Palestinian NGOs in Israel: Israeli Supreme Court Decision Upholding Restrictive Registration Requirements on International Humanitarian Organizations is a Further Fatal Blow to Palestinians

We, the undersigned Palestinian human rights and civil society organizations in Israel, strongly oppose the Israeli Supreme Court’s decision delivered on 19 May 2026, which upholds sweeping new restrictions on international humanitarian organizations (IHOs) operating in the occupied Palestinian territory (OPT). By sanctioning the effective shutdown of life-saving operations, this ruling serves to destroy humanitarian access and directly contributes to the ongoing genocide in Gaza and the starvation of the Palestinian people.

The petition, brought by the Association of International Development Agencies (AIDA) and 18 other groups that provide life-saving assistance in the OPT, including Medicins sans Frontieres, the Norwegian Refugee Council and Oxfam Novib, challenges an Israeli Government Decision and the pursuant procedure enacted in March 2025 regarding the requirement for IHOs working primarily with Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank, including East Jerusalem to re-register in Israel. The procedure for re-registration conditions the ability of aid organizations to operate on intrusive information-sharing requirements, including the disclosure of detailed personal information concerning Palestinian and foreign staff members. The procedure also contains deeply politicized and dangerous provisions, including criteria allowing the denial or revocation of registration based on alleged “delegitimization” of Israel, support for international legal accountability efforts, or public calls for boycott.  Organizations that fail to comply risk losing access to visas, entry at border crossings, and the practical ability to continue providing humanitarian aid to Palestinians in the OPT. Thirty-seven (37) IHOs lost their registration.

In its 23-page decision, the Supreme Court fully embraced the state’s security narrative, framing IHOs as potential security threats rather than protected humanitarian actors operating in the context of an ongoing genocide and humanitarian catastrophe. The Court accepted, without meaningful scrutiny, the state’s claims that extensive surveillance, screening and control of humanitarian workers are necessary following 7 October 2023, despite the absence of publicly presented evidence, reports, or factual findings demonstrating the necessity or proportionality of these measures.

Particularly alarming is the Court’s endorsement of the requirement that IHOs disclose extensive identifying information regarding Palestinian and foreign employees. In the current context—where humanitarian workers in Gaza have repeatedly been killed, faced attacks, surveillance, intimidation, and movement restrictions—such measures place aid workers at heightened risk and undermine the independence and neutrality of humanitarian operations. The Court dismissed privacy and protection concerns as secondary to the state’s asserted security and sovereignty interests.

The Court also failed to meaningfully engage with Israel’s obligations under international humanitarian law, including its duty to facilitate humanitarian relief to the civilian population in Gaza facing catastrophic conditions. The judgment fails to address the reality that the humanitarian crisis is driven in significant part by Israel’s own conduct and the severe restrictions imposed by the authorities.

This decision forms part of a broader pattern of harsh measures aimed at shrinking civil society space, silencing criticism of Israeli policies, and criminalizing advocacy and accountability efforts for Palestinian rights. The decision also comes at a time when the civilian population in Gaza is still facing a catastrophic humanitarian situation, despite the declared ceasefire, and is daily subjected to Israeli military assaults, further mass destruction and forced displacement, and widespread deprivation of necessities.

More than ever, the work of the IHOs is critical and crucial, and this decision marks a further fatal blow to Palestinians.

We call on the international community to take urgent actions to ensure the continued operation of humanitarian organizations, to protect humanitarian workers, and provide humanitarian aid and assistance to Palestinian civilians in Gaza and the West Bank.
We recall our previous statement issued in January 2026, in which we condemned this policy.
 
Signed,


Adalah - The Legal Center for Arab Minority Rights in Israel 
Women Against Violence
Al-Tufula: The Nazareth Nurseries Institute
Kayan - Feminist Organization
Baladna-Arab youth association
The Arab Culture Association
The Social Development Committee
The Arab Center for Alternative Planning
7amleh - The Arab Center for the Advancement of Social Media
Tishreen Association
Mada al-Carmel – Arab Center for Applied Social Research