Israel accused of hindering Gaza aid access as EU, UN say over $71bn needed for rebuild

Foreign aid groups are struggling to work in the occupied Palestinian territories, including in war-torn Gaza, despite Israel’s top court lifting a ban against them, a director at one of the charities said Monday. Israel in December said it was banning 37 non-governmental organisations unless they provided detailed information on their Palestinian staff, in a […]

Foreign aid groups are struggling to work in the occupied Palestinian territories, including in war-torn Gaza, despite Israel’s top court lifting a ban against them, a director at one of the charities said Monday.

Israel in December said it was banning 37 non-governmental organisations unless they provided detailed information on their Palestinian staff, in a move humanitarian organisations warned would further curtail already inadequate aid to Gaza.

Israel’s Supreme Court in February froze that ban, theoretically allowing the NGOs to continue working in Gaza and the occupied West Bank until a final ruling.

But foreign “staff continued to be rejected, supplies continued to be rejected”, said Alan Moseley, Danish Refugee Council director for the Palestinian territories.

He said almost no international NGO targeted by the Israeli ban had managed to transport aid into Gaza in recent months.

While commercial trucks were allowed to bring in basic supplies under a fragile ceasefire deal agreed in October, these are often far too expensive for Gazans after months of war, he said.

Some charities had managed to deliver aid via UN trucks still allowed in or had bought goods directly in Gaza to distribute them.

But this was “very difficult” and “very expensive”, with some vital goods – including medical supplies – being very hard to find, he added.

Israel continued to block the entrance of aid worth “millions of dollars”, Moseley said.

“There are tonnes of supplies sitting over the border, in Egypt and in Jordan, and there’s a huge amount of energy put into trying to unblock these supplies,” he added.

Israel has opposed so-called dual-use material and equipment, which it says could be used for military purposes.

“You hear that things can be used for making weapons or something else – but we see wheelchairs, prosthetics, school supplies, children’s clothing, everything can be blocked,” the aid worker said.

Obligations of an occupying power

Moseley said Israel’s Supreme Court, at a hearing on March 23, gave NGOs petitioning against the ban the opportunity to revoke their request or submit the requested Palestinian staff data.

“But we decided not to do that, and we requested a full judgment by the court,” he said.

The NGOs argued that they should be protecting their Palestinian staff’s data, that they had already registered them with the Palestinian Authority, and that the Israeli Ministry of diaspora affairs and combating antisemitism demanding the information “doesn’t have jurisdiction”.

They also stressed “the obligations of an occupying power to actually facilitate provision of humanitarian assistance, not to obstruct it”, Moseley said.

Gaza is under a fragile ceasefire agreed last October, which followed two years of devastating conflict sparked by the Palestinian militant group Hamas attacking Israel on October 7, 2023.

That attack resulted in the deaths of 1,221 people in Israel, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally of official Israeli figures. Palestinian militants also abducted 251 hostages.

Israel’s retaliatory military campaign has killed more than 72,000 people in Gaza, also mostly civilians, according to the Hamas-run territory’s health ministry, whose figures the United Nations considers reliable.

‘Over $71 bn needed over next decade to rebuild Gaza’

More than $71 billion will be needed over the next decade for recovery and reconstruction in war-ravaged Gaza, according to an EU-UN assessment published Monday.

In their final Gaza Rapid Damage and Needs Assessment (RDNA), the United Nations and the European Union said that more than two years of war in the Palestinian territory “has led to unprecedented loss of life and a catastrophic humanitarian crisis”.

“Recovery and reconstruction needs are estimated at around $71.4 billion,” said the assessment, developed in coordination with the World Bank.

Much of Gaza – including schools, hospitals and other civic infrastructure – has been reduced to rubble by a withering Israeli military offensive following the unprecedented Hamas attack on October 7, 2023.

The final assessment determined that $26.3 billion would be required in the first 18 months to restore essential services, rebuild critical infrastructure and support economic recovery.

“Physical infrastructure damages are estimated at $35.2 billion, with economic and social losses amounting to $22.7 billion,” a joint statement said.

According to the RDNA, some 371,888 housing units have been destroyed or damaged, more than 50 per cent of hospitals in the territory are non-functional, and nearly all schools have been destroyed or damaged.

At the same time, 1.9 million people – nearly Gaza’s entire population – have been displaced, often multiple times, and more than 60 per cent of the population had lost their homes, the assessment found.

Gaza’s economy has contracted by 84 per cent, it said.

“The scale and extent of deprivation across living conditions, livelihoods/income, food security, gender equality, and social inclusion, have pushed back human development in the Gaza Strip by 77 years,” the assessment said.