Jerusalem, Jan 1 (IANS) Israel said Thursday that new regulations banning access of dozens of aid organizations to Gaza and the West Bank had come into force, despite calls by UN agencies and international humanitarian groups to halt the move.
Minister for Diaspora Affairs Amichai Chikli said organisations had been given 10 months to submit detailed information about their staff, with the deadline expiring at midnight on Wednesday. Groups that failed to meet the new requirements “had their licenses revoked today,” he said, without specifying how many were affected.
An Israeli government official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said a review by the Ministry for Diaspora Affairs identified 37 organisations that did not comply with the new regulations, Xinhua news agency reported. Israel says the rules are intended to bar organisations it alleges have supported militant activity from operating in the Palestinian territories.
The announcement came a day after senior officials from 19 UN humanitarian agencies and major international aid organisations urged Israel to reconsider the new measure, warning it could have “devastating” consequences.
“In Gaza in particular, as winter compounds families’ suffering, as high acute food insecurity persists and as the need for life-saving aid is as critical as ever, banning NGOs risks undermining the fragile progress made during the ceasefire,” they said in a joint statement.
Signatories to the statement included Tom Fletcher, UN Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator; Qu Dongyu, Director-General of the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation; Amy E Pope, Director-General of the International Organisation for Migration; Volker Turk, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights; Alexander De Croo, Administrator of the UN Development Programme; Catherine Russell, Executive Director of the UN Children’s Fund; Sima Bahous, UN Under-Secretary-General and Executive Director of UN Women; and Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director-General of the World Health Organisation, among others.
International organisations collectively deliver close to 1 billion US dollars in assistance each year, according to the statement.
More than two years of Israeli assaults in Gaza have left the enclave in ruins, causing widespread hunger and malnutrition, and killing at least 71,269 people while injuring 171,232 others, according to Gaza-based health authorities.
–IANS
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