53 International NGOs warn Israel’s recent registration measures will impede critical humanitarian action
2026-01-02
International humanitarian organizations operating in the occupied Palestinian territory warn that Israel’s new registration measures threaten to halt INGO operations at a time when civilians face acute and widespread humanitarian need, despite the ceasefire in Gaza. On 30 December, 37 INGOs received official notification that their registrations will expire on 31 December 2025. This triggers a 60-day period during which INGOs would be required to cease operations in Gaza and the West Bank, including East Jerusalem.
INGOs are integral to the humanitarian response, working in partnership with the United Nations and Palestinian civil society organizations to deliver lifesaving assistance at scale. The United Nations, the Humanitarian Country Team, and donor governments have repeatedly affirmed that INGOs are indispensable to humanitarian and development operations and have urged Israel to reverse course.
Humanitarian needs remain extreme. One in four families survives on just one meal a day. Winter storms have displaced tens of thousands, leaving 1.3 million people in Gaza in urgent need of shelter. INGOs deliver more than half of all food assistance in Gaza, run or support 60 per cent of field hospitals, implement nearly three-quarters of shelter and non-food item activities, and provide all treatment for children with severe acute malnutrition. Their removal would close health facilities, halt food distributions, collapse shelter pipelines, and cut off life-saving care. In the West Bank, ongoing military raids and settler violence continue to drive displacement. Further restrictions on INGOs would sharply reduce the reach and continuity of lifesaving assistance at a critical moment.
Recent efforts to downplay the impact of deregistering INGOs through selective metrics or headline percentages obscure how humanitarian assistance is delivered in practice. Humanitarian access must be measured by whether civilians receive the right assistance, in the right place, at the right time.
Unsubstantiated allegations linking INGOs to armed groups have been advanced without evidence or due process. INGOs operate under strict donor-mandated compliance frameworks, including audits, counterterror financing controls, and due diligence requirements that meet international standards. INGOs cannot transfer sensitive personal data to a party to the conflict, particularly in a context where more than 500 humanitarian workers have been killed since 7 October 2023. False narratives delegitimize humanitarian organizations, endanger staff, and undermine the delivery of assistance.
This is not a technical or administrative matter, but a deliberate policy choice with foreseeable consequences. By allowing INGO registrations to expire, the Israeli government is obstructing humanitarian assistance at scale. Humanitarian access is not optional, conditional, or political. It is a legal obligation under international humanitarian law. This move would also set a dangerous precedent of unacceptable Israeli overreach into the Palestinian territory, where the relevant permissions to operate are granted by the Palestinian Authority, not Israel.
We call on the Government of Israel to immediately halt deregistration proceedings and lift measures obstructing humanitarian assistance. We urge donor governments to use all
available leverage to secure the suspension and reversal of these actions. Independent, principled humanitarian operations must be protected to ensure civilians can receive the assistance they urgently need.
