More than 100 international aid organisations are demanding Israel allow in crucial aid to Gaza, following its restrictive new registration laws for NGOs.
The new restrictions, imposed in March, require charities to submit details of private donors, complete Palestinian staff lists and other sensitive information about personnel for so-called “security” vetting to Israeli authorities.
"NGOs have no guarantees that handing over such information would not put staff at further risk, or be used to advance the government of Israel's stated military and political aims," they said, in a statement issued on Thursday (14 August).
The statement further says that the new registration system is being used to block aid and deny food and medicine in the midst of the worst-case scenario of famine.
American Near East Refugee Aid says they have over $7m [€5.98m] worth of supplies ready to enter Gaza, including 744 tonnes of rice, enough for six million meals.
The NGO says it is blocked several kilometres away in Ashdod.
Care, another aid organisation, says they have not been able to deliver any of their $1.5m worth of pre-positioned supplies into Gaza since March. Oxfam says they have some $2.5m in aid blocked.
The charities accuse Israeli authorities of weaponising starvation as food distribution sites under the US and Israeli-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) come under deadly fire.
Some 859 Palestinians have been killed around GHF sites since it began operating, say the charities.
For its part, the European Commission on Wednesday again demanded Israel allow in humanitarian aid into the Gaza Strip.
A spokesperson told reporters in Brussels on Wednesday that there is an urgent need to ensure that international NGOs that are facing administrative obstacles are let in.
Similar warnings have been made over the past few weeks and days by foreign ministers from Australia, Austria, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, New Zealand, Norway, the United Kingdom and the EU.
United Nations Office for the Coordination Of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) says the new registration law risks forcing the departure of all international staff by 9 September.
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Nikolaj joined EUobserver in 2012 and covers home affairs. He is originally from Denmark, but spent much of his life in France and in Belgium. He was awarded the King Baudouin Foundation grant for investigative journalism in 2010.
Nikolaj joined EUobserver in 2012 and covers home affairs. He is originally from Denmark, but spent much of his life in France and in Belgium. He was awarded the King Baudouin Foundation grant for investigative journalism in 2010.