Humanitarian Organizations Call on Israel to Revoke Legislation Threatening Their Activities in Gaza and the West Bank

SadaNews - Humanitarian organizations affiliated with the United Nations and other charitable groups called on Israel on Wednesday to retract a new regulatory list requiring it to provide information about its Palestinian employees, thereby threatening its operations.

A statement from the "Humanitarian Working Group for the Palestinian State," which includes a range of UN agencies and 200 charitable organizations, indicated that Israel had requested them to provide "sensitive personal information" about their Palestinian employees by the deadline of September 9, to avoid ceasing operations.

The statement noted: "Unless urgent action is taken, humanitarian organizations warn that most partners of international non-governmental organizations may be removed from the records by September 9 or even earlier, forcing them to withdraw all their international staff and preventing them from providing vital and life-saving humanitarian aid to Palestinians.

This action comes as part of a series of new restrictive conditions imposed on international non-governmental organizations, which also include the potential for sanctions against any public criticism of Israeli government policies and practices."

According to the French Press Agency, the organizations viewed these conditions as imposed by Israel to "prevent unregistered organizations under the new system from sending any supplies to Gaza."

The statement pointed out that "the authorities rejected in July of this year the requests of 29 non-governmental organizations to send humanitarian assistance to Gaza."

The organizations stated: "This policy has already prevented the delivery of essential aid such as medicines, food, and hygiene products," while "international non-governmental organizations provide vital support to Palestinian organizations."

They emphasized that "without this cooperation, their operations will cease, depriving residents of access to food, medical care, shelter, and essential services to protect them."

Israel imposed a strict blockade on the Gaza Strip on March 2, last year, preventing the entry of any aid or commercial goods, leading to a humanitarian crisis.

In late May, Israel allowed the entry of limited amounts of food, which was distributed by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation funded by Israel and Washington, with UN agencies refusing to work with it.

Gaza, which is completely dependent on humanitarian aid, now faces the risk of "widespread famine," according to the United Nations, which estimates that at least 1,373 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli fire since May 27 while heading to aid centers in search of food.