NGOs fear Israeli registration rules could lead to collapse of Gaza aid operation

The United Nations and other aid agencies fear that Israel’s new registration rules for dozens of international non-governmental organizations (INGOs) could lead to the collapse of humanitarian relief operations in the occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip.

International NGOs that do not register by December 31 will have 60 days to close their operations in Israel, which the agencies say could seriously disrupt health care and other life-saving services in Gaza.

Save the Children said its application has not yet been approved and that it is “pursuing all available avenues to reconsider this decision”.

Israel’s Ministry of Diaspora Affairs and Combating Anti-Semitism said the departure of the “rogue group” would not affect the delivery of aid.

According to the ministry, 14 of approximately 100 applications have so far been rejected, 21 have been approved, and the remaining applications are still under review.

Registration system launched in March Include several reasons for rejectioninclude:

• Denies the existence of Israel as a Jewish democratic state
• Denies the Holocaust or the Hamas-led attack on Israel on October 7, 2023
• Supporting enemy states or terrorist organizations in their armed struggle against Israel
• Promoting a “delegitimization campaign” against Israel
• Call for a boycott of Israel or commit to an event
• Support prosecution of Israeli security forces in foreign or international courts

Humanitarian Country Team for the Occupied Palestinian Territories – a forum that brings together United Nations agencies and more than 200 local and international organizations – It warned in a statement last Wednesday that the system “fundamentally jeopardizes” the operations of international NGOs in Gaza and the West Bank..

“The system relies on vague, arbitrary and highly politicized standards and imposes requirements that humanitarian organizations cannot meet without breaching international legal obligations or compromising core humanitarian principles,” the report said.

It added: “While some INGOs have registered under the new system, these INGOs represent only a small part of Gaza’s response and are nowhere near the numbers needed to meet immediate and basic needs.”

According to the Humanitarian Country Team, international NGOs currently operate or support most field hospitals and primary health care centers in Gaza, emergency shelter response, water and sanitation services, nutritional stabilization centers for severely malnourished children, and critical mine action activities.

A third of Gaza’s health facilities would close if they were forced to cease operations, the report said.

“In addition to threatening the fragile ceasefire and putting Palestinian lives at imminent risk, pursuing this policy will have far-reaching consequences for the future of the occupied Palestinian territories,” the Humanitarian Country Team warned.

“If international NGOs are deregistered, the United Nations will not be able to compensate for the collapse of its operations, nor will the humanitarian response be replaced by other actors operating outside established humanitarian principles.”

It also stressed that Israel is obliged under international humanitarian law to ensure that Gaza’s population is adequately supplied.

Save the Children confirmed on Monday that it had been told weeks ago that its registration application had not been approved. The organization provides clean water and cash assistance to families in Gaza, as well as medical clinics and mother and baby areas.

A spokesman told the BBC: “We are pursuing all available avenues to reconsider this decision, including filing a petition with an Israeli court.”

“While we call for this decision to be reconsidered, we remain committed to providing vital life-saving support to children and families in the occupied Palestinian territories through our team of more than 300 dedicated Palestinian staff and trusted partners.”

Doctors Without Borders (MSF) supports six public hospitals and operates two field hospitals in Gaza, treating hundreds of thousands of patients over the past year. Meanwhile, the organization said it is one of the international NGOs still awaiting registration.

“With Gaza’s health system already destroyed and independent and experienced humanitarian organizations losing their ability to respond, this will be a disaster for the Palestinians,” a statement said.

“MSF calls on the Israeli authorities to ensure that international NGOs can maintain and continue an impartial and independent response in Gaza. The already constrained humanitarian response must not collapse further.”

A spokesperson for Israel’s Expatriate Affairs Ministry told the BBC that they had extended the registration deadline from September 9 to December 31 “as an extraordinary measure that goes well beyond what is required”.

“We have ample time to act and any organization that has failed to act so far has shown a clear lack of good faith,” he said.

He also stressed that the process was carried out by a team that included all relevant Israeli security and government agencies and that “claims of blanket or mass rejection are false and misleading.”

He added: “Humanitarian aid will continue without interruption. The departure of rogue groups whose real goal is to undermine the State of Israel under the guise of humanitarianism will not affect the continued delivery of aid.”