Gaza: Israel threatens to ban major aid organizations as starvation deepens

August 14, 2025
Oxfam and over 100 other organizations call for an end to Israel’s weaponization of aid

Despite claims by Israeli authorities that there is no limit on humanitarian aid entering Gaza, most major international NGOs have been unable to deliver a single truck of lifesaving supplies since 2 March.

Instead of clearing the growing backlog of goods, Israeli authorities have rejected requests from dozens of NGOs to bring in lifesaving goods, citing that these organizations are “not authorized to deliver aid.” In July alone, over 60 requests were denied under this justification.

This obstruction has left millions of dollars’ worth of food, medicine, water, and shelter items stranded in warehouses across Jordan and Egypt, while Palestinians are being starved.

“Anera has over $7 million worth of lifesaving supplies ready to enter Gaza – including 744 tons of rice, enough for six million meals, blocked in Ashdod just kilometers away,” said Sean Carroll, President and CEO of Anera.

Many of the NGOs now told they are not “authorized” to deliver aid have worked in Gaza for decades, are trusted by communities and experienced in delivering aid safely. Their exclusion has left hospitals without basic supplies, children, people with disabilities, and older people dying from hunger and preventable illnesses, and aid workers themselves going to work hungry.

The obstruction is tied to new INGO registration rules introduced in March. Under these new rules, registration can be denied on the basis of vague and politicized criteria, such as alleged “delegitimization” of the state of Israel. INGOs warned the process was designed to control independent organizations, silence advocacy, and censor humanitarian reporting. This new bureaucratic obstruction is inconsistent with established international law as it entrenches Israel’s control and annexation of the occupied Palestinian territory.

Unless INGOs submit to the full registration requirements, including the mandatory submission of details of private donors, complete Palestinian staff lists and other sensitive information about personnel for so-called “security” vetting to Israeli authorities, many could be forced to halt operations in Gaza and the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, and remove all international staff within 60 days. Some organizations have even been issued a seven-day ultimatum to provide Palestinian staff lists.

NGOs have made clear that sharing such data is unlawful (including under relevant data protection laws), unsafe, and incompatible with humanitarian principles. In the deadliest context for aid workers worldwide, where 98 percent of those humanitarians killed were Palestinian, NGOs have no guarantees that handing over such information would not put staff at further risk, or be used to advance the government of Israel’s stated military and political aims.

Today, INGOs’ fears have proven true: the registration system is now being used to further block aid and deny food and medicine in the midst of the worst-case scenario of famine.

“Since the full siege was imposed on 2 March, CARE has not been able to deliver any of our $1.5 million worth of pre-positioned supplies into Gaza,” said Jolien Veldwijk, Country Director of CARE. “This includes critical shipments of food parcels, medical supplies, hygiene kits, dignity kits, and maternal and infant care items. Our mandate is to save lives, but due to the registration restrictions civilians are being left without the food, medicine, and protection they urgently need.”

“Oxfam has over $2.5 million worth of goods that have been rejected from entering Gaza by Israel, especially WASH and hygiene items as well as food,” said Bushra Khalidi, Oxfam Policy Lead. “This registration process signals to INGOs that their ability to operate may come at the cost of their independence and ability to speak out.”

These restrictions are part of a broader strategy that includes the so-called “GHF” scheme – a militarized distribution mechanism promoted as a humanitarian solution. In reality, it is a deadly tool of control, with at least 859 Palestinians killed around “GHF” sites since it began operating.

“The militarized food distribution scheme has weaponized starvation and curated suffering. Distributions at GHF sites have resulted in extreme levels of violence and killings, primarily of young Palestinian men, but also of women and children, who have gone to the sites in the hope of receiving food,” according to Aitor Zabalgogeazkoa, MSF emergency coordinator in Gaza.

Both the “GHF” scheme and the INGO registration process aim to block impartial aid, exclude Palestinian actors, and replace trusted humanitarian organizations with mechanisms that serve political and military objectives. They come as the government of Israel to escalate its military offensive and deepen its occupation in Gaza, making clear these measures are part of a broader strategy to entrench control and erase Palestinian presence.

“At this point, everyone knows what the correct, humane answer is, and it’s not a floating pier, airdrops or the “GHF.” The answer, to save lives, save humanity and save yourselves from complicity in engineered mass starvation, is to open all the borders, at all hours, to the thousands of trucks, millions of meals and medical supplies, ready and waiting nearby,” said Sean Carroll of Anera.

We call on all states and donors to:

  • Press Israel to end the weaponization of aid, including through bureaucratic obstruction, such as the INGO registration procedures.
  • Insist that INGOs are not forced to share sensitive personal information, in violation of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), or compromise staff safety or independence as a condition for delivering aid.
  • Demand the immediate and unconditional opening of all land crossings and conditions for the delivery of lifesaving humanitarian aid.

Editor’s Note

  • The occupied Palestinian territory is the deadliest setting for aid workers worldwide, with Palestinian staff accounting for 98% of aid worker fatalities: 509 out of 517 killings that took place between 2023-2025, according to the Aid Worker Security Database.
  • On 6 May, 55 organizations warned that Israel’s new INGO registration measures are a grave threat to humanitarian operations and international law.
  • On 1 July, 200+ organizations called for immediate action to end the deadly Israeli distribution scheme, including the so-called “GHF” in Gaza, revert to the existing UN-led coordination mechanisms, and lift the Israeli government’s blockade on aid and commercial supplies.
  • On 23 July, 100+ organizations warned that, as mass starvation spreads across Gaza, our colleagues and those we serve are wasting away.
  • On 29 July, the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) wrote that the worst-case scenario of famine is currently playing out in the Gaza Strip.
  • Israel has consistently denied restricting the amount of aid allowed into Gaza, including throughout the period of July 2025, when most of the denials discussed in this statement were issued.
  • On 31 July, OHCHR wrote that since 27 May, at least 1,373 Palestinians have been killed while seeking food; 859 in the vicinity of the “GHF” sites and 514 along the routes of food convoys. Most of these killings were committed by the Israeli forces.
  • On 4 August, a Palestinian nurse in Gaza was killed when an airdrop struck him.
  • On 5 August, it was reported that Israeli authorities are planning for the full occupation of the Gaza Strip.
  • On 6 August, UN agencies and NGOs warned that without immediate action most international NGO partners could be de-registered by Israel in coming weeks.
  • On 6 August, the Dutch Data Protection Authority (DPA) concluded that Israel’s information requests under the INGO registration process risk violating the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). The DPA advised that INGOs should not comply with these requests, and that the only solution is for Israel to amend its requirements and for the relevant ministries to issue a formal protest.
  • On 7 August, MSF released a report stating food distributions in Gaza run by the so-called “GHF” are sites of “orchestrated killing and dehumanization” that must be shut down.”
  • On 10 August, Save the Children reported the deaths of 100 children due to starvation in Gaza since October 2023.
  • On 12 August, a group of UN Special Rapporteurs on human rights published a letter to the Israeli government, stating deep concern that the INGO registration measures “weaken the ability of INGOs to operate independently and impartially and to carry out their humanitarian and human rights work without interference or fear of reprisal” and that “that the obligation to report on INGO personnel, in the context of occupation, armed conflict and serious violations of international law, could raise serious protection and reprisal concerns.”

Signatories:

  1. Action Against Hunger (ACF)
  2. A New Policy
  3. ACT Alliance
  4. Action For Humanity
  5. ActionAid Denmark
  6. ActionAid International
  7. All We Can
  8. Alliance Sud
  9. American Friends Service Committee (AFSC)
  10. Americares
  11. Anera
  12. Asamblea de Cooperación por la Paz
  13. Bystanders No More
  14. Campaign Against Arms Trade
  15. Canadian Foodgrains Bank
  16. CARE
  17. Caritas Internationalis
  18. Caritas Jerusalem
  19. Caritas Middle East and North Africa
  20. Caritas Switzerland
  21. Center for Jewish Nonviolence
  22. Charity & Security Network
  23. Children Not Numbers
  24. Christian Aid
  25. Churches for Middle East Peace (CMEP)
  26. CISS – Cooperazione Internazionale Sud Sud
  27. Committee to Protect Journalists
  28. Cooperation Canada
  29. COORDINADORA VALENCIANA ONGD
  30. DanChurchAid
  31. Danish Refugee Council (DRC)
  32. Department of Service to the Palestinian Refugees
  33. Diakonia
  34. Diakonie Katastrophenhilfe
  35. EDUCO
  36. Embrace the Middle East
  37. Emergency – Life Support for Civilian War Victims Ong Ets
  38. Entreculturas
  39. Forum Ziviler Friedensdienst e.V. (Pro Peace)
  40. Frieda – the Feminist Peace Organization
  41. Friends Committee on National Legislation (FCNL)
  42. Fund for Global Human Rights
  43. Glia
  44. HEKS/EPER (Swiss Church Aid)
  45. HelpAge International
  46. Humanitarian Coalition
  47. Humanity Auxilium
  48. Humanity & Inclusion – Handicap International
  49. Humanity First UK
  50. INARA
  51. Insecurity Insight
  52. International Development and Relief Foundation (IDRF)
  53. INTERSOS
  54. Islamic Relief
  55. Jahalin Solidarity
  56. Japan International Volunteer Center (JVC)
  57. Jüdische Stimme für Demokratie und Gerechtigkeit in Israel/Palästina JVJP Switzerland
  58. KinderUSA
  59. Kvinna till Kvinna Foundation
  60. La Coordinadora de Organizaciones para el Desarrollo (The Spanish Development NGO Platform)
  61. Médecins du Monde International Network
  62. Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF)
  63. MedGlobal
  64. Medical Aid for Palestinians (MAP)
  65. medico international
  66. medico international schweiz
  67. Mennonite Central Committee (MCC)
  68. Middle East Children’s Alliance
  69. MPower Change Action Fund
  70. Muslim Aid
  71. NORWAC – Norwegian Aid Committee
  72. Norwegian Church Aid
  73. Norwegian People’s Aid (NPA)
  74. Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC)
  75. Oxfam
  76. Palestinian Children’s Relief Fund (PCRF)
  77. PANZMA – Palestinian Australian New Zealand Medical Association
  78. PARCIC
  79. Pax Christi International
  80. PAX for Peace
  81. Peace Watch Switzerland
  82. People in Need (PIN)
  83. Plan International
  84. Polish Humanitarian Action (PAH)
  85. Portuguese Platform of Development NGOs
  86. Premiere Urgence Internationale (PUI)
  87. Project HOPE
  88. Relief International
  89. Right to Play
  90. Sabeel-Kairos UK
  91. Saferworld
  92. Save the Children International
  93. Secours Islamique France (SIF)
  94. Solidar Suisse
  95. Solidarités International
  96. SWISSAID
  97. Terre des Hommes Italy
  98. Terre des Hommes Lausanne
  99. The Eastern Mediterranean Public Health Network (EMPHNET)
  100. The United Church of Canada
  101. United Against Inhumanity (UAI)
  102. Vento di Terra
  103. War Child Alliance
  104. Weltfriedensdienst e.V.

Contact Information

Laveza Khan |  | 613-240-4157

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