More than one hundred international organizations signed a document that was published Thursday and shared with the international media, claiming that Israel has been blocking the entry of humanitarian aid into the Gaza Strip for months, and that most organizations have been unable to bring in aid since March. 

The letter claimed that Israel has rejected dozens of requests to bring in aid, declaring that the organizations were “not authorized,” leaving millions of dollars worth of humanitarian aid in warehouses in Jordan, Egypt, and Ashdod — including food, medicine, water, and emergency supplies.

According to the organizations, the reason for the blockages is the new registration mechanism introduced in March, which demands the submission of a list of the Palestinian workers for security screening, among other requirments. They claim that the demands are illegal, endanger the safety of the teams, harm the independence of the organizations, and are intended to limit humanitarian activity.

The Ministry of Diaspora issued a response to these claims, distributing it to the international media. “The reality is completely opposite to the claims that have been published,” the statement began.

“Israel is working to enable and facilitate the entry of humanitarian aid into the Gaza Strip, while the terrorist organization Hamas is trying to exploit the aid to strengthen itself militarily and establish its control over the population. This is sometimes done under the auspices of some international aid organizations, knowingly or unknowingly,” it read.

“In response to this,” it continued, “In accordance with the directive of the political echelon and before the resumption of the entry of aid into the Gaza Strip, the Israeli security establishment has formulated a new mechanism for the entry of aid that aims to ensure that the aid reaches directly to the population and not to Hamas. 

The letter went on to explain the new mechanism put in place to combat Hamas’s exploitation of the aid.

“As part of the mechanism, the organizations are required to carry out an orderly registration process with the Israeli Ministry of Diaspora, which includes, among other things, sharing the list of the organization’s employees operating in Gaza for the purpose of a preliminary security assessment. The registration process is based on clear professional and security criteria, designed to maintain the purity of the humanitarian system, while preventing terrorist elements from penetrating the aid mechanism. This is a transparent and clear process, which was presented to all organizations in advance,” it read.

The letter then announced their own claims on the NGOs — questioning their integrity and moral transparency for denying compliance with Israel’s regulations while roughly 300 aid trucks have been enerting the Strip regularly through nearly 20 other organizations that have complied.

“The refusal of some international organizations to provide the information and cooperate in the registration process raises real concerns about the purity of their intentions and the possibility of links between the organization or its employees and Hamas. On the other hand, nearly 20 international organizations that respected the law and carried out the registration process are bringing aid into the Strip regularly and with full cooperation. As evidence of this, approximately 300 humanitarian aid trucks enter the Gaza Strip every day through organizations that registered in accordance with the new mechanism,” the response read.

The Diaspora Ministry ended its statement calling on all organizations to comply with Israel’s security protocols, saying, “The alleged delay in bringing in aid that the organizations that signed the document complain about occurs only when organizations choose not to meet the security threshold conditions designed to prevent Hamas involvement. Instead of opposing the process and publishing statements, we call on all international organizations interested in bringing aid to the Gaza Strip, and in particular those who signed the document, to act transparently, complete the registration, and ensure that the aid reaches the residents and not Hamas.”