OFAC: Compliant Provision of Humanitarian Assistance to Palestinian People

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The U.S. Department of the Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) is issuing an OFAC Compliance Communiqué: Guidance for the Provision of Humanitarian Assistance to the Palestinian People in response to questions from the NGO community and the general public on how to provide humanitarian assistance while complying with OFAC sanctions.

Neither Gaza nor the West Bank are subject to jurisdiction-based sanctions or an embargo by OFAC.  Further, OFAC authorizes limited transactions with blocked persons to the extent such dealings are ordinarily incident and necessary to certain humanitarian activity,

Sections 594.520 and 597.516 (“the NGO general licenses”) authorize all transactions that may otherwise be prohibited in support of certain NGO non-commercial, humanitarian-related activities, subject to certain conditions. For example, an NGO may provide life-saving medical assistance to civilians in Gaza at a hospital staffed or occupied by Hamas

The United States does not maintain jurisdiction-based sanctions or an embargo on Gaza or the West Bank. As such, the provision of food, other agricultural commodities, medicine, and medical devices to Gaza or the West Bank is generally not prohibited under U.S. sanctions.

U.S. Government and International Organizations are approved under the "USG General Licenses" and "IO General Licenses." The NGO general licenses authorize transactions involving blocked persons that are ordinarily incident and necessary to certain categories of non-commercial activities by NGOs designed to directly benefit a civilian population.

For more information on this specific action, please visit this page.

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