Tel Aviv [Israel], January 1: UN rights chief Volker Turk calld Israel's threat to suspend aid groups from operating in Gaza from January 1 "outrageous".
"Israel's suspension of numerous aid agencies from Gaza is outrageous," Turk said in a statement. "Such arbitrary suspensions make an already intolerable situation even worse for the people of Gaza," he warned.
Israel announced that unless 37 aid organisations comply with new guidelines, which require detailed information on Palestinian staff, they will be banned from operating in Gaza. "This is the latest in a pattern of unlawful restrictions on humanitarian access," Turk said, pointing to Israel's ban on the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, UNRWA, and "attacks on Israeli and Palestinian NGOs amid broader access issues faced by the UN and other humanitarians".
"I urge all States, in particular those with influence, to take urgent steps and insist that Israel immediately allows aid to get into Gaza unhindered," he said.
Philippe Lazzarini, the commissioner-general of UNRWA, said Israel's suspension of 37 aid organisations in Gaza shows "a troubling pattern of disregard for international humanitarian law". "This is a dangerous precedent," Lazzarini wrote on social media platform X. "Failing to push back against attempts to control the work of aid organisations will further undermine the basic humanitarian principles of neutrality, independence, impartiality and humanity underpinning aid work across the world." (Agencies)
Source: Qatar Tribune
