In brief
In a significant move, Israel announced it will revoke the licenses of 37 aid organizations working in Gaza and the West Bank, citing non-compliance with new regulations. International entities, including ActionAid and the Norwegian Refugee Council, will be affected, leading to a potential collapse in humanitarian assistance. This decision has drawn condemnation from multiple countries emphasizing the dire humanitarian crisis in Gaza and the urgent need for continuous aid.
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.
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 added that aid continued to be delivered through approved and vetted channels, including UN agencies, bilateral partners, and humanitarian organisations.
It said the primary reason aid groups were having their licenses 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% of the total aid volume.
The Ministry of Diaspora Affairs said that fewer than 15% of organisations providing humanitarian assistance to Gaza were found to be in violation of the new regulatory framework.
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.
