Israel ordered 37 aid groups to halt operations in Gaza and the occupied West Bank after they rejected a new demand to provide names of Palestinian staff

Seventeen international aid groups announced they have petitioned Israel’s Supreme Court on Sunday to allow them to keep operating in the Gaza Strip, the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem as the Israeli government's ban on their life-saving work next month nears.

In December, Israel ordered 37 organisations to shutter operations by March for failing to meet its new stringent rules for aid groups after the NGOs refused to hand over a list of their Palestinian and international staff.

The joint legal petition to the Israeli High Court of Justice seeks an urgent suspension of the decision, warning that it will lead to a “humanitarian collapse and irreparable harm", according to a statement by the groups on Tuesday.

The petition argues that the ban on aid groups shows “extreme unreasonableness and lack of proportionality". The groups also say that Israel has no mandate to shut down organisations functioning in territories that fall under the Palestinian Authority’s nominal jurisdiction.

Millions of Palestinians rely on humanitarian aid for essential needs in war-torn Gaza and the West Bank.

Oxfam International, one of the organisations affected by the ban, said on Tuesday that “the effect would be immediate, extending well beyond individual organisations 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," Oxfam said.

"In the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, military incursions, demolitions, displacement, settlement expansion and settler violence are driving rising humanitarian needs."

Security concerns

Other international aid groups banned by Israel include Doctors Without Borders (MSF), the Norwegian Refugee Council and Care.

Israel says the rule aims to "rule out any links to terrorism," but the aid groups reject sharing their staff information, noting that hundreds of humanitarian workers have been killed during Israel's war on Gaza.

MSF said in January that it attempted to negotiate with Israeli authorities to provide the list of names on condition that any staff information would be used "only for its stated administrative purpose and would not put colleagues at risk".

"However, despite repeated efforts, it became evident in recent days that we were unable to build engagement with Israeli authorities on the concrete assurances required," the medical humanitarian organisation said in a statement.

According to Human Rights Watch, 543 aid workers were confirmed killed in Israeli attacks on Gaza. An investigation by the group said in May 2024 that Israeli forces had attacked eight aid-worker locations, despite the organisations having provided their exact coordinates.

In another instance, Israeli soldiers shot dead 15 paramedics and emergency responders who were on a rescue mission in southern Gaza on 23 March last year. Their bodies were discovered in a shallow grave a week later by officials from the United Nations and the Palestinian Red Crescent Society.

According to a new joint investigation by Earshot and Forensic Architecture, Israeli soldiers fired nearly a thousand bullets during the killing of 15 Palestinian aid workers. Some workers were shot "execution-style" at close range, the investigation found.

Israel's ban of 37 aid groups follows its earlier ban on the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, Unrwa.

Israel demolished the headquarters of the agency in occupied East Jerusalem last month despite the International Court of Justice ruling in October last year that Israel must cooperate with the UN's main humanitarian provider to Palestinians and lift the Gaza aid blockade.