{"id":310318,"date":"2025-08-13T17:45:46","date_gmt":"2025-08-13T21:45:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/?post_type=document&p=310318"},"modified":"2025-08-15T17:47:12","modified_gmt":"2025-08-15T21:47:12","slug":"gaza-joint-statement-nrc-13aug25","status":"publish","type":"document","link":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/document\/gaza-joint-statement-nrc-13aug25\/","title":{"rendered":"Gaza joint statement: Israel threatens to ban major aid organisations as starvation deepens (Non-UN Document)"},"content":{"rendered":"

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This is a non-United Nations document. The United Nations provides these documents only as a convenience for reference purposes, and the inclusion of a document does not imply the endorsement of its content by the United Nations.<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

13 August 2025<\/p>\n

Together with more than 100 organisations we are calling for an end to Israel\u2019s weaponisation of aid. 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 2 March.<\/strong><\/p>\n

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 organisations are \u201cnot authorised to deliver aid.\u201d In July alone, over 60 requests were denied under this justification.<\/p>\n

This obstruction has left millions of dollars\u2019 worth of food, medicine, water, and shelter items stranded in warehouses across Jordan and Egypt, while Palestinians are being starved.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnera has over $7 million worth of lifesaving supplies ready to enter Gaza \u2013 including 744 tons of rice, enough for six million meals, blocked in Ashdod just kilometers away,\u201d said Sean Carroll, President and CEO of Anera.<\/p>\n

Many of the NGOs now told they are not \u201cauthorised\u201d to deliver aid have worked in Gaza for decades, are trusted by communities and 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.<\/p>\n

The obstruction is tied to new INGO registration rules introduced in March. Under these new rules, registration can be denied on the basis of vague and politicised criteria, such as alleged \u201cdelegitimisation\u201d of the state of Israel. INGOs warned the process was designed to control independent organisations, silence advocacy, and censor humanitarian reporting. This new bureaucratic obstruction is inconsistent with established international law as it entrenches Israel\u2019s control and annexation of the occupied Palestinian territory.<\/p>\n

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 \u201csecurity\u201d 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 organisations have even been issued a seven-day ultimatum to provide Palestinian staff lists.<\/p>\n

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 per cent 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.<\/p>\n

Today, INGOs\u2019 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.<\/p>\n

\u201cSince the full siege was imposed on 2 March, CARE has not been able to deliver any of our $1.5 million worth of pre-positioned supplies into Gaza,\u201d said Jolien Veldwijk, Country Director of CARE. \u201cThis 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.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cOxfam 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,\u201d said Bushra Khalidi, Oxfam Policy Lead. \u201cThis registration process signals to INGOs that their ability to operate may come at the cost of their independence and ability to speak out.\u201d<\/p>\n

These restrictions are part of a broader strategy that includes the so-called \u201cGHF\u201d scheme \u2013 a militarised distribution mechanism promoted as a humanitarian solution. In reality, it is a deadly tool of control, with at least 859 Palestinians killed around \u201cGHF\u201d sites since it began operating.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe militarised food distribution scheme has weaponised 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,\u201d according to Aitor Zabalgogeazkoa, MSF emergency coordinator in Gaza.<\/p>\n

Both the \u201cGHF\u201d scheme and the INGO registration process aim to block impartial aid, exclude Palestinian actors, and replace trusted humanitarian organisations 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.<\/p>\n

\u201cAt this point, everyone knows what the correct, humane answer is, and it’s not a floating pier, airdrops or the \u201cGHF.\u201d 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, millions of meals and medical supplies, ready and waiting nearby,\u201d said Sean Carroll of Anera.<\/p>\n

We call on all states and donors to:<\/p>\n