Israel accuses NGO of failing to meet security requirements for aid entry into Gaza

Jerusalem.- The Israeli army stated that humanitarian organizations that have been unable to bring supplies into the Gaza Strip do not meet “basic security requirements,” including the submission of their staff data, a measure that, according to Israel, seeks to prevent Hamas from benefiting from the distribution. The response from the military body COGAT came after a statement signed by more than one hundred NGOs —including Caritas, Oxfam, and Doctors Without Borders— who denounce not having been able to bring in a single truck since March. COGAT stated on social media that the delays occur when organizations “decide not to comply” with the registration required by the regulations approved at the beginning of March, which requests sensitive information about Palestinian personnel. NGOs warn that this requirement puts their workers at risk and recall that 98% of humanitarian workers killed in the world are Palestinians. While Israel maintains that the process is based on “professional and security criteria” to prevent “infiltration of terrorist elements” from Hamas —an accusation that NGOs consider unproven—, humanitarian entities insist that there are official limits to the entry of aid and point out that food, medicine and water worth millions of dollars remain stored in Jordan and Egypt “while Palestinians are starving”. COGAT reported that on Wednesday, 380 trucks with aid entered, another 400 were collected and distributed within the enclave by the UN and partners, and that six countries airdropped 119 pallets. NGOs maintain that at least 500 trucks are required daily (about 25 tons each). According to official Israeli figures, between 50 and 100 trucks entered per day in June; after announcing humanitarian pauses at the end of July, the flow rose to about 200 and now hovers around 300, figures that the Gaza authority reduces to less than 100.

Since the beginning of the Israeli offensive after October 7, 2023, at least 508 humanitarian workers have died in Gaza, including 346 UN employees, 51 from the Palestinian Red Crescent, 4 from the ICRC, and 107 from other organizations, according to OCHA.