Israel’s ban on aid groups to have ‘horrific’, ‘immediate’ consequences on Gaza, doctor says
Dr James Smith, an emergency physician who has volunteered in Gaza, has pushed back against Israel’s claim that the newly suspended aid groups manage a small number of programmes as “misinformation”.
“A situation that is already horrific will be made even more horrific. The changes will be immediate, and they will be ruthless,” he said.
The move is “an extension of Israel’s longstanding strategy of titrating humanitarian access and humanitarian services as a core pillar of the occupation and of the genocide”, Smith said. “Israel wants to exert totalising control over all aspects of Palestinian life, not only in Gaza but throughout occupied Palestine.”
View of humanitarian supplies for Gaza, with the logos of Doctors Without Borders, known by its French initials MSF, and the World Health Organization, stored at Egyptian Red Crescent warehouses in the Egyptian border town of El Arish, Egypt, April 8, 2025
New registration system for aid groups aims to ban their work in Gaza
In an attempt to legitimise the notorious aid agency backed by the US, GHF, Israeli authorities have introduced a new registration system for international organisations delivering aid to Gaza, asking them for a list of their full employees and many other details.
These organisations say this information goes against EU data protection laws and is not a legitimate request, but instead aims to get them banned from working in Gaza. Some of these aid groups have offices in the occupied West Bank and have already been going through severe limitations, including limiting the visas for international staff.
Palestinian organisations are also facing limitations to their work. I’m standing in front of the building of the Palestinian organisation Health Work Committee, one of many Palestinian organisations that Israeli forces have shut down, citing security concerns.
Which organisations are being suspended?
Israel says 37 organisations have failed to meet its new rules for aid groups working in the Gaza Strip, and are suspended starting January 1.
The most prominent organisations – which provide essential medical care, food and children’s services – include:
- Doctors Without Borders
- Norwegian Refugee Council
- International Rescue Committee
- Caritas
- Oxfam
- ActionAid
- Action Against Hunger
- CARE
EU warns suspending Gaza aid groups would block ‘life-saving aid’
The EU has warned that Israel’s move to suspend several aid groups in Gaza under new registration rules would block “life-saving” assistance from reaching the Palestinian population.
“The EU has been clear: the NGO registration law can not be implemented in its current form,” EU humanitarian chief Hadja Lahbib posted on X. “IHL [international humanitarian law] leaves no room for doubt: aid must reach those in need.”
Israel’s plans to block INGOs in Gaza 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.
IHL leaves no room for doubt: aid must reach those in need.
— Hadja Lahbib (@hadjalahbib) December 31, 2025
