A raft of aid organisations working in Gaza have warned of “devastating” consequences after Israel announced it would be banning them from operating.
Israel said 37 organisations had failed to meet its new stringent rules for aid groups working in the occupied Gaza Strip, and would be suspended from 1 January.
Those affected include major international aid groups Doctors Without Borders (MSF), Oxfam, ActionAid and the Norwegian Refugee Council.
Bushra Khalidi, Oxfam’s policy lead in the occupied Palestinian territory, told Middle East Eye the new rules would compound an already disastrous situation in Gaza.
“Since March, Israeli authorities have been blocking Oxfam and many other organisations from bringing materials into Gaza regardless of the formal status of our registration,” she said.
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“So that already restricts our ability to scale water, sanitation and shelter and other items at a moment of such extreme need.”
She added that while technically this was not a final decision on deregistration for Oxfam, they were concerned about the broader impact.
“What we’re afraid of is seeing a registration regime that is being applied in a way that obstructs humanitarian operations in practice, so it means limiting access, delaying supplies, creating uncertainty around staff movement,” she said.
‘The core issue here is not a legal technicality, it’s the use of a politicised registration to restrict life-saving aid and that’s against international humanitarian law’
– Bushra Khalidi, Oxfam
Khalidi added that her organisaiton would legally challenge any official deregistration decision, but emphasied that legal action must not be a substitute for unhindered aid work.
“It’s important to be clear, courts cannot replace humanitarian access. The core issue here is not a legal technicality, it’s the use of a politicised registration to restrict life-saving aid and that’s against international humanitarian law.”
The Ministry of Diaspora Affairs announced the ban on Tuesday, saying those who had failed to meet their “security and transparency requirements” would have their licences suspended.
They said the ban would also apply to those who “refused to submit a list of their Palestinian employees in order to rule out any links to terrorism”.
‘Devastating’ consequences
Israel has accused a number of aid organisations, including MSF, of cooperating with Hamas, who rule the Gaza Strip.
MSF, which is one of the largest medical groups operating in Gaza, has warned that Israel’s decision would have a catastrophic impact on its work in the enclave and denied Israel’s accusations about its staff.
The group told MEE in a statement that as of 30 December, it hadn’t received any “official decision” from the Israelis over the ban.
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“But if MSF is prevented from providing services this will have devastating consequences for Palestinians,” it said.
“In Gaza, MSF supports around 20 percent of all hospital beds and supports the delivery of one in three babies. We are urgently seeking solutions so that we can continue providing services to Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank.”
CARE International, another of those listed, said they had also not received an official deregistration letter, and “await communications from the Israeli government”.
The Israeli parliament on Tuesday gave final approval to legislation requiring the cutting of electricity and water supplies to the offices of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (Unrwa) in Jerusalem, with the law taking effect immediately.
‘In Gaza, MSF supports around 20 percent of all hospital beds and supports the delivery of one in three babies’
– MSF statement
It comes as heavy rain and strong winds over the past week flooded and uprooted tents in the Gaza Strip, worsening already dire living conditions for Palestinians after two years of Israeli genocide.
Since the start of the rainy season earlier this month, at least three children have died from the cold, while 17 others have been killed by buildings collapsing due to storms and strong winds.
According to the Shelter Cluster, more than 42,000 tents and makeshift shelters were damaged between 10 and 17 December, affecting nearly a quarter of a million people in the besieged enclave.
The Gaza-based Government Media Office on Sunday said that Israel was continuing to evade its obligations under the ceasefire agreement, failing to allow the agreed 600 trucks per day into the blockaded strip.
Only about 20,000 trucks entered the Gaza Strip out of the agreed 48,000 since October, which the office said is leading the enclave into “a slow death”.
