37 agencies now banned from Gaza supplied just 1% of aid, Israel says

The licenses were revoked after they failed to provide employee documentation.

By Batya Jerenberg, World Israel News

The licenses of 37 aid organizations allowing them to operate in Gaza were revoked Thursday after they failed to meet a deadline to provide Israel with documentation proving their employees were not terror supporters.

According to the Defense Ministry’s Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories (COGAT), the move will have minimal impact on Palestinians because the organizations supplied only 1% of the aid that has poured into the Strip in 600 to 800 trucks per day since the October 10 cease-fire came into effect.

Despite this, the foreign ministers of Canada, Denmark, Finland, France, Iceland, Japan, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland and the United Kingdom issued a joint statement condemning Israel’s “restrictive new requirements” that will force the organizations to close within 60 days.

The ministers insisted that the humanitarian situation in Gaza “remains catastrophic” and that “any attempt to stem [the NGOs’] ability to operate is unacceptable.”

The Diaspora Affairs Ministry said it saw no reason to extend the Jan. 1 deadline, noting that foreign nonprofits had been given 10 months to reregister as required.

The deadline had even been extended from September, it noted, to give them more time.

The ministry pointed out that Israel had determined that some international agencies operating in Gaza had been infiltrated by Hamas operatives during the war.

This included the U.N. Relief and Works Agency, or UNRWA, where Israel said 10% of staff were documented terrorists.

In addition, two employees of Doctors Without Borders, known by its French name Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF), were identified in 2024 as operatives of Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad.

MSF, which has branches from six European countries operating in Gaza, said it would “never knowingly employ people engaging in military activity,” as this would endanger their staff and patients.

Still, the group — along with others now barred — objected to Israel for requiring disclosure of employee identities in Gaza.

When about 100 NGOs protested the regulations in August, they declared that sharing personal data of their employees is “unlawful… unsafe and incompatible with humanitarian principles.”

Additional restrictions that drew criticism included a ban on organizations that promote “delegitimization campaigns” or employ senior staff who endorse boycotts against Israel.

Several of the newly barred groups have been cited by the pro-Israel organization NGO Monitor for demonizing Israel, including Doctors Without Borders, CARE and World Vision International, while the Quaker-run American Friends Service Committee has promoted the BDS movement and accused Israel of apartheid.

COGATDoctors without BordersGaza humanitarian aid