Refusing to Allow Volunteer Physicians into Gaza

Illustrative. Photo: Wix

After two and a half years of war, approximately 42,000 people in the Gaza Strip, including 10,500 children, remain seriously injured and in need of rehabilitation and ongoing care. Meanwhile, Gaza’s healthcare system has been decimated, and lost around 1,500 medical staff during the war. Even before the war, Gaza’s limited healthcare system relied heavily on assistance and training from specialist physicians from around the world, who came for volunteer placements and to provide professional training to local teams. Despite the enormous need and the dire situation, Israel has maintained a policy of arbitrarily and inexplicably rejecting requests by volunteer physicians seeking to enter Gaza to serve in medical facilities. 

On February 5, 2026, we filed a petition with the Supreme Court on behalf of seven volunteer physicians whose entry into the Gaza was denied, as well as on behalf of the organizations Physicians for Human Rights–Israel and Gisha. The petitioning physicians had previously been approved to enter the Strip, and some have been volunteering there for years. Unlike in the past, applications they submitted in recent months were rejected at the last moment, after they had already arrived in Jordan and while patients and medical teams were awaiting their arrival. The rejections were issued without any explanation and the appeals submitted by the physicians received no response. 

In the petition, ACRI argues that the entry of volunteer physicians, like any other form of humanitarian assistance provided in a combat zone, is not dependent solely on the goodwill of the states involved, but is subject to international humanitarian law. Under these rules, parties to a conflict are required to allow and facilitate the rapid and unhindered passage of humanitarian relief intended for the civilian population. Arbitrarily preventing or delaying essential assistance is not allowed. Moreover, the last‑minute rejection of applications violates fundamental principles of Israeli administrative law, including the duty of fairness and the obligation to act proportionately and reasonably. 

ACRI is demanding that the system for physicians to enter into Gaza be reformed to include the ability to submit applications one month in advance; that decisions be rendered at least 21 days in advance; written explanations for every rejection; the right to present arguments in a hearing; and a 14‑day timetable for handling appeals. We also demand that a clear directive be published stating that giving testimony, expressing criticism, or providing information about the condition of the healthcare system or the humanitarian situation in Gaza will not constitute grounds for rejecting applications by medical staff to enter Gaza. 

HCJ 20328‑02‑26 Rose v. Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories 

Attorneys: Reut Shaer, Yotam Ben Hillel 

The petition, February 5, 2026 (Heb)