Foreign ministers from ten nations have voiced alarm over the sharp deterioration of humanitarian conditions in Gaza, warning that the situation has reached “catastrophic” levels.

In a joint statement released on Tuesday by the UK Foreign Office, the ministers of Britain, Canada, Denmark, Finland, France, Iceland, Japan, Norway, Sweden and Switzerland said civilians are facing increasingly dire conditions as winter sets in.

“As winter draws in, civilians in Gaza are facing appalling conditions with heavy rainfall and temperatures dropping,” the statement said, according to Middle East Eye.

The ministers highlighted the scale of the crisis, noting that “1.3 million people still require urgent shelter support”, while more than half of Gaza’s health facilities remain only partially operational and lack basic medical equipment and supplies.

They warned that the “total collapse of sanitation infrastructure has left 740,000 people vulnerable to toxic flooding.”

The warning came as Israel said on Tuesday it had suspended more than two dozen humanitarian organizations, including Doctors Without Borders and CARE, from operating in the Gaza Strip, citing alleged failures to comply with new registration rules, the Associated Press reported.

Israel says the rules are aimed at preventing Hamas and other groups from infiltrating the aid organizations. But the organizations say the rules are arbitrary and warned that the new ban would harm the civilians desperately in need of humanitarian aid.

10 chief diplomats say situation in Gaza has reached “catastrophic” levelsIsrael has claimed throughout the war that Hamas was siphoning off aid supplies, a charge the UN and aid groups have denied. The new rules, announced by Israel early this year, require aid organizations to register the names of their workers and provide details about funding and operations in order to continue working in Gaza.

The new regulations included ideological requirements — including disqualifying organizations that have called for boycotts against Israel or expressed support for any of the international court cases against Israeli soldiers or leaders.

“Needs in Gaza are enormous” 

Doctors Without Borders said Israel’s decision would have a catastrophic impact on their work in Gaza, where they support around 20% of the hospital beds and a third of births.

While Israel claimed the decision would have limited impact on the ground. the affected organizations said the timing — less than three months into a fragile ceasefire — was devastating.

“Despite the ceasefire, the needs in Gaza are enormous and yet we and dozens of other organizations are and will continue to be blocked from bringing in essential life-saving assistance,” said Shaina Low, communications adviser for the Norwegian Refugee Council, which has also been suspended.

“Not being able to send staff into Gaza means all of the workload falls on our exhausted local staff,” Low said.

Some aid groups say they didn’t submit the list of Palestinian staff, as Israel demanded, for fear they’d be targeted by Israel, and because of data protection laws in Europe.

“It comes from a legal and safety perspective. In Gaza, we saw hundreds of aid workers get killed,” Low explained.

The decision not to renew aid groups’ licenses means offices in Israel and East Jerusalem will close, and organizations won’t be able to send international staff or aid into Gaza.

Israel failed to confirm that the data collected from the new regulations wouldn’t be used for military or intelligence purposes, raising serious security concerns, said Athena Rayburn, the executive director of AIDA, an umbrella organization representing over 100 organizations that operate in the Palestinian territories. She noted that more than 500 aid workers have been killed in Gaza during the war.

“Agreeing for a party to the conflict to vet our staff, especially under the conditions of occupation, is a violation of humanitarian principles, specifically neutrality and independence,” she said.

Rayburn said organizations expressed their concerns and offered alternatives to submitting staff lists, such as third-party vetting, but that Israel refused to engage in any dialogue.

‘Life-saving aid must reach those in need’

On Wednesday, the European Union warned that Israel’s move to suspend several aid groups in Gaza block “life-saving” assistance from reaching the Palestinian population.

“The EU has been clear: the NGO registration law cannot be implemented in its current form,” EU humanitarian chief Hadja Lahbib posted on X, Al Jazeera reported. 

She added, “IHL [international humanitarian law] leaves no room for doubt: aid must reach those in need.”

‘Israel continues to block us whether we’re registered or not’

Bushra Khalidi, Oxfam’s policy lead in the occupied Palestinian territory, told Al Jazeera: “Israel continues to block us whether we’re registered or not and has continued to deliberately obstruct humanitarian aid regardless of these rules.”

Khalidi added that the latest measures were “part of Israel’s longstanding campaign of marginalizing, isolating and smearing civil society organizations”.