Activities

• As a member of the Association of International Development Agencies (AIDA), CARE has been a signatory on numerous statements demonizing Israel.
  • In June 2025, AIDA was part of a delegation that met with the Ramallah Ministry of Social Development (MoSD) to “discuss ways to enhance coordination.” The meeting “concluded with a mutual agreement to maintain ongoing coordination and expand areas of cooperation in the upcoming phase to improve the effectiveness of humanitarian interventions in Gaza.”
    • The MoSD in Gaza, operating under the effective control of Hamas, coordinates a variety of aid programs, including cash assistance schemes. In these roles, MoSD identifies beneficiaries for aid projects, enabling Hamas to direct cash and other materials. Hamas has exercised effective control over the MoSD for several years, making it a critical institution through which humanitarian aid risks being politicized or diverted.
    • According to a 2022 Oxfam International analysis of cash-assistance programs in Gaza, identify the “no-contact policy” with Hamas as a challenge to aid efforts:  “a key strategic priority in Gaza is the interface between humanitarian agencies and the MoSD in Ramallah [,] and the local authorities in Gaza [Hamas], with workarounds needed for the no-contact policy” (emphasis added). Oxfam explains that “there was a recent positive agreement to have the MoSD in Ramallah represented in Gaza by official personnel to improve the coordination and collaboration between the de-facto government in Gaza and the official Ramallah government,” admitting that “even though there are PA personnel in the MoSD in Gaza, most of the staff are from the de-facto government” (i.e. Hamas). In other words, there are representatives at the MoSD-Gaza who are portrayed as being from the MoSD-Ramallah, while Hamas retains overall control of the Gaza branch and its activities.
  • In July 2023, AIDA published a statement claiming that 12 people were killed during an IDF operation in Jenin. AIDA neglected to mention that 10 of those were members of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad, Hamas, Fatah, and al-Aqsa Martyrs’ Brigades. During the funeral procession, the bodies were wrapped in Palestinian Islamic Jihad and Hamas flags. Following the withdrawal of Israeli troops, Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh published a statement that “Palestinian resistance had taught a hard lesson to the enemy, and had made him suffer heavy losses.”
  • In November 2022, AIDA published a brief that called on the international community to “end[] the no-contact policy with Hamas.”
  • In November 2021, AIDA published a press release condemning the decision by the Israeli Ministry to designate six Palestinian NGOs as terrorist organizations. According to AIDA, “The decision is a further erosion of civic and humanitarian space and stands to significantly constrain the work of the six organisations which have worked with the international community, including the UN, for decades, providing essential services to countless Palestinians.”
  • In May 2020, AIDA called for “third states, the EU, and its member states, to devise and publish an exhaustive list of countermeasures to adopt in order to disincentivise Israel’s annexation policies in the occupied Palestinian territory.”
• In September 2025, CARE alleged, “The UK Government has the tools at its disposal to help end this horror, and time and again, it has chosen not to use them….The Prime Minister must immediately halt all arms sales to Israel and use every diplomatic lever open to him to bring about a lasting peace…States must use every available political, economic, and legal tool at their disposal to intervene.” 
• In December 2024, CARE International sent a submission to the UK Foreign Affairs Committee Inquiry on the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict urging the UK to “Expand[] the suspension of arms export licences to the Government of Israel for use in military operations in Gaza, following a review of Israel’s compliance with international humanitarian law; this should include parts for fighter jets including the F-16.”
• In September 2024, following the UK government’s decision to suspend some arms licenses to Israel, CARE International was a signatory on a statement claiming, “Given that recognition, and the clear and compelling evidence that the Israeli military is violating IHL, it is insufficient that the Government has failed to end ALL arms transfers to Israel.”
• In March 2024, 29 NGOs including Care International UK, took out a full page ad in The Times stating, “If we want to ensure that the body of law established after the Second World War to protect us all is respected, MPs should support the suspension of arms sales to those suspected of breaking it, including the Government of Israel.”
• In January 2024, CARE International was a signatory on an open call to all UN Member States to “immediately halt the transfer of weapons, parts, and ammunition to Israel and Palestinian armed groups while there is risk they are used to commit or facilitate serious violations of international humanitarian or human rights law.” 
• In July 2016, CARE was a signatory on a petition to “stop this injustice” and “Lift the Gaza Blockade,” as “this blockade is a violation of international law.”
• Signatory to the 2015 Association of International Development Agencies (AIDA) “joint agency briefing paper titled, “Charting a New Course: Overcoming the Stalemate in Gaza,” misrepresenting international law and distorting legal terminology to place primary blame for the 2014 Gaza war on Israel. The paper omits Hamas rocket attacks against Israeli civilians, as well as terror tunnels running beneath the border into Israel. The paper further encourages contact with Hamas, stating: “Restricted contact can undermine humanitarian access and implementation of humanitarian programmes…”
• In December 2013, CARE was a signatory on a statement denouncing Israeli home demolitions as they “facilitate the expansion of illegal Israeli settlements and the destruction of civilian property is a violation of International Human Rights Law and International Humanitarian Law.”
• Issued a joint statement on November 19, 2012, with 44 other highly politicized organizations, calling on the international community to “apply immediate pressure on the government of Israel” and warning of a “widespread humanitarian disaster in Gaza brought on by a prolonged [Israeli] military occupation.”
• In June 2012, following demolitions of illegally built structures in the Palestinian village of Susiya, which included a CARE WBG health clinic, CARE issued a press release condemning “the demolition orders that will destroy most of the Palestinian community of Susiya, including an ECHO-funded health clinic run by CARE International in partnership with the Palestinian Medical Relief Society. CARE calls on Israel’s Civil Administration to immediately halt the demolition orders in Susiya and on all humanitarian aid projects in the occupied Palestinian territory,” and called on individuals to sign a petition to “stop the forced evictions and occupation.”
• In 2008, released a report, alongside Christian Aid, Amnesty International, Oxfam, Trocaire, Save the Children UK, and Catholic Agency for Overseas Development (CAFOD), titled, “The Gaza Strip: Humanitarian Implosion,” stating, “Israel’s policy affects the civilian population of Gaza indiscriminately and constitutes a collective punishment against ordinary men, women and children. The measures taken are illegal under international humanitarian law.”