Mennonite Central Committee continues to provide humanitarian aid in the Gaza Strip through a local partner after Israel banned 37 groups from operating there. But Israeli restrictions still severely limit the size and speed of aid efforts, despite a ceasefire.

On Dec. 31, Israel’s Ministry of Diaspora Affairs revoked the permits of both secular and faith-based humanitarian groups — including the American Friends Service Committee and the Near East Council of Churches — after they declined to comply with new rules requiring lists of Palestinian employees, including telephone numbers, emails, marital status and children’s names.

MCC operates in Gaza via a partnership with Al-Najd Developmental Forum. MCC disaster response director Bruce Guenther said Al-Najd does not have to register with Israel because it is a Palestinian organization.

MCC is one of 53 humanitarian aid organizations that issued a joint letter Jan. 2 accusing Israel of severely threatening the delivery of food, shelter and health care in Gaza. MCC has partnered previously with the Near East Council of Churches.

“The status of MCC’s registration is not known at this time,” Guenther told AW on Jan. 15. “. . . What I want to emphasize is the Israeli government has really restricted aid since October 2023, and this deregistration process is another tool they are using to block humanitarian assistance for Palestinians in Gaza. We have faced restrictions at every point.”

MCC distributed 2,000 food baskets through Al-Najd in December, and school kits have also been distributed. The two groups worked on distributing winter clothing in January.

“We continue to provide humanitarian assistance but not at the scale required,” Guenther said. “People have given generously to this response, and we’re very grateful for that. . . .

“Part of the ceasefire conditions is that humanitarian aid would flow in the scale required. Now the majority of the nongovernmental organizations are not able to get things in. What we are able to do is smaller local purchases that can be available on the market that come through commercial and other means.”

MCC representatives Seth Malone and Sarah Funkhouser reported in a Jan. 13 MCC release that MCC and Al-Najd have been able to do about one distribution a month to 500-1,000 families since the ceasefire began Oct. 10. But it’s not enough for the nearly 2 million people living in famine conditions created by Israeli restrictions.

“Al-Najd’s ability to work is dependent on what is available on the local market. None of what MCC has done in Gaza would have been possible without Al-Najd,” Malone said. “They have been such a great partner in responding quickly to the needs in their communities.”

Funkhouser added: “Everyone should be aware of the constraints that MCC and our peer organizations are experiencing. Like all the other international organizations that are working in Gaza, we could respond so much more, much faster and at scale, but we just cannot.”

Israel says the new provisions for organizations to register are intended to prevent militant groups from infiltrating aid delivery. American Friends Service Committee general secretary Joyce Ajlouny told Religion News Service that AFSC declined to register because it feared submitting information on Palestinian staff would endanger their lives.

“The deregistration is another tool Israel is using to withhold humanitarian assistance in Gaza, and there have been other logistical, political and military tools used,” Guenther said. “That restriction on the flow of humanitarian aid is why famine was declared in Gaza in July. . . . That’s how genocide is occurring in Gaza.”