Israel pursuing crackdown on international NGOs in Gaza, aid workers say

Israel is pursuing a crackdown on international NGOs operating in the Gaza Strip, aid workers have claimed, steps that could be paving the way for a new offensive on the fenced-in territory.

The claims are made in a new article, “Israel Declares War on Gaza’s NGOs”, published by Foreign Policy (FP), and written by the Times correspondent Greg Carlstrom.

According to the report, NGOs have been “feeling unexpected pressure from Israeli authorities” in recent months. Foreign Policy spoke with “a dozen senior employees from NGOs and UN agencies” most of whom wanted to remain anonymous “lest they cause more problems” with Israel.

One charity director said that 30 to 40 per cent of its Palestinian employees are now being refused travel permits”, individuals “who have been getting permits regularly, as recently as last year.”

Another official, from a Scandinavian charity, said: “It’s become very complex. [The Shin Bet] is even looking into social media of the people who are asking for permits, checking on their friends.”

The United Nations, meanwhile, “has found its work in Gaza increasingly challenged by Israeli restrictions.” According to the publication, while in 2015 and early 2016 just three per cent of UN employees were denied permits, over the past few months this has increased tenfold, to nearly 30 per cent.

While some Israeli politicians and military figures have urged an easing of the blockade, over the summer, “Israel quietly started doing the opposite.” This has led “many of the aid workers who help keep Gaza afloat” to “fear another war is looming.”

The FP article cites the case of World Vision employee Mohammad El-Halabi who has been charged with funnelling vast sums of money to Hamas, in a complex and years-long conspiracy.

Many aid workers, however, “express grave doubts about the charges against Halabi”, who was held without a lawyer for three weeks, and whose trial is being conducted behind closed doors. Instead, these NGO workers “see the case as part of a broader policy shift in Israel aimed at stifling humanitarian work and economic life in Gaza.”

According to FP, “the new restrictions on NGOs are threatening Gaza’s already fragile economy and raising the odds of a fourth round of conflict between Israel and Hamas.”

Travel permits for aid workers and ordinary Gazans have been revoked on vague security grounds, and Israeli banks are increasingly reluctant to transfer salaries to workers in Gaza, something they have willingly done for years.

There has also been a dive in the number of Palestinian merchants being permitted to exit the Gaza Strip by Israeli authorities. “Dozens of merchants have been turned back at Erez in recent months,” FP notes, “having been told that ‘security blocks’ have suddenly been attached to their names.”