Israel Orders Dutch Officials Out of Gaza Aid Coordination Center, Citing Netherlands' Settlement Import Ban

Israel has ordered Dutch representatives out of the International Support Center for Gaza in Kiryat Gat, an internationally staffed hub set up to coordinate aid and reconstruction efforts in the Strip.

Foreign Minister Gideon Saar announced the expulsion in a post on X, saying the Dutch delegation would be removed "immediately" and that its members had been given one week to leave Israel entirely. Saar said the decision was approved by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Saar tied the move to what he called a "series of anti-Israel moves" by the Dutch government. The Netherlands recently announced it would ban imports of goods produced in Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank, which are considered illegal under international law.

"Whoever acts against Israel will have no foothold in the region. Israel will not allow steps against it without a response," Saar wrote.

Saar also accused the Dutch government of pursuing an "anti-Israel policy" that he said was "accompanied by an unprecedented wave of antisemitism and boycotts" inside the Netherlands. That characterization is Saar's own and is not independently verified in the record.

The direct causal link between the settlement import ban and the expulsion order comes from Middle East Eye's framing of events. Saar's own statement refers only to a broader "series of anti-Israel moves" without naming the settlement policy specifically, though the timing follows the Dutch announcement closely.

The International Support Center for Gaza in Kiryat Gat has functioned as a coordination point for international partners working on aid delivery and reconstruction planning inside Gaza. Removing a national delegation from that body strips the Netherlands of a direct channel into that process, at a moment when humanitarian coordination for the territory remains contested and politically fraught.

The expulsion is the latest instance of Israel using diplomatic retaliation against governments that adopt measures targeting settlement-linked commerce, a tool that has drawn scrutiny from human rights monitors who track state responses to accountability efforts over settlements built on occupied Palestinian land.