40 NGOs accuse Israel of using aid as a political weapon

The Financial Times revealed that Israel is deliberately obstructing the entry of humanitarian aid into the Gaza Strip by imposing a new registration system for international non-governmental organisations (NGOs), resulting in the freezing of tens of millions of dollars in vital relief supplies outside the besieged territory.

Israel: deliberately obstructing aid into Gaza

The newspaper reported that more than 40 humanitarian organisations – including Doctors Without Borders, Oxfam, and the Norwegian Refugee Council – confirmed that Israeli authorities rejected 99 requests to bring in aid during the first 12 days of the ceasefire. It added that almost all of the Norwegian Refugee Council’s requests were denied because these organisations were “not authorised to provide aid.”

This comes as Israel has imposed new rules since last March, forcing organisations operating in the Palestinian territories to re-register with Israeli authorities before the end of the year, under penalty of losing their licenses. The director of the Norwegian Refugee Council said his organisation is “stuck in a dead end,” as it is being told its registration is “under review,” preventing it from bringing in any relief supplies.

Meanwhile, UNRWA confirmed that winter shelter supplies intended for more than one million people are stockpiled in warehouses and are being prevented from entering by an Israeli decision, despite the bitter cold faced by hundreds of thousands of displaced people in the Gaza Strip.

Hundreds of thousands of Gaza residents are still living in “catastrophic” displacement camps, where 93% of the tents are worn out, and more than 900,000 people, including tens of thousands displaced from Rafah, are living in inhumane conditions.

The displacement camps lack water, sanitation, and basic supplies, and are in urgent need of new tents, especially before winter arrives.

An ongoing genocide

Despite the ceasefire agreement between Hamas and Israel on 10 October – which was supposed to pave the way for the flow of aid – Israel is only allowing the entry of symbolic amounts that cover a tiny fraction of the Gaza Strip’s needs. The United Nations estimates that approximately 600 truckloads of aid are needed daily, but the Israeli occupation has only permitted 25% of that to enter.

This comes in the wake of Israel’s devastating genocide in Gaza, and which, according to Palestinian figures, left more than 68,000 dead and 170,000 wounded, most of them women and children. The United Nations estimates the cost of rebuilding the Gaza Strip at approximately $70 billion.

Under the guise of “administrative procedures,” Israel is tightening its grip on Gaza once again. Humanitarian observers believe the new registration system is nothing more than another bureaucratic tool to perpetuate the siege and starve the civilian population.

Featured image via the Canary