Gaza (QNN)- Palestinians in the war-torn Gaza Strip have slammed Israel’s decision to ban dozens of international organizations involved in life-saving operations in the enclave, calling it a step that would “add insult to injury” after two years of genocide and blockade.
What We Know
On Tuesday, Israel said it will suspend more than three dozen humanitarian organisations, including Doctors Without Borders, for allegedly failing to meet its new rules for aid groups working in Gaza.
Organisations facing bans starting on Thursday didn’t meet new requirements for sharing information on their staffs, funding and operations, Israeli occupation authorities said.
Other major organisations affected include the Norwegian Refugee Council, CARE International, the International Rescue Committee, and divisions of major charities such as Oxfam and Caritas.
International organisations said Israel’s rules are arbitrary. Israel claimed 37 groups working in Gaza didn’t have their permits renewed.
Amjad Shawa from the Palestine NGOs Network said the decision by Israel is part of its ongoing effort “to deepen the humanitarian catastrophe” in Gaza.
“The limitations on the humanitarian operations in Gaza are in order to continue their project to push out the Palestinians, deport Gaza. This is one of the things Israel continues doing,” Shawa told Al Jazeera.
Israel changed its registration process for aid groups in March, which included a requirement to submit a list of staff, including Palestinians in Gaza.
Some aid groups said they didn’t submit a list of Palestinian staff for fear those employees would be targeted by Israel.
“It comes from a legal and safety perspective. In Gaza, we saw hundreds of aid workers get killed,” said Shaina Low, communications adviser for the Norwegian Refugee Council.
On Wednesday, the Humanitarian Country Team (HCT), which coordinates decisions across UN agencies and NGOs working in Gaza and the occupied West Bank, urged Israel to reconsider its move, warning that they are an essential part of life-saving humanitarian operations in the occupied Palestinian territory.
“The deregistration of INGOs in Gaza will have a catastrophic impact on access to essential and basic services,” the HCT said in the statement.
“INGOs run or support the majority of field hospitals, primary healthcare centers, emergency shelter responses, water and sanitation services, nutrition stabilization centers for children with acute malnutrition, and critical mine action activities.”
The move comes as ten countries, including Canada and Britain, have expressed “serious concerns” over a “renewed deterioration of the humanitarian situation” in Gaza, describing conditions as “catastrophic” despite the ceasefire.
“As winter draws in civilians in Gaza are facing appalling conditions with heavy rainfall and temperatures dropping,” the Foreign Ministers of Britain, Canada, Denmark, Finland, France, Iceland, Japan, Norway, Sweden and Switzerland said in a joint statement on Tuesday.
“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 countries urged Israel to ensure international NGOs can operate in Gaza in a “sustained and predictable” way and called for the opening of land crossings to boost the flow of humanitarian aid.
The statement called on Israel to allow international NGOs to operate in Gaza in a “sustained and predictable” manner, warning that many established aid organisations face deregistration by the end of December due to new Israeli restrictions.
"Bureaucratic customs processes and extensive screenings are causing delays, while commercial cargo is being allowed in more freely," the statement said.
"The target of 4,200 trucks per week, including an allocation of 250 UN trucks per day, should be a floor not a ceiling. These targets should be lifted so we can be sure the vital supplies are getting in at the vast scale needed," it added.
Recently, more than 100 aid groups accused Israel of obstructing life-saving aid from entering Gaza and called on it to end its “weaponisation of aid”.
Despite the ceasefire which took effect in October, Israel has continued to kill Palestinians in Gaza and restricted the entry of much-needed aid, violating the agreement.
“Entry of distribution and aid in the Gaza Strip will proceed without interference from the two parties through the United Nations and its agencies, and the Red Crescent, in addition to other international institutions not associated in any manner with either party,” Trump’s “20-point peace plan” says.
UNRWA chief Philippe Lazzarini said the Israeli decision sets a “dangerous precedent”.
“Failing to push back against attempts to control the work of aid organisations will further undermine the basic humanitarian principles of neutrality, independence, impartiality and humanity underpinning aid work across the world,” Lazzarini said in a statement.
Lazzarini said the latest decision against aid groups is “part of a troubling pattern of disregard for international humanitarian law and increasing impediments to aid operations”.
In 2025, Israel approved several measures to ban UNRWA, a vital facilitator for aid and services in Gaza.
“A Hell Upon a Hell”
The decision comes as the enclave is imminently facing freezing temperatures, rain and strong winds, with more than 20 people have died ove the past weeks from hypothermia and collapsing buildings, including children.
“Israel is pursuing measures that will only worsen the suffering of the people in Gaza. This decision is catastrophic,” said Ahmed Dawood, a father of a baby who was forcibly displaced from his home in Gaza City and now lives in a dilapidated tent, to Quds News Network.
“Banning aid groups in the middle of this humanitarian catastrophe only deepens our suffering and adds insult to injury,” he added.
Israel’s two-year war has destroyed more than 80 percent of structures across Gaza, forcing hundreds of thousands of families to seek refuge in flimsy tents or overcrowded makeshift shelters.
Rania Hamdan said that “people here depend on international organizations for food, medicine, and survival. This decision feels like collective punishment, as the situation is already unbearable,” after two years of relentless Israeli bombardment, starvation, forced displacement, and genocide.
According to aid groups, most people in Gaza rely entirely on international organizations for assistance, including food and medical supplies.
Abu Mohammed, a father of six children, one of whom was injured in an Israeli attack, said that “Gaza is facing a slow death.” He described the move as “hell upon hell,” noting that people “have no money or income.”
He added that he “lines up every day at food distribution points to get food for his children so they don’t starve. The situation is already tragic.”
“These aid groups are the lung that Palestinians breathe from like UNRWA,” said Um Saleh, a 80-year-old Palestinian grandmother. “Without them, we would suffocate.”
