DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip (AP) — More than 100 nonprofit groups warned Thursday that Israel’s rules for aid groups working in the Gaza Strip and occupied West Bank will block much-needed relief and replace independent organizations with those that serve Israel’s political and military agenda — charges that Israel denied.
At the same time, hospital officials reported more deaths from Israeli airstrikes and an increasing toll from malnutrition.
The mounting backlash over aid restrictions and the worsening humanitarian crisis in Gaza have been cited by several countries as a factor in their moves toward recognizing Palestinian statehood. Yet on Thursday, Israel advanced plans for a new settlement expansion in the occupied West Bank, with one far-right government minister describing the move as a way to “bury the idea of a Palestinian state.”
Letter accuses Israel of ‘weaponization of aid’
The nonprofit groups, including Oxfam, Doctors Without Borders and CARE, were responding to registration rules announced by Israel in March that require organizations to hand over full lists of their donors and Palestinian staff for vetting. They contend doing so could endanger their staff and give Israel broad grounds to block aid if groups are deemed to be “delegitimizing” the country or supporting boycotts or divestment.
The aid groups stressed on Thursday that most of them have not been able to deliver “a single truck” of life-saving assistance since Israel implemented a blockade in March. Their letter called on other countries and donors to pressure Israel “to end the weaponization of aid, including through bureaucratic obstruction.”
The aid that the groups provide supplements assistance fr …