NGO Action News – 02 October 2025

This newsletter informs about recent and upcoming activities of Civil Society Organizations working on the question of Palestine. The Committee and the Division for Palestinian Rights of the UN Secretariat provide the information “as is” without warranty of any kind, and do not accept any responsibility or liability for the accuracy, or reliability of the information contained in the websites linked in the newsletter.

Middle East

• On 30 September, 7amleh held the event “Freedom of Expression and Digital Security During Crises and Wars”. According to the NGO, the event, organized in Jerusalem, brought together over one hundred journalists, activists, civil society representatives, and local residents who discussed the laws, policies, and practices that restrict Palestinians’ freedoms in both the digital sphere and daily life in the city.
• On 30 September, BADIL delivered an oral statement at the 60th regular session of the United Nations Human Rights Council, under item 7, stating that every member state had an obligation to impose sanctions to stop, according to the statement, the Israeli genocide in the Gaza Strip. The NGO added that the imposition of political, economic and military sanctions was not a hostile act, but the legal responsibility of each and every state, and the most effective measure to stop the Israeli genocide and international crimes.
• On 30 September, Al Haq published an article welcoming the release by the United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights of an update of its “Database on Businesses Facilitating Settlement Activities in the Occupied Palestinian Territory”. The NGO stated that this update was an important and indispensable step toward the end of Israel’s illegal settlement enterprise and unlawful occupation, and urged the expansion of the database to include non-profit organizations engineering settlement expansion in Palestine.
• On 29 September, the Cairo Institute for Human Rights Studies published a statement from 34 CSOs who condemned the decision by the United States Department of the Treasury to impose sanctions on the prominent Palestinian human rights organizations Al-Haq, Al Mezan, and the Palestinian Centre for Human Rights. The statement calls on states to take urgent and coordinated global action, show public solidarity with and protect the targeted organizations, and reaffirm their commitment to the international human rights system and international justice by opposing this decision.
• On 28 September, the Palestinian Centre for Human Rights published the press release “Besieging and Targeting Hospitals in Gaza City and Denying Patients Treatment Amount to a Full-Fledged Crime of Genocide”. According to the NGO, Israeli forces continued to target civilian infrastructure in Gaza, including hospitals and health centers, in blatant violation of the rules of international humanitarian law. These recent and systematic attacks have forced 4 hospitals out of service, bringing the total number of destroyed or evacuated hospitals and health facilities to 20, leaving only 7 barely functional hospitals that provide a minimal level of healthcare, the article reads.
• On 26 September, Al Mezan issued a press release calling on the international community to meet its binding obligations under the Genocide Convention to compel Israel to immediately end what the NGO considers to be a genocidal campaign in Gaza, and to impose a permanent ceasefire.
• On 25 September, ACRI, Physicians for Human Rights, and HaMoked petitioned the Israeli Supreme Court demanding that the three remaining functioning hospitals in Gaza City be exempt from the evacuation orders given to the city’s residents by Israeli forces, that they be protected from military attacks and that they be allowed to continue to function. The petition also demands that the hospitals be supplied with fuel, food, medical equipment, and assistance in coordination with the army, and that they be accessible via access routes through humanitarian corridors.

Africa, Asia and Europe

• On 30 September, Amnesty International stated that, in response to a plan from the U.S. Administration to end the conflict, the most urgent priority was to end Israel’s genocide in Gaza and release all civilian hostages. The NGO added that any initiative aimed at securing a lasting peace must be grounded in international law, uphold the human rights of all people in the Occupied Palestinian Territory and Israel, and be focused on, according to the statement, bringing an immediate end to Israel’s unlawful occupation and system of apartheid.

North America

• On 25 September, Jewish Voice for Peace published the article “The Gaza Humanitarian Foundation exposed”. The article reads that the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) operations have completely failed to stave off famine in Gaza. The NGO added that more than 859 Palestinians seeking food have been killed at or near GHF sites since the agency began operating in May, as GHF aid distribution sites were purposefully placed inside militarized zones in the south of Gaza, in order to both displace and force Palestinians into danger while trying to access food aid.

United Nations

• On 1 October, the UN Palestinian Rights Committee published its quarterly newsletter, covering its activities during the period July to September 2025, including the Committee’s events, conferences, statements and publications.
• On 29 September, Deputy Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process Ramiz Alakbarov delivered a statement to the Security Council on the report of the Secretary-General on the implementation of Security Council resolution 2334 (2016), covering the period from 18 June to 19 September. Alakbarov reported that, despite the mandate of Council resolution 2334 (2016) calling on Israel to immediately and completely cease all settlement activity in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, “settlement has nevertheless accelerated” as the Israeli planning authorities advanced or approved approximately 20,810 housing units in the occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem. Recalling the Israeli Government’s decision of 8 August to take control of Gaza City, he said Palestinians have faced heavy bombardment since late August, resulting in high numbers of casualties, adding that they also faced displacement, demolitions and crippling movement and access restrictions that stifled the economy and severely limited access to employment, hospitals, schools and agricultural land.
• On 26 September, the UN Human Rights Office issued an update to its database of businesses involved in certain activities in illegal Israeli settlements in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, listing a total of 158 business enterprises from 11 countries. A total of 68 new companies were added to the list published in 2023, while 7 of those listed in 2023 were removed as they were no longer involved in any of the activities concerned, taking the total number to 158 businesses in the current update. The companies covered by the 2025 update focus primarily on business activities related to construction, real estate, mining and quarrying.