31 December 2025
Medical Aid for Palestinians (MAP) is resolutely determined to continue our lifesaving humanitarian and medical assistance across the occupied Palestinian territory (oPt), despite Israel’s decision to deregister humanitarian organisations. Our Palestinian-led teams and local partners remain, and our work has not stopped – and will not stop.
MAP is one of more than 35 international NGOs that has been informed by Israeli authorities that our registration to operate in the oPt will expire on 31 December 2025. This decision has nothing whatsoever to do with MAP’s conduct or standards. It is a deliberate political attack designed to silence, control and censor humanitarian organisations working in the oPt.
Israel’s deregistration of humanitarian agencies constitutes a clear and grave violation of its obligations as an occupying power under international humanitarian law. Under international law, Israel is required to facilitate rapid and unimpeded humanitarian assistance – not obstruct, politicise or criminalise it.
MAP did not seek re-registration under Israel’s new rules because they fundamentally undermine our political independence and humanitarian principles, and would expose our staff and partners to unacceptable legal, operational and personal risks. In August 2025, we joined more than 100 organisations warning that this framework “weaponises” aid.
Restricting humanitarian organisations will further damage the recovery of Gaza’s health system, remove independent medical witnesses to mass civilian harm and risk collapsing any meaningful humanitarian response in Gaza.
Amid more than two years of Israel’s genocide in Gaza, mass forced displacement and the destruction of health services, Palestinians continue to face acute shortages of medical care, clean water, shelter and essential supplies. Our work is more vital now than ever.
We are exploring all available legal avenues to challenge these unlawful restrictions. We will keep our supporters and partners informed of further developments as they unfold, and we are deeply grateful for the solidarity and support that enables our work to continue under increasingly hostile conditions.
For months, Israeli authorities have systematically and severely obstructed humanitarian access, even after the ceasefire was announced. They have blocked our Emergency Medical Teams from entering Gaza and imposed arbitrary restrictions on essential medical supplies, directly endangering lives.
Now, we have been given 60 days to remove all international staff and cease operations. But despite these barriers, our work has not stopped and we are determined that it will not stop.
We remain legally registered with the Palestinian Authority and act in full accordance with international humanitarian law and UK charity law. We have been preparing for this moment since the new registration regime was announced almost a year ago.
Our Palestinian-led teams and trusted local partners continue to deliver lifesaving work across Gaza and the West Bank. We have no international staff in the oPt, which means our teams can and will continue their operations.
In 2025, we supported more than one million Palestinians across the oPt and Lebanon. In Gaza, our teams continue to:
We will never abandon Palestinian communities who need us.
The UK and its allies must work together to oppose these measures and ensure they are immediately rescinded, and restrictions on aid permanently ended. Palestinian communities cannot wait. Lives depend on the immediate reversal of all measures that seek to restrict the delivery of vitally needed aid.
