Israel expels international teams from major NGOs from Gaza

BarcelonaAs of Sunday, no international staff from the main NGOs remain in the Gaza Strip. Israel has ordered them to leave. after withdrawing the license from 37 organizations Organizations—from Doctors Without Borders to Oxfam, World Vision, and the Danish Refugee Council—that were working to alleviate the horrific humanitarian situation in the Palestinian enclave. The pretext? Their refusal to hand over to Benjamin Netanyahu's government a list of their Palestinian staff to protect him from reprisals.

The Palestinians will pay the price while Donald Trump continues to advance his colonization plan for the Gaza Strip, under an apparent ceasefire that has neither stopped Israeli bombings, nor improved the situation of the dismantled healthcare system, nor allowed the massive entry of aid and the sick, nor the withdrawal of Israeli troops, who continue to occupy more than half of the Gaza Strip. Without international personnel on the ground, the humanitarian situation will worsen even further, and there will be even fewer witnesses to tell the world, because Israel continues to bar independent foreign press access. The ban also extends to the occupied West Bank. Mercè Rocaspana, medical coordinator for Doctors Without Borders (MSF) in Gaza, who left the Strip on January 8, explained to ARA that they will try to continue operating with Palestinian staff: "90% of our teams are local, and we will do everything we can to continue providing assistance with them." MSF has not been able to bring humanitarian aid into Gaza so far this year, but they still have some stock. "We still have syringes, needles, and medicines in our warehouses that will last us for a while, but other organizations have already had to stop their activities," she warned.

On Friday, the Israeli Supreme Court ruled in favor of 18 of the affected organizations, which had jointly filed an appeal against the ban. But the decision comes after the withdrawal of their international staff, and it is unclear what practical effect this will have on the entry of humanitarian personnel and supplies into the Palestinian territories.

NGOs warn that if the ban stands, the impact on the civilian population of Gaza will be devastating. Doctors Without Borders (MSF), the main international organization providing medical assistance in Gaza, alone has conducted more than one million primary care consultations, supplies water to 30% of the Strip's population, supports five hospitals of the Gazan Ministry of Health, and manages two field hospitals, four primary care centers, and six medical posts. It is worth remembering that, according to the UN, 81% of all health facilities in Gaza have been destroyed or damaged by Israeli attacks, as have 89% of the water and sanitation infrastructure. Since the signing of the ceasefire, Israel has allowed more humanitarian aid to enter, but nowhere near the scale stipulated in the agreement (600 trucks per day). UN data shows that aid entry has been significantly restricted since January, when the new registration system came into effect.

"Israel's blocking of MSF's international supplies and personnel is a pretext to obstruct humanitarian aid, with devastating consequences for the population of Gaza, where needs are overwhelming and the health system has collapsed due to repeated and systematic Israeli attacks. The aim is to politicize humanitarian aid and use it as a weapon," warns Rocaspana.

MSF, like other international NGOs, had all the necessary documentation in order with the Israeli authorities to operate in the Palestinian territories for years and is also legally registered with the Palestinian Authority. It was the passage last year of the new law in the Israeli Parliament, which requires organizations to re-register, that changed the situation unexpectedly.

The suspended organizations represent almost all the established and credible humanitarian entities that have been involved in the humanitarian response in Gaza for more than two years. Donald Trump's announcement that the so-called ceasefire is entering its second phase—with the establishment of a "Peace Council" to oversee the next steps—highlights a complete disconnect between diplomatic rhetoric and the reality on the ground. Just as the ceasefire is virtual (Israel has killed more than 620 Palestinians in Gaza in the four months since it came into effect), the siege and strangulation of the Palestinian population continue. Israel has also continued its siege on humanitarian activity, violating international law, with the demolition of the Jerusalem headquarters of UNRWA, the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, and the removal of diplomatic immunity from its staff.

Selective registration

The new NGO registration system has, in contrast, favored new, small organizations that are politically convenient for Israel, according to a report by The New Humanitarian, a leading publication in this field. Among those that have passed the screening process are entities such as Samaritan Purse, Global Aid Network, and Time of Freedom, which had collaborated with the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, the aid distribution system during the height of the famine imposed on the Gaza Strip, when 1,100 Palestinians were shot dead and thousands were wounded. Some are well-known organizations like World Central Kitchen and Catholic Relief Services, but many others have no humanitarian experience. Some are clearly aligned with Israel, such as Helping Hand Global Forum, the international branch of the Israeli organization of the same name, which works in illegal Israeli settlements in the West Bank and belongs to the Cru group. Global Aid Network (GAiN) belongs to the American evangelical group Crudo, formerly known as the Christ Crusade Campus, which has donated equipment to the Israeli army, including the Golani Brigade, accused of war crimes such as the killing of 15 paramedics in Rafah in March 2020. Riviera Trump's.