Aid Groups in Gaza Refuse to Give Staff Data as Israel Revokes Licenses

Israel’s move to condition humanitarian access on extensive staff disclosures has triggered coordinated resistance from major international charities, sharpening an already fragile aid environment in Gaza. At least 10 organizations now say they will refuse to submit Palestinian employee data following Israel’s Jan 1 decision to withdraw licenses from 37 aid groups that declined to provide personal information, according to Al Jazeera’s exclusive report.

Eight additional NGOs - Action Aid, Alianza por la Solidaridad, Medecins du Monde, Medicos Del Mundo, Premiere Urgence Internationale, American Friends Service Committee, Medico International, and Medical Aid For Palestinians - joined Oxfam and Doctors Without Borders (MSF) in rejecting the new registration requirements.

Israel’s Ministry for Diaspora Affairs and Combating Antisemitism has demanded passport copies, CVs, and family details, including children’s names, citing “security and transparency.”

Aid groups argue the measures endanger staff and politicize relief operations. Since October 2023, Israel’s military has killed more than 550 aid workers in Gaza, including 15 MSF staff, a toll that underscores the sensitivity of sharing personal data in an active conflict zone.

“It’s an Absolute Red Line”

Premiere Urgence Internationale framed the refusal in stark terms, saying, “It’s an absolute red line,” warning that sending employee lists “would potentially endanger the lives of our staff.”

Medecins du Monde added that “Humanitarian access is not optional, conditional, or political,” arguing Israel is obliged under international humanitarian law to facilitate relief.

On Sunday, Israeli authorities ordered MSF to halt operations by Feb 28, accusing the group of employing fighters, an allegation MSF rejects. The medical charity said the order was “a pretext to obstruct humanitarian assistance,” explaining it had declined to hand over names because Israeli authorities “failed to provide the concrete assurances required to guarantee staff’s safety.”

MSF operates 20 health clinics in Gaza, provides about 20 percent of hospital beds, conducted 800,000 medical consultations in 2025, and assisted in one in three births, a capacity the group says “cannot easily be replaced.”

The International Rescue Committee said it was “in touch with relevant authorities” while seeking to sustain life saving aid.

Action Aid described the regulations as part of a “relentless campaign to undermine and dismantle the systems that sustain Palestinian life.”

Humanitarian Capacity at Risk

The operational stakes extend beyond MSF. During the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) initiative in 2025, more than 850 Palestinians were killed around distribution sites over six months, after Israeli forces and foreign contractors fired on crowds seeking aid.

It’s to be remembered that former U.S. Army veteran who worked with the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation likened aid distribution bu GHF to the dystopian movie “The Hunger Games,” describing how Palestinians risk tear gas, rubber bullets, and live fire to reach food, while the UN reports more than 1,000 deaths at aid sites since May 2025.

Emergency physician James Smith warned that Israel could replicate such models, saying it will “create these pseudo-humanitarian organisations,” using humanitarian language to impose controlled systems.

From the NGO side, Medico International said the registration push aims to make charities “subservient and complicit” or else “deny and criminalise them.”

A deliberate political attack designed to silence, control and censor humanitarian organisations.

Medical Aid for Palestinians

On Jan 6, 2026, Oxfam Policy Lead Bushra Khalidi told Anadolu Agency the rules rely on vague justifications and sensitive data demands, calling them political and noting that international NGOs deliver more than half of Gaza’s food assistance, support about 60 percent of field hospitals, and implement nearly three quarters of shelter and non-food programs. She said there has been no evidence of aid diversion “at scale,” arguing the measures undermine humanitarian principles.

Norwegian People’s Aid’s Kelly Flynn added that Israel, as an occupying power, has legal obligations to allow service delivery across Gaza, the West Bank, and East Jerusalem, citing joint statements by Western and regional governments backing coordinated access.

Doctors Working Through Grief

Health workers in Gaza say delivering care amid repeated mass-casualty events has become almost impossible, as constant violence, shortages of supplies, and the loss of colleagues compound an overwhelming emotional toll. Doctors and nurses are forced to treat waves of severely injured patients while coping with grief, exhaustion, and trauma, turning routine medical work into a daily struggle for survival and resilience.

MSF volunteer Dr. Tanya Haj-Hassan described such trauma, calling attention to the feeling of helpessness amidst civillian massacre.

With operating licenses now in question, the future of NGO services remains uncertain, raising fears of further disruptions to aid delivery and shrinking humanitarian space at a moment when civilian needs are already overwhelming.