Israel blocks NGOs in Gaza: EU criticism of humanitarian aid | Il Fatto Quotidiano

And blockade of international NGOs in Gaza it would represent the last and decisive blow dealt by Israel to the population of the Strip who, at that point, would be forced to choose between dying of hunger, cold and disease or leaving the Palestinian exclave permanently. The new law of Tel Aviv which imposes a government crackdown on organizations’ access has also been criticized by theEuropean Unionwith the Commissioner for Equality, Hadja Lahbibwho on cannot be implemented in its current form. All barriers to humanitarian access must be removed. International humanitarian law leaves no room for doubt, aid must reach those who need it.” Tel Aviv, however, goes ahead and makes it known that they are 37 organizations between Gaza and the West Bank whose licenses will expire in the next few hours: “They know, as we know, that some of them are involved in terrorism or linked to Hamas”, declared a spokesperson for the Diaspora Ministry.

To what extent this stance can be transformed into measures is yet to be established. Also because proposals had already arrived from the Commission in the past sanctions towards Israel which, however, then stalled in the European Council thanks to the opposition of several member states.

The law which will come into force from 1 January 2026 modifies the registration rules of foreign organizations by imposing a preventive screening by the Ministry for the Diaspora led by Amichai Chickli. And this would give the executive the opportunity to resort to its usual motivation to prevent independent organizations, but also agencies United Nationsof entering the Strip: the accusation of ties with Hamas. “Humanitarian assistance is welcome, the exploitation of humanitarian personnel for terrorist purposes is not,” Chickli has already declared. The new measures “follow the discovery that some employees of certain international organizations were involved in terrorist activities”, the Ministry specifies.

Starting from this last point, NGOs will have to provide a detailed list of Palestinian employees employed in the Territories. Some of them have already refused to respect the new impositions of the executive Netanyahu and for this reason they risk expulsion from the Strip. Their reasoning is that Israel does not guarantee the non-military or intelligence use of sensitive information that would be provided regarding Palestinian personnel.