STATEMENT: MSF decides not to release list of staff with Israeli authorities
Following many months of unsuccessful engagement with Israeli authorities, and in the absence of securing assurances to ensure the safety of our staff or the independent management of our operations, Doctors Without Borders (MSF) has concluded that it will not share a list of its Palestinian and international staff with Israeli authorities in the current circumstances.
In March 2025, Israeli authorities announced that organisations seeking registration would be required to provide personal information about their staff. From the outset, MSF raised serious concerns about this request in a context where medical and humanitarian workers have been intimidated, arbitrarily detained, and attacked. Since October 2023, 1,700 health staff have been killed, as well as 15 MSF colleagues. On 30 December, Israeli authorities announced that MSF's previous registration had lapsed and was therefore expected to cease operations within 60 days.
In an effort to explore every possible option – however limited – to continue providing critical medical care, MSF informed Israeli authorities on 23 January that, as an exceptional measure, MSF would be prepared to share a defined list of Palestinian and international staff names, subject to clear parameters, with our staff safety at its core. This position was defined following consultation with our Palestinian colleagues and with the clear understanding no staff information would be shared without the express agreement of individuals concerned.
However, despite repeated efforts, it became evident in recent days that we were unable to build engagement with Israeli authorities on the concrete assurances required. These included that any staff information would be used only for its stated administrative purpose and would not put colleagues at risk; that MSF would retain full authority over all human resource matters and management of medical humanitarian supplies, and that all communications defaming MSF and undermining staff safety would cease.
As a result, and in the absence of these clear assurances, we have concluded that we will not share staff information in the current circumstances. No staff information has been shared with the Israeli authorities in this process. In the midst of the ongoing humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza and extreme violence against healthcare workers, Israeli authorities are forcing humanitarian organisations into an impossible choice – forced to choose between sharing this information about our staff or interrupting critical medical care.
If MSF is expelled from Gaza and the West Bank, it would have a devastating impact, as Palestinians face a brutal winter amidst destroyed homes and urgent humanitarian needs. Humanitarian conditions remain extreme: nearly 500 people have been killed since October 2025, basic services, including food, water, shelter, healthcare, fuel, and livelihoods, have been largely destroyed, and the health system is nearly non-functional, with many specialised services, such as burn care, unavailable. In 2025, MSF provided 800,000 consultations, assisted in one in three births, and supported one in five hospital beds - services that cannot be easily replaced.
MSF remains open to ongoing dialogue with Israeli authorities to maintain our critical medical operations in Gaza and the occupied West Bank, and to ensure that MSF can continue delivering essential, lifesaving medical care to those in desperate need.
MSF field coordinator checking discussing with the team in the Masafer Yatta area after receiving a call about settlers attacking the Sfey community, Masafer Yatta, West Bank, Palestine. Photographer: Oday Alshobaki | Date: 09/11/2025 | Location: Palestinian Territories.
With no beds available, corridors and outdoor areas at Nasser Hospital are filled with patients, as medical facilities in Gaza struggle amid the ongoing Israeli genocide. Photographer: MSF| Date: 12/08/2025 | Location: | Palestinian Territories20260130_MSF Statement on Sharing Staff Information_ENG.docx
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Jane Rabothata
About Doctors Without Borders (MSF)
Doctors Without Borders (MSF) is a global network of principled medical and other professionals who specialise in medical humanitarian work, driven by our common humanity and guided by medical ethics. We strive to bring emergency medical care to people caught in conflicts, crises, and disasters in more than 70 countries worldwide.
In South Africa, we currently run a non-communicable diseases (NCDs) project in Butterworth, Eastern Cape province, where we support the Department of Health (DoH) in improving care for patients with diabetes and hypertension. The project focuses on improving screening, diagnosis, management, and prevention of NCDs through advocacy, research, health promotion, training, and mentorship of Community Healthcare Workers.
MSF is also recognised as one of the pioneers in providing antiretroviral treatment (ART) in the public sector. It started the first HIV programme in South Africa in 1999. The organisation's earlier interventions in the country have primarily been on developing new testing and treatment strategies for HIV/AIDS and Tuberculosis (TB) in Eshowe (Kwa-Zulu Natal) and Khayelitsha (Western Cape). The Eshowe project was handed over to DoH in 2023 after 12 years of operations. The Khayelitsha project was closed in 2020 after 22 years of activities and campaigning for improved HIV and TB treatment.
Other projects we have been involved in include our Migrant Project in the country's capital, Tshwane, which was handed over to authorities and a local Community-Based Organisation after building the capacity to work with undocumented populations. We also previously offered free, high-quality, and confidential medical care to survivors of sexual and gender-based violence in Rustenburg, North West province.
To learn more about our work in South Africa, please visit this page on our website (www.msf.org.za). To support MSF’s work:
- SMS “JOIN” to 42110 to donate R30 Once-off
- Visit https://www.msf.org.za/donate