Israel threatens to ban major aid organizations as starvation deepens in Gaza

Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) joined more than 100 other organizations today in a joint statement calling for an end to Israel's weaponization of aid in Gaza. Israel's ongoing obstruction of aid has left millions of dollars’ worth of food, medicine, water, and shelter items stranded in warehouses, while Palestinians are being starved. Israel is imposing a new registration system for international organizations that is being used to further block aid despite the urgent needs. We are calling on states to use their influence with Israel to demand an end to these restrictions, the immediate opening of all land crossings, and the delivery of lifesaving humanitarian aid to people in Gaza.

Despite claims by Israeli authorities that there is no limit on humanitarian aid entering Gaza, most major international NGOs have been unable to deliver a single truck of lifesaving supplies since March 2, 2025.

Instead of clearing the growing backlog of goods, Israeli authorities have rejected requests from dozens of NGOs to bring in lifesaving goods, citing that these organizations are “not authorized to deliver aid.” In July alone, over 60 requests were denied under this justification.

This obstruction has left millions of dollars’ worth of food, medicine, water, and shelter items stranded in warehouses across Jordan and Egypt, while Palestinians are being starved.

“Anera has over $7 million worth of lifesaving supplies ready to enter Gaza—including 744 tons of rice, enough for six million meals, blocked in Ashdod just kilometers away,” said Sean Carroll, President and CEO of Anera.

Many of the NGOs that are now told they are not “authorized” to deliver aid have worked in Gaza for decades, are trusted by communities, and are experienced in delivering aid safely. Their exclusion has left hospitals without basic supplies, children, people with disabilities, and older people dying from hunger and preventable illnesses, and aid workers themselves going to work hungry.

Orchestrated killings at US-backed aid sites in Gaza

The obstruction is tied to new international NGO (INGO) registration rules introduced in March. Under these new rules, registration can be denied on the basis of vague and politicized criteria, such as alleged “delegitimization” of the state of Israel. INGOs warned the process was designed to control independent organizations, silence advocacy, and censor humanitarian reporting. This new bureaucratic obstruction is inconsistent with established international law as it entrenches Israel’s control and annexation of the occupied Palestinian territory.

Unless INGOs submit to the full registration requirements—including the mandatory submission of details of private donors, complete Palestinian staff lists, and other sensitive information about personnel for so-called “security” vetting to Israeli authorities—many could be forced to halt operations in Gaza and the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, and remove all international staff within 60 days. Some organizations have even been issued a seven-day ultimatum to provide Palestinian staff lists.

A civilian injured while trying to get food at a GHF distribution site in Gaza. — A civilian injured while trying to get food at a GHF distribution site. Since May 27, at least 1,373 Palestinians have been killed while seeking food, including more than 800 killed at GHF sites, according to the UN Human Rights. | Palestine 2025 © Nour Alsaqqa/MSF

NGOs have made clear that sharing such data is unlawful (including under relevant data protection laws), unsafe, and incompatible with humanitarian principles. In the deadliest context for aid workers worldwide, where 98 percent of those humanitarians killed were Palestinian, NGOs have no guarantees that handing over such information would not put staff at further risk, or be used to advance the government of Israel's stated military and political aims.

Today, INGOs’ fears have proven true: The registration system is now being used to further block aid and deny food and medicine in the midst of the worst-case scenario of famine.

“Since the full siege was imposed on March 2, CARE has not been able to deliver any of our $1.5 million worth of pre-positioned supplies into Gaza,” said Jolien Veldwijk, country director of CARE. “This includes critical shipments of food parcels, medical supplies, hygiene kits, dignity kits, and maternal and infant care items. Our mandate is to save lives, but due to the registration restrictions civilians are being left without the food, medicine, and protection they urgently need.”

“Oxfam has over $2.5 million worth of goods that have been rejected from entering Gaza by Israel, especially WASH and hygiene items as well as food,” said Bushra Khalidi, Oxfam Policy Lead. “This registration process signals to INGOs that their ability to operate may come at the cost of their independence and ability to speak out.”

These restrictions are part of a broader strategy that includes the so-called Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) scheme—a militarized distribution mechanism promoted as a humanitarian solution. In reality, it is a deadly tool of control, with at least 859 Palestinians killed around GHF sites since it began operating.

A backpack sits on the ground next to a bloody stretcher in Gaza, Palestine.

A Palestinian woman holds a handful of food from a distribution after risking her life to receive it in Gaza.

From left: The person who owns this backpack was injured while trying to get food at a GHF distribution site, and was taken to MSF's health center in Al Mawasi for treatment; “I walked 15 kilometers through danger just to feed my children," says Samah, a displaced mother and patient at Al-Mawasi clinic. Palestine 2025 © Nour Alsaqqa/MSF

“The militarized food distribution scheme has weaponized starvation and curated suffering. Distributions at GHF sites have resulted in extreme levels of violence and killings, primarily of young Palestinian men, but also of women and children, who have gone to the sites in the hope of receiving food,” according to Aitor Zabalgogeazkoa, MSF emergency coordinator in Gaza.

Both the GHF scheme and the INGO registration process aim to block impartial aid, exclude Palestinian actors, and replace trusted humanitarian organizations with mechanisms that serve political and military objectives. They come as the government of Israel escalates its military offensive and deepens its occupation in Gaza, making clear these measures are part of a broader strategy to entrench control and erase Palestinian presence.

“At this point, everyone knows what the correct, humane answer is, and it's not a floating pier, airdrops, or the GHF. The answer—to save lives, save humanity and save yourselves from complicity in engineered mass starvation—is to open all the borders, at all hours, to the thousands of trucks and millions of meals and medical supplies ready and waiting nearby,” said Sean Carroll of Anera.

We call on all states and donors to:

Press Israel to end the weaponization of aid, including through bureaucratic obstruction, such as the INGO registration procedures.
Insist that INGOs are not forced to share sensitive personal information, in violation of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), or compromise staff safety or independence as a condition for delivering aid.
Demand the immediate and unconditional opening of all land crossings and conditions for the delivery of lifesaving humanitarian aid.

The occupied Palestinian territory is the deadliest setting for aid workers worldwide, with Palestinian staff accounting for 98 percent of aid worker fatalities: 509 out of 517 killings that took place between 2023-2025, according to the Aid Worker Security Database.

May 6

55 organizations warned that Israel’s new INGO registration measures are a grave threat to humanitarian operations and international law.

Source: ReliefWeb

July 1

200+ organizations called for immediate action to end the deadly Israeli distribution scheme, including the so-called “GHF” in Gaza, revert to the existing UN-led coordination mechanisms, and lift the Israeli government’s blockade on aid and commercial supplies.

Source: ReliefWeb

July 23

100+ organizations warned that, as mass starvation spreads across Gaza, our colleagues and those we serve are wasting away.

Source: Amnesty International

July 29

The IPC wrote that the worst-case scenario of famine is currently playing out in the Gaza Strip.

Source: IPC

July 31

OHCHR (UN Human Rights) wrote that since May 27, at least 1,373 Palestinians have been killed while seeking food; 859 in the vicinity of the “GHF” sites and 514 along the routes of food convoys. Most of these killings were committed by the Israeli forces.

Source: UN Human Rights

August 4

A Palestinian nurse in Gaza was killed when an airdrop struck him.

Source: The Independent

August 5

It was reported that Israeli authorities are planning for the full occupation of the Gaza Strip.

Source: BBC

August 6

UN agencies and NGOs warned that without immediate action most international NGO partners could be de-registered by Israel in coming weeks.

Source: OCHA

August 6

The Dutch Data Protection Authority (DPA) concluded that Israel’s information requests under the INGO registration process risk violating the GDPR. The DPA advised that INGOs should not comply with these requests, and that the only solution is for Israel to amend its requirements and for the relevant ministries to issue a formal protest.

Source: Autoriteit Persoonsgegevens

August 7

MSF released a report stating food distributions in Gaza run by the so-called "GHF" are sites of “orchestrated killing and dehumanization” that must be shut down."

Source: MSF

August 10

Save the Children reported the deaths of 100 children due to starvation in Gaza since October 2023.

Source: Save the Children

August 12

A group of UN Special Rapporteurs on human rights published a letter to the Israeli government, stating deep concern that the INGO registration measures “weaken the ability of INGOs to operate independently and impartially and to carry out their humanitarian and human rights work without interference or fear of reprisal” and that “that the obligation to report on INGO personnel, in the context of occupation, armed conflict and serious violations of international law, could raise serious protection and reprisal concerns.”

Source: UN Special Rapporteurs on human rights