NGO Action News – 11 September 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 9 September, Ir Amim released its annual “East Jerusalem Education Report” covering the school year 2024-25. According to the NGO, the reporting period witnessed a significant escalation in Israel’s draconian education policy in East Jerusalem, which greatly affects the autonomy of the Palestinian education system. The NGO added that there has been a longstanding infrastructure shortage in the East Jerusalem education system for years, including the acute lack of classrooms, that has yet to be addressed.
• On 8 September, the Palestinian Centre for Human Rights (PCHR) published an article warning that the Israeli forces had intensified their military assault on Gaza City to implement, according to the NGO, their declared military plan aimed at fully controlling the city, depopulating it, and forcibly displacing its residents to the southern Gaza Strip. The article reads that this escalation came while the Israeli military aggression continued across the Gaza Strip, including al-Mawasi area, which the Israeli forces have declared a “humanitarian zone”. On the same day, the NGO launched the report “Assassination of Truth: Killing of Journalists amid Genocide in Gaza”, documenting, according to PCHR, crimes and violations committed by the Israeli forces against journalists and media institutions during the ongoing war in the Gaza Strip.
• On 8 September, 7amleh organized the webinar discussion “Meta’s Role in Amplifying Harmful Content During Genocide”. According to the NGO, panelists explored how Meta’s failures in content moderation and accountability contribute to real-world harm, and discussed legal, policy, and civil society strategies to confront corporate complicity in mass violence.
• On 7 September, Gisha issued a statement on Israel’s declaration of a new “humanitarian area” in Gaza. The NGO stated that the Israeli forces were attempting to concentrate the population and intensify its attacks on Gaza from the air, land and sea. It added that Israel’s declaration did not constitute an effective warning and thus did not exempt Israel from compliance with the fundamental principles of international humanitarian law of precaution, distinction, and proportionality.
• On 5 September, Al-Haq, Al-Mezan, and the Palestinian Centre for Human Rights issued a statement condemning the United States’ executive order that imposed sanctions on the three organizations for “directly engag[ing] in efforts by the International Criminal Court (ICC) to investigate, arrest, detain, or prosecute Israeli nationals, without Israel’s consent”. The organizations called on Third States, the international community, the United Nations, and human rights organizations to condemn the application of this decision and to take concrete steps and activate all available means to ensure the safety and protection of the NGOs’ operations and staff in Gaza and the West Bank. 7amleh, B’Tselem and other organizations issued statements in support of the three Palestinian NGOs.

Africa, Asia and Europe

• On 11 September, Law for Palestine organized the online panel discussion “Strategic Litigation in Focus: Individual Criminal Liability and Pursuing Accountability For Palestine. The NGO informed that this session focused specifically on litigation in relation to crimes perpetrated in the West Bank taking into consideration the 2024 International Court of Justice (ICJ) Advisory Opinion on “Legal Consequences arising from the Policies and Practices of Israel in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem”, and other relevant sources of international law. On 10 September, the NGO also published an article on the International Court of Justice (ICJ) Advisory Opinion of 23 July 2025, on the “Obligations of States in Respect of Climate Change”, and how it may be used in the pursuit of justice and accountability for Palestine through international law.
• On 10 September, Amnesty International published a statement calling on Israel to immediately rescind the mass displacement order issued by the military to the residents of Gaza City on 9 September. The NGO considers this measure an escalation of Israel’s assault on Gaza City, compounding the suffering of civilians amidst an ongoing genocide, the article reads. Amnesty International added that forcibly displacing Palestinians within the Gaza Strip or deporting them violated international humanitarian law and constituted war crimes and crimes against humanity. The Norwegian Refugee Council and Agence Média Palestine (in French) issued press releases on this issue as well.

North America

• On 3 September, J Street issued a statement condemning Israeli Finance Minister Smotrich’s call for Israel to officially annex 82% of the occupied West Bank. The NGO added that such a move would prevent self-determination for Palestinians and locking in permanent Israeli control over Palestinian land and the millions of Palestinians who live there.

United Nations

• On 10 September, the UN Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People held the event “Committee Engagement with Palestinian Civil Society”, in the ECOSOC Chamber at UNHQ in New York. The Committee received briefings by the Permanent Observer Mission of the State of Palestine and Palestinian civil society representatives on the situation in the Occupied Palestinian Territory including East Jerusalem. Participants also discussed measures that Member States could take to end the occupation and to hold perpetrators of grave violations of international law accountable.
• On 10 September, OCHA published a statement from the Humanitarian Country Team in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, which demanded for a ceasefire and the protection of civilians from forced displacement in Gaza. The statement reads that humanitarian access must be expanded and sustained to include direct routes to both the north and the south of the Gaza Strip, and critical supply lines of fuel and water must remain open and uninterrupted.
• On 9 September, the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child expressed its deepest concern over the impact on children of the ongoing hostilities in Gaza, ahead of the upcoming 80th United Nations General Assembly session, and urgently reiterated its calls for decisive action by all States, and in particular by Israel as a de facto occupying force. The Committee highlighted that a famine has now taken hold in Gaza and that malnutrition among children was accelerating at a catastrophic pace.
• On 7 September, Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator Tom Fletcher issued a statement calling for urgent action to halt the spread of famine and suffering in Gaza. Tom Fletcher called for unimpeded humanitarian aid to enter the Gaza Strip and for the International Court of Justice’s provisional measures to be implemented.