NGO Action News – 09 January 2025

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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.

You may find issues of the NGO Action News in Spanish here.

You may find issues of the NGO Action News in French here.

You may find issues of the NGO Action News in Arabic here.

Middle East

• On 8 January, the Institute for Palestine Studies published the article “The Bleak Future: Will the Gaza Genocide Come to an End?” The author, Salman Alzraiy, highlighted that there was little hope for the conflict in Gaza to end soon, adding that Gaza was experiencing a near-total collapse of governance and economic structures, leading to the rise of local organized groups that thrive amid a dangerous security vacuum. He also stressed that the overall final-status issues, such as Jerusalem, refugees’ right of return, Israeli settlements, and border demarcation, have been effectively erased from international discussions.
• On 5 January, Al Shabaka published the article “Israel’s Exploitation of Palestinian Labor:
  A Strategy of Erasure”. The NGO revealed a recurring pattern in which Israel summons, exploits, expels, or replaces the Palestinian workforce based on its needs. This calculated approach, as the brief argues, is designed to systematically dismantle Palestinian political, economic, and social structures, ultimately advancing the goal of Palestinian erasure.
  Agence Médias Palestine published this article as well (in French).
• On 4 January, the Palestinian Centre for Human Rights published an article on Israel’s violations of human rights and international humanitarian law in the occupied West Bank in December 2024. The article informed that attacks by Israeli forces and settlers during the reporting period in the occupied West Bank had resulted in the killing of 37 Palestinians, including 12 civilians, amongst them 2 children and 3 women. Additionally, 84 Palestinians, including 28 children and 3 women, were injured. The NGO also published an article on the targeting of humanitarian aid warehouses.

Africa, Asia and Europe

• On 6 January, Diakonia published the legal update “Overkill: A critical appraisal of the use of force by Israel in the West Bank”. According to the NGO, since October 2023, Israeli forces have been carrying out raids on towns and villages throughout the occupied West Bank on an almost daily basis, with reports indicating that the frequency of these raids has more than tripled since the onset of Israel’s operations in Gaza. Diakonia added that the way in which these operations have been conducted raised serious concerns about a lack of respect for the applicable rules of international law on the use of force.
• On 6 January, the Palestinian Return Center published an article informing that the number of Palestinians killed in Gaza since October 2023 had reached 45,885, according to the Gaza Health Ministry. The article further informed that 109,196 Palestinians have been injured in the ongoing war.
• On 3 January, Association France Palestine Solidarité published a statement (in French) accusing Israel of deliberately destroying the health system in Gaza, after the last functioning hospital in North Gaza was destroyed by Israeli bombing on 27 December 2024. The NGO considers the repeated attacks against health staff and the destructions of hospitals, as well as health facilities run by UNRWA, as an element of a genocidal campaign against Palestinians.

North America

• On 31 December 2024, Churches for Middle East Peace joined the Episcopal Church in its call for an end to attacks against Gaza’s healthcare system. This statement came as the Al-Ahli hospital in Gaza City, managed by the Episcopal Diocese of Jerusalem, was hit by an Israeli strike causing further damage to the institution that was already operating beyond capacity to respond to the ever-growing need for medical treatment.

United Nations

• On 7 January, the International Court of Justice published a press release informing that Ireland, invoking Article 63 of the Statute of the Court, had filed in the Registry of the Court a declaration of intervention in the case concerning the Application of the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide in the Gaza Strip (South Africa v. Israel).
• On 6 January, Tom Fletcher, Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator, issued a statement alerting that that despite the UN determination to deliver food, water, and medicine to Gaza survivors, these efforts to save lives were at breaking point. He added that there was no meaningful civil order in Gaza and that Israeli forces were unable or unwilling to ensure the safety of convoys. He called further on all UN Member States to insist that all civilians, and all humanitarian operations, must be protected.