Humanitarian Organizations Petition Israeli High Court as Closure Deadline Approaches

The clock is ticking on a large part of the humanitarian response sustaining civilians in the occupied Palestinian territory.

Thirty-seven international aid organizations have been ordered by Israeli authorities to cease operations in the occupied Palestinian territory by the end of February under revised Israeli registration rules. With closures imminent, a group of leading humanitarian organizations has taken the unprecedented step of jointly petitioning the Israeli High Court to suspend the measures before irreparable harm is done to civilians who rely on their assistance.

On December 30, 2025, the affected organizations were formally notified that their Israeli registrations would expire the following day, and that they would have 60 days to wind down activities in Gaza and the West Bank, including East Jerusalem. The notification letter stated that the decision could only be overturned if organizations completed the full registration process, which they cannot legally or ethically comply with.

Efforts to force closures could begin as early as February 28, 2026. The effect would be immediate, extending well beyond individual organizations to the wider humanitarian system. In Gaza, families remain dependent on external assistance amid continuing restrictions on aid entry and renewed strikes in densely populated areas. In the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, military incursions, demolitions, displacement, settlement expansion, and settler violence are driving rising humanitarian needs.

Palestinian Authority registration provides the lawful basis for international NGOs to operate in Palestinian territory. Under the Fourth Geneva Convention, an occupying power must facilitate relief for civilians under its control. Conditioning humanitarian presence on sweeping administrative demands, including the transfer of comprehensive national staff lists, alongside vague and politicized grounds for denial, risks disrupting life-saving services and eroding the obligation to ensure civilian welfare under occupation.

The demand to transfer personal data raises acute security and legal risks. It exposes national staff to potential retaliation and undermines established data protection and confidentiality safeguards. For European organizations in particular, compliance would create serious legal and contractual liabilities. More broadly, such requirements set a precedent that could chill principled humanitarian engagement in highly politicized contexts.

International NGOs have proposed practical alternatives, including independent sanctions screening and donor-audited vetting systems, that preserve both compliance and staff protection without disclosing personal data. No substantive response has been provided. Enforcement has meanwhile begun in practice, including blocked supplies and denial of visas and access for foreign staff.

Alongside UN agencies and Palestinian partners, international NGOs support or implement the delivery of:

• More than half of all food assistance in Gaza
• 60% of the field hospitals’ operations
• Nearly three-quarters of shelter and non-food item activities
• All inpatient treatment for children suffering from severe acute malnutrition
• 30% of emergency education services
• Funding for over half of the explosive hazard clearance

The petition seeks an urgent interim injunction to suspend the expiry of registrations and prevent further enforcement pending judicial review. The petitioning organizations contend that these administrative measures constitute an effort to curtail established humanitarian operations in a manner incompatible with the obligations of an occupying power under international humanitarian law.

Governments must act urgently to prevent the implementation of these measures and to ensure that humanitarian relief remains principled, independent, and unhindered. If these measures take effect, aid will be impeded not because needs have eased, but because it has been rendered optional, conditional, or politicized. At a moment when civilians depend on assistance to survive, that outcome would carry immediate and irreversible human consequences.

Petitioners and supporting organizations:

1. All We Can
2. ActionAid Australia
3. Alianza Por La Solidaridad
4. Association of International Development Agencies (AIDA)
5. Bystanders No More
6. CADUS e.V.
7. Choose Love
8. Christian Aid
9. Churches for Middle East Peace
10. DanChurchAid
11. Danish Refugee Council
12. Diakonia, Sweden
13. Humanity & Inclusion – Handicap International
14. medico international
15. Middle East Children's Alliance
16. Movimiento por la Paz, Desarme y Libertad - MPDL
17. Muslim Aid
18. Nonviolent Peaceforce
19. Norwegian Church Aid
20. Norwegian Refugee Council
21. Oxfam
22. Pax Christi International
23. Première Urgence Internationale (PUI)
24. Pro Peace
25. Refugees International
26. Start Network
27. Tearfund
28. Terre des hommes Italy
29. Terre des hommes Lausanne (Tdh)
30. United Against Inhumanity
31. Weltfriedensdienst e.V. (WFD; World Peace Service)

Spokespersons are available for interview upon request.