Name: UN warns red tape puts Gaza aid operations at risk
Uploaded: 2025-12-18T15:36:25.748Z
Duration: 4 min 9 s
Description: The UN and international aid groups are warning that humanitarian operations in the Palestinian territories, particularly Gaza, are at risk of collapse if Israel does not lift impediments that include re-registering groups that had been previously cleared.

The UN and international aid groups are warning that humanitarian operations in the Palestinian territories, particularly Gaza, are at risk of collapse if Israel does not lift impediments that include re-registering groups that had been previously cleared.

Jerusalem

The United Nations has raised concerns that ongoing border restrictions and a new registration process for aid workers are severely hindering the delivery of humanitarian assistance to Gaza. Despite having essential supplies ready, aid agencies report that access remains limited, making consistent deliveries nearly impossible for thousands of displaced Palestinians.

Recent rainstorms have exacerbated the situation, leading to fatalities and prompting protests from Gaza residents, who are calling for more durable shelter solutions. The new registration process, implemented by Israeli authorities, requires detailed identification and social media checks of aid workers, which the UN and other groups argue could lead to further deregistration and violates privacy laws. Israeli officials maintain that these measures are necessary for security and deny blocking aid.

UN warns red tape puts Gaza aid operations at risk

Powerful rainstorms are worsening conditions for thousands of Palestinians already displaced in Gaza. Humanitarian agencies are calling for Israeli authorities to lift all barriers preventing aid from entering the region. The United Nations is saying they have tents, they have blankets, other essential supplies ready to go to enter Gaza, but they're continuing to face restricted access through border crossings and that is making consistent deliveries nearly impossible. We're going to take a closer look at this right now with Rafi Boudjikanian who joins me from Jerusalem. Rafi, what more can you tell us about the situation in Gaza right now? Well, Marianne, as you can see, the weather is much sunnier now than it was last week during that deadly rainstorm, Byron, that you and I were talking about. And what that's allowing to do is really letting Palestinians assess the damage in the area in Gaza, whether that's, you know, what happened after all those floods or bombed out houses collapsing. Recall that at least a dozen people died due to the storm, whether that's because of those collapses or hypothermia, especially in cases of young children. Now, all that is leading to protests by Palestinians in Gaza, and these are protests that are not necessarily aimed at Israel or Hamas, but the international community, which is a more rare target for them. What they're asking for is not just tents, but mobile homes, something more solid that would allow them to get through these rough winter months, they say. Have a listen to one resident who spoke to our freelancer working in Gaza. He said that he lives in this house, and the water comes down on us, and as much as we put leather and other things, it's full. We're on the coast. We don't have tents, we don't have shawls. The coast area, I mean, I live on the coast of the sea. The western gate in Gaza. So we're asking the people of the neighborhood to look at us with compassion and kindness. Do you understand me? We're asking them to look at us with compassion and kindness, do you understand me? Now, those barriers, though, that the aid groups were talking about, they're not just about the control that exists already with Israeli authorities checking things coming through to Gaza, but a new, relatively new registration process that the UN says could make things worse. So this is a process implemented in March, and the UN and other aid groups put out a warning yesterday saying that many could be kicked out by early next year with deregistration by the end of this year. The process makes them identify every worker on site in Gaza, and the aid groups say also allows Israel to go through all of their social media histories, looking for opinions that might be anti-Israel or supportive of Hamas. And though some groups have complied, others have not. The UN says that the groups have international legal obligations for privacy laws, and they can't just do all of this. Israel has in the past denied that it's not letting aid through. It continues to deny that. It says there's plenty getting in. And as for this registration process, it says that this is necessary in order for them to root out, undercover Hamas militants who are posing as aid workers. They have not yet responded to this latest call by the aid groups for easier access and to reverse this registration process. We have put questions to authorities here and are waiting for comment, Linda. Rafi, thanks very much. That's Rafi Boudjikanian in Jerusalem.

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