More than a dozen international humanitarian organisations have petitioned Israel's Supreme Court to block an imminent order that would force 37 NGOs to cease operations in Gaza, the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem, warning of catastrophic consequences for Palestinians.
Organisations including Doctors Without Borders (MSF), Oxfam, the Norwegian Refugee Council and CARE were notified on December 30, 2025, that their Israeli registrations had expired and that they had 60 days to renew them by providing lists of their Palestinian staff.
If they fail to do so, they will have to cease operations in Gaza and the occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem, from March 1.
The petition, described as unprecedented in its scale and joint nature, seeks an urgent interim injunction from Israel's top court to suspend the closures pending full judicial review.
The 17 petitioners, which include some of the NGOs hit by the ban, argue that the Israeli measures are incompatible with an occupying power's obligations under international humanitarian law.
The NGOs say compliance would expose local employees to potential retaliation, undermine the principle of humanitarian neutrality and violate European data protection law.
"Turning humanitarian organisations into an information-gathering arm for a party to the conflict stands in total contradiction to the principle of neutrality," the petition states.
Ban on aid organisations
According to the United Nations, 133 humanitarian workers have been killed by Israel in Gaza since October 7, 2023, including 15 MSF employees.
The petitioners say they have proposed practical alternatives to handing over staff lists to Israel, including "independent sanctions screening" and "donor-audited vetting systems."
The organisations say they collectively support or implement more than half of all food assistance in Gaza, 60 percent of field hospital operations, and all inpatient treatment for children suffering from severe acute malnutrition.
The petitioners say enforcement has already begun in practice, with supplies blocked and visas denied to foreign staff.
"We haven't been able to get international staff inside Gaza since the beginning of January.
Israeli authorities denied any entry to Gaza, but also to the occupied West Bank," MSF head of mission in the Palestinian territories, Filipe Ribeiro, said last week.
"For the time being, we are still working in Gaza, and we plan to keep running our operations as long as we can," he added.
The ban comes as Israel hardens its stance towards humanitarian actors in general, having banned the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, UNRWA, from Israel in early 2025.
For international NGOs, the current ban goes back to a change in rules for foreign organisations working with Palestinians in March 2025.
