EU warns Israel’s suspension of 37 aid groups risks blocking life-saving aid

The European Union has warned that Israel’s planned suspension of international aid groups operating in Gaza risks cutting off life-saving assistance at a moment of extreme humanitarian need.

EU humanitarian commissioner Hadja Lahbib said Israel’s plan to block NGOs “means blocking life-saving aid.” 

“The EU has been clear: the NGO registration law can not be implemented in its current form. All barriers to humanitarian access must be lifted,” Lahbib wrote on social media earlier this week on Wednesday (31 December). 

Israeli officials on Thursday said 37 humanitarian agencies supplying aid in Gaza had not met a deadline to meet “security and transparency standards”, and would be banned from the territory.

The rules oblige aid groups to submit extensive information, including personal details of staff members, a demand humanitarian organisations say puts their employees at serious risk.

Organisations hit by the ban include Doctors Without Borders (MSF), the Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC) and Oxfam. The ministry said the primary reason for the suspensions was the refusal to provide full details of Palestinian staff.  

Israeli authorities have accused MSF of employing individuals linked to Hamas and Islamic Jihad, an allegation the medical charity has rejected. 

In a response to French newswire AFP, MSF representatives said they had been “fully engaged” with Israeli authorities but that the request to share a list of its staff “may be in violation of Israel’s obligations under international humanitarian law.”  

NRC spokesperson Shaina Low told AFP that submitting the names of local staff is “not negotiable.” 

“We offered alternatives, but they refused,” she said of the Israeli regulators.

Winter conditions 

Israel’s decision comes as conditions in Gaza continue to deteriorate despite a ceasefire agreed months ago. According to Palestinian authorities, at least 414 people have been killed in Gaza since the ceasefire took effect. 

And crossings remain largely closed, with aid flows far below what humanitarian agencies say is needed in Gaza where around 1.5 million of the territory’s two million residents have lost their homes. Reconstruction materials, temporary housing and essential supplies are still blocked. 

Winter conditions have compounded the crisis. Heavy rains have destroyed makeshift tents across Gaza, and local authorities reporting dozens of deaths linked to building collapses as people sought shelter from storms and falling temperatures.

UN human rights chief Volker Türk described Israel’s move to suspend aid agencies as “outrageous,” and said it was just the latest in a pattern of its “unlawful restrictions on humanitarian access.”

Ten countries, including the UK, France, Japan and Canada, warned this week that Gaza’s humanitarian situation is again worsening. 

“Civilians in Gaza are facing appalling conditions with heavy rainfall and temperatures dropping,” their foreign ministers said in a joint statement published on Tuesday. They urged Israel to allow international aid to continue without obstruction.

Israel however maintains that the registration system is necessary to prevent Hamas from exploiting aid operations and that its decision would not impact overall aid volume to the country. 

But a USAID review earlier this year found no evidence of systematic theft of aid by Hamas. And UN officials and donor countries have warned that even temporary disruptions risk worsening conditions in Gaza. 

In October, a group of more than 40 organizations, including MSF and Oxfam, said that Israel continued to “arbitrarily reject shipments of life-saving assistance.” 

“Removing these humanitarian organizations will deepen exposure, illness, and preventable deaths,” Refugees International said in a statement this week.