By Olivia Le Poidevin
GENEVA, Jan 30 (Reuters) – Medical charity Medecins Sans Frontieres said on Friday it will not submit lists of staff demanded by Israel to maintain access to Gaza and the West Bank after failing to receive assurances over the safety of its teams.
MSF, which supports and helps staff hospitals in the Gaza Strip, is one of 37 international organisations that Israel ordered this month to stop work in the Palestinian territories unless they meet new rules including providing employee details.
The aid groups say sharing such staff information could pose a safety risk. Hundreds of aid workers have been killed or injured during the war in Gaza.
Israel’s diaspora ministry manages the registration process. In a statement to Reuters, the ministry accused Hamas of having exerted pressure on MSF.
It provided no evidence but cited a statement by the Gaza health ministry on January 29 that rejected sharing data of health staff working with partner health institutions over concerns about the personal safety of workers.
The ministry said MSF had not been in contact with it.
Israel has previously said the registrations were meant to prevent diversions of aid by Palestinian armed groups. Aid agencies dispute that substantial aid has been diverted.
MSF had said last week it would be prepared to share a partial list of Palestinian and international staff who had agreed to release that information, provided the list be used only for administrative purposes and not put its team at risk. It also said it wanted to retain control over the management of medical humanitarian supplies.
“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,” MSF said in a statement.
It said there could be a devastating impact on humanitarian services if it is banned from operating in Gaza and the West Bank.
(Reporting by Olivia Le Poidevin in Geneva. Additional reporting by Nidal al-Mughrabi in Cairo and Rami Ayyub in Jerusalem. Editing by Mark Potter)
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