NGO Action News – 19 June 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.

Middle East

• On 17 June, the Palestinian Centre for Human Rights published the article “Killing Starving Civilians has become Israel’s Consistent and Deliberate Pattern of Conduct in Gaza”. The NGO stated that Israeli forces continued to kill Palestinian civilians who are desperately trying to reach aid distribution points established in areas under its control in the Gaza Strip, turning these points into sites of systematic death and humiliation. The article reads that the current aid distribution mechanism is still supported by Israel, despite its failure to meet the humanitarian needs of the population in Gaza and the widespread daily killings near these distribution points. Badil issued a press release on this issue as well.
• On 16 June, Al Mezan reported on the complete shutdown of internet and landline communication services across all of Gaza on 12 June after Israeli forces had targeted the last remaining fiber-optic line serving the central and southern areas. This followed the disconnection of Gaza City and the northern areas a day earlier, resulting in a total communication blackout across the entire territory. According to the NGO, the blackout had paralyzed critical services, including emergency response, humanitarian relief operations, media reporting, and education. 7amleh published an article on this issue as well, calling on the international community, humanitarian agencies, and telecommunications regulators to treat this blackout as a critical emergency.
• On 13 June, the Palestinian Centre for Human Rights issued a press release to warn of the potentially devastating repercussions of forcing out of service the Naser Medical Complex, which is the last remaining major hospital in the southern Gaza Strip, providing healthcare to more than 600,000 residents amid the total collapse of the healthcare system across the Strip. The NGO stated that the targeting of this critical facility or forcing its evacuation under military threat, following evacuation orders issued by the Israeli forces on 12 June, was a crime against the civilian population, risking the halt of emergency healthcare services to thousands of wounded and sick individuals.
• On 12 June, Adalah and several other NGOs published an article calling on the Israeli Government not to implement what it had called a “voluntary emigration” policy from the Gaza Strip as this would constitute the forced transfer of the civilian population – a war crime and crime against humanity. The NGO demanded the immediate cancellation of the Israeli Security Cabinet decision from 23 March, concerning “preparation for the possibility of voluntary departure of Palestinians in the Gaza Strip to third countries”.

Africa, Asia and Europe

• On 17 June, Agence Média Palestine published an article (in French) on the situation of Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails. The NGO stated that at least 10,400 Palestinian prisoners were believed to be held in Israeli jails, adding that since 1967 at least 40% of the male population in Palestine has been incarcerated. The article also raised concerns over reported cases of physical and psychological torture and humiliations following testimonies of Palestinian prisoners.
• On 13 June, Amnesty International published an article stating that its analysis of satellite imagery and verification of video footages showed how Israeli forces had completely razed what had remained of the town of Khuza’a in the southern occupied Gaza Strip over the course of two weeks in May 2025. The NGO stated that this analysis underscored the urgent need to investigate the Israeli military for the war crimes of wanton destruction and collective punishment, adding that it also provided fresh evidence of Israel’s genocide against Palestinians in the occupied Gaza Strip.
• On 11 June, the Palestinian Return Center published the transcript of the panel discussion “Gaza as the Second Nakba” hosted online 14 May to mark the 77th anniversary of the Nakba. Featuring Dr. Maha Nassar, a Palestinian-American historian and Associate Professor at the University of Arizona, the conversation explored the historical continuity between the 1948 Nakba and what the panelist considered to be the ongoing genocide in Gaza.

North America

• On 13 June, Human Rights Watch published the article “Getting Food Shouldn’t Be Deadly”, stating that Israeli forces have in recent days gunned down Palestinians trying to secure food for their families and themselves, with at least 163 people reportedly killed. These distribution centers, managed by the Israeli-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, are deadly, the NGO added, as they failed to address the mass starvation taking place, which Palestinian officials have declared to be a famine, and were furthering forced displacement.

United Nations

• On 18 June, the UN Human Rights office in the Occupied Palestinian Territory issued a media statement calling on the Israeli Defence Forces to immediately cease its use of lethal force around food distribution points in Gaza, following repeated instances of shooting and killing of Palestinians seeking to access food there. The statement further reads that since the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation started food distribution in southern Gaza on 27 May, more than 400 Palestinians have been reportedly killed while trying to access food or other humanitarian assistance.
• 16 June, UNRWA Commissioner-General Philippe Lazzarini stated that tragedies in Gaza were going on unabated while attention shifted elsewhere, as scores of people have been killed and injured in the past days. The Commissioner-General added that restrictions on bringing in aid from the UN, including UNRWA, continued despite an abundance of assistance ready to be moved into Gaza. In addition, severe shortages of fuel are now hampering the delivery of critical services, especially health and water, he stated further.
• On 12 June, Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator Tom Fletcher issued a statement calling attacks on civilians in Gaza, including the killing and injury of hungry people seeking food and those delivering aid, unacceptable. Tom Fletcher warned that without immediate and massively scaled-up access to the basic means of survival, the situation in Gaza risked a descent into famine, further chaos, and the loss of more lives.