Delivery scheme
Q&A: Legal Issues Surrounding Aid Delivery to Gaza
17 July 2025This Questions & Answers document seeks to provide a basic guide to some of the legal issues raised by the Israeli-imposed aid delivery scheme in Gaza.
It is primarily based on the IHL Centre’s recent publication A Legal Appraisal of Israel’s Purported Aid Delivery Scheme in Gaza. For more detailed analysis and references, readers are encouraged to consult that publication. Further inquiries or requests for briefings on this topic may be directed to the IHL Centre’s Advisory Service.
1. Is Israel responsible to meet the needs of the civilian population in Gaza? Isn’t it ‘acting in a humanitarian spirit’ by organising the delivery of aid to Gaza?
2. Isn’t Israel allowed to impose restrictions to avoid the diversion of aid by Hamas, or to prevent aid convoys from being attacked?
3. UN agencies and other humanitarian organisations have refused to partake in the Israeli scheme purporting to deliver aid to Gaza. Can Israel be held responsible for this?
4. If Palestinians in northern Gaza decide to relocate further south, to be closer to the distribution hubs, is this considered ‘forced displacement’?
5. How does international law address the killing and injuring of Palestinians seeking to access aid distribution hubs?
6. The Israeli scheme purporting to deliver aid to Gaza is implemented by private actors. Do they have to comply with humanitarian law and principles?
7. How can respect for IHL in Gaza be ensured and further violations prevented? Who is responsible for doing so?
Cover photo: Thousands of starving Palestinians in Gaza flock to the aid distribution center, Gaza City, 17 June 2025. Saeed M. M. T. Jaras/Anadolu AGency. All rights reserved.