Aid groups plea Israeli court to let them keep working in Gaza after ban over new rules

Tel Aviv: Seventeen international aid groups said on Tuesday they have petitioned Israel’s Supreme Court to allow them to keep working in the Gaza Strip and other Palestinian areas, where Israel is set to bar them for refusing to comply with new rules.

Israel says it will ban 37 aid groups by March 1. The rules announced last year require aid groups to register the names and contact information of employees, and to provide details about their funding and operations. The groups view the rules as invasive and arbitrary, and say the ban would hinder critical assistance to people in war-ravaged Gaza.

They have appealed for an urgent interim order that would halt the process until a final ruling, they said in a joint statement Tuesday. The government has until Wednesday afternoon to respond, according to a court document.

The statement said that stopping the groups’ activities will lead to a “humanitarian collapse and irreparable harm” for hundreds of thousands of people in need. They say the ban violates Israel’s obligations as an occupying power and shows “extreme unreasonableness and lack of proportionality.”

COGAT, the Israeli military body overseeing civilian affairs in Gaza, has said that the organisations whose licenses are to be revoked contribute less than 1 per cent of the total aid going into the territory. More than 20 organisations will continue to operate after complying with the new regulations, it said.

The government referred questions about the petition to COGAT, which did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Aid groups that refuse to comply say they fear what Israel might do with the personal data of their employees, noting that hundreds of aid workers have been killed in Israeli strikes during the war.

Israel denies targeting aid groups. In some cases, it said it had targeted militants who had infiltrated such groups or were disguised as aid workers. In some others, the military eventually said it had erred. Israel blames civilian casualties on Hamas, whose Oct. 7, 2023, attack triggered the war, and whose fighters operate in densely populated areas.