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Humanitarian

Statement by Regional Directors of INGOs in the Middle East Region

We, the Regional Directors of 14 INGOs, express our profound concern at the accelerating military escalation across the Middle East and the wider region. What we are witnessing is a dangerous expansion of violence with devastating consequences for civilians. 

There must be an immediate end to this spiral of military violence, to the use of explosive weapons in populated areas, and a return to the pursuit of diplomatic solutions. The continued exchange of attacks across borders is deepening instability, heightening tensions, and placing entire populations at unacceptable risks. Every new strike increases the broader regional crisis that will be borne primarily by civilians, especially children and women who have already been disproportionately impacted. 

We are gravely concerned by the ongoing and repeated possible violations of international humanitarian law, which demand independent and impartial review. In situations of international armed conflict, the full body of international humanitarian law applies. These rules exist to limit suffering and to protect those who are not, or are no longer, participating in hostilities. 

This violence is the foreseeable consequence of years in which violations of international law have gone insufficiently checked. At a time when international humanitarian law is already undermined, all parties should fully return to and uphold their obligations under it. 

Our humanitarian workers across the region are responding to urgent humanitarian needs wherever access is possible and until funds are available, in close coordination with our partners. However, humanitarian assistance alone cannot keep pace with the scale and speed of suffering generated by ongoing hostilities. Aid cannot substitute for political solutions. 

What is urgently required is decisive political will to de-escalate tensions, uphold international law, protect civilians, and commit to meaningful pathways toward peace. Without immediate action, the human cost will continue to rise, and the consequences of inaction will reverberate across generations. 

We call on all parties to prioritize the protection of civilians, humanitarian workers, and civilian infrastructures, in particular health facilities, schools and water infrastructure, adhere strictly to international humanitarian law, and take immediate steps to end the violence across the Middle East.

Signed: 

1. Caroline Bedos Esteban, MENA Unit Manager, Médecins du Monde / Doctors of the World 

2. Laure Baudin,MENA Regional Director, Terre des hommes Foundation 

3. Myriam Abord-Hugon, Mashreq Regional Director, Humanity&Inclusion-Handicap International 

4. Lilu Thapa, MEAE Executive Director, DRC 

5. Flutra Gorana, Middle East Regional Director, War Child Alliance Foundation 

6. Angelita Caredda, MENA Regional Director NRC 

7. Carlo Gherardi, EurAsia Regional Director NRC 

8. Ahmad Alhendawi, Regional Director for the Middle East, North Africa, and Eastern Europe, Save the Children 

9. Arnaud Quemin, Vice-President for MENA, Europe, and Asia, Mercy Corps 

10. Sally Abi Khalil, Regional Director MENA, Oxfam 

11. Fiona Gannon, Regional Director – Middle East, Concern Worldwide 

12. Stephanie Yousef, Senior Coordinator for the Middle East and North Africa, CIVIC 

13. Benjamin Thiberge, Emergencies and oPt Coordinator, Médicos del Mundo/Doctors of the World 

14. Eleanor Monbiot, Regional Leader at World Vision Middle East and Eastern Europe

/Ends

Contact information:

Rachel Schaevitz | Head of Communication, Media & Advocacy, Oxfam Aotearoa

Email: [email protected], Mobile: +64 (0)27 959 5555

REACTION: Israeli High Court grants urgent request from 19 humanitarian organisations providing aid into Gaza

The Israeli High Court has ruled in favour of an urgent request from 19 humanitarian organisations, including Oxfam, for an interim order which would prevent the cessation of all activities until a final ruling is reached. 

In response, Oxfam’s Policy Lead, Bushra Khalidi, said:  

“We are grateful that our request for an interim order has been agreed. Although this news is positive, the humanitarian situation in Gaza remains critical and we don’t yet know what effect this ruling will have. 

“When the court issues its final decision on the petition submitted by Oxfam and others, we hope it recognizes the very real threat to civilian lives and upholds humanitarian principles and international law.” 

Ends

Contact information:

For more information, contact [email protected]

Humanitarian organisations petition Israeli High Court as closure deadline approaches

The clock is ticking on a large part of the humanitarian response sustaining civilians in the occupied Palestinian territory.

Thirty-seven international aid organisations have been ordered by Israeli authorities to cease operations in the occupied Palestinian territory by the end of February under revised Israeli registration rules. With efforts to force closures imminent, a group of leading humanitarian organisations have taken the unprecedented step of jointly petitioning the Israeli High Court to suspend the measures before irreparable harm is done to civilians who rely on their assistance.

On 30 December 2025, the affected organisations were formally notified that their Israeli registrations would expire the following day and that they would have 60 days to wind down activities in Gaza and the West Bank, including East Jerusalem. The notification letter stated that the decision could only be overturned if organisations completed the full registration process, with which they cannot legally or ethically comply.

Efforts to force closures could begin as early as 28 February 2026. The effect would be immediate, extending well beyond individual organisations to the wider humanitarian system. In Gaza, families remain dependent on external assistance amid continuing restrictions on aid entry and renewed strikes in densely populated areas. In the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, military incursions, demolitions, displacement, settlement expansion and settler violence are driving rising humanitarian needs.

Palestinian Authority registration provides the lawful basis for international NGOs to operate in Palestinian territory. Under the Fourth Geneva Convention, an occupying power must facilitate relief for civilians under its control. Conditioning humanitarian presence on sweeping administrative demands, including the transfer of comprehensive national staff lists, alongside vague and politicised grounds for denial, risks disrupting life-saving services and eroding the obligation to ensure civilian welfare under occupation.

The demand to transfer personal data raises acute security and legal risks. It exposes national staff to potential retaliation and undermines established data protection and confidentiality safeguards. For European organisations in particular, compliance would create serious legal and contractual liabilities. More broadly, such requirements set a precedent that could chill principled humanitarian engagement in highly politicised contexts.

International NGOs have proposed practical alternatives, including independent sanctions screening and donor-audited vetting systems, that preserve both compliance and staff protection without disclosing personal data. No substantive response has been provided. Enforcement has meanwhile begun in practice, including blocked supplies and denial of visas and access for foreign staff.

Alongside UN agencies and Palestinian partners, international NGOs support or implement the delivery of more than half of all food assistance in Gaza, 60 per cent of field hospitals’ operations, nearly three quarters of shelter and non-food item activities, all inpatient treatment for children suffering severe acute malnutrition and 30 per cent of emergency education services, in addition to funding over half of explosive hazard clearance.

The petition seeks an urgent Interim Injunction to suspend expiry of registrations and prevent further enforcement pending judicial review. The petitioning organisations contend that these administrative measures constitute an effort to curtail established humanitarian operations in a manner incompatible with the obligations of an occupying power under international humanitarian law.

Governments must act urgently to prevent implementation of these measures and to ensure that humanitarian relief remains principled, independent, and unhindered. If these measures take effect, aid will be impeded not because needs have eased, but because it has been rendered optional, conditional, or politicised. At a moment when civilians depend on assistance to survive, that outcome would carry immediate and irreversible human consequences.

Petitioners and supporting organizations

1. All We Can
2. ActionAid Australia
3. Alianza Por La Solidaridad
4. Association of International Development Agencies (AIDA)
5. Bystanders No More
6. CADUS e.V.
7. Choose Love
8. Christian Aid
9. Churches for Middle East Peace
10. DanChurchAid
11. Danish Refugee Council
12. Diakonia, Sweden
13. Humanity & Inclusion – Handicap International
14. medico international
15. Middle East Children’s Alliance
16. Movimiento por la Paz, Desarme y Libertad – MPDL
17. Muslim Aid
18. Nonviolent Peaceforce
19. Norwegian Church Aid
20. Norwegian Refugee Council
21. Oxfam
22. Pax Christi International
23. Première Urgence Internationale (PUI)
24. Pro Peace
25. Refugees International
26. Start Network
27. Tearfund
28. Terre des hommes Italy
29. Terre des hommes Lausanne (Tdh)
30. United Against Inhumanity
31. Weltfriedensdienst e.V. (WFD; World Peace Service)

Notes to Editor:

Executive Summary – Joint Petition against the Inter-Ministerial Team:

1. Introduction

This Petition is filed by 17 leading international humanitarian aid organizations (INGOs) and the Association of International Development Agencies (AIDA) which form the critical infrastructure for providing medical services, food, and water to the civilian population in the West Bank and Gaza. The Petitioners challenge the Respondents’ December 2025 decision, which orders the “termination of their activities” due to their refusal to provide personal contact details (Nominal Lists) of thousands of local employees. The Petition presents an unprecedented “legal deadlock” in which the demands of the Israeli administration directly contradict international privacy laws and the fundamental principles of humanitarian neutrality.

2. Urgent Request for an Interim Injunction

The Petitioners seek an interim Injunction to preserve the status quo and prevent the expiration of their registration, the deportation of foreign staff and cessation of all activities until a final ruling is reached. It is argued that the “Balance of Convenience” clearly favors the Petitioners: while the Respondents will suffer no harm by maintaining the current situation, the cessation of the organizations’ activities will lead to a humanitarian collapse and irreparable harm to the right to life and health of hundreds of thousands of individuals in need.

3. Legal Arguments

A. Breach of the Inter-Ministerial Team’s Basic Obligations as an Administrative Authority

The Respondents’ conduct is tainted by administrative laches (undue delay) and a lack of good faith. The Respondents delayed their response to registration requests for many months while creating a false representation that the applications were under review. These draconian requirements were imposed without granting a Right to be Heard and without meaningful dialogue, violating the heightened duty of fairness applicable to the authority.

B. The Requirement for Employees’ Personal Details (Nominal Lists)

· B.1 GDPR Regulation and the “Adequacy” Issue: The Petitioners, who are bound by European law, demonstrate that transferring employee data from the Occupied Palestinian Territory (oPt) to Israeli security authorities constitutes a criminal and administrative offense. Since the European Union’s “Adequacy” decision regarding Israel does not apply to the territories, the organizations are exposed to heavy fines and tort claims. The Petition relies on the Schrems II precedent of the Court of Justice of the European Union, which prohibits data transfer to jurisdictions lacking independent judicial oversight over security agencies.

· B.2 The Demand for Employee Details and Violation of International Law: The requirement to provide personal phone numbers and contact details of the entire staff violates the principle of “Data Minimization” and endangers the personal safety of the employees. Turning humanitarian organizations into an information-gathering arm for a party to the conflict stands in total contradiction to the principle of neutrality.

C. The Decision for a Sweeping Cessation of Activity is Void Due to Illegality

· C.1 Decision Lacking Authority (Ultra Vires): The Team’s government mandate is limited to technical registration and visas. Assuming the authority to order the termination of an international organization’s activities is an extreme deviation from authority without an explicit legal source.

· C.2 Deviation from Israel’s Sovereignty (Oslo Accords): Pursuant to the Civil Annex of the Oslo Accords, the authority to register and manage NGOs operating in Palestinian Authority territories was transferred to the Palestinians. Israel lacks the authority to order the closure of these entities.

D. Regulation Article 8.4 – Voidness due to Lack of Authority and Breach of International Law
The Petitioners challenge the article in the regulation that allows for the suspension of registration based on vague “security considerations” without a duty of specification or reasoning.

· D.1 Applicability of Article 63 of the Fourth Geneva Convention: This article imposes an obligation on the Occupying Power to allow relief societies to continue their work. The Petition relies on expert legal opinions establishing that this provision fully applies to International NGOs (INGOs) performing essential humanitarian functions.

E. Extreme Unreasonableness and Lack of Proportionality

The decision fails the “Proportionality Stricto Sensu” test: the limited administrative-security benefit of collecting phone numbers is dwarfed by the catastrophic human damage caused by withholding aid from the population. The Respondents refused to consider “less restrictive means,” such as cross-referencing names against public global terror lists.

F. Violation of Israel’s Obligations to Facilitate Humanitarian Aid

As an Occupying Power, Israel bears positive obligations (Articles 55, 56, and 59 of the Convention) to ensure the supply of food and medical services. Arbitrary and bureaucratic interference with organizations fulfilling these duties constitutes a blatant violation of international law and the directives of the International Court of Justice (ICJ).

Contact information:

Rachel Schaevitz | Head of Communication, Media & Advocacy, Oxfam Aotearoa

Email: [email protected], Mobile: +64 (0)27 959 5555

Africa subject of 80 per cent of UN Security Council resolutions over last decade, despite exclusion from permanent seat – Oxfam

Since 2016, conflicts in Africa have claimed millions of lives, forced nearly 46 million people from their homes – more than four times a decade ago – and pushed 120 million people across 26 African countries into hunger. Yet African representation in critical decisions concerning its security and future is minimal. Oxfam urges African leaders convening for the 39th African Union summit in Addis Ababa to demand for a meaningful reform within the UN Security Council.

Oxfam found that conflicts across Africa have dominated UN Security Council (UNSC) resolutions over the last decade, totalling a staggering 80 per cent, despite no African country having a permanent seat on the Council.

Last year alone, nearly 45% of the resolutions adopted by the UNSC -20 out of 44 resolutions- explicitly focused on an African country or situations in Africa. Of these 20 resolutions, 18 authorised sanctions, peacekeeping or military action.

Oxfam’s briefing note “Africa’s rightful seat: from vetoing humanity to a just multilateral order”, highlights Africa’s exclusion from permanent representation at the UN Security Council and calls for urgent multilateral reform.

Fati N’zi-Hassane, Oxfam in Africa Director, said: “Many of the world’s most deadly and protracted conflicts are taking place in Africa, yet the continent continues to be denied a permanent seat at the table, underscoring a long-standing imbalance in global decision-making on peace and security.

“Without the right voices being heard, resolutions are being passed that are not implementable and are out of touch with what people need or want.”

Five countries at the epicentre of prolonged conflict – Democratic Republic of Congo, Ethiopia, Nigeria, Sudan and South Sudan – account for nearly two-thirds of the continent’s acute food insecurity. In Sudan alone, the ongoing conflict that erupted in April 2023 has claimed more than 150,000 lives, while millions more struggle to survive.

The economic costs are equally stark with the conflict estimated to cost the continent around $18 billion each year, seriously derailing development, disrupting trade and diverting resources away from crucial development priorities across large part of Africa.

Oxfam’s Vetoing Humanity report in 2024 showed that resolutions too often fail to deliver peace or address root causes, leaving ordinary people to shoulder the human and economic toll of crises they had no hand in shaping.

“While conflicts across the continent continue to intensify, decisions driven largely by UNSC members are failing to ease the human cost for millions of people. For far too long, Africa has faced unjust, disproportionate challenges stemming from the current geopolitical landscape and key decisions affecting peace and security must be made with proper African representation. The UN Security Council must evolve to have the right people at the table.” Fati N’zi-Hassane concluded.

As African leaders gather for the 39th AU Summit, Oxfam calls on them to strongly reaffirm the common African position held since the Ezulwini Consensus with Africa remaining at the center of Security Council decisions without being represented, strengthening this political unity is essential to advancing fair multilateral reform.

Ends

Note to editor:

See report: No Representation, No Peace: The African demand for a reformed Security Council

The Ezulwini Consensus is the African Union’s common position on the reform of the United Nations, particularly the Security Council. Adopted in 2005 in Ezulwini, Swaziland (Eswatini), it calls for at least two permanent seats with veto power and five non-permanent seats for Africa in order to correct its under-representation.

 

Contact information:

For more details, please contact: [email protected]

Escalation of conflict in South Sudan threatens to push a million into extreme food crisis

Families in South Sudan are once again having to flee for their lives due to escalating conflict at a time when hunger is already at catastrophic levels, Oxfam warned.

Renewed fighting, which has spread across Jonglei and into the neighbouring area of Walgak, 100 kilometres from the capital Juba, is deepening an already dire situation, cutting families off from food, clean water and urgent humanitarian support.

Multiple health facilities and aid agencies including Oxfam were looted and staff beaten and forced to flee leading to service suspension and humanitarian staff displacement. Prior to the suspension of life-saving assistance, Oxfam was supporting more than 400,000 people in Jonglei through food security and resilience programmes.

Since December, more than 280,000 people have been forced to flee their homes and are now sheltering in bushes, overcrowded schools and churches where services are minimal to nothing. 75% of those displaced are women and children.

Families who were already severely food insecure, malnourished and dependent upon aid are now reducing their meals even further in order to feed their displaced relatives. Many have had to leave all of their belongings, food and livestock behind.

Even before the latest fighting, more than 700,000 people in Jonglei counties were facing crisis or emergency hunger, including over 11,000 living in catastrophic conditions.

“Families are being forcibly displaced into areas where conditions are already dire,” said Shabnam Baloch, Oxfam’s South Sudan Country Director.

“Some are injured and barely able to move. Many are at risk of starvation and having to drink water from contaminated rivers and swamps. The situation is beyond desperate.”

Population displacement and contaminated water coupled with lack of hygiene supplies is adding another deadly layer to the crisis. Oxfam assessments found that, in some areas, 100% of the population are having to rely on unsafe water, with many forced into open defecation, creating a breeding ground for diseases. In January alone there were more than 400 cases of cholera and the situation is only set to get worse as more people are forced to move.

With the rainy approaching in March, humanitarian access would shrink even further as road access become impassable pushing an already affected communities to the edge.

Shabnam Baloch said: “A frightening number of people in South Sudan are already severely hungry as conflict intensifies; families have abandoned farms at harvest and their cattle are either looted or lost while the fishing grounds remain inaccessible preventing them from planting food crops and feeding their families.

“The people of South Sudan desperately need an immediate end to this conflict so that they can get food. We strongly appeal to all parties to the conflict to allow people to safely reach humanitarian assistance.”

In the 2026 humanitarian response plan for South Sudan, over 10 million people – two-thirds of the population – are projected to require some humanitarian assistance including 7.5 million people who are at risk of starvation. Oxfam is also warning that worsening insecurity is exposing women and girls to violence and driving some families to resort to early and forced marriage as an economic survival strategy.

Women escaping conflict are disproportionately vulnerable to profound traumas, many of which remain hidden beneath the surface of their survival. One group of women, who had to walk for 3 days with their children to Akobo, told Oxfam: “There is a silence that walks beside us on these long roads – a heavy, wordless grief for the things we saw, the things we endured, and the parts of ourselves we had to leave behind just to keep our children moving.

“We live in a state of constant fear, not for our own lives, but for the small ones who look to us for a safety we are still trying to find for ourselves.”

Ends

Notes to editor

Before the suspension of its operations, Oxfam was responding in the worst-affected areas of Jonglei and Lakes states, where nearly 80% of displacement is concentrated, with Rapid Response Teams ready to scale up. The response focused on cholera prevention through clean water and sanitation, emergency cash assistance for food and essentials, safe learning spaces for children, and protection services addressing gender-based violence.

According to UNOCHA, more than 280,000 people have been displaced since 29 December 2025. Among the overall displaced individuals, it was estimated that 75% are women and children.

Contact information:

For more details, please contact: [email protected]

IPC Alert: Famine Spreads in Sudan

Responding to today’s Integrated Food Security Classification (IPC) alert Oxfam’s Fati N’Zi-Hassane, Oxfam in Africa Director, said:   

“It is deeply alarming that famine-level malnutrition has been confirmed in two additional areas of North Darfur that were previously not at risk. This is in addition to the extreme hunger levels already being experienced by communities who have suffered nearly three years of brutal war. 

“We express solidarity with the people of Sudan and remain committed to supporting those seeking refuge in neighbouring countries. The consequences of the conflict are now being felt heavily in South Sudan, where renewed violence and deepening hunger are colliding, stretching an already fragile country to breaking point – a direct result of global failure to act.  

 “Oxfam is supporting refugees and returnees in Chad and South Sudan providing life-saving assistance such as water, food, cash and hygiene support but deep funding cuts to humanitarian action are stripping away lifelines, leaving families with nothing and driving millions closer to the edge.” 

Notes to editors

IPC alert available here.

Contact information:

Rachel Schaevitz | Head of Communication, Media & Advocacy, Oxfam Aotearoa

Email: [email protected], Mobile: +64 (0)27 959 5555