The increasingly controversial medical nongovernmental organization Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF), which has been accused of anti-Israel rhetoric, shocked many when it recently announced that it had ceased operations at the Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis, Gaza, due to the presence of gunmen using the hospital it had constantly accused Israel of raiding.
MSF said its teams had "reported a pattern of unacceptable acts, including the presence of armed men, intimidation, arbitrary arrests of patients, and a recent situation of suspicion of movement of weapons," and said the "incidents pose serious security threats to our teams and patients."
Salo Aizenberg, director of media watchdog group HonestReporting, told Fox News Digital, "MSF buried its acknowledgment of seeing armed gunmen at Nasser Hospital at the very end of a 2,500-word Gaza projects update, but still wouldn’t name who those gunmen were. Hamas."
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The terrorist group's continuing operations highlight another challenge: the need to disarm Hamas, as required by the ceasefire currently in place.
In a statement to Fox News Digital, the Israel Defense Forces said it "possesses intelligence indicating that Nasser Hospital is being used as a headquarters and military post for senior Hamas commanders and operatives in the southern Gaza Strip. For two years, the IDF and the defense establishment has warned about the cynical use by terrorist organizations in the Gaza Strip of hospitals and humanitarian shelters as human shields to conceal terrorist activity."
While noting that MSF’s decision was "important," the IDF said it "comes too late. This is further proof that reinforces the necessity for the disarmament of the Hamas terror organization."
Fox News Digital asked the White House whether the presence of armed fighters in Nasser Hospital is a violation of the ceasefire. A White House official stated, "We can't confirm Medecins Sans Frontieres' claims, but any threatening presence of Hamas is one of the reasons why we continue to emphasize that Hamas must disarm."
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MSF has previously stated that it has been "operational out of Nasser Hospital since before the conflict escalated in October 2023."
Aizenberg said MSF’s discourse is a change from prior statements. "When the IDF raided Nasser Hospital in February 2024, saying Hamas operatives and hostages were believed to be there, it was condemned as an illegal attack on a medical facility," Aizenberg said. "MSF now confirms the hospital was used by combatants and for weapons movement. The IDF was right all along."
Concerns have also come from the U.S.-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), which provided over 187 million meals to Gazans between May 26 and late November 2025. In September, GHF told Fox News Digital that Nasser Hospital routinely issued "false reports" of civilian deaths at GHF sites to the media.
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MSF did not respond to Fox News Digital’s questions about their failure to address the presence of armed gunmen at Nasser Hospital previously, whether the armed gunmen at the hospital are members of Hamas and why they chose to include their change in operations at the end of a lengthy statement alleging "intimidation, pressure and smear campaigns" regarding MSF from Israeli authorities.
The IDF banned MSF from operating in Gaza beginning on March 1, citing the organization’s failure to provide a list of all Palestinian staff, according to the Times of Israel.
MSF has come under fire in the U.S., with Rep. Elise Stefanik, R-N.Y., sending a letter to Attorney General Pam Bondi in September requesting that she investigate the organization under the Anti-Terrorism Act because it "mirror[ed] propaganda continuously pushed by Hamas."
As the ceasefire brokered by the Trump administration takes hold, other anti-Israel NGOs also seem to be coming to terms with their obsession with Israel. Former Oxfam in the U.K. CEO Dr. Halima Begum is taking the charity to court for accusations of sexism, racism and antisemitism. She told the U.K.’s Channel 4 News that "it always felt as though we were disproportionately working around the crisis in Gaza."
Addressing Begum’s remarks, Israeli cabinet minister Amichai Chikli said she has "been a vocal critic of the State of Israel. Therefore, when she testifies about the level of antisemitism within the organization and levels these accusations herself, her remarks should resonate around the world all the more."
On Monday, Israel’s news agency TPS-IL reported that Oxfam will no longer be permitted to operate in Gaza beginning Feb. 28, the Ministry for Diaspora Affairs and Combating Antisemitism has ruled.
Watchdog organization NGO Monitor told Fox News Digital that the confluence of news stories demonstrates that "slowly, superpower NGOs are being exposed from the inside – their anti-Israel rot bared for all to see. A major return to founding principles is required to ensure that human rights once again become driving ideals inside the world’s most influential NGOs."
