NGOs

Israel accused of ‘weaponising humanitarian aid’ after revoking permits for 10 NGOs

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This work by Middle East Monitor is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

Palestinians struggling with hunger flock to an aid distribution point near the Zikim Crossing in northwestern Gaza to access limited aid supplies amid Israeli attacks in Gaza Strip on August 8, 2025. [Saeed M. M. T. Jaras – Anadolu Agency]

A major Christian charity is among ten international NGOs whose permits to deliver humanitarian aid in Gaza have been revoked by Israel, as human rights organisations accuse the occupation state of ‘weaponising’ access to food and medicine during what experts say is a genocidal assault on the besieged enclave.

Catholic Relief Services, a US-based Christian aid agency with decades of experience operating in conflict zones, was stripped of its authorisation under new Israeli regulations targeting international NGOs that support Palestinians. The announcement, issued by Israel’s Ministry of Diaspora Affairs, follows the introduction of sweeping laws in March that enable the government to revoke the permits of groups accused—often without evidence—of “delegitimising” Israel or associating with banned organisations.

Two other groups named were Rahma Worldwide, also US-based, and Gaza Direct Aid, described by the ministry as a one-person operation run by a Palestinian activist. Israeli officials claimed Rahma has ties to the Society of the Revival of Islamic Heritage—an allegation Rahma has not been formally confronted with—while Gaza Direct Aid was targeted for allegedly using “inflammatory” social media language that denied Israel’s right to exist.

Several aid officials, speaking anonymously to Haaretz, expressed disbelief at the news, saying they had not been informed of the revocation of their permit and dismissed the ministry’s claims as unsubstantiated. “Rahma is one of the few organisations still able to bring in goods since the March siege,” said one official, who added that the group maintained a positive working relationship with the Israeli military body overseeing aid to Gaza.

READ: Gaza facing ‘constructed, deliberate’ mass starvation, says UN agency

Another international NGO official said they were highly sceptical of the move, noting that none of their colleagues had mentioned such delistings. “It feels more like a political message than an operational reality,” they said.

Under the regulations introduced in December, international NGOs must submit detailed documentation, including sensitive donor information and personal data about Palestinian staff. Groups that fail to comply risk having their permits denied or revoked. Several organisations have refused to share such information, citing legal restrictions in their home countries and ethical concerns over allowing one party to the conflict to vet their personnel.

Rights groups warned that these measures are part of a broader strategy by the Israeli government to obstruct independent humanitarian operations in Gaza and control the flow of aid as part of its ethnic cleansing strategy.

That concern was echoed today in a joint statement from more than 100 international NGOs, including, CARE, Doctors Without Borders and Oxfam, accusing Israel of “weaponising” humanitarian aid and deliberately blocking relief operations to inflict collective punishment on the civilian population.

“Since 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,” said CARE’s country director Jolien Veldwijk. Oxfam stated it has $2.5 million in blocked aid stuck in warehouses, with dozens of delivery requests rejected by Israeli authorities on the grounds that the organisations were “not authorised.”

The statement revealed that in July alone, over 60 requests to deliver aid were denied, despite Israeli claims that there are no restrictions. Millions of dollars’ worth of essential supplies remain stranded in Jordan and Egypt as Gaza hospitals run out of medicine and children die from starvation.

Aid agencies say the revocations stem from vague and politically motivated criteria introduced in March, which allow Israel to reject applications based on perceived criticism or supposed links to banned entities. Officials say the process is being used to suppress independent reporting and silence groups critical of Israeli conduct.

As of this month, most of the 100 international NGOs that applied for registration were still awaiting final decisions, with delistings expected to rise. Some groups opted not to apply at all, fearing rejection or refusing to participate in what they described as an illegitimate vetting process.

Humanitarian organisations have warned that these measures are part of a broader strategy by the Israeli government to obstruct independent aid distribution in Gaza and control the flow of aid as part of its war effort.

Israel has also come under fire for militarising aid distribution by dismantling the UN-led humanitarian delivery network and replacing it with the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), a system run jointly with US and Israeli military officials. Human rights groups and UN agencies have condemned the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation as an instrument of Israeli military control, accusing it of turning aid distribution sites into death traps. 

Dozens of starving Palestinians have been killed by Israeli snipers while attempting to reach GHF distribution centres, where aid is now limited to a handful of heavily militarised locations. Observers warn that this model treats aid as a tool of control rather than relief.

READ: Gaza achieves historic presence at European Super Cup Final

This work by Middle East Monitor is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

Experiencing issues with this image not appearing. I suspect because it's so critical of Zionist Keir Starmer's support of and complicity in Israel's genocides.
Genocide denier and Current UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer is quoted that he supports Zionism without qualification. He also confirms that UK air force support has been essential in Israel’s mass-murdering genocide. Includes URLs https://www.declassifieduk.org/keir-starmers-100-spy-flights-over-gaza-in-support-of-israel/ and https://youtu.be/O74hZCKKdpA
Keir Starmer objects to criticism of the IDF. He asks how could anyone object to them starving people to death, forced marches like the Nazis did, bombing Gaza's hospitals and universities,mass-murdering journalists, healthworkers and starving people queuing for food, killing and raping prisoners and murdering children. He calls for people to stop obstructing his genocide for Israel.
Keir Starmer objects to criticism of the IDF. He asks how could anyone object to them starving people to death, forced marches like the Nazis did, bombing Gaza’s hospitals and universities,mass-murdering journalists, healthworkers and starving people queuing for food, killing and raping prisoners and murdering children. He calls for people to stop obstructing his genocide for Israel.
Continue ReadingIsrael accused of ‘weaponising humanitarian aid’ after revoking permits for 10 NGOs

Latest Israeli ‘Massacre’ in Gaza Used 500-lb US-Made Bombs: Report

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Original article by Stephen Prager republished from Common Dreams under  Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0). 

A view of the destruction after Israeli airstrikes hit a coffee shop in Gaza Strip on June 30, 2025. (Photo: Ali Jadallah/Anadolu via Getty Images)

The attack on a crowded café has been described by international law experts as wildly disproportionate, following new reporting about the munitions used.

International law experts are describing Israel’s Monday attack on a Gaza café as a potential war crime after an investigation in The Guardian revealed that the attack was carried out using a 500-lb bomb supplied by the U.S. government.

Reporters photographed fragments of the bomb left behind in the wreckage of the al-Baqa Café. Weapons experts identified them as parts of an MK-82 general purpose bomb, which it called “a US-made staple of many bombing campaigns in recent decades.”

The attack killed anywhere from 24 to 36 Palestinians and injured dozens more. Casualties included women, children, and the elderly. A prominent photojournalist and artist were also killed.

Experts have called the use of such a weapon on an area full of civilians wildly disproportionate and a likely violation of the Geneva Convention, which outlaws military operations that cause “incidental loss of civilian life” that is “excessive or disproportionate” to the military advantage to be gained.

“It is almost impossible to see how this use of that kind of munition can be justified,” said Marc Schack, an associate professor of international law at the University of Copenhagen in comments to The Guardian. “If you are talking about 20, 30, 40 or more civilian casualties, usually that would have to be a target of very great importance.”

After the attack drew heavy criticism, an army spokesperson for the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said the strike had killed “several Hamas terrorists” and that “prior to the strike, steps were taken to mitigate the risk of harming civilians using aerial surveillance.”

Gerry Simpson of Human Rights Watch criticized that defense.

“The Israeli military hasn’t said exactly whom it was targeting, but it said it used aerial surveillance to minimize civilian casualties, which means it knew the café was teeming with customers at the time,” Simpson told The Guardian. “The military would also have known that using a large guided air-dropped bomb would kill and maim many of the civilians there. The use of such a large weapon in an obviously crowded café risks that this was an unlawful disproportionate or indiscriminate attack and should be investigated as a war crime.”

Since Monday’s bombing, the attacks against civilians in Gaza have only intensified. According to a Thursday report from the Gaza Government Media Office, more than 300 Palestinians have been killed within the last 48 hours in “26 bloody massacres.”

According to reporting Thursday from Al Jazeera, these have included attacks on “shelters and displacement centers overcrowded with tens of thousands of displaced people, public rest areas, Palestinian families inside their homes, popular markets and vital civilian facilities, and starving civilians searching for food.”

At least 33 people were killed Thursday at a Gaza Humanitarian Fund (GHF) aid distribution site, adding to the hundreds of aid seekers who have been killed in recent weeks. In a Haaretz investigation last week, soldiers described these aid sites, administered by the U.S. and Israel, as a “killing field,” where they have routinely been ordered to fire on unarmed civilians who posed no threat.

Two American contractors at a GHF site told The Associated Press on condition of anonymity that their colleagues fired their guns wildly, including in the direction of Palestinians. They provided a video which shows hundreds of aid-seekers crowded between metal gates, being assaulted with stun grenades and pepper spray, while gunshots echo in the background.

On Tuesday, Amnesty International and hundreds of other humanitarian NGOs called for an end to the Israeli government’s blockade of food and other necessities entering the Gaza Strip. They also called for an end to the “deadly Israeli distribution scheme” and for a return of aid distribution to the United Nations and other international organizations.

“This devastating daily loss of life as desperate Palestinians try to collect aid is the consequence of their deliberate targeting by Israeli forces and the foreseeable consequence of irresponsible and lethal methods of distribution,” said Agnès Callamard, the secretary general of Amnesty International, on Thursday.

Original article by Stephen Prager republished from Common Dreams under  Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0). 

Keir Starmer objects to criticism of the IDF. He asks how could anyone obect to them starving people to death, forced marches like the Nazis did, bombing Gaza's hospitals and universities,mass-murdering journalists, healthworkers and starving people queuing for food, killing and raping prisoners and murdering children. He calls for people to stop obstructing his genocide for Israel.
Keir Starmer objects to criticism of the IDF. He asks how could anyone obect to them starving people to death, forced marches like the Nazis did, bombing Gaza’s hospitals and universities,mass-murdering journalists, healthworkers and starving people queuing for food, killing and raping prisoners and murdering children. He calls for people to stop obstructing his genocide for Israel.
UK Labour Party government ministers Keir Starmer, Angela Rayner and Rachel Reeves explain that they are partners complicit in Israel's Gaza genocide. The UK has provided Israel with arms, military and air force support. They explain that they don't do gas chambers but do do forced marches, starvation, destroy hospitals, mass-murders of journalists and healthcare workers.
UK Labour Party government ministers Keir Starmer, Angela Rayner and Rachel Reeves explain that they are partners complicit in Israel’s Gaza genocide. The UK has provided Israel with arms, military and air force support. They explain that they don’t do gas chambers but do do forced marches, starvation, destroy hospitals, mass-murders of journalists and healthcare workers.
Continue ReadingLatest Israeli ‘Massacre’ in Gaza Used 500-lb US-Made Bombs: Report

‘Devastating Blow to Humanity’: Barred From Gaza by Israel, Health Workers Cry Out for Help

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Original article by Jon Queally republished from Common Dreams under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0). 

Health workers, holding banners and placards, gather at the Nasser Hospital to protest Israeli army’s attacks on northern Gaza and the prevention of the entry of necessary equipment and supplies to the besieged hospitals in Khan Yunis, Gaza on October 19, 2024.  (Photo by Doaa Albaz/Anadolu via Getty Images)

As the situation inside Gaza is increasingly described as “indescribable,” medical NGOs blocked from providing care to Palestinians trapped inside besieged territory demand world leaders to stop turning ‘blind eye’ to Israeli war crimes and violations of humanitarian law.

As more Israeli bombing of the Jabalia refugee camp in northern Gaza killed dozens of people Saturday, health workers from both inside and out of the besieged territory are again pleading with world leaders to bring an end to the indiscriminate attacks and imposed humanitarian crisis that witnesses on the ground increasingly say there are no words to describe.

At al Nasser Hospital in Khan Yunis and elsewhere in Gaza, doctors and other medical staff on Saturday staged protests and held press conferences to call attention to the ongoing attacks in northern areas, including the latest targeting of Jabalia in which reporting indicated anywhere from 33 to over 50 people—including civilian men, women, and children—were killed.

“The world is watching, and history will judge us by how we respond to this grave injustice. I call upon each and everyone one of you to join this fight for the preservation of our shared humanity.” —Dr. Khaled Saleh, FAJR Scientific

Al-Jazeera reports that hospitals, which have repeatedly been bombed by Israel over the last year, were not immune from this latest round:

Three partially functioning hospitals treating severely wounded patients and sheltering thousands of displaced Palestinian civilians in northern Gaza are now out of service after coming under intense Israeli fire, a Gaza health official told Al Jazeera, as the siege on Jabalia enters its third week, with at least 33 more people killed in the northern area.

Israeli forces bombed al-Awda Hospital in Jabalia early on Saturday, and have also shelled Kamal Adwan and the Indonesian hospitals in Beit Lahiya over the past few hours, Al Jazeera correspondents have reported.

Saturday’s attacks come days after Israel barred at least six medical service NGOs from continuing their life-saving work in Gaza. According to the Washington Post:

Two of those medical NGOs, Glia and the Palestinian American Medical Association (PAMA), confirmed to The Washington Post that they were notified by the WHO this week about the bans. Both groups have worked in Gaza for years preceding the war.

“WHO is concerned about the impact of these denials on Gaza’s strained healthcare system,” the organization said Thursday in a statement. It added that international emergency medical teams (EMTs) deployed to Gaza are essential to keeping the system operational, as only 17 of the enclave’s 36 hospitals remain functionaland “healthcare needs far exceed the system’s capacity.”

Dr. Khaled Saleh, chair of FAJR Scientific, which provides surgical expertise and trauma specialists to war-torn regions and was another of the groups notified by the WHO that it had been barred from entering Gaza, said in a statement that the move by the Israeli government filled him with “deep sadness and concern for the current state of our global family, questioning our shared humanity and ethics.”

Blocked from providing aid to people in dire need, Saleh called on people worldwide to push for an end to Israel’s blocking of vital medical aid and those seeking to provide it.

“This is a devastating blow to humanity, representing a level of destruction that we have not witnessed since World War II, yet our world leaders turn a blind eye,” he said.

“As a member of the global community,” Saleh continued, “I implore all of you who value compassion, ethics, and the sanctity of human life to stand with us and raise your voices against this unconscionable decision. Together, we must advocate for the voiceless and demand restoration of the fundamental right to access to medical care.”

Israel’s ban on the medical NGOs comes after a string of healthcare professionals who spent time in the Gaza strip have gone public with what they witnessed on the ground, telling tales of unspeakable horror and trying to shake the world out of its complacency on what experts say is a genocide in motion being carried out by Israeli forces.

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Earlier this week, the UN humanitarian office, OCHA, said that Israel’s continued blocking of food and medical supplies to Jabalia and other ares in the northern was “having life-threatening impacts” for the people there.

OCHA spokesperson Farhan Haq said the OCHA was calling on Israeli authorities “to allowed safe, sustained and unimpeded access to Jabalia and all areas of the north where people are in desperate need of assistance.”

In a post on Friday, Oxfam International mourned the killing of Dr. Ahmad Al-Najar and midwife Laila Jneid, both of whom worked with Juzoor, “killed by Israeli airstrikes on Jabalia,” the group said. “They were providing lifesaving health care in Gaza. Attacking aid workers is a war crime.” Oxfam repeated its demand for a “cease-fire now” and said healthcare workers should never be a target.

In a dispatch on Friday, Dr. Taghreed Al-Imawi, Juzoor staff and an OBGYN doctor at Kamal Adwan Hospital in northern Gaza, described the untenable situation on the ground.

“The situation is beyond horrific and is very difficult and indescribable,” said Al-Imawi. “Dead people, severed body parts and injured people everywhere. We are receiving emergency calls from all the areas of the north. Ambulances are not able to reach the injured. We have seen more than 23 pregnant women among the injured coming to the hospital since last week, wounded either by shrapnel or gunfire, suffering from fractures. Some were in a critical condition. Kamal Adwan Hospital and other semi-operational hospitals have received displacement orders but there is no way to evacuate in any case.”

“The pediatrics section is closed as it is full of injured people,” Al-Imawi added, “the surgery section is full of injured people, even the reception, the hospital has been shelled several times and targeted by snipers, people are terrified to come to the hospital now.”

Having recently returned from a field mission in Gaza, pediatric nurse Becky Platt, working through Save the Children—who posted her testimony Saturday—described a situation on the ground that was “like nothing I’ve seen before.”

Platt said the horrific situation is “both in terms of healthcare need and just in terms of the whole humanitarian context—seeing homes and landscapes completely devastated and seeing just the absolute level of human suffering and need as absolutely mind blowing.”

https://twitter.com/i/status/1847518629484478816

“No child should have to be in pain,” she said. “And it just feels like your hands are tied when you can’t do what you know that you could do easily at home or in another context. I think that when it really hits. It’s just—it’s just not fair. It’s not okay that we’ve got children with devastating injuries who don’t have access to pain relief.”

For his part, Dr. Saleh of FAJR Scientific, said it was up to everyone in the world to make their voices heard.

“The world is watching,” he said, “and history will judge us by how we respond to this grave injustice. I call upon each and everyone one of you to join this fight for the preservation of our shared humanity.”

Original article by Jon Queally republished from Common Dreams under reative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0). 

Continue Reading‘Devastating Blow to Humanity’: Barred From Gaza by Israel, Health Workers Cry Out for Help