The Legal Department of the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine stated that the decision by the Israeli occupation authorities to revoke the operating permits of approximately 37 international non-governmental organizations working in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank constitutes a dangerous precedent in targeting humanitarian work, and represents a violation of international humanitarian law and all branches of international law. This decision, it stressed, clearly falls within the framework of implementing Israel’s comprehensive plan against the Palestinian people in the West Bank, the Gaza Strip, and occupied Jerusalem.
The Department affirmed that the primary objective of this decision, alongside subjecting these organizations to direct Israeli security oversight, is to dismantle the humanitarian assistance system that meets the basic life needs of the Palestinian people, and to replace it with a system that serves the Israeli plan based on forcible displacement and ethnic cleansing, as part of Israel’s adopted genocidal strategy.
It added that Israel’s prevention of a wide range of international humanitarian organizations from operating in the occupied Palestinian territory clearly contradicts a broad set of international agreements and conventions that criminalize the obstruction of humanitarian assistance and the targeting of humanitarian workers, foremost among them:
The Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court, which criminalizes attacks against or obstruction of humanitarian work, and establishes individual international criminal responsibility for anyone who deliberately obstructs relief supplies (Article 8).
The Geneva Conventions of 1949, which obligate Israel, as an occupying power, to allow the passage of humanitarian aid, facilitate the work of humanitarian organizations, and refrain from obstructing relief destined for civilians (Article 59 of the Fourth Geneva Convention).
United Nations resolutions, whereby the UN, through its various institutions, has issued dozens of resolutions affirming Israel’s obligation to cooperate with UN agencies and humanitarian organizations operating in Palestine, and to ensure unimpeded access for humanitarian assistance.
The International Court of Justice, which affirmed in its judgment issued in October 2025 that Israel is obligated to comply with its duties under international humanitarian law, and bears direct responsibility for ensuring that the population of the occupied Palestinian territory has access to essential supplies for daily life, including food, water, shelter, and medical supplies, as well as for respecting and protecting all relief personnel and medical facilities.
In addition, numerous rules of customary international humanitarian law, along with reports by dozens of international bodies and organizations, confirm that targeting humanitarian organizations or their staff constitutes a serious violation of international law and rises to the level of a war crime.
The Legal Department pointed out that the international community’s lax response to Israeli measures targeting the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA), whether through banning its activities or restricting its services, has encouraged Israel to persist in its aggression against humanitarian institutions, with blatant disregard for the humanitarian and living consequences of such actions. This, it emphasized, proves that Israel is not only targeting Palestinians through killing and destruction, but has made starvation, deprivation of water, and the cutting of medical supplies an integral part of its strategy aimed at the destruction of the Palestinian people.
The Legal Department of the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine concluded its statement by calling on states of the world and international political and legal organizations to exert all forms of pressure on Israel to rescind this decision, compel it to facilitate the work of all humanitarian organizations in Palestine, and to adopt deterrent punitive measures should Israel continue to fail to meet its legal obligations toward the Palestinian people and the international humanitarian organizations operating in Palestine.