Gaza City (EFE).- The Gaza City clinic of the NGO Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) continued on Wednesday to provide medical services to hundreds of patients against the clock in view of its closure, scheduled for March, after the Israeli government vetoed the organization in the Gaza Strip and the occupied West Bank.
“I don’t know the reasons for the suspension of MSF. What I do know is that it should not take place, and we are doing everything possible to maintain our presence here,” said Hunter McGovern, the MSF France project coordinator in Gaza City, in an interview with EFE.
As of Tuesday, the Israeli government announced that it would withdraw the licenses of 37 NGOs operating in Gaza and the West Bank on Jan. 1, including MSF. The government claimed that some of MSF’s employees were involved in terrorist activities.
“We would never knowingly hire people involved in military activities,” said Claire San Filippo, MSF emergency coordinator for Gaza, in an official statement.
“Making such public claims without evidence puts humanitarian staff at risk and undermines critical medical work,” she added.
According to McGovern, due to over two years of constant Israeli offensives, the Gazan health system has weakened, and the MSF clinic now provides indispensable care for a Gaza in crisis.
“We treat between 150 and 200 patients a day. We treat wounds, change bandages, and offer physiotherapy services,” the project coordinator explained.
“This care is often perceived as outpatient, but it saves lives,” he noted, stressing that the clinic is one of the few places in the Palestinian enclave where the sterility of bandages can be guaranteed, preventing potentially fatal infections.
MSF also helps supply drinking water in a desert climate area, which McGovern emphasized is essential for the health of its inhabitants.
According to MSF data, the organization manages one out of every five hospital beds and one out of every three births in Gaza. In 2025 alone, MSF provided 800,000 outpatient consultations, treated over 100,000 trauma cases, and performed 22,700 surgeries.
“Without Doctors Without Borders, we would not be able to receive daily medical attention. Without them, I would not have been able to walk normally again,” said Khaled al Najar, 20, who received shrapnel wounds to his leg six months ago.
For Naama Abu Ganem, 46, the closure of the clinic would be a “real catastrophe,” as her son, a victim of a hit-and-run accident in Aug. 2025, is one of the patients who come to the clinic daily.
In Mar. 2025, while the Israel Defense Forces continued its offensive in Gaza, the government of Benjamin Netanyahu introduced new requirements for granting licenses to international NGOs operating in the occupied Palestinian territories.
In addition to detailing the names of all their workers, Israel stipulated that permits could be denied for denying the existence of Israel as a Jewish and democratic state, promoting delegitimization campaigns against Israel, urging a boycott, or supporting the prosecution of Israeli security forces in foreign or international courts.
The Ministry of Diaspora Affairs and Combating Antisemitism stated that the affected NGOs had been notified regarding their license revocation on Jan. 1, 2026, and that they must cease their activities by Mar. 1, 2026.EFE
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