Israel's new registration procedures for United Nations and international relief agencies could deprive Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza of health care during 2026. Dozens of relief groups faced de-registration by yesterday, December 31st, forcing them to halt operations within 60 days. Aid agency spokesmen argue Israel's new regulations are "vague, arbitrary, and highly politicised".

 

Since the end of January this year, Israeli Authorities have banned the main agency aiding Palestinian refugees, the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) from bringing personnel and aid into Gaza. Nevertheless, UNRWA continues to operate in the strip. An investigation by the UN found 19 UNRWA staff was involved in the October 7th, 2023, attack which killed 1,200 in Israel and their employment was terminated but Israel continued to boycott the agency.

 

Israel argues deregistration is designed to exclude hostile groups from operating in Palestinian territories. Of the 100 which have applied, more than a dozen have been denied permission while the rest have been approved or are under review. Agencies were rejected if they refused to submit to new Israeli requirements such as submitting Palestinian staff lists and identifying donors.

 

Doctors Without Borders (MSF) declared that deregistration would have a "catastrophic impact on access to essential and basic services" in Gaza since the strip's medical facilities have been damaged or destroyed by Israeli military action. International relief agencies provide some $1 billion in annual humanitarian assistance across the West Bank and Gaza. Agencies which have been denied registration have 60 days to withdraw foreign staff from Gaza, the West Bank and Israel and will be barred from providing any aid to Gaza.

 

Among the organisations which have been deregistered are UK-based Save the Children, which cares for 120,000 children in Gaza, and the American Friends Service Committee, a Quaker group which has provided aid to Palestinian refugees in Gaza for 77 years. Action against Hunger, ActionAid, Medical Aid for Palestinians, the Norwegian Refugee Council and Oxfam have castigated Israel's deregistration policy. These groups belong to the Humanitarian Country Team in the Occupied Palestinian Territory which coordinates policy for non-governmental agencies. The team issued a statement calling on the international community to take “immediate and concrete actions to press Israel to life all impediments”, including the new registration process as they undermine humanitarian operations in the occupied Palestinian territory.

 

In a protest statement issued on December 17th, the team said, "INGOs [International Non-Governmental Organisations) run or support the majority of field hospitals, primary healthcare centres, emergency shelter responses, water and sanitation services, nutrition stabilisation centers for children with acute malnutrition, and critical mine action activities."

 

In another statement issued earlier the INGOs said, "These organisations are not optional extras. If they are pushed out, the humanitarian response will not survive.” If this were to happen international humanitarian law decrees that Israel, as occupying power, would be responsible for the welfare of 5.5 million Palestinians living under its occupation. This would include providing food, water, health care, education, and other essential services which have been assumed by INGOs since Israel's founding in 1948.

 

While most Gazans depend on humanitarian relief for existence, Israel has only partially eased restrictions on the entry of aid since the October ceasefire between Israel and Hamas. Furthermore, deliveries remain "limited and inconsistent," the UN said. Under the ceasefire deal, 600 trucks carrying supplies were meant to enter Gaza daily, but the average has been 253 trucks per day. This is a compliance rate of just 42 per cent. Only 425 fuel trucks entered Gaza out of the 4,000 stipulated, averaging five trucks per day instead of 50, a rate of about 10 per cent. The shortages have rendered hospitals, bakeries, water networks, and sewage pumping stations near collapse.

 

The Israeli military body which controls access to Gaza argued that the number of trucks with food aid entering each week went beyond requirements. However, on her return from a visit to Gaza, Director of Operations at the International Committee of the Red Cross Yasmine Praz Dessimoz said 80 per cent of trucks entering the Gaza Strip are commercial trucks or government-to-government aid. Humanitarian assistance has increased slightly, but it “remains minimal and far from sufficient". She said "breastfeeding mothers, older people, children - all those who are vulnerable - do not have access" to expensive commercial goods in markets. The situation as deteriorated over the holiday period after heavy seasonal rains flooded the streets, turning them to mud, collapsing damaged buildings and tents, and soaking blankets and clothing. Hapless Gazans continue to suffer deprivation while the Western world feasts.