The Supreme Court on Wednesday temporarily suspended a decision to send back to Italy a child orphaned in a cable car accident there and brought to Israel by his grandfather.
"I order a freeze on the judicial decision in order to leave open the possibility of an appeal," a supreme court judge said in a ruling.
The court gave the family until November 23 to present their arguments.
Fourteen people, including the Israeli parents and younger brother of the six-year-old boy identified as Eitan, were killed in the accident in Italy's northwestern Piedmont region in May.
Italian courts had entrusted the boy to his paternal aunt - who lives in the northern Italian province of Pavia - while his mother's family, living in Israel, had visiting rights.
The custody battle has captured headlines since the boy's maternal grandfather, Shmulik Peleg, flew him to Israel on a private jet in September.
Peleg has insisted he drove the boy from Italy to Switzerland before flying him back to Israel because his late parents had wanted him to be raised in the Jewish state.
An Israeli court ruled on October 25 that the boy be returned to his family in Italy, and his grandfather lost an appeal against the decision last week.
Peleg had said he would take the case to the supreme court as a last resort.