EU objects to Gaza NGO ban
Newshour
BBC
4.2 • 1.1K Ratings
🗓️ 31 December 2025
⏱️ 49 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
The EU says a new Israeli ban on nearly 40 aid groups working in Gaza and the West Bank would prevent lifesaving assistance from reaching Palestinians.
Also in the programme: How did thieves use a drill to steal €30m in a German bank heist? And the best moments from Newshour in 2025.
(Photo: MSF treat displaced Palestinians in Rafah. Credit: Haitham Imad/EPA-EFE/REX/Shutterstock)
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | BBC Sounds, Music, Radio, podcasts. |
| 0:09.2 | Hello and welcome to NewsAff, the BBC World Service. |
| 0:12.6 | We're coming to you live from London. |
| 0:14.4 | I'm James Menendez. |
| 0:15.8 | And coming up later in the programme, |
| 0:17.2 | how thieves managed to get away with valuables worth millions of dollars from a German |
| 0:21.9 | bank vault. And we'll be touching on some of News' hours highlights of the year. |
| 0:27.4 | You know, sometimes you can get a song stuck in your head and you can't get it out. And I kept |
| 0:32.7 | hearing that song, a spinning wheel. I said the day, but I'm going to sing it. And he would, don't do it next door, |
| 0:39.5 | buddy, don't do it. That was Nicholas Cage on the late filmmaker David Lynch. More of our |
| 0:44.9 | highlights of 2025 coming up in the second half of the program. But we are going to begin in Gaza, |
| 0:50.3 | because from tomorrow, Thursday, Israel is set to ban 37 international aid organisations |
| 0:56.1 | working there and also the occupied West Bank. The list includes some of the biggest names |
| 1:01.9 | in humanitarian aid, including ActionAid, the International Rescue Committee, Med Sans |
| 1:06.9 | Frontier and the Norwegian Refugee Council. Israel says they fail to comply with |
| 1:12.1 | new registration requirements, including providing full details of their local Palestinian staff. |
| 1:19.0 | Their licenses will be revoked from January 1st and they'll have 60 days to wind up their |
| 1:24.3 | operations. Well, several countries, including the UK, France and Canada have condemned the move, |
| 1:30.0 | saying it'll have a severe impact on the delivery of essential services. |
| 1:34.9 | We'll hear more about that in a moment. |
| 1:36.6 | But first to why this is happening, Alex Gander is spokesperson at the Israeli embassy in London. |
| 1:42.9 | Why is Israel imposing these restrictions? |
... |
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