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"Within My Soul" by artist Heba Hamad. Pal Arts |
Wednesday, February 25, 2026
Israel has ordered 37 aid groups to halt life-saving operations in war-torn Gaza, as well as the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem. In their joint statement, the aid agencies said that stopping their activities will lead to a “humanitarian collapse and irreparable harm” for hundreds of thousands of people in need. “Turning humanitarian organisations into an information-gathering arm for a party to the conflict stands in total contradiction to the principle of neutrality... ”
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| A mosque, destroyed during the two-year Israeli genocide in Gaza, is surrounded by tents for displaced Palestinians, in Gaza City, on February 15, 2026 [Mahmoud Issa/Reuters] |
Aid groups petition Israeli Supreme Court as Gaza, West Bank work ban nears
By Al Jazeera Staff, AFP, AP and Reuters
Seventeen international aid groups said they have petitioned Israel’s Supreme Court to allow them to keep working in the Gaza Strip and other areas in the occupied Palestinian territory, where the Israeli government is set to halt their life-saving work next month.
The Israeli government says it will ban 37 aid groups from war-torn Gaza, the occupied West Bank and occupied East Jerusalem on March 1, a move described as having potentially devastating consequences for Palestinians.
In a joint statement on Tuesday, aid groups said they have appealed to the Supreme Court seeking an urgent suspension of the plan to ban them from working, and are seeking an urgent interim injunction from the court pending a full judicial review of the Israeli order.
Oxfam International said on Tuesday that the forced closure of aid operations in Gaza and the rest of the occupied Palestinian territory could begin as early as Saturday.
“The effect would be immediate, extending well beyond individual organisations to the wider humanitarian system,” Oxfam warned.
“In Gaza, families remain dependent on external assistance amid continuing restrictions on aid entry and renewed strikes in densely populated areas,” it said in a statement.
“In the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, military incursions, demolitions, displacement, settlement expansion and settler violence are driving rising humanitarian needs,” it added.
The court action comes as aid organisations – including Doctors Without Borders, known by its French initials MSF, Oxfam, the Norwegian Refugee Council and CARE – were notified by Israeli authorities on December 30, 2025, that their Israeli work registrations had expired and that they had 60 days to renew them and provide lists containing personal details on their Palestinian staff.
If they fail to provide information on their Palestinian staff, the organisations will have to cease operations in Gaza and the occupied West Bank, including occupied East Jerusalem, from March 1.
The organisations say compliance with the Israeli orders would expose their Palestinian staff 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 court petition states.
According to the United Nations, 133 NGO workers have been killed in Israeli attacks in the Gaza Strip since Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza began on October 7, 2023, including 15 MSF staff.
In their joint statement, the aid agencies said that stopping their activities will lead to a “humanitarian collapse and irreparable harm” for hundreds of thousands of people in need.
The vast majority of Gaza’s more than 2 million residents rely on aid groups for food, water, healthcare, shelter and other essentials after Israel’s more than two-year war destroyed much of the territory.
The petitioners say they have proposed practical alternatives to handing over staff lists to Israeli authorities, including “donor-audited vetting systems”.