A boy sits next to a tent at a camp housing displaced Palestinians in the Mawasi area in Khan Yunis in the southern Gaza Strip . AFP
In a joint statement on Thursday, the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) and the Humanitarian Country Team — a coordination body of UN entities and over 200 international and local NGOs —warned against Israeli plans to de-register many international NGO partners working in the occupied Palestinian territories in the coming weeks for refusing to provide personal information about their Palestinian employees.
“Unless urgent action is taken, humanitarian organisations warn that most international NGO partners could be de-registered by 9 September or sooner, forcing them to withdraw all international staff and preventing them from providing critical, life-saving humanitarian assistance to Palestinians,” the statement read.
The UN and international NGOs deemed the new Israeli requirement as part of a “broader set of restrictive conditions” imposed by Israel on international NGOs, including possible repercussions for publicly criticising Israeli government policies.
The Humanitarian Country Team said NGOs not registered under the new system are already prohibited from sending any supplies to Gaza.
“This policy has already blocked the delivery of essential aid, including medicine, food, and hygiene items,” the team said, adding that "the impact falls most heavily on women, children, older people, and persons with disabilities, increasing their vulnerability to abuse and exploitation."
The UN warnings come amid growing global condemnation of Israel over its mass starvation policies against more than two million Palestinians in Gaza.
The United Nations and international aid organisations have warned that famine was unfolding in Gaza as more than 193 Palestinians, including nearly 100 children, died of hunger because of a five-month-old blockade on the strip.
In late July, Israel partially eased some restrictions on the entry of aid to Gaza, but the UN said the amount allowed into the territory remains insufficient.
Amjad Al-Shawa, the head of the Palestinian NGO Network in the Gaza Strip, told AFP that lengthy, slow inspection procedures at entry points meant few trucks could come in.
"What is currently entering the Gaza Strip are very limited numbers of trucks — between 70 to 80 per day — carrying only limited types of goods," he said.
He added that over the past few days, "around 50 to 60 trucks" destined for the private sector were able to enter for the first time in months.
Earlier, the UN estimated that Gaza needs at least 600 trucks of aid per day to meet its residents' basic needs.
The UN warnings against the spread of starvation in Gaza come as Israel continues its 22-month-old genocidal war on the strip, killing over 61,000 Palestinians, injuring more than 150,000, and displacing nearly the entire population.
It also comes as the UN and its humanitarian partners refuse to cooperate with the US/Israeli so-called Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, where Israeli troops killed and wounded hundreds of desperate Palestinian aid seekers in the last three months.
Earlier in 2025, Israel banned the United Nations' Palestinian refugee organisation, UNRWA, from operating in the occupied territories as part of its attempts to deprive nearly 5.5 million Palestinians in Gaza, the West Bank, and East Jerusalem of basic health and educational services.
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