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Disclaimer: The texts cited in this Monthly Bulletin have been reproduced in their original form. The Division for Palestinian Rights is consequently not responsible for the views, positions or discrepancies contained in these texts.
July 2025
Volume XLVIII, Bulletin No. VII
Contents
- OCHA: Hundreds of families displaced amid ongoing hostilities in northern Gaza
- UN Secretary-General is appalled by deepening humanitarian crisis in Gaza
- Forever-occupation, genocide, and profit: Special Rapporteur’s report exposes corporate forces behind destruction of Palestine
- UN Human Rights: Israeli settlers, supported by the army, forcibly displaced Palestinian communities from the Jordan Valley in the occupied West Bank
- The city of East Jerusalem epitomizes the original example of Israel pushing its settler agenda, says UN Palestinian Rights Committee Chair
- UN Secretary-General: “Palestinian suffering has reached new heights and hopes for a just and lasting solution have reached new depths”
- Comment by UN High Commissioner for Human Rights on U.S. sanctions against Francesca Albanese
- “Silence is not an option”: UN Special Procedures’ Coordination Committee condemns U.S. sanctions on Francesca Albanese
- OHCHR: Palestinians in Gaza continue to be killed in hundreds against a looming threat of forcible transfer outside Gaza
- OHCHR: Israel must stop killings and home demolitions in occupied West Bank
- UN Relief Chief warns Security Council: Erosion of rules of war in Gaza demands urgent response
- Children are “being killed and maimed as they line up for lifesaving food and medicine” UNICEF Executive Director briefs the UN Security Council
- UNRWA: On proposed amendment to Israeli anti-UNRWA legislation
- UN expert denounces “genocidal violence” against women and girls in Gaza
- UN experts call for end to anguish of families seeking truth about disappeared loved ones in the Occupied Palestinian Territory and Israel
- UN Secretary-General is appalled by the accelerating breakdown of humanitarian conditions in Gaza
- UN Human Rights Chief: Israeli attacks on Deir El Balah add more misery to the suffering of Palestinians
- UN Assistant Secretary-General updates Security Council on Gaza crisis, urgently calls for an immediate ceasefire, the release of all hostages and increased humanitarian aid
- “This is not just about Gaza — it is about the future of international law.” Statement by the UN Palestinian Rights Committee at the Security Council
- UN experts call for end to Israeli State and settler violence in the West Bank
- Statement by UNICEF on the unconscionable deaths of children by starvation in the Gaza Strip
- OCHA: Massive scale of aid is needed to prevent famine and health crisis in Gaza
- Palestinian statehood a right, not a reward, Secretary-General tells International Conference, urging peace efforts with courage, conviction before it is too late
- UN Agencies warn key food and nutrition indicators exceed famine thresholds in Gaza
I. OCHA: Hundreds of families displaced amid ongoing hostilities in northern Gaza
On 1 July, the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) issued the following press release.
OCHA warns that deadly hostilities continue to increase the suffering of civilians in Gaza, driving additional displacement.
Military operations have further intensified in northern Gaza since the issuance of the displacement order on Sunday by the Israeli authorities. In the time since that directive was announced, partners on the ground say that at least 1,500 families have been displaced from North Gaza, as well as eastern parts of Gaza governorate, towards the central and western parts of Gaza governorate.
Over the past 48 hours, five school buildings sheltering displaced families in North Gaza were reportedly hit, with deaths and injuries reported.
Initial assessments by partners indicate that many families who fled from the schools that were hit have returned to North Gaza, largely due to the lack of alternatives and limited shelter space elsewhere.
Healthcare also continues to come under attack. The World Health Organization (WHO) says that in central Gaza yesterday, a tent sheltering displaced people in the courtyard of Al-Aqsa Hospital, in Deir al Balah, was reportedly hit, injuring five people. The agency added that the hospital’s internal medicine department also sustained some damage, and its oxygen supply line was affected.
Since October 2023, WHO has documented 734 attacks on healthcare in Gaza. WHO reiterated its call for the protection of civilians and healthcare facilities, noting that ongoing attacks on healthcare and continued hostilities near hospitals are fuelling fear among already traumatized communities and placing further strain on facilities struggling to cope.
OCHA reiterates that under international humanitarian law, civilians and civilian infrastructure must be protected, not targeted.
Regarding aid operations on the ground, OCHA warns that movement restrictions remain a major challenge, preventing partners from predictably and sustainably providing critical services and assistance.
Yesterday, only eight out of 15 attempts to coordinate humanitarian movements inside Gaza were facilitated by the Israeli authorities, including to remove debris. Three other missions were denied outright, while two missions were impeded and two others had to be cancelled due to security or logistical challenges.
As humanitarian assistance and basic services dwindle, people in Gaza are being increasingly deprived of the means for their survival. This is a red flag that demands urgent action to secure the opening of all crossings and facilitation of all humanitarian operations, including meaningful flows of necessary life-saving supplies.
OCHA warns that fuel supplies are fast running out – with devastating consequences for civilians. Today, the Ministry of Health reported that Al-Shifa Medical Complex has suspended its kidney dialysis services due to fuel shortages, and that intensive care services will be limited to a few hours each day.
Ensuring sustained access to fuel is essential to avoid a collapse of the logistics backbone underpinning the humanitarian response. No fuel has entered Gaza since the ceasefire over 17 weeks ago, and as available stocks are depleted, OCHA warns that more life-saving and life-sustaining facilities could also shut down very soon.
In a social media post, the World Food Programme (WFP) warned that the window to push back starvation in Gaza is closing fast. The agency added that its teams are adapting in real time – setting up new distribution points, navigating extreme constraints, and using every safe route to reach people where they are.
However, to sustain these efforts, WFP reiterated its call for multiple points of access and safe routes to reach people, support from the international community, and a sustained ceasefire.
Meanwhile, the UN Food and Agriculture Organization reports that the agency recently supported 200 farmers in Rafah and Khan Younis to optimize the use of land that is still available to grow critically needed staple crops.
The pilot initiative — which is being funded through the occupied Palestinian territory Humanitarian Fund* – provides farmers with cash-based assistance to help re-establish limited local food production until a sustained ceasefire is reached.
II. UN Secretary-General is appalled by deepening humanitarian crisis in Gaza
The following statement was issued on 3 July by the spokesperson for UN Secretary-General António Guterres.
The Secretary-General is appalled by the deepening humanitarian crisis in Gaza. Multiple attacks in recent days hitting sites hosting displaced people and people trying to access food have killed and injured scores of Palestinians. The Secretary-General strongly condemns the loss of civilian life.
In just one day this week, orders to relocate forced nearly 30,000 people to flee, yet again, with no safe place to go and clearly inadequate supplies of shelter, food, medicine or water.
International humanitarian law is unambiguous: civilians must be respected and protected and the needs of the population must be met.
With no fuel having entered Gaza in more than 17 weeks, the Secretary-General is gravely concerned that the last lifelines for survival are being cut off. Without an urgent influx of fuel, incubators will shut down, ambulances will be unable to reach the injured and sick, and water cannot be purified. The delivery by the United Nations and partners of what little of our life-saving humanitarian aid is left in Gaza will also grind to a halt.
He once again calls for full, safe and sustained humanitarian access so aid can reach people who have been deprived of the basics of life for far too long. The UN has a clear and proven plan, rooted in the humanitarian principles, to get vital assistance to civilians — safely and at scale, wherever they are.
The Secretary-General reiterates that all parties must uphold their obligations under international law. He renews his call for an immediate permanent ceasefire and for the immediate and unconditional release of all hostages.
III. Forever-Occupation, genocide, and profit: Special Rapporteur’s report exposes corporate forces behind destruction of Palestine
On 3 July, Francesca Albanese, UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Palestinian territories occupied since 1967, issued the following press release.
The Israel’s genocide against Palestinians is being sustained by a system of exploitative occupation and profit, a UN expert warned today in a new report to the Human Rights Council that reveals how corporate profiteering and monetary gain has enabled and legitimised Israel’s illegal presence and actions.
“In the past 21 months, while Israel’s genocide has devastated Palestinian lives and landscapes, the Tel Aviv stock exchange soared by 213 percent (USD), amassing $225.7 billion in market gains — including $67.8 billion in the past month alone. For some, genocide is profitable,” said Francesca Albanese, the UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Palestinian territory occupied since 1967.
Albanese’s report exposes the corporate infrastructure profiting from Israel’s economy of occupation — and its deadly transformation into an economy of genocide. The report underscores how Palestine has become the epicentre of a global reckoning, exposing the failure of international business and legal systems to uphold even the most basic rights of one of the world’s most dispossessed peoples.
“Corporate actors are deeply entwined in the system of occupation, apartheid and genocide in the occupied Palestinian territory,” the Special Rapporteur said. “For decades, Israel’s repression of Palestinian people has been scaffolded by corporations, fully aware of and yet indifferent to, decades of human rights violations and international crimes.”
Forty-eight separate corporate actors, along with their parents, subsidiaries, franchisees, licensees and consortium partners across sectors are identified in the Special Rapporteur’s report, including weapons manufacturers, technological corporations, financial institutions and construction and energy firms.
Albanese found that these entities have failed their most basic legal responsibilities to exercise their leverage to bring an end to the violation at stake or terminate relations and disengage. Instead, they have treated Israel’s illegal enterprise in the occupied Palestinian territory as ordinary economic activity — wilfully ignoring documented, systemic abuses, even as atrocities mounted after 7 October 2023.
“These actors have entrenched and expanded Israel’s settler-colonial logic of displacement and replacement — and this is not accidental,” the Special Rapporteur said. “It is the function of an economy built to dominate, dispossess, and erase Palestinians from their land.”
The report named companies supplying F-35s, drones, and targeting tech that enabled 85,000 tons of bombs — six times the amount of Hiroshima — to be unleashed on Gaza. It highlighted tech giants that have set up R&D hubs and data centres in Israel, using Palestinian data for AI warfare, fuelling what Albanese calls a ‘livestreamed genocide.’ The report points to energy giants having fuelled Israel’s blockade, while construction companies continued to supply the equipment that has turned Gaza to rubble and prevented the return and reconstitution of Palestinian life. Even seemingly neutral actors — tourism sites, supermarkets, and universities are normalising apartheid and the systematic erasure of Palestinian life, the Special Rapporteur’s report found.
“This report shows why Israel’s genocide continues: because it is lucrative for many,” Albanese said. She warned that the International Court of Justice 2024 rulings and the ICC arrest warrants should have put all actors — including corporations — on notice.
“The serious, structural and sustained nature of Israel’s crimes and violations triggered a prima facie responsibility to disengage — one that many corporations ignored,” she said. “Corporate fixation on narrow technicalities and isolated violations rather than confronting the structural illegality of their ties to Israel’s occupation is disingenuous,” she said.
Albanese urged member states to impose a full arms embargo, suspend trade and investment agreements, and hold corporate entities accountable for violations of international law.
“Meanwhile, corporations cannot claim neutrality: they are either part of the machinery of displacement—or part of dismantling it.”
“Palestine is a mirror held up to the world’s moral and political failures,” she said. Recalling reckonings over corporate complicity in apartheid South Africa and Nazi Germany, Albanese said Palestine today represents a defining moment of whether global markets can exist without promoting and profiting from injustice and impunity.
“Ending this genocide requires not only outrage but rupture, reckoning, and the courage to dismantle what enables it.”
IV. UN Human Rights: Israeli settlers, supported by the army, forcibly displaced Palestinian communities from the Jordan Valley in the occupied West Bank
On 4 July, the UN Human Rights Office in the Occupied Palestinian Territory issued the following press release.
Between 2 and 4 July, Israeli settlers, visibly acting with the support and acquiescence of Israel, the occupying power, forcibly displaced the long-established Palestinian community of Arab Al Ka’abneh — also known as Arab Mulaihat and Al-Muarrajat East — in the central Jordan Valley and established new settlement outposts.
Since 7 October 2023, the community has been gradually surrounded by new outposts and subjected to constant settler attacks. Following the establishment of another new outpost in the middle of the community, on 2 July this year, armed settlers from the nearby “Zohar outpost” stole approximately 60 sheep and harassed the Palestinian residents in their homes. Settlers occupied one of the homes, vandalized it, and forced the residents to leave. Later that night and the day after, the remaining 25 families of the community were also left with no choice but to leave after settlers seized their homes. The land now stands empty of Palestinians. Meanwhile, photos from the site show settlers and soldiers having already taken control of the land.
The forcible displacement of this community follows dozens of others over the past months, forming part of a long-standing, state-sanctioned process through coordinated efforts by settlers, backed by the Israeli army, to empty parts of the occupied territory in the West Bank of Palestinians.
In the south Hebron Hills, since January this year, Israeli settlers from the Carmel settlement, with the support of soldiers, have been encroaching on land belonging to the Palestinian community of Umm Al Khair. This encroachment — reportedly to establish a so-called “buffer zone” — has involved fencing off large areas of land and denying Palestinian residents access to pasture for livestock. On 29 June, an armed settler, again backed by Israeli soldiers, entered the community with his flock, seized a plot of land adjacent to a Palestinian home and declared it as his own. Since then, the same settler has harassed the community on a daily basis, attempting to enter their homes and intimidate residents.
These incidents form part of the ongoing annexation of territory, forcible transfer of Palestinians, and the transfer of Israel’s own civilian population into the Occupied Palestinian Territory. Such forcible transfers amount to a war crime, and a crime against humanity if committed as part of a widespread or systematic attack directed against any civilian population, with knowledge of the attack.
V. The city of East Jerusalem epitomizes the original example of Israel pushing its settler agenda, says UN Palestinian Rights Committee Chair
The following remarks were delivered by the UN Palestinian Rights Committee Chair, Amb. Coly Seck on 9 July at the 2025 UN-OIC Conference on the Question of Jerusalem titled “Palestinian Oppression and Displacement in Jerusalem in the Shadow of the War: A microcosm of the situation throughout the Occupied Palestinian Territory”.
The Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Senegal,
Excellencies,
Ladies and gentlemen,
On behalf of the Committee on the Rights of the Palestinian People, I warmly welcome Her Excellency Ms. Yassine Fall, Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Senegal, to the 2025 Jerusalem Conference. We are grateful to the Government and people of Senegal for hosting this timely Jerusalem Conference. Our sincere thanks also go to Mr. Simão, the Special Representative of the Secretary-General, for delivering the statement of the United Nations.
We gather today to focus on occupied East Jerusalem, a city sacred to three major world religions, Islam, Judaism and Christianity, and a core symbol of Palestinian identity. Its fate resonates far beyond its boundaries, shaping perceptions and realities throughout the Occupied Palestinian Territory and the broader region. It lies at the heart of the Israeli Palestinian conflict.
Since its occupation in 1967, and later annexation, East Jerusalem has endured systemic attempts to alter its demographic and cultural character. The city of East Jerusalem epitomizes the original example of Israel pushing its settler agenda, through the expulsion of entire Palestinian families from their homes and installing Jewish-Israeli settlers in their place. This approach is now replicated in the occupied West Bank and openly contemplated for Gaza.
Developments in this city reflect the plight of the Palestinian People who have been suffering from an ongoing catastrophe, a “Nakba” in Arabic, for decades.
The General Assembly mandated our Committee to highlight the centrality of the city of Jerusalem to the ongoing efforts for the realization of the inalienable rights of the Palestinians and their quest for independence. In this regard, East Jerusalem reflects in particular the broader realities of the Occupied Palestinian Territory, where Palestinians endure the consequences of ongoing violations under an illegal occupation that affects every aspect of the daily life of hundreds of thousands of Palestinians.
While the world’s gaze is fixed on Gaza conflict and humanitarian crisis, Israel has accelerated its de facto annexation of the West Bank. In 2025 alone, over 40,000 Palestinians have been displaced, amid escalating settlement expansion, settler violence, and land seizures at an alarming rate. In the north, displacement from refugee camps has reached levels not seen since 1967. Since the beginning of 2025, over 40,000 Palestinians have been forcefully displaced amid illegal settlement expansion and systemic land seizures. As the UNRWA Commissioner-General recently affirmed, this silent annexation constitutes a blatant violation of international law.
We urge Israel to halt and reverse these illegal actions and uphold its obligations under international law.
In Gaza, the humanitarian emergency is unbearable. Civilians are facing starvation, homes and schools are flattened, vital aid is obstructed, and hope is vanishing. Attacks on humanitarian personnel and infrastructure, including hospitals and UNRWA facilities, are tragic and are crimes against humanity. Humanitarian organizations, including the United Nations and its partners, are ready and equipped to deliver aid efficiently to the people of Gaza. Still, they are prevented by Israeli authorities from addressing the ongoing humanitarian crisis.
UNRWA, in particular, continues to be targeted all over the Occupied Palestinian Territory. Nearly 320 of its staff have been killed in Gaza. The targeted campaign against the Agency is a direct assault on the rights of Palestinians, including the right of return for millions of Palestine Refugees. The forced closure of UNRWA schools in East Jerusalem signals an ominous trend, threatening the future of 84 schools across the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, which are under the threat of demolition orders.
As members of the international community, we have a collective duty to protect the Palestinian people, uphold their rights, and ensure international law prevails. We must reclaim the discourse or narrative on East Jerusalem from Israeli extremists and support the Palestinian residents facing institutional neglect and separation from the rest of the West Bank.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
The General Assembly, through resolution ES-10/24, has called for an end to Israel’s illegal occupation. With less than three months remaining to act, we urge Israel to reverse its unlawful policies, measures and actions that entrench its control, occupation and threat to permanently annex the territory, including East Jerusalem and parts of the West Bank. This must stop immediately.
To this end, today’s Jerusalem Conference is an opportunity not only to assess the realities in East Jerusalem but also to mobilize tangible action for the city’s resilient development. Africa, in particular, has a profound role to play in advancing justice and solidarity, as evidenced by legal proceedings brought before the ICJ by South Africa and other countries, and the emergence of the Hague Group, a global bloc of states committed to “coordinated legal and diplomatic measures” in defence of international law and solidarity with the people of Palestine.
We commend France and Saudi Arabia for their efforts to reschedule the High-Level International Conference for the Peaceful Settlement of the Question of Palestine and the Implementation of the Two-State Solution. The relevance of this gathering is further underscored by its alignment with these efforts. It is therefore essential to maintain momentum and ensure the international community remains focused and united.
The time for symbolic gestures has passed. The process of annexation and dispossession is accelerating. We must respond with meaningful, coordinated actions. The two-State Solution, with East Jerusalem as the capital of an independent State of Palestine, is not an aspiration. It is an imperative. Palestinians in Gaza, the West Bank and East Jerusalem cannot wait. Thank you.
VI. UN Secretary-General: “Palestinian suffering has reached new heights and hopes for a just and lasting solution have reached new depths”
On 9 July, the following message of UN Secretary-General António Guterres was read at the 2025 UN-OIC Conference on the Question of Jerusalem by Barrie Freeman, Deputy SRSG of the UN Office for West Africa and the Sahel.
I thank the United Nations Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People and the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation for co-organizing this conference.
I salute Senegal for hosting — a powerful example of African solidarity with the Palestinian people. You come together at a time when Palestinian suffering has reached new heights and hopes for a just and lasting solution have reached new depths.
Following the terror attacks by Hamas and other Palestinian armed groups on 7 October 2023 — which I have unequivocally condemned — the Israeli military operations have created a humanitarian crisis of horrific proportions, more dire today than at any point in this long and brutal crisis.
It is time for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza. The immediate and unconditional release of all hostages in a dignified manner. Full, safe and sustained humanitarian access.
UNRWA’s mandated role in supporting Palestinian refugees must be respected. And obligations under international humanitarian law and Security Council resolutions must also be respected.
Meanwhile, the situation in the occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem, is in freefall. This year alone, over 150 Palestinians, including over 20 children, were killed in the occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem, in Israeli security forces operations, attacks by settlers and other incidents.
Armed Israeli settler violence has surged, with many Palestinians killed, including sometimes in the proximity — and with the support — of Israeli security forces. Since early 2025, tens of thousands of Palestinians have been forced to flee by Israeli security forces operations. Illegal settlement expansion, large-scale land seizures and demolitions of Palestinian-owned structures continue unabated.
Israel’s policies in East Jerusalem, including restrictions on Palestinian access and worship, are deeply troubling. Jerusalem — Al-Quds — holds a unique place in the hearts of millions of Muslims, Jews and Christians around the world. What happens in Jerusalem — including continued provocations and incitements to violence — reverberates globally.
The position of the United Nations is clear: The status of Jerusalem cannot be altered by unilateral actions, including settlement activities in occupied East Jerusalem. It can only be resolved through negotiations between the parties. Jerusalem’s demographic and historical character must be preserved. Respecting and upholding the status quo at the Holy Sites is essential.
The International Court of Justice, in its Advisory Opinion of 19 July 2024, affirmed that Israel’s occupation of the Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem and Gaza, is unlawful. Israel has an obligation to bring an end to its presence in the Occupied Palestinian Territory as rapidly as possible.
The only realistic, just, and sustainable path is the two-State solution, with Israel and an independent, democratic, contiguous, viable and sovereign Palestinian State, with Gaza as an integral part — living side by side in peace within secure, recognized pre-1967 borders, and with Jerusalem as the capital of both States.
The two-State solution remains the only framework rooted in international law, endorsed by numerous General Assembly resolutions, and supported by the international community.
This conference offers a timely platform to mobilize collective efforts towards this solution, and the just and lasting peace that Palestinians and Israelis deserve. Now is the time to choose the path of peace. For Palestinians. For Israelis. For the people of the Middle East and the world.
VII. Comment by UN High Commissioner for Human Rights on U.S. sanctions against Francesca Albanese
The following is a press release issued by the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk on 10 July.
I urge the prompt reversal of U.S. sanctions against a Special Rapporteur of the UN Human Rights Council, Francesca Albanese, in response to work she has undertaken under the mandate on the situation of human rights in the occupied Palestinian territory.
UN Special Rapporteurs, along with other parts of the human rights ecosystem, address – by their nature – sensitive and often divisive issues, that are of international concern.
Even in face of fierce disagreement, UN Member States should engage substantively and constructively, rather than resort to punitive measures.
Attacks and threats against Special Procedures mandate holders, as well as key institutions like the International Criminal Court, must stop. The solution is not less, but more, debate and dialogue on the very real human rights concerns they address.
VIII. “Silence is not an option”: UN Special Procedures’ Coordination Committee condemns U.S. sanctions on Francesca Albanese
On 10 July, the Coordination Committee of the Special Procedures of the Human Rights Council issued the following press release.
The Coordination Committee of the Special Procedures of the Human Rights Council today strongly condemned the US Government’s sanctions on Francesca Albanese, the Special Rapporteur of the UN Human Rights Council, Francesca Albanese, for allegedly assisting the International Criminal Court in taking action against the US or Israel officials.
“These are not only sanctions against one independent human rights expert appointed by the UN Human Rights Council. Rather, they reflect the continued assault of the current US administration on the entire UN system and its core values of human rights, justice, accountability and the rule of law,” the Committee said.
The Committee pointed out that Francesca Albanese has only been discharging her mandate given by the Human Rights Council, which specifically requests the Special Rapporteur to investigate Israel’s violations of the principles and bases of international law, international humanitarian law and the Geneva Convention relative to the Protection of Civilian Persons in Time of War in the Palestinian territories occupied by Israel since 1967. “Despite facing very challenging circumstances, including intimidation and coordinated personal attacks (including against her family members), Albanese has been operating in line with the Code of Conduct for Special Procedures mandate holders,” they said.
“Documenting and exposing the grave violations of international human rights law and international humanitarian law committed by Israel and other actors is work that should be supported by States, not sanctioned or undermined. We applaud the courage of Francesca Albanese in speaking truth to power and stand in solidarity with her.”
“Despite such attempts to intimidate UN Special Procedures mandate holders, we will continue to act independently and with integrity to discharge our mandates given by the Human Rights Council to uphold international human rights standards,” the Committee said.
They stressed that sanctions will not silence Albanese or other mandate holders performing their legitimate work to hold all States and other actors accountable for human rights violations.
“Remaining silent in the face of such blatant disregard and contempt for human rights law is not an option,” the Committee said, calling on all States, the Human Rights Council and members of the international community to act decisively to defend the multilateral system for the promotion and protection of human rights and condemn this unjustified attack on Francesca Albanese and the UN human rights system as a whole.
“The ongoing erosion of the human rights ecosystem and its accountability mechanisms can no longer be ignored,” the Committee said.
IX. OHCHR: Palestinians in Gaza continue to be killed in hundreds against a looming threat of forcible transfer outside Gaza
On 11 July, the UN Human Rights Office in the Occupied Palestinian Territory issued the following press release.
The Israeli military continues to kill and gravely injure hundreds of Palestinians as they desperately seek the little shelter and food available, raising further concerns that Israel is inflicting on Palestinians conditions of life increasingly incompatible with their continued existence in Gaza.
The Israeli military has continued intense attacks on makeshift tents of Palestinians who have fled or lost their homes, many multiple times, killing and injuring them. Between 8 and 9 July, the UN Human Rights office in the occupied Palestinian territory recorded that at least 77 people were killed, among them at least 30 children and women, in 21 attacks on tents of displaced Palestinians, including 9 in Al Mawasi, Khan Younis.
As these tents generally shelter families in close quarters, any strike on them often results in the killing of entire families. It is difficult to see how such actions comply with the fundamental principles of international humanitarian law: distinction, proportionality, and precautions in attack. In a recent example, on 8 July, an Israeli drone reportedly struck a tent of displaced Palestinians in Al Attar area, southwestern Khan Younis, killing 12 people – 10 of whom were from the same family. The victims included a couple and their 3 children.
Israeli attacks have also continued on residential buildings, many of which have been systematically destroyed, shrinking the options for shelter available to the population and driving further displacement.
Meanwhile, Palestinians seeking food — mostly young men and boys — continue to be shot and killed in the vicinity of the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) sites. Reports indicate the Israeli military is targeting large groups of civilians with lethal force, including shooting and shelling, in the absence of any threat to life or serious injury. Despite these dangers, Palestinians have little choice, as the entire population faces starvation, while Israel continues to unlawfully limit the entry into Gaza of basic items indispensable to the survival of the civilian population. Since GHF started operating in Gaza on 27 May, the UN Human Rights office has recorded that more than 634 Palestinians were killed in the vicinity of sites run by them, as of 10 July at noon.
We are concerned that the GHF’s poor operational methods, including leaving food at sites without announcement, operating very short opening hours – sometimes for only 3-4 minutes and in the middle of the night – and erratic closures for days at a time, have fuelled further instability. In this context, the food distribution sites appear to continue to attract desperate Palestinians, even when there are no deliveries. For example, despite no announcements that the GHF Saudi site in northwestern Rafah would be open on 8 July, 6 Palestinians, including 3 boys, were reportedly killed in the vicinity, while another 8 were killed on 9 July. On the morning of 11 July, 10 Palestinians were reportedly killed and 60 injured, again in the same area.
Israeli military attacks on Palestinians occur in the context of increasing civil disorder. According to the UN Human Rights office in OPT, intra-Palestinian violence involving Palestinian armed groups and different criminal groups have also been on the rise, with allegations that some groups have been receiving external support, further sowing distrust and disorder in a community where law enforcement and judicial systems have been largely destroyed.
These conditions, along with highly restricted entry of food and other basic necessities and reported plans by Israeli authorities to concentrate much of the population in a so-called “humanitarian city” in Rafah, possibly with the intention to forcibly displace them outside Gaza altogether, may amount to atrocity crimes.
We call on Israel to comply with fundamental rules and principles governing the conduct of hostilities. As the occupying power in Gaza, it also has the obligation to ensure the provision of basic necessities, including food, and to facilitate humanitarian organisations’ access to provide such assistance, and must also maintain public life and order in full compliance with international human rights law standards applicable to law enforcement. It must respect and protect the right to life of civilians seeking food at GHF sites, and refrain from taking any steps aimed at, or which may result in, the forcible transfer of the Palestinian population within Gaza or its deportation outside of the strip.
X. OHCHR: Israel must stop killings and home demolitions in occupied West Bank
On 15 July, the spokesperson for the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights issued the following statement.
Israeli settlers and security forces have intensified their killings, attacks and harassment of Palestinians in the occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem, in the past weeks. This includes the demolition of hundreds of homes and forced mass displacement of Palestinians, contributing to the ongoing consolidation of annexation of West Bank territory by Israel, in violation of international law.
Since the launch of Israel’s operation “Iron Wall” in the north of the occupied West Bank earlier this year, about 30,000 Palestinians remain forcibly displaced. Israeli forces have shot live ammunition at unarmed Palestinians, including those attempting to go back to their homes in the refugee camps of Jenin, Tulkarem and Nur Shams.
Israeli security forces have often used unnecessary or disproportionate force, including lethal force against Palestinians who did not pose an imminent threat to life. The youngest victim, two-year-old Laila Khatib, was shot in the head by Israeli security forces on 25 January while she was inside her house in Ash-Shuhada village, in Jenin. On 3 July, 61-year-old Walid Badir was shot and killed by Israeli security forces, reportedly while he was cycling back home from prayers, passing through the outskirts of the Nur Shams camp.
Laila and Walid are among at least 964 Palestinians killed since 7 October 2023 by Israeli forces and settlers in the occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem.
Also, since 7 October 2023, 53 Israelis have been killed in reported attacks by Palestinians or in armed clashes, 35 in the West Bank and 18 in Israel.
In June, the UN recorded the highest monthly injury toll of Palestinians in over two decades. In all, 96* Palestinians were injured by Israeli settlers. During the first half of 2025, there have been 757 settler attacks that resulted in Palestinian casualties or property damage — a 13 per cent increase on the same period in 2024.
Since the start of operation “Iron Wall”, Israeli security forces have issued demolition orders for about 1,400 homes. These large-scale demolitions, if not rendered absolutely necessary by military operations, violate Israel’s obligations as the occupying power.
Israeli demolitions have displaced 2,907 Palestinians across the West Bank since 7 October 2023. In the same period, a further 2,400 Palestinians, nearly half of them children, have been forcibly displaced as a result of the actions of Israeli settlers thus emptying large parts of the West Bank of Palestinians.
Permanently displacing the civilian population within occupied territory amounts to unlawful transfer, a grave breach of the Fourth Geneva Convention and, depending on the circumstances, may also amount to a crime against humanity.
Israel must immediately stop these killings, harassment and home demolitions across the occupied Palestinian territory. As the occupying power, Israel must take all feasible measures to ensure public order and safety in the West Bank. It is under the obligation to protect Palestinians from settler attacks and to end the unlawful use of force by its security forces. There must be thorough, independent and transparent investigations into all killings and all other alleged violations of international law. Those responsible must be held to account.
In line with the advisory opinion issued by the International Court of Justice, Israel must bring to an end its unlawful presence in the occupied Palestinian territory.
* Following further corroboration after the issuance of this briefing note, the figure rose to 100. In all, 100 Palestinians were injured by Israeli settlers in June 2025.
XI. UN Relief Chief warns Security Council: Erosion of rules of war in Gaza demands urgent response
The following is a briefing to the Security Council on the Middle East by Tom Fletcher, Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator on 16 July.
Mr. President,
I want to remind this Council why we are briefing you today.
The General Assembly gave us a humanitarian mandate – in resolution 46/182 – and a set of principles that you as Member States have asked us to uphold: humanity, impartiality, neutrality and independence. That means aid must go where needs are greatest and without discrimination. It means we answer to civilians in need, not the warring parties.
Our mandate is also to advocate for international humanitarian law – not just to report to you on what we witness, but so that you, this Council, can take action. Even when those responsible would rather silence us.
Mr. President,
We are beyond vocabulary to describe conditions in Gaza. So let me instead share facts:
Food is running out. Those seeking it risk being shot. People are dying trying to feed their families. Field hospitals receive dead bodies, and medical workers hear stories firsthand from the injured. Day, after day, after day.
Starvation rates among children hit their highest levels in June, with over 5,800 girls and boys diagnosed as acutely malnourished.
Last week, amid this hunger crisis, children and women were killed in a strike while waiting for the food supplements to keep them alive.
And Hamas continue to hold hostages, and we have received reports of their attacks on aid workers.
The health system is shattered. Only 17 of 36 hospitals and 63 of 170 primary healthcare centres are functioning, all only partially, even as mass casualties arrive daily.
In some hospitals, five babies share one incubator. Seventy per cent of essential medicines are out of stock.
Half of all medical equipment has been damaged. Pregnant women give birth without medical care. Women and girls manage menstruation without basic sanitary supplies.
Water, sanitation systems are broken. Roughly four of every five of these facilities, including water points, are now located within militarized zones or areas under displacement orders – so, even if they are functional, they are out of reach for those who depend on them.
Mr. President,
The fuel crisis in Gaza remains at a critical threshold.
Last week, Israeli authorities agreed to allow two trucks of fuel to Gaza per day, five days a week, through the Kerem Shalom crossing, and we have some indication that approvals may increase slightly. We hope these will materialize.
This is the first time any fuel has been allowed to enter the Strip in 130 days, and still no petrol has been permitted, which fuels many ambulances and other critical services.
Two trucks provide a fraction of what’s required to run essential life-sustaining services.
And even when fuel is allowed in for humanitarian purposes, our access to storing and moving it to where it is needed is not guaranteed.
Mr. President,
Turning to the West Bank, there is continued loss of life and livelihoods, movement restrictions, growing displacement. Over the weekend, two Palestinian youths were killed in a settler attack near Ramallah. One was beaten to death; another was fatally shot. Dozens were injured. And ambulances were blocked from reaching the wounded.
Settler violence is escalating at an alarming rate, and Palestinian communities are being displaced, injured and their property damaged. Each day this year, the UN has documented an average of four incidents of settler violence against Palestinians and their property. In June, 100 Palestinians were injured by Israeli settlers, the highest number in two decades.
Mr. President,
Gaza’s soaring humanitarian needs must be met without drawing people into a firing line. Israel, as the occupying power, is obligated to ensure that people have food and medical supplies. But that is not happening. Instead, civilians are exposed to death and injury, forcible displacement, stripped of dignity.
It is for you to draw your own conclusions. But surely, we do not need to debate whether killing civilians waiting in line for life’s essentials meets the responsibility to provide for civilian needs.
We are awaiting the outcome of Israel’s investigation into this, and earlier incidents. I hope that you will consider whether Israel’s rules of engagement incorporate all feasible precautions to avoid and minimize civilian harm in all circumstances.
This means, here as elsewhere, verifying targets, giving effective advance warnings, carefully choosing tactics and weapons, and cancelling or suspending an attack if it would cause disproportionate civilian harm.
Mr. President,
Each time that we report on what we see, we face threats of further reduced access to the civilians we are trying to serve.
We face that tension everywhere, but nowhere is that tension between our advocacy mandate and delivering aid greater than in Gaza. Visas are not renewed or reduced in duration, explicitly in response to our work on protection of civilians. Security clearances are not granted for staff to enter Gaza to continue their work.
And humanitarian partners are increasingly denied entry to Gaza. In 2025, 56 per cent of the entries denied were for Emergency Medical Teams.
Of course, as you know, hundreds of aid workers have been killed; and those who continue to work endure hunger, danger and loss, like everyone else in the Gaza Strip. Personal tragedies continue to echo through our teams and their families. This morning another ICRC colleague was killed.
I pay tribute to them all and to the courage of the work of UNICEF and other agencies inside Gaza. Thousands, including many of our colleagues who are injured, are not able to leave to seek treatment.
Mr. President,
Let me walk you briefly through what it takes to deliver your aid – the aid you fund – into Gaza.
Something as simple as a bag of flour:
Before reaching the crossing into Gaza, it must clear multiple layers of approval, including customs involving several ministries.
Once approved, it is scanned, loaded onto Israeli trucks, and often re-inspected at Kerem Shalom.
From there, it is either moved by pre-approved Palestinian trucks up the fence road that runs along Gaza’s border or transferred to so-called sterile trucks which offload on the Palestinian side of the crossing and are picked up in different sized trucks from Gaza.
It’s why counting trucks is often misleading – because it’s not always a ratio of one-to-one.
Once inside Gaza, movement requires navigating an obstacle course of coordination with Israeli forces, through active hostilities, traveling on damaged roads, and often being forced to wait at holding points or pass through areas controlled by criminal gangs. And distribution is uncertain, as starving people often try to grab the flour off the back of our trucks.
With these obstacles in place, your generous contribution may never reach our distribution points. And even if it does, getting it at scale to those in need remains deeply uncertain. And as I have said before, it doesn’t have to be this way.
We have a plan that works. It requires predictable aid, of different types and at scale, entering multiple crossings where people do not come under fire, travelling on routes that we choose, without long delays, being delivered to our warehouses and distribution points according to established UN aid mechanisms and humanitarian principles – the principles that you have given us the mandate to uphold.
Mr. President,
Even as this broader plan remains stalled, and despite severe restrictions, thousands of colleagues on the ground – daily, at great personal risk – are still delivering life-saving aid.
Between 19th of May, when limited aid entry resumed, and the 14th of July, only 1,633 trucks – 62 per cent of the roughly 2,600 submitted to the Israeli authorities, 74 per cent of those approved for entry – reached Kerem Shalom and Zikim crossings.
They carried mainly wheat flour, alongside limited quantities of food for kitchens, nutrition supplies, medical supplies, chlorine. After multiple steps of cargo offloading and uploading on different vehicles, a total of 1,600 Palestinian trucks could be collected for distribution inside Gaza.
Last week alone, we had 21 Emergency Medical Teams deployed providing life-saving services and some relief to doctors in Gaza; 238 pallets of medical supplies entered, including 10 cold-chain pallets with 1,396 blood units and 1,550 plasma doses – enough for 10 days.
We supported 800 weekly medical consultations for women and girls, enabled 84 kitchens to serve 260,000 meals daily, and delivered 17,000 cubic metres of drinking water through 1,300 collection points. This is life-saving support provided with dignity.
But to be clear, it’s a drop in the ocean of what is needed, compared to the average of 630 truckloads that entered daily during the ceasefire.
The ceasefire proved what’s possible. And we need to return to those levels without delay.
Now, our work – the UN and its partners – is by no means perfect, but it is rooted in humanitarian principles, practices honed over decades of experience across the globe, steadfast commitment to saving lives. And we ask you again, please, let us work.
In this respect, I welcome the recent agreement between the European Union and Israel on humanitarian access. We look forward to hearing more of the detail, and to understanding how implementation will be assessed.
Mr. President,
Let me remind this Council that the International Court of Justice has demanded that Israel take immediate and effective measures to enable the provision of urgently needed basic services and humanitarian assistance.
With these facts before you, I ask you as a Council to assess whether Israel is meeting its international legal obligations and whether we humanitarians can fulfil our mandate.
Is this allowing and facilitating rapid, unimpeded passage of impartial humanitarian relief, as the rules of war demand? Or is it obstruction? You will draw your own conclusions.
Mr. President,
Weeks ago, an Israeli minister called allowing aid into Gaza a “disastrous decision,” while another implied that starvation might be “justified and moral” until hostages are freed – and they must be freed.
Intentionally using the starvation of civilians as a method of warfare would of course be a war crime.
Most recently, Israel’s Defence Minister talked openly about moving Palestinians into what he called a ‘humanitarian city.’
We understand that the proposal is to forcibly displace Palestinians to a designated zone near Rafah. Now I don’t know how to describe this, but it is not humanitarian.
Mr. President,
States and armed groups must uphold the rules – forged because of the horrors of conflict and hatred – that protect civilians in war.
Today, across the world, we watch these rules being corroded and degraded.
Again, it is of course for you to decide how you act to ensure that all parties respect international humanitarian law.
But I agree with some members of the Israeli cabinet that you have consistently overestimated your powers of quiet persuasion.
We hold all parties to the standards of international law in this conflict. We don’t have to choose – and in fact, we must not choose – between demanding the end to the starvation of civilians in Gaza and demanding the unconditional release of all the hostages.
And we must reject antisemitism. We must fight it with every fiber of our DNA. But we must also hold Israel to the same principles and laws of all other states.
So civilians must be protected wherever they are. Hostages must be released – I say it again. Humanitarian aid must be allowed to enter at scale. And humanitarian workers must be protected.
You owe that to Israeli and Palestinian civilians, to the last hopes of a sustainable peace, and to the UN Charter.
All members of this Council have been unequivocal: ceasefire, ceasefire, ceasefire. Thank you.
XII. Children are “being killed and maimed as they line up for lifesaving food and medicine” UNICEF Executive Director briefs the UN Security Council
On 16 July, UNICEF Executive Director Catherine Russell delivered the following remarks on the humanitarian situation for children in Gaza at the UN Security Council meeting.
Excellencies, good afternoon. Thank you to Pakistan, as president of the Council, and to Member States for bringing us together this afternoon. Thank you for inviting UNICEF to share our firsthand perspective on this desperate situation for Gaza’s 1 million children.
From the beginning of the present conflict, children – Palestinian and Israeli – have suffered terribly. Children have been killed, traumatized, and taken hostage. Children have been orphaned and injured. Children are hungry and lack clean water. Children are out of school, and the safety of their homes is a distant memory.
Children are not political actors. They do not start conflicts, and they are powerless to stop them. But they suffer greatly, and they wonder why the world has failed them. And make no mistake, we have failed them.
Over the past 21 months of war, more than 17,000 children have reportedly been killed and 33,000 injured in Gaza. An average of 28 children have been killed each day – the equivalent of an entire classroom. Consider that for a moment. A whole classroom of children killed, every day for nearly two years.
These children are not combatants. They are being killed and maimed as they line up for lifesaving food and medicine.
Last week, 15 Palestinians, including nine children and four women, were killed by a strike while waiting in line for UNICEF nutritional supplies in Deir al Balah.
Among the survivors was Donia, a mother seeking a lifeline for her family after months of desperation and hunger. Donia’s 1-year-old son, Mohammed, was killed in the attack after speaking his first words just hours earlier. When we spoke with Donia, she was lying critically injured in a hospital bed, clutching Mohammed’s tiny shoe.
This past weekend, 10 people, including seven children, were killed in an attack while collecting drinking water. And just today, at least 20 people, some of whom were children, were reportedly killed in a chaotic surge of people at a Gaza Humanitarian Foundation distribution site in southern Gaza.
Between May 27th and July 7th, the UN Human Rights Office recorded the killings of 798 Palestinian civilians – including children – desperate to find food, at or near distribution sites and humanitarian convoys.
At the same time, the situation in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, has significantly deteriorated. Since the start of the year, 33 Palestinian children have been killed in militarized operations and settler attacks. More than 32,000 people have been forcibly displaced, while the demolition of homes and roads, and the use of explosive weapons in populated areas continue.
In addition, the number of Palestinian children from the West Bank in detention for alleged security-related offences has reached its highest level in seven years. This includes 120 children detained without charge or trial, under administrative detention orders.
Excellencies, children who survive the war in Gaza will be forever affected by the deprivation and exposure to traumatic events they have experienced. Even before the war began, half of Gaza’s child population needed mental health and psychological support. Today, all of Gaza’s children need these services.
Children in Gaza are enduring catastrophic living conditions, including severe food insecurity and malnutrition.
Of the more than 113,000 children screened for malnutrition in June, nearly 6,000 were found to be acutely malnourished. This represents a staggering 180 per cent increase in acute malnutrition cases compared to February.
These severely malnourished children need consistent, supervised treatment, along with safe water and medical care to survive.
Water production capacity has plummeted, and as a result, 95 per cent of households in Gaza do not have access to adequate water. Water pumping, desalination, and wastewater treatment are all operating at significantly reduced capacity because of the lack of fuel. And sanitation services are nearing collapse.
With clean water increasingly difficult to access, children have little choice but to drink contaminated water. This is increasing the risk of disease outbreaks, with water borne diseases now making up 44 per cent of all healthcare consultations.
We continue to see more cases of diarrheal and respiratory infections in children under five. And in recent days, our UNICEF team in Gaza have been responding to a meningitis outbreak with dozens of infants now gravely ill.
Thousands of children urgently need emergency medical support. Children with traumatic injuries and severe pre-existing medical conditions are at risk of death because the medical care they need is unavailable in the Gaza Strip.
Hospitals that are still able to operate are overwhelmed, with emergency departments operating at full capacity and occupancy exceeding 100 per cent. These facilities are facing severe shortages of essential medicine and fuel, disrupting critical care and leaving some operating rooms in the dark. Access to critical newborn care has been reduced by nearly 70 per cent.
At least 12,500 patients with severe injuries, chronic diseases, and complex medical conditions need urgent medical evacuation, including thousands of children. But only a small number of countries are taking in patients from Gaza, resulting in even more preventable deaths.
Here, I would like to commend those countries, including those in the region, that are accepting patients from Gaza.
Until Gaza’s health care system has sufficient capacity, UNICEF is calling for increased support for medical evacuations, with the guarantee that all evacuated patients and their caregivers can return to Gaza following treatment and recovery.
Excellencies, after almost 11 weeks of a complete aid blockade, authorities have permitted a trickle of UN supplies to enter the Gaza Strip beginning in mid-May. It is nowhere near enough. Between May 19th and July 2nd, authorities allowed an average of 30 UN trucks per day to offload aid at designated crossings. This included UNICEF nutrition products, water treatment supplies, and vaccines.
But 30 trucks a day are a fraction of what is needed for two million people to survive.
We continue to call on the authorities to permit the entry and delivery of humanitarian aid in Gaza at sufficient speed and scale to meet the urgent needs of children and families.
This includes fuel. With electricity cut off since the start of the war, all operations inside the Gaza Strip – hospital generators, ambulances, bakeries, water and sanitation facilities, and the communication network –depend on fuel. A crippling fuel shortage is now forcing essential services to shut down, putting the lives of over a million children at risk. Fuel must be consistently allowed into Gaza, in sufficient quantities to sustain life-saving operations.
Excellencies, for the last several months, the UN-led humanitarian response has been sidelined – despite the fact that during the March ceasefire, we were delivering assistance in an efficient and safe manner.
This included essential vaccines and neonatal care, lifesaving nutrition services, and access to clean water, provided through more than 400 distribution points across Gaza.
UNICEF and our partners went even further – delivering aid door-to-door, reaching malnourished children and pregnant mothers directly in their places of refuge.
We implore you, again, to ensure that UNICEF and our humanitarian partners are allowed to do our jobs. We have proven that essentials like medicine, vaccines, water, food, and nutrition for babies can reach those in need, wherever they are, when we have appropriate access. We urgently need a return to the functioning U.N.-led aid pipeline with safe and sustained humanitarian access through all available crossings.
In addition, UNICEF reiterates the Secretary-General’s appeal to ensure that all aid delivery is demilitarized and grounded in the principles of humanity, impartiality, neutrality, and independence. Civilian safety must be paramount. I urge this Council to use its full weight to press parties to accept these principles and rules.
Excellencies, in Gaza, the effects of the violence perpetrated on children have been catastrophic. International law is clear: all parties to the conflict have an obligation to protect civilians and ensure the safe and unimpeded delivery of humanitarian assistance.
We call on all parties to immediately act to protect children. We call on Israel to urgently review its rules of engagement to ensure full compliance with international humanitarian law, notably the protection of civilians, including children, and to conduct thorough and independent investigations of incidents and alleged violations to ensure accountability.
And we call on all parties to abide by their legal obligations to ensure the survival and wellbeing of the civilian population, including through safe, rapid, and unimpeded humanitarian access.
We call on Hamas and other Palestinian armed groups to uphold international humanitarian law, including respect for facilities that civilians depend on and the facilitation of unimpeded access. In addition, they should immediately and unconditionally release all hostages held inside Gaza.
All parties to the conflict should urgently agree to a ceasefire, and we call on this Council to use all tools at its disposal to address human suffering and put an end to this war.
Lastly, we call on all Member States to use all their leverage to de-escalate the conflict in the meantime.
Excellencies, the simple truth is that we are failing Gaza’s children. Seen through their eyes, our failure is a betrayal of their right to be children. Children who are healthy, safe, and educated. History will judge this failure harshly. And the children will judge it too. Children in Gaza, like children all over the world, deserve peace. Our job is to give children the future they deserve. We simply must do better. Thank you.
XIII. UNRWA: On proposed amendment to Israeli anti-UNRWA legislation
On 17 July, the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) issued the following statement.
Last week, a proposed amendment to the Israeli Parliament (Knesset) laws against UNRWA was published.
The amendment proposed by the Ministry of Energy and Infrastructure contains two key proposals against UNRWA in the occupied Palestinian territory, particularly targeting East Jerusalem:
- Prohibiting service providers from supplying UNRWA installations with water and electricity.
- Seizing of land on which the West Bank Field Office in Sheikh Jarrah and the Kalandia Training Centre near Qalandiya Camp are located. If implemented, this would allow for the confiscation of the land without any additional legal proceedings.
All UNRWA installations are United Nations premises and are protected by the privileges and immunities of the United Nations. The legislative action being taken against UNRWA and its presence in the occupied Palestinian territory, including East Jerusalem, is unprecedented and violates Israel’s obligations as a United Nations member state under the UN Charter.
This amendment threatens to further debilitate UNRWA’s operations in the West Bank, after the forced closure of six of the Agency’s schools in East Jerusalem two months ago. In particular, critical services to more than 200,000 Palestine Refugees in East Jerusalem are now at stake.
It is the duty of the international community at large to uphold UNRWA’s humanitarian space, to ensure unhindered service provision, and to protect the rights of Palestine Refugees.
XIV. UN expert denounces “genocidal violence” against women and girls in Gaza
On 17 July, Reem Alsalem, the Special Rapporteur on violence against women and girls, its causes and consequences, issued the following press release.
The UN Special Rapporteur on violence against women and girls, its causes and consequences, Reem Alsalem, today called for immediate global action to halt what she described as an unfolding “femi-genocide” in Gaza, saying the scale and nature of the crimes inflicted on Palestinian women and girls by Israeli forces are so extreme that existing concepts in legal and criminal frameworks can no longer adequately describe or capture them.
“What is happening to Palestinian women and girls is not collateral damage of war,” Alsalem said. “It is the intentional destruction of their lives and bodies, for being Palestinian and for being women.”
The Special Rapporteur reiterated findings from her recent report to the Human Rights Council stating that Israel is deliberately killing Palestinian women and girls with the intent to destroy them and the continuity of the Palestinian people. She called this a “femi-genocide”. According to estimates, women and girls account for 67 percent of the 57,680 Palestinians killed by 9 July 2025.
“There is more than one way to subject a people to genocide. Destroying them in whole or in part psychologically is one of them,” the expert said. “The horrors that Palestinian mothers, in particular, continue to endure — watching their children slowly starve, killed, maimed, and buried alive — is killing them repeatedly in a single day. The psychological trauma they, and all Palestinians in Gaza, are suffering knows no boundaries.” Many women, including mothers, have also been killed while seeking food and water for their families.
Alsalem highlighted the use of reproductive violence as part of Israel’s campaign. “The destruction of Gaza’s health infrastructure has reportedly left 150,000 pregnant and lactating women without access to essential care. An estimated 17,000 of these women and 60,000 children under five now suffer from acute malnutrition. At least 60 children have died from starvation since March 2025, following Israel’s blockade on food, medical supplies, and humanitarian aid,” she said. “This is in addition to the 50,000 children who have been reported killed or injured since October 2023.”
She condemned the Israeli authorities’ latest move to block the entry of baby formula, while warning that the ongoing fuel shortages further endanger the lives of newborns in incubators. She noted that dozens of infants have been born prematurely, died shortly after birth, while others have been born with unprecedented genetic mutations, likely caused by starvation, trauma, and exposure to radioactive and toxic material.
The Special Rapporteur also raised alarm over reports of sexual violence, including rape, committed by Israeli forces. She stressed that, within Gaza, a climate of desperation, overcrowding and lack of assistance and protection services has led to spikes in sexual violence, intimate partner violence, and other forms of abuse, often perpetrated by family members and others within the community.
“The violence and atrocities that Palestinian women are subjected to have become so normalised that they are now the new accepted reality, even in other conflicts. No one seems to bat an eyelid anymore when hearing about the terror women are experiencing,” the expert said. “With the dismantling of the law-based order and the protections it guarantees to civilians, the situation for women and girls is metastasising beyond Gaza and Palestine, with devastating consequences for all.”
Alsalem urged States to spare no efforts to end the genocide in Gaza, ensure justice for all, and include the differentiated experiences of women and girls in all accountability processes. “The continuity of Palestinian life depends on it. Our collective humanity and future depend on it,” she said.
XV. UN experts call for end to anguish of families seeking truth about disappeared loved ones in the Occupied Palestinian Territory and Israel
On 18 July, UN experts Gabriella Citroni (Chair-Rapporteur), Grażyna Baranowska (Vice-Chair), Aua Baldé, Ana Lorena Delgadillo Pérez, and Mohammed Al-Obaidi, Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances; Francesca Albanese, Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Palestinian territory occupied since 1967; Morris Tidball-Binz, Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions; Alice Jill Edwards, Special Rapporteur on torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment, and Ben Saul, Special Rapporteur on counter-terrorism and human rights, issued the following statement.
About 4,000 Palestinians, including children and the elderly and 51 Israelis are still missing since 7 October 2023, UN experts said today, calling on authorities in both Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territory to disclose the fate and whereabouts of all victims of enforced disappearance.
“Enforced disappearances can never be justified, even during a state of war, instability or public emergency,” the experts said.
Twenty months of assault by the Israeli army have resulted, among others, in widespread patterns of enforced disappearances among Palestinians in Gaza and other parts of the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including health and care workers, journalists, and other professionals, as well as women and children, the experts said.
“This has been facilitated through military orders and legislation allowing for indefinite detention without trial of so-called ‘unlawful combatants’ and others, in breach of international human rights and humanitarian law,” they said.
The experts said attacks perpetrated by Palestinian armed groups on 7 October 2023 led to many Israeli civilians being killed and 251 victims taken hostage. The whereabouts of at least 51 hostages remain unknown. These acts are tantamount to enforced disappearances, they said.
“The urgent need is for an end to hostilities, unconditional freeing of all hostages, and certainty on the fate and whereabouts of all those forcibly disappeared, no matter the circumstances, whether in detention or deceased,” the experts said.
Through its humanitarian procedure, the Working Group continues to register cases and see patterns of disappeared persons and victims whose fate and whereabouts are unknown, in particular with persons last seen while trying to cross from the north of Gaza to the south or vice-versa at checkpoints, from hospitals and persons arrested by officers of the Israeli Defence Forces during ground operations.
“These detentions are not properly reported to families, registration of deprivation of liberty cannot be verified, and those in custody are unable to communicate with their families or legal representatives or to seek legal review of the grounds of their detention,” they said. “The pain and suffering for relatives of the disappeared can constitute a form of psychological torture and other inhumane treatment.”
“In cases of death in custody, authorities must promptly, impartially, independently and thoroughly investigate to establish the cause and manner of their deaths and return the bodies of victims to their families,” the experts said.
Palestinian armed groups and Israeli Defence Forces must immediately, investigate and prevent enforced disappearances and acts tantamount, the experts said, calling for prompt, independent, impartial and thorough investigation, prosecution and sanction of those responsible.
“It is concerning that the figures for Palestinians who have been forcibly disappeared and missing are hugely underreported,” the experts said.
They noted that relatives of victims are often reluctant to report cases or exchange information with Israeli Government officials, for fear of reprisals or lack of trust.
“We call for the immediate and unconditional release of the remaining hostages held in Gaza as well as the immediate disclosure of the fate, whereabouts, legal status and state of health of all Palestinians who have been forcibly disappeared,” the experts said. They called for their immediate release, unless they are charged with an internationally recognisable criminal offence and prosecuted in proceedings that comply with international standards.
They urged families and civil society to report enforced disappearances and acts tantamount to relevant Special Procedures, including the Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances. The Working Group’s primary task is to assist families in determining the fate and whereabouts of their relatives who have reportedly disappeared.
The Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances raised these concerns in a communication to the Government of Israel, which is yet to provide a response.
XVI. UN Secretary-General is appalled by the accelerating breakdown of humanitarian conditions in Gaza
The following statement was issued on 21 July by the spokesperson for UN Secretary-General António Guterres.
The Secretary-General is appalled by the accelerating breakdown of humanitarian conditions in Gaza, where the last lifelines keeping people alive are collapsing.
He deplores the growing reports of children and adults suffering from malnutrition.
The Secretary-General strongly condemns the ongoing violence, including the shooting, killing, and injuring of people attempting to get food for their families.
Civilians must be protected and respected, and they must never be targeted. The population in Gaza remains gravely undersupplied with the basic necessities of life.
Israel has the obligation to allow and facilitate by all the means at its disposal the humanitarian relief provided by the United Nations and by other humanitarian organizations.
The Secretary-General notes that the intensification of hostilities in recent days comes as the humanitarian system is being impeded, undermined and endangered.
A new evacuation order in parts of Deir al Balah – home to tens of thousands – pushes people into more desperate conditions and further displacement and restricts the United Nations’ ability to deliver life-saving aid. UN staff remain in Deir al Balah, and two UN guesthouses have been struck, despite parties having been informed of the locations of UN premises, which are inviolable. These locations – as with all civilian sites – must be protected, regardless of evacuation orders.
The Secretary-General reiterates his urgent call for the protection of civilians, including humanitarian personnel, and for the provision of essential resources to ensure their survival.
He once again calls for the immediate and unconditional release of all hostages.
The UN stands ready to significantly scale up our humanitarian operations. The time for a ceasefire is now.
XVII. UN Human Rights Chief: Israeli attacks on Deir El Balah add more misery to the suffering of Palestinians
On 22 July, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk issued the following statement.
The latest Israeli displacement orders, followed by intensive attacks, on southwestern Deir El Balah, in the Gaza Strip, have added more misery to the suffering of hungry Palestinians. It seemed the nightmare couldn’t possibly get worse. And yet it does.
These Israeli airstrikes and ground operations will invariably lead to further civilian deaths and destruction of civilian infrastructure. Given the concentration of civilians in the area, and the means and methods of warfare employed by Israel until now, the risks of unlawful killings and other serious violations of international humanitarian law are extremely high. The area targeted by these attacks is also home to several humanitarian organisations, including clinics, other medical facilities, shelters, a community kitchen, guesthouses, warehouses and other critical infrastructure.
Homes have already been destroyed, and thousands have been forced to flee the area again. Their only choice is to go to the ever-shrinking areas of Gaza where hundreds of thousands are being forced to gather, rendering difficult any attempt to deliver humanitarian assistance. Even these areas are not safe. I remind Israel that permanently displacing people living under its occupation would amount to unlawful transfer, which is a war crime, and in certain circumstances, may also amount to a crime against humanity.
Israel, as the occupying power, must ensure food, medical and other supplies are provided for the population. It must immediately and unconditionally allow humanitarian aid to enter and be distributed to all those who are in need. And instead of launching round upon round of new military attacks, there must be an immediate end to the killings, destruction and the wide scale violations of international law. More and more countries are joining the calls to shake us out of this nightmare.
XVIII. UN Assistant Secretary-General updates Security Council on Gaza crisis, urgently calls for an immediate ceasefire, the release of all hostages and increased humanitarian aid
On 23 July, the UN Assistant Secretary-General for the Middle East, Asia and the Pacific Khaled Khiari briefed the Security Council on the situation in the Middle East.
Mr. President,
Members of the Security Council,
I brief you today as intensive talks continue over a potential Gaza ceasefire agreement and release of hostages. It is crucial that this leads to a permanent end to the war and the release of all hostages. It is long past time for the fighting to end, for hostages to return home, for adequate humanitarian aid to enter the Strip, and for recovery and reconstruction to begin in the context of a return to a political path towards a two-State solution.
While talks are ongoing, the horrific situation in Gaza continues to deteriorate, with Israeli military operations and hostilities expanding throughout the Strip and the human toll mounting by the hour. This nightmare of historic proportions must end immediately.
The intensive Israeli military operations in Deir al Balah that has resulted in still further Palestinian displacement and direct strikes on two UN guesthouses has further exacerbated the dire situation and impeded humanitarian operations.
At least 1,891 Palestinians were killed in Gaza since my last briefing on 30 June, according to the Ministry of Health in Gaza. Some 294 were reportedly killed while attempting to collect aid, including in the vicinity of militarized aid distribution sites. Israeli forces continued to issue evacuation orders, causing the repeated displacement of the population. Food insecurity and the broader humanitarian situation continued to worsen, despite the limited increase in the approval of entry of humanitarian supplies.
According to Israeli sources, 50 hostages, including one woman, are still being held captive by Hamas and other Palestinian armed groups in Gaza, including 28 that are believed to be dead. Since 30 June, 13 IDF soldiers were killed in hostilities in Gaza. Palestinian militants also continued to sporadically and indiscriminately launch rockets towards Israel.
The Secretary-General has repeatedly condemned the continued holding of hostages by Hamas and other armed groups. Hostages must be released immediately and unconditionally.
I echo the Secretary-General’s call for the repeated displacement of the population in Gaza to cease. Any forced displacement of the population from any part of the Occupied Palestinian Territory would constitute a breach of international law obligations. International humanitarian law must be respected by all parties, at all times, and civilians must be protected.
On 17 July, the Catholic Church of the Holy Family in Gaza City was hit by an Israeli strike, which killed three and injured several others. The Patriarchate of Jerusalem condemned what it said was a targeted strike on the church and said the extensive damage had forced the evacuation of some 600 Palestinians seeking shelter in the compound, including children and those with special needs. The Secretary-General condemned the strike, stressing that attacks on places of worship are unacceptable. The incident also prompted widespread condemnation and calls for accountability from Member States. The Israeli Prime Minister’s Office said that Israel “deeply regrets that a stray ammunition hit” the church and noted that Israel is investigating the incident.
On 10 July, EU High Representative Kallas announced that the EU and Israel had agreed on “significant steps” to improve the humanitarian situation in Gaza. Since then, Kallas has reiterated the need for implementing the agreement, and that far more assistance is needed.
Since 9 July, following 130 days of a full blockade on fuel, Israeli authorities allowed the entry of a small number of fuel trucks through the Kerem Shalom/Karim Abu Salem crossing for medical facilities and other essential services. This amount is a fraction of what is required to run essential life-saving services in Gaza, where nearly every aspect of life depends on fuel.
Mr. President,
The situation in the occupied West Bank also remains deeply concerning, with high levels of violence driven by ongoing Israeli military operations, many involving civilian casualties and extensive damage to homes and infrastructure, attacks by settlers against Palestinians, and attacks by Palestinians against Israelis.
On 1 July, Israeli Security Forces (ISF) shot and killed a 17-year-old Palestinian boy during an operation in Ramallah. He was reportedly shot from inside an armoured vehicle while walking with a relative.
On 10 July, two Palestinians shot and killed an Israeli man in the Gush Etzyon settlement. The Palestinian perpetrators were reportedly shot and killed by Israeli civilians at the scene.
On 11 July, Israeli settlers attacked and killed two Palestinians, one of them a visiting American citizen, near the village of Sinjil. One of them reportedly bled to death after being shot and the other was beaten with bats and sticks. On 16 July, US Ambassador to Israel Huckabee condemned the attack as a “terrorist act” and said Israel must ensure accountability. Settlement advancement also continues, as numerous ministers and Members of Knesset intensified their calls on the Government to formally annex the West Bank or parts of it.
Further exacerbating the situation, the Palestinian Authority continues to face a dire fiscal crisis. The continued withholding of clearance revenues by Israel, amounting to 2.7 billion USD, has severely impacted the Palestinian Authority’s ability to meet its core obligations and sustain essential public services.
Since May, the Palestinian Authority has been unable to pay civil servant salaries, including those of the security forces, or provide social support. In an emergency session held on 17 July, the Palestinian Cabinet issued a stark warning that the Palestinian Authority may be forced to temporarily shut down vital sectors. Beyond the immediate risks to healthcare and basic service delivery, the Palestinian Authority also cautioned that similar disruptions across other institutions could erode social cohesion and undermine overall stability.
Unless urgently addressed, the deterioration of the Palestinian Authority’s fiscal and institutional situation could have catastrophic consequences, undermining the significant progress made over many years to build up Palestinian institutions. It is essential that the international community provide immediate support to address the Palestinian Authority’s fiscal challenges, strengthen its governance capacity and prepare it to reassume its responsibilities in Gaza.
Mr. President,
In the midst of these multiple crises, UNRWA continues to face immense operational, political, and financial pressures. UNRWA’s operations have been impeded in Gaza and the occupied West Bank; 330 Agency staff have been killed in the war in Gaza. I reiterate the Secretary-General’s message that UNRWA cannot be replaced. And I cannot overstate enough how serious the Agency’s financial crisis is. Based on current forecasts, there is not enough money to sustain all operations in all fields beyond August 2025.
Mr. President,
We remain concerned by the precarious situation in the region, marked by sporadic developments and recurrent volatility.
The situation along the Blue Line remains stable but fragile. The Israel Defence Forces maintain a presence north of the Blue Line, while unauthorized weapons belonging to non-state actors are still being uncovered in southern Lebanon by the Lebanese Armed Forces and UNIFIL. In this context, the Lebanese authorities have reiterated their commitment to bringing all arms under the exclusive control of the State. I urge both Lebanon and Israel to honour their obligations under the cessation of hostilities and to take concrete steps toward the full implementation of resolution 1701, restoring and sustaining stability in the area.
Syria is contending with another episode of violence that puts at risk its path to a peaceful, credible, orderly and inclusive political transition. Fighting in Suweida has resulted in hundreds of casualties, including Druze and Bedouin civilians. I reiterate the Secretary-General’s unequivocal condemnation of all violence against civilians, including all acts that fan the flames of sectarian tensions and rob the people of Syria of their opportunity for peace and reconciliation after fourteen years of brutal conflict.
Against this backdrop, citing the violations against the Druze community and pledging to protect them, between 12 and 16 July, Israel resumed and intensified its airstrikes on Syrian territory. It is essential that both Israel and Syria uphold the terms of the 1974 Disengagement of Forces Agreement to preserve the ceasefire between both parties, and refrain from any action that would further undermine it and the stability of the Golan region.
Mr. President,
Repeated and increasingly desperate appeals for an urgent ceasefire in Gaza have been made in this Council. Today, the situation inside the Strip – especially for women and children – is more dire than at any time in this crisis.
I implore the parties first and foremost to end this war, release all hostages and allow the Palestinian population in Gaza to receive the humanitarian assistance they so desperately need. I urge all Member States, including those in the Council, to take all possible steps to bring about this end.
Urgent steps are needed to reverse the deeply concerning trajectory we see across the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem. Addressing the high levels of violence, including stopping the escalating settler attacks, in the occupied West Bank, alongside fiscal relief for the Palestinian Authority are key priorities.
There will be no lasting solution to this crisis without a political horizon to resolve the conflict and an end to the occupation.
The upcoming ministerial meeting to support a two-State solution, co-hosted by France and Saudi Arabia, is key to highlight international consensus around these goals, and reaffirm the principles sustaining the two-State solution. It is also a crucial moment to express support for the Palestinian Authority, identify ways to strengthen it, and encourage further reforms in line with its commitments. And to demonstrate, through tangible steps, our unwavering commitment to the two-State solution.
Our goal is clear: realizing the vision of two States – Israel and a viable and sovereign Palestinian State of which Gaza is an integral part – living side by side in peace and security within secure and recognized borders, on the basis of the pre-1967 lines, with Jerusalem as the capital of both States. Thank you.
XIX. “This is not just about Gaza — it is about the future of international law.” Statement by the UN Palestinian Rights Committee at the Security Council
On 23 July, Amb. Jaime Hermida Castilo, the Vice-Chair of the Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People, delivered the following statement on behalf of the Committee at the UN Security Council open debate on the situation in the Middle East, including the Palestinian question.
Mr. President,
Distinguished Members of the Security Council,
Excellencies,
Ladies and Gentlemen,
We commend Pakistan for its leadership of the Council and His Excellency Mr. Mohammad Ishaq Dar, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Foreign Affairs for convening this meeting. We appreciate the briefing by Assistant Secretary-General Khaled Khiari.
As of today, 655 days of relentless carnage have ravaged the Gaza Strip. Since Israel broke the ceasefire on 18 March 2025, Gaza has plunged further into catastrophe at an unimaginable scale. The renewed military assault, alongside a re-imposed blockade now past its 100th day, has devastated already fragile humanitarian conditions, now deteriorating faster than at any point in the past 20 months. The suffering unfolding before our eyes is more than just a humanitarian emergency. It has become our moral litmus test, and we are failing.
The so-called Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, introduced on 27 May, replaced 400 UN-operated aid points with only four militarized sites. These have become killing zones. Almost 1,000 Palestinians have been killed, and at least 5,000 injured while attempting to access food and relief. Starving people are being shot in overcrowded areas where there is no safety, no shelter, and nothing left of human dignity.
This is not humanitarian assistance but a deliberate and calculated infliction of suffering, in violation of international law and UN resolution 2735. Israel’s continued, relentless and disproportionate military operation on Gaza has killed over 58,000 Palestinians and wounded 140,000, the majority of whom are children, women and other vulnerable civilians, a staggering toll that reflects not statistics, but lives, entire families, and futures erased.
We urge, once more, the Security Council to hear the cries of a defenceless people and act on the international community’s deep concern. It must condemn Israel’s strikes on displaced civilians and those searching for food, and demand full, safe, and sustained aid access for people long denied the basics of life. With growing alarm, many Member States and Humanitarian Organizations now reject the so-called Gaza Humanitarian Foundation as dangerous and ineffective, calling instead for a return to the trusted UN-led system.
Israel’s military strike on 9 July on six Palestinian children fetching water in Nuseirat came mere days after the country’s formal listing in the Secretary-General’s CAAC report of June 2025 for grave violations against children. The Palestinian people continue to be systematically targeted with no accountability, no protection, and no international action. This is not an accident. It is impunity, unmasked, and must be stopped.
Meanwhile, in the occupied West Bank, Israeli military raids, settler violence, and systematic demolitions have displaced entire communities, especially in refugee camps and in the Jordan Valley. As of 9 July, 958 Palestinians have been killed. These are not isolated incidents but a systematic campaign to force Palestinians off their land and entrench this illegal occupation and its annexation schemes.
We also condemn Israel’s plan to forcibly transfer hundreds of thousands of Palestinians in Gaza into so-called “humanitarian cities” under its control, de facto mass “concentration camps,” as warned by the UNRWA Commissioner-General and others, including a former Israeli leader. This latest forced displacement toward Rafah denies Palestinians their rights, dignity, and any future in their homeland. These are not security measures, but a demographic engineering strategy that we categorically condemn. The Security Council cannot continue to be silent and complicit in such large-scale forced displacement. Israeli actions must be stopped and reversed immediately.
The Committee welcomes the June 2025 report of the UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Palestinian Territory, which documents corporate and institutional complicity in sustaining the occupation. However, one year after the July 2024 International Court of Justice Advisory Opinion ruling deeming Israel’s occupation unlawful, the Security Council’s inaction remains a grave moral failure, enabling Israel’s impunity as deaths soar, the humanitarian crisis worsens, and Gaza nears total ruin.
Furthermore, the Committee expresses its deep concern regarding the recent decision by the Government of the United States of America to impose punitive measures against the Special Rapporteur of the United Nations on the situation of human rights in the Palestinian Territory Occupied since 1967, Ms. Francesca Albanese. We underscore the necessity of Ms. Albanese to operate freely, independently, and without fear of retaliation, in the pursuit of her critical mandate.
Distinguished delegates,
The time to act is now. We call upon the Council to do what the international community demands: a permanent, internationally supervised ceasefire in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including Gaza; Israel must lift the Gaza blockade and restore full, safe humanitarian operations to the United Nations, including UNRWA, which maintains the largest capacity of all UN agencies on the ground and remains indispensable for the welfare of the Palestine refugee community and as a stabilizing presence in the region. The militarized aid system in Gaza must be dismantled. Israel must end all forms of forced displacements and guarantee the right of return for those uprooted from their homelands.
The General Assembly, through Resolution ES-10/24, has made its stance clear. Israel’s illegal occupation must end. With less than three months to act on the resolution, we urge Israel to immediately halt all unlawful measures that entrench control and risk permanent annexation of the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem, including a complete halt to all settlement activities and settler terror and encroachment on Palestinian communities. Today’s Security Council debate presents a critical opportunity to reaffirm the global commitment to ending the occupation and ensuring accountability.
We commend the co-chairs, Saudi Arabia and France, for their swift and thoughtful leadership in rescheduling the resumption of the High-Level Conference on the Implementation of the Two-State Solution to 28 – 30 July 2025. As violations against Palestinians persist, the Security Council must seize this momentum to deliver coordinated, urgent, unified, and concrete immediate action to end Israel’s military onslaught and occupation, and to secure a just peace that ensures the rights of the Palestinian people, including to self-determination, and the independence of the State of Palestine. We also urge the Security Council to align itself with the broad consensus expressed by the General Assembly and recommend the admission of the State of Palestine as a full member of the United Nations.
The systematic decimation of the Palestinian people, the annexation of their land, and the erasure of their future are accelerating. The international community must act decisively and without delay. We e must respond with meaningful, coordinated actions.
The Palestinian people’s right to self-determination and the independence of the State of Palestine, with East Jerusalem as its capital, must be realized in line with international law and relevant UN resolutions without further delay. Thank you.
XX. UN experts call for end to Israeli State and settler violence in the West Bank
On 24 July, UN experts Carlos Arturo Duarte Torres, Working Group on the rights of peasants and other people working in rural areas; Balakrishnan Rajagopal, Special Rapporteur on adequate housing as a component of the right to an adequate standard of living, and on the right to non-discrimination in this context; Morris Tidball-Binz, Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions; Francesca Albanese, Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Palestinian territory occupied since 1967; Paula Gaviria Betancur, Special Rapporteur on the human rights of internally displaced persons, and Ben Saul, Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of human rights and fundamental freedoms while countering terrorism, issued the following statement.
The UN experts today expressed grave concern over systematic and ongoing violations by Israeli settlers and Israeli security forces against Palestinian peasants and rural workers in the occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem.
“We are deeply troubled by alleged widespread intimidation, violence, land dispossession, destruction of livelihoods and the resulting forcible displacement of communities, and we fear this is severing Palestinians from their land and undermining their food security,” the experts said.
“The alleged acts of violence, destruction of property, and denial of access to land and resources appear to constitute a systemic pattern of human rights violations,” they said.
The experts noted a disturbing pattern of attacks targeting West Bank communities, including assaults on civilians, destruction of homes and livelihoods, and the forcible displacement of families.
“Settler violence has reportedly involved arson, livestock theft, and the poisoning or destruction of water sources, severely undermining the ability of Palestinians to sustain their agricultural way of life,” the experts added. “The demolition of Palestinian-owned structures has further exacerbated the humanitarian crisis, leaving families homeless and vulnerable.”
They said the continued attacks targeting Palestinian Bedouin, peasant and rural communities do not appear to be incidental, but rather an intentional strategy to erase their presence in key agricultural areas, undermine their food security and food sovereignty and ultimately sever Palestinians from their land. Hundreds of Bedouin families, including a significant number of children, have been displaced due to settler violence and intimidation.
These attacks have caused significant economic harm, including an estimated USD $76 million in direct agricultural damages in the West Bank between October 7, 2023, and late 2024. It is estimated that the West Bank GDP declined by more than 19 per cent, and the unemployment rate rose to 35 per cent.
“Israel, as the occupying power, bears the obligation to take necessary measures to safeguard Palestinian communities at risk of displacement and violence,” the experts said. “This includes stopping the violence immediately, halting illegal settlement expansion, holding effective and impartial investigations into violations, prosecuting those responsible, and guaranteeing victims access to justice and reparations.”
“It is essential that the West Bank be kept under Palestinian control, based on the rights to self-determination of the Palestinian people and full respect of international law,” they said. “Israel must promptly bring to an end its unlawful presences in the West Bank, and ensure its compliance with the Advisory Opinion of the International Court of Justice issued on 19 July 2024, including by evacuating all settlers from the Occupied Palestinian Territory.”
The experts called on the international community to act with urgency to hold perpetrators accountable and ensure that violent settlers and armed forces cannot continue to operate with impunity.
“Silence and inaction only embolden further violations. We call on all States to uphold their obligations under international law—including through targeted measures, sanctions, and diplomatic pressure—to end these systematic abuses and protect Palestinian lives, livelihoods, and fundamental rights. The time for justice is now,” they said.
XXI. Statement by UNICEF on the unconscionable deaths of children by starvation in the Gaza Strip
On 24 July, the UNICEF Regional Director for the Middle East and North Africa Edouard Beigbeder issued the following statement.
Children in the Gaza Strip are starving to death.
Severe malnutrition is spreading among children faster than aid can reach them, and the world is watching it happen. Since April this year, the reported number of children who have died from malnutrition has jumped from 52 to 80 — a staggering 54 per cent increase in less than three months, according to the Palestinian Ministry of Health. In just 48 hours, at least four more children reportedly died of starvation. In total, more than 100 people have died from malnutrition during this war, and 80 per cent of them are children.
These deaths are unconscionable — and could have been prevented. The UN-led humanitarian response must be allowed to function fully through unfettered aid access to children in need.
Without that, we will see a further rise in acute malnutrition. In June, the number of children admitted for treatment for malnutrition reached the highest levels since the conflict began, with 6,500 children admitted. July is already tracking higher, with 5,000 children admitted in only two weeks. In Gaza City alone, out of the children screened, the percentage of those detected with acute malnutrition has risen four times from what it was in February.
UNICEF and partners remain in the Gaza Strip screening and treating children for malnutrition, but to be able to reverse the catastrophic situation we face, a sustained and predictable flow of humanitarian and commercial supplies is urgently needed. Fuel must enter in sufficient quantities that allow life-saving services to function. Children must be protected — not killed, and not left to starve.
We need a ceasefire and the release of the hostages. And we need it now.
XXII. OCHA: Massive scale of aid is needed to prevent famine and health crisis in Gaza
On 27 July, Tom Fletcher, the UN Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator, issued the following statement.
As the world is witnessing, the humanitarian crisis in Gaza is devastating. One in three people in Gaza hasn’t eaten for days. People are being shot just trying to get food to feed their families. Children are wasting away. This is what we face on the ground right now.
We welcome Israel’s decision to support a one-week scale-up of aid, including lifting customs barriers on food, medicine and fuel from Egypt and the reported designation of secure routes for UN humanitarian convoys. Some movement restrictions appear to have been eased today, with initial reports indicating that over 100 truckloads were collected.
This is progress, but vast amounts of aid are needed to stave off famine and a catastrophic health crisis. Across the UN agencies and humanitarian community, we are mobilized to save as many lives as we can.
But we need sustained action, and fast, including quicker clearances for convoys going to the crossing and dispatching into Gaza; multiple trips per day to the crossings so we and our partners can pick up the cargo; safe routes that avoid crowded areas; and no more attacks on people gathering for food.
Fuel must be allowed in consistently and at the volume needed to keep aid operations running.
More than 59,000 people have reportedly been killed in Gaza since 7 October 2023, nearly 18,000 of them children.
International humanitarian law must be respected. Aid must not be blocked, delayed or come under fire. Hostages must be released, immediately and unconditionally.
Ultimately of course we don’t just need a pause – we need a permanent ceasefire.
The world is calling for this lifesaving aid to get through. We won’t stop working for that.
XXIII. Palestinian statehood a right, not a reward, Secretary-General tells International Conference, urging peace efforts with courage, conviction before it is too late
Following are the UN Secretary-General António Guterres’ remarks to opening segment of the High-level International Conference for the Peaceful Settlement of the Question of Palestine and the Implementation of the Two-State Solution, in New York on 28 July.
I once again thank the Government of France and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia for organizing this international conference on the implementation of the two-State solution.
Let’s tell it straight. For decades, Middle East diplomacy has been far more process than peace. Words, speeches, declarations may not have much meaning to those on the ground. They have seen it before. They have heard it before. Meanwhile, destruction and annexation bulldoze ahead. The onus and obligation is on all of us to prove that this effort is something different.
We know the central question for Middle East peace is implementation of the two-State solution, where two independent, sovereign, democratic States — Israel and Palestine — live side by side in peace and security.
My central question to those who stand in the way is this: What is the alternative? A one-State reality where Palestinians are denied equal rights, and forced to live under perpetual occupation and inequality? A one-State reality where Palestinians are expelled from their land?
That is not peace. That is not justice. That is not in accordance with international law. And that is not acceptable. That will only increase the growing isolation of Israel on the global stage. Let’s be clear: Statehood for the Palestinians is a right, not a reward. And the denial of statehood would be a gift to extremists everywhere.
The only realistic, just, and sustainable solution is two States — Israel and Palestine — living side by side in peace and security, within secure and recognized borders, on the basis of the pre-1967 lines, with Jerusalem as the capital of both — in line with international law, UN resolutions and other relevant agreements. Two States recognized by all and fully integrated into the international community.
But, time is running out. With every passing day, trust is slipping, institutions are weakened and hopes are dashed. That is why I implore the international community not only to keep the two-State solution alive, but to take the urgent, concrete, irreversible steps necessary to make it real.
This means: Immediately ending violence. Immediately ceasing annexation and settlement activities, as called for by the International Court of Justice. Rejecting the forced displacement of the Palestinian population from any part of the Occupied Palestinian Territory, which would constitute a grave violation of international human rights and humanitarian law. Rejecting any form of ethnic cleansing.
Ensuring full accountability for any atrocity crimes and other violations of international law. Restoring credible political dialogue. And reaffirming the equal rights and dignity of both peoples. All this requires courage from leaders on the ground, and courage from the international community to act with principle and persistence. Starting with Gaza.
Nothing can justify the horrific 7 October [2023] terror attacks by Hamas. And nothing can justify the scale of death and destruction in Gaza since then — a level without precedent in recent times. Gaza has descended into a cascade of catastrophes. Tens of thousands of dead. Virtually the entire population displaced many times over. The shadow of starvation looming over everyone. All with the world watching.
I welcome recent steps to reduce restrictions to life-saving humanitarian aid, but this is far from the solution to end this nightmare. We need an immediate, permanent ceasefire; the immediate, unconditional release of all hostages; full and unfettered humanitarian access. These are not preconditions for peace. They are the foundation of it.
And let’s be equally clear: Beyond Gaza, the continued occupation of the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem, is illegal. It must end. It is the law. Reaffirmed by the International Court of Justice in its advisory opinion of July 2024. Reaffirmed by this Assembly. And rooted in international law. Let us reject the false choice between Palestinian statehood and Israeli security. There is no security in occupation.
Let us affirm: Israel’s legitimate security concerns must be addressed. And so must the legitimate rights of the Palestinian people. We must speak with one voice to condemn all acts of terror, to denounce all targeting of civilians and taking of hostages, to reject incitement to hatred and violence.
We must call on Israel to recommit — clearly and unequivocally — to the two-State solution, and to cease all actions that undermine it. And we must support Palestinian unity around a peaceful, democratic and inclusive vision for statehood.
Let us lay the groundwork for unified Palestinian governance, credible security arrangements and a Palestinian Authority that carries out reforms and that can deliver for its people.
The Palestinian Authority has taken critical reform steps. I urge the international community to recognize when progress is made and to continue to support the Palestinian Government in its reform agenda under incredibly challenging circumstances.
This conflict cannot be managed. It must be resolved. We cannot wait for perfect conditions. We must create them. We cannot defer peace efforts until suffering becomes unbearable. We must act before it is too late.
At its core, this is not only a political challenge — it is a matter of shared values and principles. The principle that all peoples are equal in rights, equal in dignity and entitled to live free of fear. That no nation should live in permanent insecurity. And that no people should live under continued occupation. This is the promise of the United Nations Charter and international law. This is the call of conscience.
Let us answer that call with clarity, courage, and conviction. Let us, at long last, choose the path of peace. Not as a concept, but as a commitment. Not as a dream, but as a reality. For Palestinians. For Israelis. For the people of the Middle East and the world.
XXIV. UN Agencies warn key food and nutrition indicators exceed famine thresholds in Gaza
On 29 July, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) and UNICEF issued the following joint statement.
Gaza faces the severe risk of famine as food consumption and nutrition indicators have reached their worst levels since the conflict began, according to data shared in the latest Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) Alert.
The IPC Alert highlights that two out of the three famine thresholds have now been breached in parts of the territory, with the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) and UNICEF warning that time is running out to mount a full-scale humanitarian response.
Relentless conflict, the collapse of essential services, and severe limitations on the delivery and distribution of humanitarian assistance have led to catastrophic food security conditions for hundreds of thousands of people across the Gaza Strip.
Food consumption – the first core famine indicator – has plummeted in Gaza since the last IPC Update in May 2025. Data shows that more than one in three people (39 per cent) are now going days at a time without eating. More than 500,000 people – nearly a quarter of Gaza’s population – are enduring famine-like conditions, while the remaining population is facing emergency levels of hunger.
Acute malnutrition – the second core famine indicator – inside Gaza has risen at an unprecedented rate. In Gaza City, malnutrition levels among children under five have quadrupled in two months, reaching 16.5 per cent. This signals a critical deterioration in nutritional status and a sharp rise in the risk of death from hunger and malnutrition.
Acute malnutrition and reports of starvation-related deaths – the third core famine indicator – are increasingly common but collecting robust data under current circumstances in Gaza remains very difficult as health systems, already decimated by nearly two years of conflict, are collapsing.
“The unbearable suffering of the people of Gaza is already clear for the world to see. Waiting for official confirmation of famine to provide life-saving food aid they desperately need is unconscionable,” said Cindy McCain, WFP Executive Director. “We need to flood Gaza with large-scale food aid, immediately and without obstruction, and keep it flowing each and every day to prevent mass starvation. People are already dying of malnutrition, and the longer we wait to act, the higher the death toll will rise.”
“Gaza is now on the brink of a full-scale famine. People are starving not because food is unavailable, but because access is blocked, local agrifood systems have collapsed, and families can no longer sustain even the most basic livelihoods,” said FAO Director-General QU Dongyu. “We urgently need safe and sustained humanitarian access and immediate support to restore local food production and livelihoods – this is the only way to prevent further loss of life. The right to food is a basic human right.”
As of July 2025, over 320,000 children, the entire population under five in the Gaza Strip, are at risk of acute malnutrition, with thousands suffering from severe acute malnutrition, the deadliest form of undernutrition.
Essential nutrition services have collapsed, with infants lacking access to safe water, breastmilk substitutes, and therapeutic feeding.
In June, 6,500 children were admitted for treatment for malnutrition, the highest number since the conflict began. July is tracking even higher, with 5,000 children admitted in just the first two weeks. With fewer than 15 per cent of essential nutrition treatment services currently functional, the risk of malnutrition-related deaths among infants and young children is higher than ever before.
“Emaciated children and babies are dying from malnutrition in Gaza,” said UNICEF Executive Director Catherine Russell. “We need immediate, safe and unhindered humanitarian access across Gaza to scale up the delivery of life-saving food, nutrition, water and medicine. Without that, mothers and fathers will continue to face a parent’s worst nightmare, powerless to save a starving child from a condition we are able to prevent.”
Despite a partial reopening of crossings, humanitarian aid entering Gaza is barely a trickle of what a population of over two million people needs every month.
Just to cover basic humanitarian food and nutrition assistance needs in Gaza, more than 62,000 tons of life-saving aid is required every month. Restarting commercial food imports is also critical to provide dietary diversity with fresh fruits, vegetables, dairy products, and proteins such as meat and fish.
Additionally, the lack of fuel, water and other vital aid continues to undermine efforts to prevent famine and deaths among children.
The agencies welcome the recent new commitments to improve the operating conditions for humanitarian organisations, including the implementation of humanitarian pauses and designated humanitarian corridors, and hope these measures will allow for a surge in urgently needed food and nutrition assistance to reach hungry people without further delays.
The UN agencies also reiterate their urgent calls for:
- An immediate and sustained ceasefire, to stop the killing, allow for the safe release of hostages, and further enable lifesaving humanitarian operations.
- Sustained safe and unimpeded humanitarian access, for the mass influx of assistance via all available crossings, and to deliver food, nutrition supplies, critical water, fuel, and medical assistance to families in need across Gaza.
- Urgent need to get commercial traffic flowing into Gaza by reviving commercial supply chains to restore local markets. The protection of civilians and aid workers, alongside the restoration of essential services, in particular health, water and sewage infrastructures.
- Investment in the recovery of local food systems, including the revitalisation of bakeries, markets and rehabilitation of agriculture.
_________________
Document Type: Monthly Bulletin
Document Sources: Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People (CEIRPP), Division for Palestinian Rights (DPR), Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), Secretary-General, Special Rapporteur on the human rights of internally displaced persons, Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of human rights and fundamental freedoms while countering terrorism, Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Palestinian territories occupied since 1967, Special Rapporteur on violence against women and girls, its causes and consequences, United Nations Childrens Fund (UNICEF), United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA), Working Group on Arbitrary Detention, Working Group on enforced or involuntary disappearances, World Food Programme (WFP)
Subject: Access and movement, Armed conflict, Assistance, Ceasefire, Children, Food, Gaza Strip, Genocide, Hostages, Human rights and international humanitarian law, Humanitarian relief, Hunger, Israeli settlements, Jerusalem, Occupation, Palestine question, Refugees and displaced persons, Statehood-related, Two State solution, Violence, West Bank, Women, malnutrition
Publication Date: 31/07/2025