Humanitarian aid groups granted interim injunction to continue working in Gaza
Why It Matters
Aid groups have warned of the politicization and weaponization of humanitarian response work in the Gaza Strip. Leaders in the aid sector have said that providing the Israeli authorities with a full list of aid staff working in Palestine would not only violate their right to data protection but also put them at direct risk in one of the most fatal zones for aid staff.
The Israeli High Court has ruled in favour of a petition from several humanitarian aid groups, allowing them to continue operating in the Gaza Strip.
The petition, launched on Tuesday, sought to prevent an expulsion of international aid organizations from the region. Israeli authorities had imposed new registration requirements on aid organizations, which included providing a full list of Palestinian and international staff.
Many aid groups opposed these requirements on ethical, legal, and security grounds.
As a result, aid groups were notified at the end of 2025 that they would have 60 days to cease their operations in the Occupied Palestinian Territories.
While a final ruling is still pending, Oxfam’s Policy Lead Bushra Khalidi wrote that the organization is “grateful that [their] request for an interim order has been granted.
“Although this news is positive, the humanitarian situation in Gaza remains critical and we don’t yet know what effect this ruling will have.”
Humanitarian aid remains critical in the Gaza Strip: UNOCHA statistics show that INGOs run or support 60 per cent of the region’s field hospitals, delivering 18,000 surgeries and supporting 10,000 hospital admissions per month.
According to UNOCHA, in 2024, NGOs provided US$221 million of the $420 million in food aid in Gaza – just over half.
Oxfam and Humanity & Inclusion International, both of which have Canadian chapters, joined other organizations like the Danish Refugee Council, the Norwegian Refugee Council, Muslim Aid and Christian Aid in seeking the injunction this week.
“The effect [of closures] would be immediate, extending well beyond individual organisations [sic] to the wider humanitarian system,” the groups said in a press release Tuesday.
“Forcing humanitarian organizations, of whom a majority are Canadian, to suspend their work will only deepen suffering and put countless civilians, especially children and people with disabilities, at even greater risk,” said Anne Delorme, executive director of HI Canada.
“In Gaza, where the number of child amputees per capita is now the highest in the world, restricting humanitarian action is not just devastating, it is unconscionable.”
The group argued that Israel had no legal basis to stop the groups from providing aid.
“Israel does not have the authority to tell us that we are not allowed to operate inside Gaza or the West Bank,” said Athena Rayburn, executive director of AIDA, on Tuesday.
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