Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF), known as Doctors Without Borders, has warned that hundreds of thousands of Palestinians risk losing access to drinking water. They noted that this is particularly possible if authorities force the organisation and other humanitarian groups to halt operations in the Gaza Strip.
Half a million Gazans depend on MSF water daily
According to Paula Navarro, MSF’s Water and Sanitation Coordinator, in a Video posted on X, says MSF currently provides clean water to more than 500,000 people daily. She also noted that approximately one in every four residents now has access to clean water.
MSF says its registration in Israel expired on December 31, 2025. Unless renewed, it will cease operations in Palestine by March 1.
“We provide clean water to over half a million people every day. If we and other NGOs are forced to stop working in the enclave, hundreds of thousands of people will lose access to drinking water,” said Paula Navarro, MSF’s Water and Sanitation Coordinator.
The organization reveals that Israel has destroyed or restricted access to much of Gaza’s water infrastructure, pushing the territory into a deepening humanitarian crisis. MSF teams truck in water and operate production points to fill the gap.
However, Navarro warned that without a sustained international presence, even this fragile supply will collapse.
Israeli ban forces Médecins Sans Frontières to exit Palestine
For MSF, access to water means access to safe water that meets a population’s hygiene and sanitation needs. In conflict zones and displacement settings, the organisation routinely responds to waterborne disease outbreaks.
Reacting to the looming shutdown, Nicola Perugini, a professor at the University of Edinburgh’s School of Social and Political Science, linked the administrative move to a deliberate targeting of water infrastructure.
“Those are the water tanks the Israeli military detonates TO exacerbate thirst and collective death in Gaza,” Perugini said.
He added that this is why Doctors Without Borders is being banned from the occupied Palestinian territory in violation of the Genocide Convention.
MSF however, says its update reflects conditions as of February 5, 2026. Given the rapidly shifting administrative and access environment in Gaza and the West Bank, the organisation noted that its registration status and operational capacity may change.
In a related development, the Israeli government has banned Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) from operating in the Gaza Strip. This follows a dispute over the medical charity’s refusal to provide a list of its Palestinian and international staff to Israeli authorities.
Similarly, the escalating violence in Sudan’s largest displacement camp has forced MSF to suspend its critical medical operations in Zamzam camp. This has left over half a million people without essential healthcare.