The United Nations and humanitarian organisations have raised urgent concerns that new Israeli registration rules for international non-governmental organisations (INGOs) could lead to the collapse of humanitarian aid operations in Gaza and the occupied West Bank.

The policy requires INGOs to obtain formal registration by 31 December 2025, or face closure of their operations in Israel within 60 days. Agencies warn that this could severely disrupt healthcare, emergency aid, and life-saving services in Gaza, affecting hundreds of thousands of residents.

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Humanitarian Agencies Speak Out

Save the Children, which provides clean water, healthcare, and cash assistance to families in Gaza, reported that its registration application has not been approved and is seeking legal avenues to have the decision reconsidered.

Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF), which operates six public hospitals and two field hospitals in Gaza, warned that losing access to independent humanitarian organisations would be “a disaster for Palestinians”. MSF emphasized that Gaza’s health system is already heavily damaged, and dismantling NGO support would put lives at imminent risk, especially during the winter months.

The Humanitarian Country Team of the Occupied Palestinian Territory, a UN forum uniting more than 200 local and international agencies, stated that the new system “fundamentally jeopardises” INGO operations. It highlighted that INGOs manage the majority of field hospitals, primary healthcare centres, emergency shelter programs, nutrition centres, and mine action initiatives. If forced to stop, one in three health facilities in Gaza would close, the statement warned.

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Controversial Registration Criteria

The registration system, introduced in March 2025, includes several grounds for rejecting an INGO application:

• Denying Israel’s existence as a Jewish and democratic state
• Denying the Holocaust or the Hamas attacks on Israel on 7 October 2023
• Supporting armed struggle against Israel by a terrorist organisation or hostile state
• Promoting delegitimisation campaigns or boycotts of Israel
• Supporting the prosecution of Israeli security forces in foreign or international courts

As of now, 14 applications have been rejected, 21 approved, and the rest are under review. Humanitarian agencies say the process is vague, politicized, and incompatible with core humanitarian principles.

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Israel’s Position

An Israeli official from the Ministry of Diaspora Affairs and Combating Antisemitism argued that INGOs have been given “more than sufficient time” to register, extending the original September deadline to 31 December. The ministry claimed that the departure of “rogue organisations” would not disrupt aid delivery, insisting that operations would continue uninterrupted.

The official emphasized that the registration process involved all relevant Israeli security and government bodies, and called claims of widespread rejection “false and misleading”.

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Risks to Gaza and the West Bank

The UN and humanitarian groups warned that the registration rules could have far-reaching consequences:

• Threatening the fragile ceasefire in Gaza
• Putting Palestinian lives at immediate risk, particularly during winter
• Undermining the humanitarian response that cannot be replaced by alternative actors
• Jeopardizing basic services, from healthcare to clean water, for hundreds of thousands

The Humanitarian Country Team stressed that Israel has an obligation under international law to ensure Gaza’s population has access to sufficient aid and services.

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Conclusion

The new Israeli NGO registration rules have sparked international concern that Gaza’s already strained humanitarian system could face collapse. While Israel maintains the policy is necessary for security, humanitarian organisations argue that it threatens core principles of impartial and independent aid, potentially leaving vulnerable populations without critical healthcare, nutrition, and emergency services.