Israel to bar 37 aid groups from Gaza

Israel is to revoke the licenses of 37 aid groups working in Gaza and the occupied West Bank, saying they failed to meet requirements under new registration rules, BBC reports.

Well-known international non-governmental organisations (INGOs) such as ActionAid, the International Rescue Committee and the Norwegian Refugee Council are among those that will have their licenses suspended on 1 January, with their operations to end within 60 days.

Israel said the groups, among other things, had failed to hand over "complete" personal details of their staff.

The move was heavily criticised by foreign ministers from 10 countries including the UK, who said the new rules were "restrictive" and "unacceptable".

In a joint statement, the foreign ministers of the UK, France, Canada, Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Japan, Norway, Sweden and Switzerland said the forced closure of INGO operations would "have a severe impact on access to essential services including healthcare".

They added that the humanitarian situation in Gaza remained "catastrophic" and called on Israel's government to ensure INGOs were able to operate "in a sustained and predictable way".

Israel's Ministry of Diaspora Affairs, which is in charge of registration applications, said the new measures would not impact the flow of humanitarian assistance to Gaza.

It said aid has continued to be delivered through "approved and vetted channels", including UN agencies, bilateral partners, and humanitarian organisations.

The ministry said the primary reason aid groups were having their licences revoked was "the refusal to provide complete and verifiable information regarding their employees," which it said was critical to preventing "the infiltration of terrorist operatives into humanitarian structures".

Earlier this month, UN-backed experts said there had been improvements in nutrition and food supplies in Gaza since a ceasefire was brokered between Israel and Hamas in October, but 100,000 people still experienced "catastrophic conditions" the following month.

Israeli military body Cogat, which controls Gaza's crossings, said the organisations that will be suspended "did not bring aid into Gaza throughout the current ceasefire".

It added that "even in the past their combined contribution amounted to only about 1 per cent of the total aid volume".

The Ministry of Diaspora Affairs said that fewer than 15 per cent of organisations providing humanitarian assistance to Gaza were found to be in violation of the new regulatory framework.

That framework includes several grounds for rejection, including:

Denying the existence of Israel as a Jewish and democratic state

Denying the Holocaust or the Hamas-led attacks on Israel on 7 October 2023

Supporting an armed struggle against Israel by an enemy state or terrorist organisation

Promoting "delegitimisation campaigns" against Israel

Calling for a boycott of Israel or committing to participate in one

Supporting the prosecution of Israeli security forces in foreign or international courts

The Humanitarian Country Team of the Occupied Palestinian Territory - a forum that brings together UN agencies and more than 200 local and international organisations - previously warned that the new registration system "fundamentally jeopardises" the operations of INGOs in Gaza and the West Bank.

"The system relies on vague, arbitrary, and highly politicised criteria and imposes requirements that humanitarian organisations cannot meet without violating international legal obligations or compromising core humanitarian principles," it said.

The forum added: "While some INGOs have been registered under the new system, these INGOs represent only a fraction of the response in Gaza and are nowhere near the number required just to meet immediate and basic needs."

According to the Humanitarian Country Team, INGOs currently run or support most of Gaza's field hospitals and primary healthcare centres, emergency shelter responses, water and sanitation services, nutrition stabilisation centres for children with acute malnutrition, and critical mine action activities.

In a statement, Israel's Minister of Diaspora Affairs and Combating Antisemitism, Amichai Chikli, said: "The message is clear: humanitarian assistance is welcome — the exploitation of humanitarian frameworks for terrorism is not."

Other organisations to be suspended include CARE, Medico International and Medical Aid for Palestinians.