Israel bars aid groups

ISRAEL said it had suspended more than two dozen humanitarian organisations, including Doctors Without Borders and Care, from operating in the Gaza Strip for failing to comply with new registration rules.

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Israel said the rules were aimed at preventing Hamas and other militant groups from infiltrating the aid organisations. But the organisations said the rules were arbitrary and warned that the new ban would harm a civilian population desperately in need of humanitarian aid.

Israel has claimed throughout the war that Hamas was siphoning off aid supplies - a charge the UN and aid groups have denied.