Israel has said 37 aid organisations will be banned from operating in Gaza from Thursday unless they comply with guidelines requiring detailed information on Palestinian staff, drawing criticism from the United Nations and the European Union.

Several NGOs have said the new rules will have a major impact on food and medical shipments to Gaza, at a time when humanitarian organisations say the amount of aid getting in is inadequate to the devastated territory's needs.

Israel's deadline for NGOs to provide the details expires at midnight on Wednesday.

"They refuse to provide lists of their Palestinian employees because they know, just as we know, that some of them are involved in terrorism or linked to Hamas," a spokesman for the Ministry of Diaspora Affairs and Combating Anti-semitism, Gilad Zwick said, naming 37 NGOs that had so far failed to meet the new requirements.

"I highly doubt that what they haven't done for 10 months, they will suddenly do in less than 12 hours," Zwick said. "We certainly won't accept any cooperation that is just for show, simply to get an extension."

The ministry had said in a statement on Wednesday that the move was part of Israel's decision to "strengthen and update" regulations governing the activities of international NGOs in the Palestinian territory.

A fragile ceasefire has been in place in Gaza since October, following a deadly war waged by Israel in response to Hamas's unprecedented attack on Israeli territory on October 7, 2023.

For Israel, it says the new regulation aims to prevent bodies it accuses of supporting terrorism from operating in the Palestinian territories.

On Tuesday, Israel specified that "acts of de-legitimising Israel" or denial of events surrounding Hamas's October 7 attack would be "grounds for license withdrawal."

Israel has singled out international medical charity Doctors Without Borders (MSF), alleging that it had two employees who were members of Palestinian militant groups Islamic Jihad and Hamas.

Apart from MSF, some of the 37 NGOs to be hit with the ban are the Norwegian Refugee Council, World Vision International, Care and Oxfam, according to the list given by Zwick. (AFP)