On Tuesday, Israel announced it had suspended numerous humanitarian organizations, including Doctors Without Borders and CARE, from working in Gaza after they failed to meet new registration requirements.
Israel states the regulations are designed to stop militant groups like Hamas from infiltrating aid agencies. However, the organizations argue the requirements are arbitrary and caution that the suspension will damage an already vulnerable civilian population in urgent need of humanitarian assistance.
Throughout the conflict, Israel has alleged that Hamas was diverting aid supplies—accusations that the U.N. and humanitarian groups have rejected. The new regulations, introduced by Israel earlier this year, mandate that aid agencies register their employees’ names and disclose information about their funding and operations to maintain their presence in Gaza.
The updated rules also contained ideological criteria—specifically, barring groups that have advocated for boycotts of Israel, questioned the October 7 attacks, or backed any international legal proceedings against Israeli military personnel or officials.
Israel’s Ministry of Diaspora Affairs stated that over 30 organizations—approximately 15% of those working in Gaza—had not complied, and their activities would be halted. The ministry also noted that a major, well-known aid group had not addressed Israeli allegations that some of its employees had ties to Hamas or Islamic Jihad.
“The message is unambiguous: humanitarian aid is welcome, but exploiting humanitarian structures for terrorist purposes is unacceptable,” Diaspora Affairs Minister Amichai Chikli declared.
Doctors Without Borders, known internationally by its French abbreviation MSF, warned that Israel’s move would severely undermine its operations in Gaza, where it supports approximately 20% of hospital beds and assists with one-third of all births. The organization also rejected Israel’s claims regarding its personnel.
“MSF would never intentionally hire individuals involved in military operations,” the organization stated.
‘Exhausted local staff’
Although Israel maintained that the decision would have minimal practical impact, the affected agencies argued that the timing—coming less than three months into a tenuous ceasefire—was deeply damaging.
“Even with the ceasefire in place, the humanitarian needs in Gaza are massive, yet our organization and dozens of others remain barred from delivering critical life-saving aid,” said Shaina Low, communications advisor for the Norwegian Refugee Council, which has likewise been suspended.
“The inability to deploy international staff to Gaza means our overburdened local employees must shoulder the entire workload,” Low explained.
Certain humanitarian organizations reported they refused to provide the Palestinian staff roster that Israel requested, citing concerns that the information could be used to target their employees and noting that European data protection regulations prohibit such disclosures.
“This decision is driven by both legal obligations and safety considerations. We’ve witnessed the deaths of hundreds of aid workers in Gaza,” Low noted.
The refusal to renew the licenses of these aid agencies will result in the closure of their offices in Israel and East Jerusalem, and will prevent them from dispatching international personnel or supplies into Gaza.
Israel says militants exploiting aid groups
The ministry indicated that the ruling will lead to the revocation of the organizations’ licenses on January 1, with those based in Israel required to depart by March 1. The groups have the option to appeal.
COGAT, the Israeli defense authority responsible for supervising humanitarian assistance to Gaza, stated that the suspended organizations account for less than 1% of all aid entering the Gaza Strip, and that humanitarian supplies will continue to flow through more than 20 agencies that obtained permission to keep functioning.
“The registration procedure aims to stop Hamas from misusing aid, as the group has previously operated under the guise of certain international humanitarian organizations, either deliberately or inadvertently,” COGAT explained in a statement.
This marks another instance of Israeli efforts to restrict international humanitarian groups. Throughout the conflict, Israel has repeatedly accused UNRWA—the primary U.N. agency serving Palestinians—of being penetrated by Hamas, utilizing its infrastructure, and diverting aid. The United Nations has rejected these allegations. UNRWA has stated it does not knowingly support armed factions and promptly removes any suspected militants from its ranks.
Following months of condemnation from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his far-right coalition partners, Israel prohibited UNRWA from functioning within its borders in January. The United States, previously the agency’s largest contributor, suspended funding to UNRWA in early 2024.
NGOs say Israel vague over data use
Athena Rayburn, executive director of AIDA—a coalition representing more than 100 organizations active in the Palestinian territories—stated that Israel has not guaranteed that information gathered under the new regulations will not be utilized for military or intelligence operations, creating significant security risks. She pointed out that numerous aid workers have been killed in Gaza during the conflict.
“Permitting one side in the conflict to screen our personnel, particularly under occupation, breaches fundamental humanitarian principles—namely neutrality and independence,” she argued.
Rayburn noted that the organizations had voiced their apprehensions and proposed alternatives to providing staff rosters, such as independent third-party screening, but Israel declined to participate in discussions.
Palestinian girl killed in Gaza
Shifa Hospital in Gaza reported Tuesday that a 10-year-old girl was killed and another individual injured by Israeli gunfire near the Yellow Line in Gaza City, which marks zones under Israeli control.
The Israeli military declined to offer immediate comment on the incident, though it has previously stated that forces stationed near the Yellow Line will engage anyone who approaches or poses a threat to troops.
The Gaza Health Ministry, which operates under the Hamas-led administration, announced Monday that 71,266 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza, excluding the young girl. The ministry’s tally does not distinguish between civilian and combatant deaths. The United Nations and independent specialists regard the Health Ministry as the most dependable source for casualty figures, though Israel challenges its numbers without offering alternative data.