DayofPal—More than 50 international non-governmental organizations (NGOs) have warned that new registration restrictions imposed by Israel threaten to halt humanitarian operations in Gaza at a time of extreme need.
In a joint statement, 53 NGOs said that Israeli authorities had issued notices on 30 December to at least 37 organizations, informing them that their registrations would expire within 24 hours.
The move triggered a two-month deadline after which the organizations would be forced to cease operations in Gaza, the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem.
Israel’s Ministry of Diaspora Affairs said the measures target organizations that allegedly failed to meet “security and transparency requirements”, including demands to submit lists of Palestinian employees to screen for purported links to “terrorism”.
The NGOs rejected the justification, saying such requirements violate humanitarian principles, data protection laws and duty-of-care obligations.
They stressed that international aid organizations already operate under strict donor oversight, including audits, counter-terror financing controls and due diligence mechanisms that meet international standards.
“Selective metrics used to assess deregistration do not reflect how humanitarian assistance is delivered in practice,” the organizations said, warning that lapses in registration would obstruct aid delivery on a massive scale.
The groups also highlighted the growing dangers faced by aid workers, noting that more than 500 humanitarian staff have been killed since October 2023.
“Humanitarian access is not optional, conditional or political. It is a legal obligation under international humanitarian law,” the statement said, cautioning that Israel’s actions set a dangerous precedent by extending control over humanitarian operations in occupied territory.
Signatories include Amnesty International, Doctors Without Borders (MSF), Islamic Relief, the Norwegian Refugee Council and Oxfam.
The organizations urged Israel to immediately halt deregistration procedures and called on governments to use their leverage to reverse the measures.
The warning comes as Gaza faces worsening humanitarian conditions due to severe winter weather. Heavy rains and strong winds have flooded and destroyed tens of thousands of tents, exacerbating suffering among displaced Palestinians after more than two years of Israeli military assault.
According to humanitarian agencies, NGOs currently run around 60 percent of Gaza’s field hospitals, deliver more than half of food assistance, and provide the majority of shelter, water, sanitation and emergency education services.
Separately, the foreign ministers of eight Muslim-majority countries, Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Jordan, Indonesia, Turkey, Pakistan, Qatar and Egypt, issued a joint statement urging Israel to allow UN agencies and international NGOs to operate in Gaza and the West Bank without restriction.
The ministers called for the immediate lifting of barriers on aid entry and distribution, as well as the opening of the Rafah Crossing in both directions, warning that continued restrictions would further deepen the humanitarian catastrophe.
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