Two major charities working in Gaza have vowed to continue their operations despite a looming Israeli ban.
Doctors Without Borders (MSF) and the Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC) said they will keep working in Gaza and the occupied West Bank.
Israel last year announced a disputed registration process for charities working in the Palestinian territories. It requires them to provide a list of all their Palestinian and foreign staff, including names, passport details and identification numbers, to Israel's Ministry of Diaspora and Combating Anti-Semitism.
Those who do not comply were given a 60-day deadline to wrap up their operations, which expires on March 1.
On February 1, Israel announced it was terminating MSF's humanitarian operations in Gaza after the charity failed to provide a list of Palestinian staff. MSF has called the move a "pretext" to obstruct aid deliveries.
A group of 37 aid groups on Wednesday sent a joint appeal to the Israeli High Court in a last-ditch effort to remove that requirement. Despite the restrictions, MSF and the NRC said they are committed to remaining and providing assistance based on their registration with the Palestinian Authority.
"Since the beginning of January, MSF has been prevented by the Israeli authorities from bringing international staff and additional supplies" into Palestinian territory, MSF said a statement on Friday.
This has affected its medical operations, which were already facing severe shortages. “Amid ongoing humanitarian catastrophe, MSF will stay in the OPT [occupied Palestinian territories] for as long as possible, doing as much as we can," MSF Secretary General Christopher Lockyear said. "We call on the Israeli authorities to enable humanitarian aid at scale and on the international community to ensure Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank are not abandoned to their fate.”
Similarly, the NRC's communications adviser in Palestine, Shaina Low, told The National that the Palestinian Authority is authorised to invite aid groups to work in Palestine.
"Our teams are committed to ensuring continuity of operations and that they're continuing to work in their communities as best they can," she said.
The Ministry of Diaspora's requirements for registration appear vague and subject to interpretation. Grounds for rejection include having staff who participated in terrorist activities or incitement against Israel, but also any office holder, partner, board member or founder who has “called for a boycott of the state of Israel” in the past seven years.
Israel as the occupying power has responsibilities to fill any gaps left by charities, which are supplying people in the West Bank and Gaza with vital services such as nutrition, shelter and education.
But Israel has also passed laws banning its officials from communicating with the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA), and has prohibited that agency from bringing aid into Gaza or operating in the West Bank. With 12,000 staff, UNRWA has the largest humanitarian workforce in Gaza and is relied on by many NGOs for its vast network and warehouses.
Israel banned UNRWA after accusing several of its employees, without providing evidence, of participating in the deadly Hamas-led attacks on southern Israel on October 7, 2023, that killed nearly 1,200 people and triggered the Gaza war. Israel has since decimated the Strip killing more than 72,000 people, including at least 621 since a ceasefire was struck in October last year.
In the same month, President of the International Court of Justice Yuji Iwasawa said Israel had not substantiated its claims against UNRWA and ruled it was required to allow UN agencies to provide aid relief.
Despite pressure from the international community, Israel has not relented and now NGOs are defying its draconian rules.
