Israel’s rules for aid-giving NGOs will exacerbate humanitarian suffering in Gaza, foreign ministers from 19 EU countries warned.
The extra requirements, agreed upon in March and set to take effect in early September, create more paperwork for organizations providing aid in occupied Palestinian territories (OPTs) and could lead to most international NGOs being de-registered by Sept. 9, the United Nations said.
“The humanitarian suffering in Gaza has reached unimaginable levels. Famine is unfolding before our eyes,” said the statement, signed by 19 EU foreign ministers, as well as those of fellow European countries Iceland, Norway and Switzerland, alongside Australia, Canada, Japan and the U.K. “Urgent action is needed now to halt and reverse starvation.”
“Humanitarian space must be protected, and aid should never be politicised,” it continued. “However, due to restrictive new registration requirements, essential international NGOs may be forced to leave the OPTs imminently which would worsen the humanitarian situation still further.”
The statement further implores Israel to authorize all international NGOs and “unblock” humanitarian actors, as well as facilitating the immediate entry of widespread aid into Gaza via the U.N. and international NGOs.
It also says that lethal force must not be used at aid sites. Many Palestinians have reportedly been shot by snipers and tanks while trying to access aid.
EU High Representative Kaja Kallas and Commissioners Dubravka Šuica and Hadja Lahbib also put their names to the statement. Earlier on Tuesday, Lahbib publicly denounced Israel’s actions in Gaza, describing plans for a military takeover of Gaza city “catastrophic.”
European Commission Vice President Teresa Ribera told POLITICO’s Brussels Playbook the starvation, displacement and killing in Gaza “looks very much” like genocide. Israel and its international allies deny accusations of genocide and war crimes.
The foreign ministers of Austria, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czechia, Germany, Hungary, Poland and Romania did not sign up to Tuesday’s statement.
Israel has been waging war on Hamas militants in the Gaza Strip since the group carried out a surprise attack on southern Israel in October 2023, killing over 1,000 people. Much of the infrastructure in Gaza has been destroyed, including water, sanitation and fertility facilities as well as civilian homes.
The civilian death toll is high — with over 60,000 people confirmed dead by local authorities, who include fighters in their figures — and deaths from starvation are mounting since Israel began more heavily restricting humanitarian aid into the territory earlier this year. Many of the dead are women and children.
Strife in European countries over the situation in Gaza is reaching boiling point, with some EU civil servants in open revolt over perceived institutional complicity in the humanitarian crisis.
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