STATEMENT: Gaza: Israel threatens to ban major aid organizations as starvation deepens

– The occupied Palestinian territory is the deadliest setting for aid workers worldwide, with Palestinian staff accounting for 98% of aid worker fatalities: 509 out of 517 killings that took place between 2023 and 2025, according to the Aid Worker Security Database.

– On 6 May, 55 organisations warned that Israel’s new INGO registration measures are a grave threat to humanitarian operations and international law.

– On 1 July, 200+ organisations called for immediate action to end the deadly Israeli distribution scheme, including the so-called “GHF” in Gaza, revert to the existing UN-led coordination mechanisms, and lift the Israeli government’s blockade on aid and commercial supplies.

– On 23 July, 100+ organisations warned that, as mass starvation spreads across Gaza, our colleagues and those we serve are wasting away.

– On 29 July, the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) wrote that the worst-case scenario of famine is currently playing out in the Gaza Strip.

– Israel has consistently denied restricting the amount of aid allowed into Gaza, including throughout the period of July 2025, when most of the denials discussed in this statement were issued.

– On 31 July, OHCHR wrote that since 27 May, at least 1,373 Palestinians have been killed while seeking food: 859 in the vicinity of the “GHF” sites and 514 along the routes of food convoys. Most of these killings were committed by the Israeli forces.

– On 4 August, a Palestinian nurse in Gaza was killed when an airdrop struck

– On 5 August, it was reported that Israeli authorities are planning for the full occupation of the Gaza Strip.

– On 6 August, UN agencies and NGOs warned that without immediate action most international NGO partners could be deregistered by Israel in coming weeks.

– On 6 August, the Dutch Data Protection Authority (DPA) concluded that Israel’s information requests under the INGO registration process risk violating the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). The DPA advised that INGOs should not comply with these requests, and that the only solution is for Israel to amend its requirements and for the relevant ministries to issue a formal protest.

– On 7 August, MSF released a report stating food distributions in Gaza run by the so-called “GHF” are sites of “orchestrated killing and dehumanization” that must be shut ”

– On 10 August, Save the Children reported the deaths of 100 children due to starvation in Gaza since October 2023.

– On 12 August, a group of UN Special Rapporteurs on human rights published a letter to the Israeli government, stating deep concern that the INGO registration measures “weaken the ability of INGOs to operate independently and impartially and to carry out their humanitarian and human rights work without interference or fear of reprisal” and that “the obligation to report on INGO personnel, in the context of occupation, armed conflict and serious violations of international law, could raise serious protection and reprisal concerns.”