Israel says it will 'enforce' ban on 37 NGOs in Gaza as humanitarian crisis deepens

Israel said on Thursday that 37 international NGOs operating in Gaza had not complied with a deadline to meet "security and transparency standards," in particular disclosing information on their Palestinian staff, and that it "will enforce" a ban on their activities.

More than 500 aid workers have been killed in the Palestinian territory since October, 2023.

"Organisations that have failed to meet required security and transparency standards will have their licenses suspended," said spokesman for the Ministry of Diaspora Affairs and Combating Antisemitism, Gilad Zwick.

Organisations that have had their license revoked will be forced to cease all activities by March 1, 2026.

Organisations that will have their licenses revoked include Doctors Without Borders (MSF), the Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC), World Vision International, CARE and Oxfam, according to a list provided by Israel’s Ministry of Diaspora Affairs and Combating Antisemitism. 

Read moreAid to Gaza under threat: Dozens of NGOs to be barred under new Israeli rules

In March, Israel gave a ten-month deadline to NGOs to comply with the new rules, which expired on Wednesday night. The UN has warned that the ban will exacerbate the humanitarian situation in Gaza.

The foreign ministers of 10 nations on Tuesday expressed "serious concerns" about a "renewed deterioration of the humanitarian situation" in Gaza, describing the situation "catastrophic".

"As winter draws in, civilians in Gaza are facing appalling conditions with heavy rainfall and temperatures dropping," the ministers of Britain, Canada, Denmark, Finland, France, Iceland, Japan, Norway, Sweden and Switzerland said in a joint statement released by the UK's Foreign Office.

"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 statement added.

Conditions for the civilian population in the Gaza Strip remain dire, with nearly 80 percent of buildings destroyed or damaged by the war, according to UN data. 

About 1.5 million of Gaza's more than two million residents have lost their homes, said Amjad Al-Shawa, director of the Palestinian NGO Network in Gaza.

(FRANCE 24 with AFP)