More than 100 aid organisations working in Gaza and the West Bank have accused Israel of dangerously 'weaponising aid' through new registration rules that they say block lifesaving goods from reaching starving Palestinians. The letter, signed by groups including Oxfam, Médecins Sans Frontières and Care, was written in response to rules announced in March requiring organisations to hand over lists of donors and Palestinian staff for vetting.
The groups contend the rules could endanger their staff and give Israel broad grounds to block aid if groups are deemed to be 'delegitimising' the country or supporting boycotts. The measures are 'designed to control independent organisations, silence advocacy and censor humanitarian reporting', they said. Under the rules, a team led by the diaspora ministry can refuse registration if there is 'reasonable basis to assume' opposition to Israel as a Jewish and democratic state.
The letter said that instead of clearing the backlog of goods, Israeli authorities had rejected requests from dozens of NGOs to bring in aid, citing that they were 'not authorised to deliver aid'. Sixty requests from 29 organisations were denied in July alone. The aid groups stressed that most had not been able to deliver 'a single truck' of assistance since a blockade was implemented in March.
Cogat, the Israeli military body in charge of humanitarian aid, denied the claims, adding without evidence that aid groups were being used as cover by Hamas. The vast majority of aid is not reaching civilians in Gaza, where tens of thousands have been killed, most of the population displaced and famine taking hold.
The letter was published as Israel's far-right finance minister, Bezalel Smotrich, backed plans for a major settlement development outside Jerusalem, which he said would be the 'final nail in the coffin' of Palestinian statehood. The E1 plan for more than 3,000 housing units could split the West Bank from occupied East Jerusalem, though it remains uncertain if it will advance given international fallout.
