UN Special Rapporteur on the occupied Palestinian territories Francesca Albanese stated clearly in late January 2026 that Israel has no legal authority to prevent humanitarian organizations and aid workers from entering Gaza and the rest of the occupied Palestinian territories. “Israel has no legal authority to bar humanitarian workers from Gaza and the rest of the oPt,” Albanese said. “The occupation is illegal and must end, completely and unconditionally. States must suspend ties until Israel complies with international law. That is the starting point for peace.”

The statement came as Israel was in the process of ordering 37 international humanitarian organizations — including Doctors Without Borders — to cease operations in Gaza and the West Bank by March 1, demanding that organizations submit lists of Palestinian staff or face expulsion. The demand had already drawn urgent responses from aid groups and condemnation from the UN, the EU, and dozens of governments.

Albanese’s legal position rests on settled international law. The International Court of Justice issued an advisory opinion in July 2024 concluding that Israel’s occupation of Palestinian territory is illegal and that Israel is obligated to end it. Under that framework, the authority Israel claims to regulate humanitarian access — the authority to say who may enter and who must leave — is derived from a status the ICJ has ruled must be terminated. An occupying power operating in violation of its obligations cannot invoke those obligations’ privileges.

The practical consequence of Israel’s aid worker expulsions is not abstract. More than 18,500 Gazans require specialized medical treatment unavailable locally. Nearly half of essential medicines have been depleted. Healthcare infrastructure has been systematically destroyed. Removing the organizations providing that care does not create a gap — it eliminates the last functional threads of a system already operating far below capacity.

Albanese has stated what the law says. What happens next depends not on the law but on whether governments with the capacity to act will treat the law as binding.