JERUSALEM: Israel’s Supreme Court decided in a ruling published on Friday to freeze a government ban on 37 foreign NGOs working in Gaza and the occupied West Bank pending a final decision.
“Without taking any position, a temporary interim order is hereby issued,” the court said in a ruling responding to a petition from more than a dozen NGOs, seeking to reverse the ban after Israel’s government revoked their status in Israel.
The decision theoretically allows the NGOs to continue working in Gaza and the West Bank until the court issues a final ruling, though aid groups expressed uncertainty as to how the freeze would be implemented.
The organizations, including Doctors Without Borders (MSF), Oxfam, the Norwegian Refugee Council and CARE were notified on December 30, 2025 that their Israeli registrations had expired and that they had 60 days to renew them by providing lists of their Palestinian staff.
If they failed to do so, they would have to cease operations in Gaza and the West Bank, including east Jerusalem, from March 1.
