NGO Action News – 17 July 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 14 July, the Palestinian Center for Human Rights published an article on the killing of 2 Palestinians and 27 other civilians were reported injured by Israeli settlers in the West Bank on 11 July. The NGO stated that these killings took place amid an unprecedented escalation in settlers’ crimes against Palestinian civilians and their property over the past two years across the West Bank.
• On 11 July, BADIL issued a press release on the announcement by Israeli Defense Minister Katz of the creation of so-called “Humanitarian Transit Areas” in Gaza. The NGO expressed concerns over the risk of ethnic cleansing of the area and added that 85% of the Gaza Strip was already under forced displacement orders. Gisha, Agence Média Palestine (in French) and Churches for Middle East Peace, among other organizations, also reported on this issue.
• On 11 July, the Palestinian NGO Network and the Human Rights Organizations Council issued a statement in support to the UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Palestinian Territory occupied since 1967, Francesca Albanese, following the announcement of sanctions against her by the United States. Other organizations, including Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch, published articles on this issue as well.
• On 10 July, 7amleh released the position paper “Safeguarding Palestinian Digital Rights in the EU Policy Framework.” According to the NGO, the paper aims to highlight the legal and policy frameworks used to restrict Palestinian digital rights and information integrity, examine the complicity of tech platforms in silencing Palestinian voices, and present key recommendations for the European Union to uphold its commitment to human rights in the digital space.
• On 9 July, Adalah published the report “Legal Structures of Distinction, Separation, and Territorial Domination: Israel’s Dual Land Regime in the Occupied West Bank.” According to the NGO, the report presents legal analysis of the land regime in the occupied West Bank, with a particular focus on Area C, and examines the legal foundations that created and continue to sustain two distinct systems governing planning, local governance, and other key areas. The report also argues that these dual legal regimes have enabled and accelerated Israel’s recent annexationist policies, particularly since the current government took office in December 2022.

Africa, Asia and Europe

• On 16 July, Agence Média Palestine published (in French) the article “How Israeli colonization is disrupting the Palestinian social fabric in the West Bank”. The article discussed how Israeli settlements and the diminishing land available to Palestinians in the West Bank city of Taybeh and nearby Bedouin communities are straining social cohesion.
• On 9 July, the Palestinian Return Centre delivered a statement before the United Nations Human Rights Council accusing Israeli authorities of firing on Palestinian civilians at aid distribution points. The NGO warned that the crisis in Gaza extended beyond relentless bombardment to include deliberate mass starvation that now threatened the survival of over two million people, according to UN agencies and the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC). The NGO also submitted a statement on 13 July, on the topic of “Escalating Ethnic Cleansing in the Northern West Bank: A Call for Immediate International Intervention”.

North America

• On 24 July, The Jerusalem Fund will organize, in Washington, D.C., the panel discussion “Western Media & Israel’s War of Genocide on Gaza: Culpability or Ignorance?” The event, moderated by Said Arikat, will feature Assal Rad, Sana Saeed, and Prem Thakker, who will discuss how Western media are covering the current war in Gaza.
• On 13 July, J Street issued a statement calling for an independent, US-led investigation into the death of a 20-year-old Palestinian-American man, allegedly beaten to death in the occupied West Bank by a group of Israeli settlers on 11 July, and with another 23-year-old Palestinian man having been shot and killed in the same incident. Churches for Middle East Peace issued a statement regarding this incident.
• On 11 July, the Foundation for Middle East Peace (FMEP) published the webinar “How Western journalists are complicit in Israel’s effort to silence Palestinian journalists”. Ahmed Moor, FMEP Fellow, spoke with Palestinian American journalist and writer Jennifer Zacharia about the treatment of Palestinian journalists and reporting by Israel and Western media. Panelists also discussed the lack of accountability for the killing of journalist Shireen Abu Akleh in 2022, and how Western media elided truth and suppressed information in reporting on Palestine.
• On 10 July, Human Rights Watch published the report “The situation of persons with disabilities affected by armed conflict in Gaza and the West Bank”. The NGO informed that it has documented that people with disabilities in Gaza faced heightened risks of death and injury resulting from Israeli military attacks and unlawful blockade since 7 October 2023. Both children and adults with disabilities faced compounded barriers to accessing safety, medical care, assistive devices, food, water, and other essentials, the report found. They were also at increased risk of death or injury during attacks due to the additional difficulties they faced in evacuating and fleeing to safety.

United Nations

• On 17 July, the UN Palestinian Rights Committee (CEIRPP) published the monthly bulletin “Action by UN System and Intergovernmental Organizations Relevant to the Question of Palestine” covering the month of June 2025.
• On 12 July, OCHA, OHCHR, UNDP, UNFPA, UNICEF, UNOPS, UNRWA, WFP and WHO issued a joint statement warning that the fuel shortage in Gaza had reached critical levels. The statement stressed that without adequate fuel, UN agencies responding to this crisis will likely be forced to halt their operations entirely, thereby directly impacting all essential services in Gaza. This means no health services, no clean water, and no capacity to deliver aid, the statement reads.
• On 11 July, OHCHR issued a statement warning that the Israeli military continued to kill and gravely injure hundreds of Palestinians as they desperately seek shelter and food, raising further concerns that Israel was inflicting on Palestinians conditions of life increasingly incompatible with their continued existence in Gaza. The statement reads further that reports had indicated that the Israeli military was targeting large groups of civilians with lethal force, including shooting and shelling, in the absence of any threat to life or serious injury. OHCHR added that 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 to forcibly displace them outside Gaza altogether, may amount to atrocity crimes.