Israel bars some aid workers from Gaza as groups face suspension

Israel says it has barred entry to Gaza of foreign medical and humanitarian staff whose organizations were ordered to cease operations unless they register employee details with Israeli authorities and meet other new rules.

Fearing a renewed humanitarian crisis if medical and aid services can suddenly no longer access war-shattered Gaza, some of the 37 international nongovernmental organizations that were ordered to halt work are weighing whether to submit staff names to Israeli authorities, two aid sources tell Reuters.

Three of the aid groups say their foreign staff were told by Israeli authorities this week they could not enter Gaza.

Israel’s Diaspora Ministry, which manages the registration process, says the measures are meant to prevent diversions of aid by Palestinian terror groups. NGOs say sharing staff details poses too much of a risk, pointing to the hundreds of aid workers who were killed or injured during the two-year Gaza war — some of whom were found to have ties to Hamas.

The Diaspora Ministry says that while the NGOs had been granted 60 days to conclude operations, “the entry of foreign personnel into Gaza is not approved.” It says international staff with “approved organisations” including the United Nations could continue work as usual.

Three prominent global NGOs – Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF), Medecins du Monde Suisse and the Danish Refugee Council – say their international staff were refused entry to Gaza this week. Foreign aid staff has generally been permitted to rotate in and out of Gaza since the start of the war.

“If we don’t have somebody in a key position, such as the emergency coordinator in charge of operations, then we either have to compensate, or we have a gap” in aid service, says Anna Halford, Gaza emergency coordinator at MSF.