Israeli authorities that, as an exceptional measure, it is “prepared to share a defined list of Palestinian and international staff names, subject to clear parameters with staff safety at its core”.
“Israel has knowingly given MSF and our Palestinian colleagues an impossible choice: Either we provide this information or abandon the hundreds of thousands of Palestinians who need vital medical care,” the statement said.
MSF said it made the decision after extensive discussion with the Palestinians employees concerned, who have also agreed to its decision.
Israel said 23 organizations have agreed to the new registration rules so far, according to Al Jazeera.
Currently, MSF supports 1 in 5 hospital beds in Gaza and assists 1 in 3 mothers during childbirth, which is still nowhere near enough to meet the needs of Palestinians.
The aid group said denying medical assistance to civilians is unacceptable under any circumstance and it is appalling to use humanitarian aid as a tool of policy or collective punishment.
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