More than three dozen humanitarian groups will have their authorizations to operate in the Gaza Strip suspended on Jan. 1 and will have to clear out by March after failing to comply with new registration rules, Israel’s Ministry of Diaspora Affairs said on Tuesday.
Israeli officials say the new rules are meant to prevent militants from infiltrating aid groups, and they require humanitarian groups to submit lists of their Palestinian employees for review, among other information. The organizations that are facing suspension did not provide that material by the end-of-year deadline after operating under a “good-faith extension” since March, the officials said.
Israel’s decision to act against the groups — among them Doctors Without Borders — at a time of humanitarian crisis in Gaza drew objections from the international community. A fragile cease-fire that began in October is still holding, but mass privation and hunger is still prevalent for about two million Palestinians after two years of war.
Citing the “restrictive new requirements” of the Israeli government, the foreign ministers of Canada, Denmark, Finland, France, Iceland, Japan, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland and Britain on Tuesday called on Israel to ensure that aid groups can “operate in Gaza in a sustained and predictable way.”
“Any attempt to stem their ability to operate is unacceptable,” the foreign ministers wrote in a joint statement, saying that without the contributions of aid groups, “it will be impossible to meet all urgent needs at the scale required.”
Doctors Without Borders said in a statement on Tuesday that it had not received any official decision about the registration requirements as of Dec. 30.
Preventing services into Gaza “will have devastating consequences for Palestinians,” Doctors Without Borders said. The organization said it supports around 20 percent of all hospital beds in the enclave and 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,” it said.
Earlier this month, Doctors Without Borders said it was seeking “constructive engagement with Israeli authorities to continue its activities.”
Israeli agencies rejected the contention that Doctors Without Borders and the other aid groups facing suspension were critical to the humanitarian response.
Israel’s Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories, or COGAT, an agency responsible for managing the entry of aid into Gaza, said in a statement on Tuesday that the organizations were not bringing in aid during the current cease-fire and had in the past given minimal assistance. All of their contributions combined amounted to about 1 percent of the total aid volume, the agency said.
“Accordingly, the implementation of the government decision will not result in any future harm to the volume of humanitarian aid entering the Gaza Strip,” it said.
According to COGAT, aid will continue to enter every week via the United Nations, donor countries, the private sector and “more than 20 international organizations.”
“Attempts by organizations to portray the humanitarian system in Gaza as dependent on their personnel are disconnected from the reality on the ground,” COGAT said.
In May, 55 aid groups objected to Israel’s new rules, saying they undermined humanitarian principles of independence and exposed their staffs to risk. “In a context where humanitarian and health care workers are routinely subject to harassment, detention and direct attacks, this raises serious protection concerns,” they said.
Israel has accused the United Nations and some aid organizations, including Doctors Without Borders, of allowing militants to infiltrate them and exploit humanitarian assistance. It says that the new requirements simply ensure security.
“The refusal of organizations to operate transparently and to cooperate with the required checks is not technical or incidental, but rather raises genuine concern regarding the nature of their activities and the entities with which they operate,” COGAT said.
Last year, the U.N. fired nine employees from its agency for Palestinian refugees, the United Nations Relief and Works Agency, saying they “may have been involved” in the Hamas-led Oct. 7, 2023, attacks that set off the war in Gaza. Israel had accused the aid workers of participation. The U.N. investigation cleared 10 others who were similarly accused.
Israel has also routinely accused Hamas of systematically looting aid intended for civilians, a contention that the United Nations and some Israeli military officials have denied. Israel has previously used that reason to justify severely restricting aid.
In their joint statement on Tuesday, the foreign ministers also called on Israel to lift “excessive restrictions” on goods that it has barred from entry, including medical equipment and shelter materials, and to open all crossing points to allow more aid to flow into Gaza.
Some of Israel’s most vocal allies approved of the decision to block some organizations from continuing to operate in Gaza. Mike Huckabee, the United States ambassador to Israel, wrote approvingly on social media about the restrictions on Tuesday, accusing some of having “terrorists on their payroll.”
Johnatan Reiss and Aaron Boxerman contributed reporting.
Ephrat Livni is a Times reporter covering breaking news around the world. She is based in Washington.
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