Senior United Nations officials and humanitarian leaders have urged Israel to reverse plans to withhold registration from more three-dozen international NGOs providing humanitarian relief in war-torn Gaza and the Israeli-occupied West Bank – warning that the move would severely undermine life-saving aid in a moment of acute humanitarian need.

Israel said last Thursday that some 37 international NGOs operating in Palestinian areas it controls, including the internationally renowned Médecins Sans Frontières, had not complied with a deadline to meet “security and transparency standards” now required by Israel for re-licensing in 2026.

The NGOs are contesting new Israeli rules requiring them to disclose personal information on local Palestinian staff.  For those NGOs that don’t comply, Israel has said it  “will enforce” a ban on their activities in 2026. 

The government approved the new registration rules in March 2025 – in the wake of Israeli government allegations that two former MSF staff members were involved with Hamas or other armed groups. MSF has denied knowingly hiring people with military ties. 

In a related move, Israel last week also cut off water and electricity to the now vacant Jerusalem facilities of UNRWA, the UN Palestinian Refugee Agency, under legislation approved by the Knesset, or Parliament to close down the UN agency’s operations in areas under Israeli control.  On Monday, seven European countries, including Spain, Ireland and Norway, condemned the move calling it a violation of international law with “grave humanitarian consequences.”

Joint UN Agency statement decries move 

In a joint statement 31 December, the Inter-Agency Standing Committee (IASC), which represents about 20 heads of UN agencies and major humanitarian organisations, said that international NGOs collectively deliver nearly $1 billion in assistance each year in the occupied Palestinian territory and are “central to humanitarian operations,” particularly in Gaza.

“Humanitarian access is not optional, conditional or political,” the statement said. It warned that restricting NGO operations during winter, amid continued food insecurity and recent flood-related displacement, risks undoing fragile gains made since the October 2025 Israeli-Hamas ceasefire – and would have “devastating” consequences for Gaza’s civilian population.

The signatories included the UN emergency relief coordinator Tom Fletcher, the World Health Organization’s Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, as well as the heads of the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR); the UN Development Pogramme (UNDP); UNICEF, the UN Childrens Agency; the World Food Programme; and leaders of major civil society groups such as Oxfam, Save the Children, Mercy Corps and Caritas Internationalis.

MSF condemns “cynical” attempt to block aid

COGAT, the Israeli Defense Ministry agency coordinating Gaza humanitarian aid, has said that the new registration process is designed to prevent the misuse of humanitarian aid by Hamas, which it claims has exploited aid frameworks for to divert funds and recruit local aid employees for its own military purposes. 

COGAT also contended that the revocation of the licenses to the 37 NGOs will not substantially affect aid delivery, claiming that the affected organizations had not provided substantial aid to Gaza since the ceasefire began on October 10. And before the ceasefire, their combined contribution amounted to only a small proportion of total aid, Israel said.

Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF), one of the most prominent organisations affected by Israel’s registration decision, contested Israel’s claims.

An MSF press statement noted that the organization currently supports one in five hospital beds in Gaza and assists one in three mothers during childbirth. 

“In the last year, MSF teams have treated hundreds of thousands of patients and delivered hundreds of millions of litres of water,” said Pascale Coissard, MSF emergency coordinator for Gaza, in a 22 December statement. “In 2025 alone, we carried out almost 800,000 outpatient consultations and handled more than 100 000 trauma cases, and if we obtain registration, we plan to continue strengthening our activities in 2026.”

Describing the move as a “cynical and calculated attempt” at political control, MSF said that blocking its activities and those of other NGOs that refused to register their Palestinian staff would exact a “terrible cost” after Gaza’s health system has been decimated.  Only about half of the enclave’s 36 hospitals are functioning, and those only partially. 

International organizations say new Israel’s rules potentially endanger staff

MSF said Israel’s core demand, that the NGO’s share personal information about Palestinians employees, is especially dangerous in Gaza where humanitarian workers have been intimidated, detained, attacked and killed.  Some 15 MSF colleagues have reportedly been killed by Israeli forces.

“Demanding staff lists as a condition for access to territory is an outrageous overreach,” MSF said, adding that there is no clarity on how such sensitive data would be used or shared. The organization said Israeli authorities had ignored repeated requests for meetings and instead accused MSF in the media of harbouring alleged militants – an allegation MSF rejects.

“MSF would never knowingly employ anyone involved in military activities, which contradicts our core values and ethics,” the organization said.

“Denying medical assistance to civilians is unacceptable under any circumstances, and it is appalling to use humanitarian aid as a tool of policy or collective punishment.”  

Israel’s moves on UNRWA follow in the wake of allegations that surfaced in 2024, charging that some 19 UNRWA employees participated in the 7 October Hamas attacks on Israeli communities, and UNRWA facilities were also used for Hamas weapons storage and other military activities. UNRWA has denied most of the claims, while acknowledging that an internal UN investigation led to the termination of nine UNRWA employees where “evidence obtained … – if authenticated and corroborated – might indicate that the staff members may have been involved.”

Meanwhile, Palestinian nationalists who are also critics of Hamas note that the pressures on local aid workers to filter food, funds or other forms of aid can be intense – particularly as the militant group has now regained control over the roughly 50% of Gaza that lies within the “yellow line” to which Israel withdrew in October.

A chilling update from the ground in Gaza: Two of my friends, who have been running independent food drives via international crowdfunding, were stopped and interrogated by Hamas militants. After proving their transparency and showing that all funds are used for food and aid for… pic.twitter.com/d55tKopGHM

— Hamza (@HowidyHamza) January 5, 2026

Shelter crisis deepens amid winter storms

The curbs on the activities of the NGOs comes as housing and sanitary conditions in Gaza continue to deteriorate amidst a series of heavy winter storms, particularly for hundreds of thousands of displaced people living in makeshift shelters, according to the end December update of the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA).

The unusually heavy rainfall has flooded tents and caused already unstable buildings to collapse – forcing displaced families to move yet again in search of safer ground. Seawater inundation has rendered shelters uninhabitable in coastal areas such as Al Mawasi in Khan Younis, while heavy winds have destroyed or severely damaged many tents.

As of 30 December, humanitarian partners have provided emergency shelter assistance to more than 80,000 Gazan households, distributing tens of thousands of tents, tarpaulins and bedding items. Despite these efforts, more than one million Gazans out of a population of 2.1 million still need urgent shelter support, OCHA said. 

According to Gaza’s Hamas-controlled Ministry of Health, at least 17 people died in December due to the collapse of storm- and flood-damaged buildings, while three children died of hypothermia. WHO, MSF and other partners have reported consistently high rates of respiratory infections, warning that winter conditions are driving further illness, particularly among young children.

Sewage, waste and public health risks

Flooding has also intensified Gaza’s long-running sewage and solid waste crisis – and along with that infectious disease risks related to sewage exposure. The UN Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) Cluster reports that damaged infrastructure, fuel shortages and restrictions on the entry of equipment are limiting the ability to manage wastewater and storm runoff.

Recent rains raised water levels in inland lagoons such as Wadi Gaza and Sheikh Radwan,  heightening the risk of overflow and sewage contamination on land, as well as into the sea. The Palestinian Water Authority says it has been forced to rely on short-term measures because critical equipment such as pumps, pipes and electromechanical components has been denied entry by Israel.

Solid waste management remains severely constrained. Since 7 October 2023, Hamas miiltants first invaded Israeli communities on the Gaza periphery in the opening salvo of the war, an estimated $66 million in damage has been recorded to waste management systems, including the destruction of more than 200 collection trucks and widespread damage to facilities. 

Gaza’s two main landfills remain inaccessible, forcing municipalities to rely on overcrowded temporary dumping sites.

Waste generation far exceeds collection capacity in northern Gaza, where only about 60 per cent of daily waste is collected. This has resulted in continued accumulation of solid waste in densely populated areas, exacerbating public health and environmental risks.

While a recent analysis found that famine conditions in Gaza have been pushed back, acute food insecurity and malnutrition remain critically high, and aid officials warn that progress remains fragile. 

“Needs are growing faster than aid can get in,” UN Secretary-General António Guterres declared in a  late December press briefing, stressing that predictable and unimpeded access for humanitarian actors is essential to address the immense challenges faced.

“We need more crossings, the lifting of restrictions on critical items, the removal of red tape, safe routes inside Gaza, sustained funding, and unimpeded access – including for NGOs,” Guterres said.

“And we cannot lose sight of the rapidly deteriorating situation in the West Bank,” he added referring to escalating Israeli settler violence, land seizures, demolitions and displacement as well as intensified restrictions on movement – affecting Palestinian access to vital health and social services as well as livelihoods.

Against that landscape, the prospect of new Israeli bans on international NGOs threatens to further erode an already strained response. “Allowing humanitarian aid is not a favour,” MSF said. “It is an obligation under international law.”

Image Credits: MSF , Palestinian Water Authority , Nour Alsaqqa/MSF, Palestinian Water Authority , OCHA .