{"id":314461,"date":"2025-12-31T15:34:02","date_gmt":"2025-12-31T20:34:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/?post_type=document&#038;p=314461"},"modified":"2026-01-05T15:44:24","modified_gmt":"2026-01-05T20:44:24","slug":"iasc-statement-31dec25","status":"publish","type":"document","link":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/document\/iasc-statement-31dec25\/","title":{"rendered":"Inter-Agency Standing Committee (IASC) Statement, Revoke planned international NGO ban, humanitarian leaders urge Israeli authorities"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>31 December 2025<\/p>\n<p><span lang=\"EN-GB\">We urge the Israeli authorities to reconsider their plan to ban many of the international NGOs operating in the Occupied Palestinian Territory (OPT).<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span lang=\"EN-GB\">International NGOs are central to humanitarian operations in OPT, collectively delivering close to $1 billion dollars in assistance each year.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span lang=\"EN-GB\">In Gaza in particular, as winter compounds to families\u2019 suffering, as high acute food insecurity persists and as the need for life-saving aid is as critical as ever, banning NGOs risks undermining the fragile progress made during the ceasefire. The consequences for vulnerable children, women and men, will be devastating.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span lang=\"EN-GB\">Humanitarian access is not optional, conditional or political. It is a legal obligation under international humanitarian law and fundamental for the protection of human rights.<\/span><\/p>\n<h3><span lang=\"EN-US\"><strong>Signatories:<\/strong><\/span><\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li><span lang=\"EN-US\">Mr. Tom Fletcher, Emergency Relief Coordinator and Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA)<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span lang=\"EN-US\">Dr. Qu Dongyu, Director General, Food and Agriculture Organization\u00a0<strong>(FAO)<\/strong><\/span><\/li>\n<li><span lang=\"EN-US\">Mr. Alistair Dutton, Secretary General of\u00a0<strong>Caritas Internationalis<\/strong><\/span><\/li>\n<li><span lang=\"EN-US\">Ms. Nimo Hassan, MBE, Chair, International Council of Voluntary Agencies (<strong>ICVA<\/strong>)<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span lang=\"EN-US\">Mr. Jamie Munn, Executive Director, International Council of Voluntary Agencies (<strong>ICVA<\/strong>)<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span lang=\"EN-US\">Mr. Tom Hart, President and Chief Executive Officer,\u00a0<strong>InterAction<\/strong><\/span><\/li>\n<li><span lang=\"EN-US\">Ms. Amy E. Pope, Director General, International Organization for Migration (<strong>IOM<\/strong>)<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span lang=\"EN-US\">Ms. Tjada D&#8217;Oyen McKenna, Chief Executive Officer,\u00a0<strong>Mercy Corps<\/strong><\/span><\/li>\n<li><span lang=\"EN-US\">Mr. Volker T\u00fcrk, United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (<strong>OHCHR<\/strong>)<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span lang=\"EN-US\">Ms. Abby Maxman, President and Chief Executive Officer,\u00a0<strong>Oxfam<\/strong><\/span><\/li>\n<li><span lang=\"EN-US\">Ms. Janti Soeripto, President and Chief Executive Officer,\u00a0<strong>Save the Children<\/strong><\/span><\/li>\n<li><span lang=\"EN-US\">Ms. Paula Gaviria Betancur, United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Human Rights of Internally Displaced Persons\u00a0<strong>(SR on HR of IDPs)\u00a0<\/strong><\/span><\/li>\n<li><span lang=\"EN-US\">Mr. Alexander De Croo, Administrator, United Nations Development Programme\u00a0<strong>(UNDP)\u00a0<\/strong><\/span><\/li>\n<li><span lang=\"EN-US\">Ms. Anacl\u00e1udia Rossbach, Executive Director, United Nations Human Settlement Programme\u00a0<strong>(UN-Habitat)<\/strong><\/span><\/li>\n<li><span lang=\"EN-US\">Mr. Filippo Grandi, United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees\u00a0<strong>(UNHCR)<\/strong><\/span><\/li>\n<li><span lang=\"EN-US\">Ms. Diene Keita, Executive Director, United Nations Population Fund\u00a0<strong>(UNFPA)\u00a0<\/strong><\/span><\/li>\n<li><span lang=\"EN-US\">Ms. Catherine Russell, Executive Director, UN Children&#8217;s Fund\u00a0<strong>(UNICEF)<\/strong><\/span><\/li>\n<li><span lang=\"EN-US\">Ms. Sima Bahous, Under-Secretary-General and Executive Director,\u00a0<strong>UN Women\u00a0\u00a0<\/strong><\/span><\/li>\n<li><span lang=\"EN-US\">Ms. Cindy McCain, Executive Director, World Food Programme\u00a0<strong>(WFP)<\/strong><\/span><\/li>\n<li><span lang=\"EN-US\">Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director-General, World Health Organization\u00a0<strong>(WHO)<\/strong><\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><em>Related Content:<\/em><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/document\/secretary-general-2jan26\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Suspension of Non-Governmental Organization Operations in Occupied Palestinian Territory Risks Undermining \u2018Fragile\u2019 Ceasefire Gains, Secretary-General Warns &#8211; Question of Palestine<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/document\/53-international-ngos-warn-israels-recent-registration-measures-will-impede-critical-humanitarian-action-non-un-document\/\">53 International NGOs warn Israel\u2019s recent registration measures will impede critical humanitarian action (Non-UN Document) &#8211; Question of Palestine<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/document\/ohchr-statement-31dec25\/\">UN Human Rights Office: Outrageous suspension of numerous aid agencies from Gaza &#8211; Question of Palestine<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&nbsp; 31 December 2025 We urge the Israeli authorities to reconsider their plan to ban many of the international NGOs operating in the Occupied Palestinian Territory (OPT). International NGOs are central to humanitarian operations in OPT, collectively delivering close to $1 billion dollars in assistance each year. In Gaza in particular, as winter compounds to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/document\/iasc-statement-31dec25\/\"> [&#8230;]<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":299,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"country":[],"document-category":[1338],"document-source":[2761,5865,3653,6783,2169,1825,3385,4678,6726,2649,2105,2325,5878,2753,2337,2109,2529],"committee-meeting":[],"document-subject":[2517,1945,2265,2057,2005,1741,5362],"entity":[1729],"document-language":[6542],"class_list":["post-314461","document","type-document","status-publish","hentry","document-category-statement","document-source-food-and-agriculture-organization-fao","document-source-inter-agency-standing-committee-iasc","document-source-international-organization-for-migration","document-source-mercy-corps","document-source-office-for-the-coordination-of-humanitarian-affairs-ocha","document-source-office-of-the-united-nations-high-commissioner-for-human-rights-ohchr","document-source-oxfam-international","document-source-save-the-children","document-source-special-rapporteur-on-the-human-rights-of-internally-displaced-persons","document-source-united-nations-human-settlements-programme-un-habitat","document-source-united-nations-childrens-fund-unicef","document-source-united-nations-development-programme-undp","document-source-unwomen","document-source-united-nations-high-commissioner-for-refugees-unhcr","document-source-united-nations-population-fund-unfpa","document-source-world-food-programme-wfp","document-source-world-health-organization-who","document-subject-access-and-movement","document-subject-assistance","document-subject-ceasefire","document-subject-food","document-subject-gaza-strip","document-subject-human-rights-and-international-humanitarian-law","document-subject-ngo-civil-society","entity-united-nations-system","document-language-english"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/document\/314461","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/document"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/document"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/299"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/document\/314461\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":314616,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/document\/314461\/revisions\/314616"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=314461"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"country","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/country?post=314461"},{"taxonomy":"document-category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/document-category?post=314461"},{"taxonomy":"document-source","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/document-source?post=314461"},{"taxonomy":"committee-meeting","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/committee-meeting?post=314461"},{"taxonomy":"document-subject","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/document-subject?post=314461"},{"taxonomy":"entity","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/entity?post=314461"},{"taxonomy":"document-language","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/document-language?post=314461"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}