Israel on Tuesday said it was suspending more than two dozen humanitarian organisations, including Doctors Without Borders and Care, from operating in the Gaza Strip for failing to comply with new registration rules.
Israel says the rules are aimed at preventing Hamas and other militant groups from infiltrating the aid organisations. But the groups say the rules are arbitrary and that the new ban would harm a civilian population desperately in need of humanitarian aid.
Israel has claimed throughout the war in Gaza that Hamas was siphoning off relief supplies, a charge the UN and aid groups have denied. The new rules, announced by Israel in March, require aid groups to register the names of their workers and provide details about funding and operations.
The regulations also disqualify organisations that have called for boycotts against Israel, denied the Hamas attack on October 7, 2023, that led to the war, or expressed support for any of the international court cases against Israeli soldiers or leaders.
Israel’s Ministry of Diaspora Affairs said more than 30 groups had failed to comply and that their operations would be suspended. It said that Doctors Without Borders had failed to respond to claims that some of its workers were affiliated with Hamas or Islamic Jihad.
“The message is clear: humanitarian assistance is welcome – the exploitation of humanitarian frameworks for terrorism is not,” Diaspora Affairs Minister Amichai Chikli said.
Doctors Without Borders, also known by its French acronym MSF, denied the accusations against its staff and said Israel’s decision would have a catastrophic effect on its work in Gaza, where it supports about 20 per cent of the hospital beds and a third of births.
“MSF would never knowingly employ people engaging in military activity,” it said.
While Israel claimed the decision would have limited impact in Gaza, the affected organisations said the timing – less than three months into a fragile ceasefire – was devastating.
“Despite the ceasefire, the needs in Gaza are enormous and yet we and dozens of other organisations are and will continue to be blocked from bringing in essential, life-saving assistance,” said Shaina Low, communications adviser for the Norwegian Refugee Council, which has also been suspended.
“Not being able to send staff into Gaza means all of the workload falls on our exhausted local staff.”
Some aid groups say they did not submit the list of Palestinian staff, as Israel demanded, for fear they would be a target for Israel, and because of data protection laws in Europe.
“It comes from a legal and safety perspective. In Gaza, we saw hundreds of aid workers get killed,” Ms Low said.
The decision not to renew aid groups’ licences means offices in Israel and East Jerusalem will close, and organisations will not be able to send international staff or aid into Gaza.
Israel’s announcement came as foreign ministers of 10 nations expressed “serious concerns” about a “renewed deterioration of the humanitarian situation” in Gaza, saying the situation was “catastrophic”.
“As winter draws in, civilians in Gaza are facing appalling conditions with heavy rainfall and temperatures dropping,” the ministers of Britain, Canada, Denmark, Finland, France, Iceland, Japan, Norway, Sweden and Switzerland said in a joint statement released by the UK’s Foreign Office.
“1.3 million people still require urgent shelter support. More than half of health facilities are only partially functional and face shortages of essential medical equipment and supplies. The total collapse of sanitation infrastructure has left 740,000 people vulnerable to toxic flooding.”
The foreign ministers said they welcomed the progress that had been made to end the bloodshed in Gaza and secure the release of Israeli hostages.
“However, we will not lose focus on the plight of civilians in Gaza,” they said, calling on the government of Israel to take a string of “urgent and essential” steps.
These included ensuring that international NGOs could operate in Gaza in a “sustained and predictable” way.
“As December 31 approaches, many established international NGO partners are at risk of being deregistered because of the government of Israel’s restrictive new requirements,” the statement said.
It also called for the UN and its partners to be able to continue their work in Gaza and to life “unreasonable restrictions on imports considered to have a dual use”.
With reporting from agencies
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A worker is categorised as skilled by the MOHRE based on nine levels given in the International Standard Classification of Occupations (ISCO) issued by the International Labour Organisation.
A skilled worker would be someone at a professional level (levels 1 – 5) which includes managers, professionals, technicians and associate professionals, clerical support workers, and service and sales workers.
The worker must also have an attested educational certificate higher than secondary or an equivalent certification, and earn a monthly salary of at least Dh4,000.
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