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Condemnations pour in after Israel bans aid groups from Gaza

Children warm by the fire next to a sand sculpture as displaced Palestinians prepare to usher in the New Year in Deir al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip on December 30, 2025. (Photo by AFP)

An inhumane Israeli decision to ban dozens of international humanitarian agencies from operating in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank has sparked a wave of condemnations worldwide.

The Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), and the UN rights chief issued denunciations after the Tel Aviv regime announced that 37 aid groups will have their licenses suspended on January 1, with their operations to end within 60 days.

The regime of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu—who is wanted by the International Criminal Court (ICC) for war crimes in Gaza— alleged that the organizations, including some of the world's best-known charities, have failed to meet new registration requirements.

In a statement released on Wednesday, the OIC's General Secretariat said the banned NGOs play a “vital and indispensable” role in alleviating Palestinians’ suffering caused by Israel’s genocidal war on the Gaza Strip.

The arbitrary Israeli measure “would seriously exacerbate the catastrophic humanitarian suffering in the Gaza Strip due to Israeli restrictions that prevent sufficient quantities of humanitarian and medical aid from reaching the Strip,” it added.

The illegal Israeli move constitutes a flagrant violation of the principles of international humanitarian law and the advisory opinion of the International Court of Justice (ICJ), which obliges the occupying entity to facilitate the work of aid organizations.

The OIC's General Secretariat also called on the international community to put pressure on Israeli authorities to ensure that humanitarian workers operate freely across Palestine, particularly in the Gaza Strip.

Among the organizations banned are Save the Children, Oxfam, Caritas, Action Aid, the International Rescue Committee, World Vision, the Danish and Norwegian Refugee Councils, and Doctors Without Borders, which also goes by its French acronym, MSF.

MSF warned the move would have a “catastrophic effect” on healthcare, noting that its teams support nearly one-fifth of hospital beds in Gaza.

In 2024, the Israeli parliament passed a law banning the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) from operating in the occupied territories, claiming that some of its staff members were involved in al-Aqsa Flood Operation.

Additionally, on Wednesday, CAIR, America’s largest Muslim civil liberties organization, condemned Israel’s ban on MSF and other aid organizations as “an unprecedented and evil act of cruelty.”

The usurping regime is “completely out of control because it has not faced any real consequences for committing a genocide with American taxpayer dollars. It's time for Congress to listen to the American people, not AIPAC,” it noted, referring to the American Israel Public Affairs Committee.

UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk called the Israeli decision "outrageous,” warning that it will "make an already intolerable situation even worse for the people of Gaza.”

He further called on all states to take urgent steps and insist that Israel allows aid to get into Gaza unhindered.

Israel waged its genocidal war on Gaza on October 7, 2023, after the Hamas resistance group carried out its historic al-Aqsa Flood Operation in retaliation for Israel’s intensified atrocities against the Palestinian nation.

Israel, however, failed to achieve its declared objectives despite killing at least 71,269 Palestinians, mostly women and children, and injuring 171,232 others.

The criminal regime was forced to agree to a ceasefire with Hamas, which took effect on October 10, 2025. Since then, Israel has, however, violated the truce with near-daily attacks on Gaza.


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