Rights Monitor Warns of “Dangerous Escalation” After Zionist Occupation Halts Aid Groups’ Work in Gaza
The Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Monitor said that the decision by the Zionist occupation authorities to halt the work of dozens of major international relief organizations operating in the occupied Palestinian territory, particularly in the Gaza Strip, constitutes a dangerous escalation aimed at strangling the humanitarian response and cutting off life-saving aid.
In a statement, the Monitor explained that the decision entails the non-renewal of operating licenses for 37 international humanitarian organizations working in Gaza and the suspension of their activities as of the beginning of 2026, under the pretext of non-compliance with new, unfair, and non-objective registration requirements imposed by the occupation authorities.
The Monitor noted that these requirements violate international law and breach the obligation to allow and facilitate rapid and unimpeded access to humanitarian relief for civilians in the Gaza Strip. It warned that the move would accelerate the collapse of what remains of the health and humanitarian system and deepen the dimensions of the crime of genocide by deliberately creating living conditions that effectively lead to the destruction of the population as a group and push them toward forced displacement.
The statement stressed that the decision targets leading international humanitarian organizations that form the backbone of the humanitarian response in Gaza. It cautioned that the suspension of their work would lead to widespread paralysis across critical humanitarian sectors with no practical alternatives, including emergency healthcare, water and sanitation services, emergency shelter, psychosocial support, treatment responses for child malnutrition, and explosive hazard removal activities, among others.
The Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Monitor called on the international community to move beyond expressions of concern and adopt concrete, enforceable measures to put an end to the serious violations ongoing in the Gaza Strip. It urged binding international action to affirm the illegality of the occupation’s decision not to renew the licenses of international humanitarian organizations and to suspend their activities, declare the decision null and void for violating international humanitarian law and the binding provisional measures issued by the International Court of Justice, and for infringing on the mandate of the United Nations and its partners in organizing and coordinating the humanitarian response.
The Monitor also called for obliging the occupation authorities to immediately revoke the decision, ensure rapid, sufficient, and regular access to aid and essential services, and lift restrictions that obstruct the work and independence of humanitarian organizations.
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