Order IDF to probe Gaza aid worker deaths, Doctors Without Borders asks Israel’s top court

A Palestinian woman helps a burn victim, Maria Abu Aawad, at a Doctors Without Borders (MSF) hospital, amid severe shortages of medical equipment, medicines and essential materials needed for burn treatment, in Zawaida, central Gaza, January 2026

Nir Hasson reports in Haaretz on 25 February 25 2026:

Doctors Without Borders (Médecins Sans Frontières) has petitioned Israel’s High Court of Justice to order an investigation into six incidents in which the IDF allegedly fired at its facilities and vehicles in Gaza, killing seven staff members and their relatives.

In a separate filing this week, 18 humanitarian organizations asked the court to issue an interim injunction preventing their deportation from the area at the end of the month.

More than two years have passed since the incidents described in the petition, in which medical aid workers were killed, and despite repeated appeals to the army’s top legal authorities, the organization says it has seen no sign that a criminal investigation was opened. The petition comes amid Israel’s recent decision to revoke MSF’s permits to operate in Gaza and the West Bank.

“The objective of the petition isn’t to indict anyone,” said attorney Omer Shatz, who represents MSF in Israel. “What interests the organization is looking ahead – how to protect its teams, doctors and their families. To do that, the IDF’s prosecutor must determine whether these incidents were lawful. An investigation is required for that. The absence of an investigation is itself a serious breach of the laws of war and international law.”

According to the petition, the first incident occurred on November 18, 2023, after the IDF ordered the evacuation of an area in Gaza City where MSF staff were staying.

The organization coordinated a convoy to travel south with the army and received the necessary approvals. However, the convoy encountered an IDF roadblock and was refused passage. After several hours, it began returning north. En route, the petition states, IDF fire struck the clearly marked vehicles, despite prior coordination and the army’s knowledge of their presence. Two passengers were killed.

Two days later, MSF staff and their families were sheltering at one of the organization’s clinics in Gaza when an IDF bulldozer demolished its vehicles. Tanks later fired at the vehicles, destroying what the petition describes as their only means of escape.

A rescue convoy dispatched from Rafah, coordinated with the IDF and the United Nations, was also attacked. Around the same time, two MSF doctors were killed in a strike on al-Awda Hospital, despite prior notification to the army of their presence there.

Another incident cited in the petition concerns a strike on the “Lotus” shelter in Khan Yunis, near the European Hospital, where MSF staff and their families were staying. The organization says it repeatedly notified the IDF of the shelter’s location in November and December 2023 and requested that it not be targeted.

On January 7, 2024, the IDF ordered the surrounding area evacuated without mentioning the shelter or the hospital. MSF says it contacted the Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories (COGAT) and was told the shelter was not included in the evacuation order and that its staff could remain. The following day, a mortar shell hit the building. A five-year-old girl, the daughter of an MSF employee, was critically wounded and died the next day.

In February 2024, a tank fired at another MSF facility in Khan Yunis, known as the “beach house,” which was housing staff. The attack killed the wife and daughter of an employee and seriously wounded seven others, including women and children.

Shatz says he formally requested then-IDF Military Advocate General Yifat Tomer-Yerushalmi in July 2024 to open investigations into the incidents, outlining why he believed they raised concerns under international law.

The army did not respond to that or subsequent requests. Five months later, Shatz was informed that the cases had been transferred to the IDF General Staff’s fact-finding assessment mechanism, which examines incidents involving suspected breaches of international law. MSF says it has never been informed of the outcome of any review.

Human rights groups have criticized Israel for failing to investigate allegations of war crimes. A recent report by the UN Human Rights Office described what it called a “pervasive climate of impunity” regarding accountability within the IDF.

The Israeli army said in response that it operates “a professional, effective and independent mechanism to examine alleged violations of international law, including harm to medical teams and facilities, and that every reported incident is thoroughly reviewed as part of the legal process.”

MSF, one of the largest humanitarian organizations operating in Gaza and the West Bank, has recently drawn attention for two additional reasons.   One is Israel’s decision to revoke its authorization to operate in the territories. The other is its refusal to provide Israel with a list of its Palestinian employees, as required under new government rules for registering humanitarian organizations.

‘Extreme disregard to human life’

In their separate petition this week, 18 organizations, including MSF, warned that deporting them would lead to the collapse of Gaza’s humanitarian aid system.

They say they have invested approximately $500 million in emergency assistance, including food distribution, water infrastructure, medical care and shelter, and argue that their removal would pose a real threat to human life.

“Israel has effectively decided to halt humanitarian aid to Gaza and the West Bank,” said attorneys Alva Kolan and Yotam Ben-Hillel, who represent the groups. “Instead of declaring it outright, it is deporting organizations that have operated here for decades. These are organizations with global reputations, which Israel has no hesitation in smearing, possibly for political gain. This reflects an extreme disregard for human life.”

MSF also recently faced criticism from both Palestinians and Israelis after announcing that its staff had left Nasser Hospital in southern Gaza due to the presence of armed Palestinians at the site. Palestinians accused the organization of endangering hospitals by implying military activity, while Israelis argued the statement contradicted its earlier denials of such activity.

Filipe Ribeiro, head of MSF’s delegation to Palestine, told Haaretz that staff only saw armed men at the hospital after the cease-fire and had previously been confined to certain wings, limiting their ability to observe what was happening elsewhere.

“I cannot say that we saw military activity,” he said. “We saw arrests and armed masked men. For us, the presence of armed men who were not police was unacceptable, but it was not military activity. It cannot be used to justify a particular narrative. That’s speculation.”

This article is reproduced in its entirety