Aid groups call on Israel to end ‘weaponisation' of aid in Gaza
The groups were responding to registration rules announced by Israel in March that require organisations to hand over full lists of their donors and Palestinian staff for vetting.
Damaged humanitarian aid for Palestinians in Gaza are scattered on the ground next to the border with the Gaza Strip (Ariel Schalit/AP)
The groups contend that doing so could endanger their staff and give Israel broad grounds to block aid if groups are deemed to be 'delegitimising' the country or supporting boycotts or divestment.
The registration measures were 'designed to control independent organisations, silence advocacy, and censor humanitarian reporting,' they said.
The letter added that the rules violate European data privacy regulations, noting that in some cases, aid groups have been given only seven days to comply.
COGAT, the Israeli military body in charge of humanitarian aid to Gaza, denied the letter's claims. It alleged the groups were being used as cover by Hamas to 'exploit the aid to strengthen its military capabilities and consolidate its control' in Gaza.
'The refusal of some international organisations to provide the information and co-operate with the registration process raises serious concerns about their true intention,' it said in a statement on Thursday. 'The alleged delay in aid entry … occurs only when organisations choose not to meet the basic security requirements intended to prevent Hamas's involvement.'
Israel has long claimed that aid groups and United Nations agencies issue biased assessments.
Displaced Palestinians gather to collect water from a truck during a heat wave at a makeshift tent camp in Khan Younis (Abdel Kareem Hana/AP)
The aid groups stressed that most of them have not been able to deliver 'a single truck' of life-saving assistance since Israel implemented a blockade in March.
A vast majority of aid isn't reaching civilians in Gaza, where tens of thousands have been killed, most of the population has been displaced and famine looms.
UN agencies and a small number of aid groups have resumed delivering assistance, but say the number of trucks allowed in remains far from sufficient.
Meanwhile, tensions have flared over Israel and the United States backing the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation to serve as the main distributor of aid in the besieged territory. The American contractor, meant to replace the traditional UN-led aid distribution system in Gaza, has faced international condemnation after hundreds of Palestinians were killed while trying to get food near its distribution sites.
Israel has pressed UN agencies to accept military escorts to deliver goods into Gaza, a demand the agencies have largely rejected, citing their commitment to neutrality. The stand-off has been the source of competing claims: Israel maintains it allows aid into Gaza that adheres to its rules, while aid groups that have long operated in Gaza decry the amount of life-saving supplies stuck at border crossings.
Palestinian children sell bags of drinking water during a hot summer day (Abdel Kareem Hana/AP)
Bushra Khalidi, an aid official with Oxfam in Gaza, said: 'Oxfam has over 2.5 million dollars worth of goods that have been rejected from entering Gaza by Israel, especially WASH (water, sanitation and hygiene) items as well as food.'
Aid groups' 'ability to operate may come at the cost of their independence and ability to speak out,' she added.
As European countries amplify their criticisms of Israel and the humanitarian crisis in Gaza, some are expanding evacuations.
Italy on Wednesday night received 114 Palestinian evacuees from Gaza, including 31 children in need of medical assistance, its foreign affairs ministry said.
The young patients are suffering from either severe injuries and amputations or serious congenital diseases.
Since the beginning of the war Italy has evacuated more than 900 Palestinians from Gaza, including those who have arrived as part of a family reunification programme.
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Sign up to our daily newsletter – Regular news stories and round-ups from around Scotland direct to your inbox Sign up Thank you for signing up! Did you know with a Digital Subscription to The Scotsman, you can get unlimited access to the website including our premium content, as well as benefiting from fewer ads, loyalty rewards and much more. Learn More Sorry, there seem to be some issues. Please try again later. Submitting... The SNP, and Scotland, suffered a grievous loss this week with the passing of former Presiding Officer George Reid, the last of the 1970s intake of SNP MPs. George was pro-independence because he was an internationalist. He recognised that for Scotland, and its citizens, to thrive, it needed to be a full member of, and active participant in, the European and broader international community. Not because Scotland is unique or better than any of its neighbours, but for the rather more mundane reason that Scotland should simply be the same as them. 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Scotland's independent neighbours of a similar size such as Norway, Denmark, Ireland and Finland have thrived with independence vastly improving their citizens' lot, whilst making a positive contribution to the world. In that regard the independence that George sought is the opposite of an increasingly isolated Brexit Britain that has turned its back on its neighbours. A Brexit project that leaves its citizens worse off, celebrated in the Kremlin and Trump's White House, whilst being mourned across mainstream democratic Europe. A failed project that has reduced the rights of anyone who holds a British passport, diminished the UK's standing in the world and put unnecessary barriers up to business. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad Brexiteers seek a world that does not exist, and we're all suffering the consequences for that misadventure. No state sits alone and is truly sovereign. Professor Neil McCormick knew that, as did George. 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That is undemocratic and short-sighted in the light of consistent polls that show that at least half the population want to see the nation regain its sovereignty. There are also those supporters who think that there are simple solutions that will provide a shortcut to independence. I am not sure that a UK Government that doesn't agree to a referendum, even faced with popular support for one and another independence majority in the Scottish Parliament, will somehow roll over in those circumstances. Gaining agreement from London matters to the rest of the world and it should therefore matter to Scots. As an internationalist and believer in independence, I can understand the frustration. However, no one is more frustrated than the First Minister who has campaigned for and believed in independence his whole adult life. 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In 2016, the SNP won a greater share of the vote and constituency seats than either Boris Johnson's Conservatives did in 2019 (bringing in profound changes with what they considered to be a mandate for a hard Brexit) or Keir Starmer's Labour did in 2024. If the Union is a voluntary one, then what are the rules for ending it? One cannot simply make them up after an election. If the Union is no longer voluntary, then it is a very different one from that on the ballot in 2014. If so, we deserve a vote on that prospectus as do the hundreds of thousands of Scots who have never had the opportunity to vote on sovereignty. We are still a long way out from the Holyrood elections. At this stage 15 years ago, the SNP had just lost heavily to Labour in the 2010 general election and were behind in the polls. Bookies had the SNP at 11-2 to be the biggest party in 2011. There is all to play for. 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