NGOs fear new rules will make helping Palestinians 'almost impossible'

Aid workers in the Palestinian territories told AFP they are concerned that rules recently floated by Israel could make already difficult humanitarian work "almost impossible".

Since the start of Israel's war on Gaza, aid organisations have been contending with a "slippery slope" when it comes to Israeli authorities' tolerance for their work, said one senior NGO staffer.

But after COGAT, the Israeli body responsible for overseeing Palestinian affairs, presented a plan last month for reorganising aid distribution, that slope has gotten "much steeper", with some NGOs deeming the proposed changes unacceptable, she added.

The staffer and others interviewed requested anonymity for fear of repercussions for their operations in the occupied West Bank and the besieged Gaza Strip.

"The ability to deliver aid and adhere to humanitarian principles in Gaza, the access restrictions we're facing in the West Bank... All of these things, when you put them together, you just feel like you're watching the apocalypse," she said.

"We basically have a fire extinguisher trying to put out a nuclear bomb."