Israel Puts International Humanitarian Organizations Before Two Choices: Submit to Its Conditions or Cancel Their Licenses

Israel has begun a large-scale escalation targeting the work of dozens of international non-governmental humanitarian organizations operating in Jerusalem, the West Bank, and the Gaza Strip, after the Israeli government placed them before two choices with no third option:

Submit to new strict conditions and restrictions.

Cancel their licenses and prevent them from continuing their humanitarian activities in the occupied Palestinian territories.

The Israeli government has granted these organizations a time period extending until the end of 2025 to renew their work licenses, provided they comply with a package of new conditions, topped by submitting detailed lists of the names of Palestinian employees working for them, to subject them to what the Israeli authorities describe as "security screening".

These measures include verifying whether any of the Palestinian employees have advocated or participated in activities related to boycotting Israel, which humanitarian organizations considered a direct interference in the nature of their work and a transformation of humanitarian work into a security surveillance tool.

A group of international organizations has refused to comply with these conditions, expressing serious concerns that submitting Palestinian employees' data could expose them to security prosecution, posing a direct threat to their lives and the safety of their families, while at the same time undermining the fundamental principles of humanitarian work based on neutrality and independence.

These organizations considered that the new Israeli conditions are not limited to administrative aspects, but touch the core of humanitarian work, and impose security guardianship over institutions that are supposed to operate in accordance with international humanitarian law, away from political and security pressures.

Following the refusal of some organizations to these conditions, the Israeli government began taking practical steps to cancel their work licenses, justifying this by not completing the legal registration requirements according to the new rules.

According to human rights reports, these measures, despite appearing in an administrative and legal framework, represent in reality an existential threat to dozens of international non-governmental humanitarian organizations that have been working for decades in the Palestinian territories, contributing to improving the living conditions of Palestinians under occupation.

The reports warned that proceeding with the implementation of these decisions will lead to depriving hundreds of thousands of Palestinians, especially in the Gaza Strip, of basic humanitarian aid, including life-saving health services, at a time when the humanitarian situation is witnessing unprecedented deterioration.