The international aid organization Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF), known more commonly by the English translation of its name “Doctors Without Borders,” has suspended all “non-critical” medical services at Nasser Hospital in Khan Yunis in the southern Gaza Strip. The organization cites security concerns and threats to the neutrality of the facility as the reasons.

According to Reuters, Palestinian terrorists were observed operating from the hospital. MSF itself spoke of armed men inside the medical center and incidents that undermined the protected status of the hospital. Staff and patients had repeatedly been confronted with armed, partly masked individuals. Against this background, the organization decided to temporarily halt all non-life-saving services. Emergency and intensive care would, however, continue to be provided.

MSF now admits there are “armed men and suspected weapons movement” inside Gaza’s Nasser Hospital.

In Gaza, armed men inside hospitals are Hamas terrorists.

Israel has warned for years that Hamas exploits hospitals as terror infrastructure.

Better late than never. pic.twitter.com/HJZw91L2M1

— Israel Foreign Ministry (@IsraelMFA) February 15, 2026

Hospitals enjoy special protection under international humanitarian law. They are considered civilian spaces in which medical personnel can work independently of political or military interests. When this protection is effectively called into question, humanitarian organizations face an almost irresolvable dilemma between their duty to provide care and their responsibility for security.

Nasser Hospital is one of the few larger facilities in the southern Gaza Strip that remain operational despite months of fighting. Large parts of the medical infrastructure in the Gaza Strip have been severely damaged or put out of service since the beginning of the war. Accordingly, the consequences are severe when international aid organizations are forced to restrict their work.

Israeli authorities pointed out that they had long warned against the misuse of civilian infrastructure by Hamas. Hamas de facto controls the Gaza Strip and is classified as a terrorist organization by Israel, the United States, and the European Union. Israel has repeatedly accused the organization of using civilian facilities—including hospitals—for military purposes. Hamas rejects these accusations.

It is noteworthy that an internationally renowned aid organization is now itself speaking of an armed presence in a hospital. In comparable cases in the past, international NGOs have frequently remained reserved in their statements. MSF’s current decision therefore underscores the seriousness of the incidents.

When a medical facility is misused for terrorist activities, its protected status under international law is jeopardized—with immediate consequences for patients and medical staff.

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