Israel’s Ministry for Diaspora Affairs and Combating Antisemitism says its “clear transparency requirements” mean all NGOs and humanitarian organisations must now give full details of their staff, funding sources and operational structures. Its stated aim is to prevent any links to Palestinian armed groups in the wake of the Hamas-led attacks on Israel on 7 October 2023 which triggered the Gaza war.

Israeli operating licences can be lost through actions such as “delegitimisation of the State of Israel, legal campaigns targeting soldiers of the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), Holocaust denial, denial of the 7 October atrocities or documented cooperation with terrorist organisations”.

Aid groups have rejected sharing details of their personnel, pointing out that hundreds of humanitarian workers have been killed during the Gaza war. Those based in Europe say the demands breach EU laws on data protection and privacy.

The NGOs say the changes go against long-established practices “to ensure that humanitarian relief remains “principled, independent, and unhindered.” Many argue that the new Israeli licensing system is politically motivated.

“It has nothing – zero – to do with countering terrorism, which is a united fight for all of us. We have suffered from terror all over the world for a very long time,” says Jan Egeland, Secretary General of the NRC – which joined the petition.

“That’s why we vet each and every staff against all lists of possible sanctioned people everywhere in the world. We do that regularly and the Americans and the Europeans and so on are very happy with our screening of all our employees.”

“This is a political matter,” Mr Egeland goes on. “They don’t want independent witnesses that are not pro-Netanyahu to operate in the Palestinian areas. That’s why they’ve come after us and so many others.”

With foreign journalists banned by Israel from entering Gaza during the war – except on limited tours embedded with the IDF – visiting medics and aid workers have been important international voices describing the situation on the ground. Many have criticised Israel’s conduct of the war and Israeli restrictions on aid entering the territory which, at one point, led to the UN declaring a famine.

In early 2025, a controversial US- and Israeli-backed organisation the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) was set up to distribute food and positioned as an alternative to the UN, amid claims that Hamas was diverting aid. Following deadly shootings at its sites, criticism intensified and by the end of the year, the GHF announced it had ended its mission.

The Israeli Diaspora Ministry says that since its guidelines came into effect, it has been contacted by 117 NGOs. Of these, 27 have been approved and 11 were rejected with the remainder still undergoing review or told to conclude operations should they fail to meet the compliance requirements. It said the 11 NGOs whose applications were turned down amounted to about 1% of the total humanitarian aid entering Gaza.

“Aid continues to flow through legitimate and transparent channels operated by organisations that adhere to international humanitarian law, do not cooperate with terrorist groups such as Hamas, and operate in full compliance with Israeli regulations,” the ministry said in a statement. It says its measures comply with President Trump’s 20-point peace plan to end the Gaza war “which prioritises dismantling Hamas’ military and governing capabilities”.

Save the Children was told last year it has lost its licence, accused of delegitimising the State of Israel. It says this is because it has spoken out against violations of international law and harsh conditions in Gaza.

The NGO says deregistration leaves it unable to bring in international staff to provide support to local ones who continue to work. Alexandra Saieh, Head of Humanitarian Policy and Advocacy, says the more obstacles in place, the further it impedes the ability to offer effective humanitarian assistance and causes “a catastrophic impact on people in Gaza.”

“This is why we’re not seeing the situation improve as quickly as we’ve needed it to improve,” she adds. “Just from our experience in our clinics, while we’ve seen the reduction in numbers of children coming in with malnutrition, we haven’t seen those improvements at the pace and scale you would have thought we’d seen them during a ceasefire.”

Israel has made specific allegations against the medical charity, MSF, which runs two standalone field hospitals and supports other healthcare facilities.