TEL AVIV—The cease-fire in Gaza has held for almost three months, but the battle over aid in the enclave rages on and is rapidly turning into a standoff—with two million Palestinians caught in the middle.
Throughout the two-year war, Israel and humanitarian groups have clashed over the amount and type of aid allowed into the territory and who could distribute it.
Now, new rules have led to a deadlock between the two sides, putting at risk access to aid and services for Palestinians trying to rebuild their lives out of the wreckage of the conflict.
Israel is insisting aid groups hand over details about their staff working in Gaza or it will strip them of their right to operate in Israel, which would severely limit their access to the enclave. Dozens of organizations, including large-scale international humanitarian groups, have declined to do so, arguing that sharing the data could put their workers at risk. They say Israel hasn’t given them assurances the data won’t be misused and want to know why it is needed, as well as how it will be used and stored.
Control over their access to Gaza rests with the Ministry for Diaspora Affairs and Combating Anti-Semitism, a little-known department initially designed to strengthen ties with, and protections for, Jews abroad.
Amichai Chikli, who heads the ministry, is an outspoken ally of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu with ties to far-right European politicians. He was tasked with overhauling the registration of nongovernmental organizations in Israel in 2024, after allegations that militant groups including Hamas were exploiting the system for delivering humanitarian aid in Gaza.
Last March, Chikli declared that aid groups working in Palestinian territories must provide Israel with the names, ID numbers and contact information for their staff.
It has created a situation where, because most groups didn’t do so, they are effectively blocked from access to Gaza, having lost their nongovernmental organization registration in Israel. The groups have until March to submit the required documents and regain their status. Registration is required to obtain visas for non-Israeli staff and carry out basic functions like transporting goods.
By the end of December, 37 groups—including Doctors Without Borders and Oxfam—had failed to submit complete applications, according to Israel. Israel told the groups they would also have to vacate the Palestinian territories by March if they didn’t submit their full applications, but the groups say it has no authority to make them do so.
The new rules also prohibit actions seen as delegitimizing Israel, Holocaust denial and support for prosecution of Israeli security personnel.
Save the Children was one of about 10 NGOs whose applications were rejected outright, on grounds that it allegedly had ties to a militant group. Save the Children, which is appealing the decision, declined to comment on the allegations and said it would continue to work in Gaza through local staff and partners.
“It is extremely worrying in terms of the precedent it sets for a new level of Israeli overreach,” said Athena Rayburn, executive director of the Association of International Development Agencies, or AIDA, an umbrella group representing some 100 NGOs, almost all of the aid groups that work across Gaza and the West Bank.
The most prominent to lose its status is Doctors Without Borders, known by its French initials, MSF, which has some 1,100 Palestinian staff members in Gaza and says it supports about 20% of all hospital beds in the enclave. The group is vocal in its criticism of Israel, which it has accused of war crimes and genocide in Gaza.
The Israeli government says two MSF employees were members of militant groups who were killed by the Israeli military. “We will never and we have never hired people knowing that they were part of an armed group,” said Filipe Ribeiro, MSF’s head of mission for the Palestinian territories.
Chikli’s ministry recently released the findings of a government investigation into MSF that alleged that the group maintains ties with militants. The ministry suggested MSF “should change its name to ‘Terrorists Without Borders.’” The investigation found that the group’s statements accusing Israel of genocide and starvation amounted to a delegitimization campaign against the state of Israel.
MSF said that it “unequivocally refutes the allegations made by the Israeli authorities in recent days.”
The battle over aid groups is jeopardizing services for Gazans, almost all of whom have been displaced by the war. Hundreds of thousands still live in makeshift tent camps. They depend on aid groups and foreign expertise for everything from food security to the removal of unexploded bombs and rebuilding the enclave.
“I think this escalated in a way that neither side wanted,” said Emanuela-Chiara Gillard, an expert on humanitarian law at the Oxford Institute for Ethics, Law and Armed Conflict.
Israel says the 37 groups together represent about 1% of the volume of aid entering Gaza, but the groups contend that doesn’t account for the critical work of distributing it or providing critical infrastructure and healthcare.
Since the war in Gaza began, Israel has alleged that militants exploit and influence aid organizations by infiltrating their workforces, diverting their supplies and commandeering their infrastructure. Aid groups say the claims are exaggerated. Israel has an especially tense relationship with the United Nations Relief and Works Agency, or Unrwa, alleging some of its staff took part in the Hamas-led Oct. 7, 2023 attack. A U.N. investigation found nine Unrwa staff may have been involved, all of whom were fired.
U.N. agencies aren’t subject to the new rules, because they operate under a different framework than the NGOs. But the U.N. pipeline supplies groups that it relies on to implement aid programs on the ground.
Under the terms of a cease-fire that took effect in October, at least 600 truckloads of goods must be allowed into Gaza every day. Israel says the new rules won’t affect the amount of aid reaching the enclave. The U.N.’s humanitarian affairs agency, known as OCHA, has warned that the changes could potentially cause the distribution network it relies upon to collapse.
Aid groups have also criticized Israel for imposing a blockade of the enclave for two months last year that meant aid couldn’t enter, ultimately leading a U.N.-backed hunger monitor to determine that famine took hold in Gaza City. Chikli’s new rules, the groups say, are part of an effort to undermine their ability to work and provide aid to Gazans. The ministry has said the new rules are meant “to prevent the infiltration of militant agents through licensing duties, transparency and control.”
Gilad Zwick, a spokesman for the ministry of diaspora affairs, said Israel had granted approval to 24 organizations out of more than 100 applications so far, which he said showed the country’s commitment to facilitating aid.
The list included large NGOs like International Medical Corps, UK-Med and Catholic Relief Services, as well as smaller, private charities that are relatively new to Gaza. Some are missionary groups such as United Bible Societies, whose primary activity globally is translating and distributing bibles, and Samaritan’s Purse, a U.S.-based evangelical group that provides medical care and other emergency services.
U.S.-based Multifaith Alliance, which has been providing emergency aid in Gaza for about a year and a half, is on the approved list and one of the few groups allowed to bring in its own goods, importing 50 to 100 truckloads each day.
Shadi Martini, the CEO, said the issue of the staff list was discussed with each of his 20 Palestinian employees, and they consented to sharing the information, which he said might not be feasible for larger NGOs.
“Every organization has a different situation,” Martini said. “We’re not an entity that has worked in Gaza before, so we didn’t have this background, this baggage, that maybe could have affected things.”
Write to Feliz Solomon at feliz.solomon@wsj.com