NGO Action News – 24 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 23 July, Al-Haq published the position paper “Third State and International Organisations Complicity in Genocide through the Failure to Protect Palestinians and Failure to Enforce International Law”. The NGO accused the international community of consistently failing to take effective measures to hold Israel accountable for what it considers to be grave human rights violations, war crimes, crimes against humanity, and genocide. The paper states that the international community has also failed to address the root causes of the ongoing dispossession, displacement, domination, and persecution of the Palestinian people.
• On 22 July, Al Mezan issued the press release “Israel’s New Displacement Order Targets Gaza’s Largest Desalination Plant, Escalating Genocide Through Mass Dehydration”. The statement reads that as of 4 July 2025, 80% of Gaza’s water and sanitation infrastructure lay within Israel’s designated evacuation zones, according to OCHA. The NGO added that the water crisis worsened further following Israel’s new displacement orders issued on 20 July, for areas in Deir al-Balah City which includes the location of Gaza’s central desalination plant – leaving it vulnerable to destruction, damage, or looting.
• On 20 July, 7amleh published the study “War and Digital Shadows: Palestinian Women Between Voice Confiscation and Body Exposure in Digital Space”. The study focused on gender-based digital violence targeting Palestinian women amid what the NGO considers to be the ongoing genocide in Gaza, where such violence is used as a tool of repression and control, undermining women’s presence and rights to expression and participation.
• On 20 July, the Palestinian Centre for Human Rights published the press release “Starving Gazans Is Ongoing Crime of Genocide Amid Disturbing International Silence”. The NGO stated that the three internationally recognized indicators for declaring famine in the Gaza Strip were alarmingly close to being met. It added that the latest report by the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC), issued in May 2025, had indicated that nearly half a million Palestinians in the Gaza Strip were facing catastrophic levels of hunger, classified as Phase 5, the most severe level of food insecurity.
• On 15 July 2025, Adalah sent a letter on behalf of several NGOs to the Israeli Defense Minister Katz, the Attorney General Baharav-Miara and the Military Advocate General Tomer-Yerushalmi demanding the immediate cancellation of the plan announced by Minister Katz to concentrate Gaza’s population in a camp in Rafah. The NGOs stated that the plan constituted a clear and declared intention to violate international humanitarian law and commit war crimes and crimes against humanity.

Africa, Asia and Europe

• On 23 July, Amnesty International published a statement from over 100 organizations, warning that mass starvation was spreading across Gaza. The NGOs called on governments to act to open all land crossings in Gaza, restore the full flow of humanitarian items and fuel through a principled, UN-led mechanism, as well as to end the siege and to agree to a ceasefire. Human Rights Watch published an article on this issue as well.
• On 21 July, Diakonia published the article “One Year On, the Devastating Cost of Ignoring the ICJ’s July 2024 Advisory Opinion”. The NGO called for third States to take actions to implement the 2024 International Court Advisory Opinion on the Legal Consequences arising from the Policies and Practices of Israel in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem. The article reads that States must take steps to ensure that Israel’s unlawful presence in the OPT is brought to an end, that the Palestinian people’s right to self-determination is finally realized, and that those responsible for past and ongoing violations of international law are held accountable.
• On 21 July, the Palestinian Return Centre submitted a briefing to over 1,000 Members of Parliament in the United Kingdom and the European Union, calling for immediate and responsible action to end the deliberate starvation imposed on the civilian population of the Gaza Strip and to hold Israel accountable for its repeated violations of international humanitarian law.
• On 21 July, Law for Palestine and other NGOs organized the panel discussion “Breaking Impunity: Global Strategic Litigation and Accountability for Palestine”. According to the organizers, this online panel discussion shed light on strategic litigation efforts in the context of atrocities occurring in Palestine.
• On 18 July, Association France Palestine Solidarité published a statement (in French) on The Hague Group conference held on 15-16 July in Bogota, where representatives of 32 states from 5 continents demanded an end to the genocide in Gaza and the immediate implementation of international law. According to the NGO, the conference’s objective was to coordinate diplomatic and legal actions against what participants described as “a climate of impunity” fostered by Israel and its allies.

North America

• On 17 July, Churches for Middle East Peace issued a public statement condemning the Israeli military attack on the Holy Family Catholic Church, the only Catholic church in Gaza. According to the NGO, the strike killed at least 3 civilians and caused extensive damage to the parish complex, which had been sheltering approximately 700 displaced civilians, mostly children, since the beginning of the war. The NGO called for an immediate ceasefire and the protection of all civilians and religious sites.

• On 16 July, the Foundation for Middle East Peace (FMEP) published the webinar “A conversation with Stefanie Fox, Executive Director of JVP”. Ahmed Moor, MEP Fellow, spoke with Jewish Voice for Peace (JVP) Executive Director Fox about the evolution of her organization, and about accountability to Palestinian partners, how it approaches electoral work and the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions movement (BDS).

United Nations

• On 23 July, the Vice-Chair of the UN Committee for Palestinian Rights, Ambassador Jaime Hermida Castillo, Permanent Representative of Nicaragua, gave a statement during the Security Council quarterly open debate on the situation in the Middle East, including the Palestinian question. Amb. Hermida Castillo urged the Security Council to act on the international community’s deep concern over Palestinian suffering, condemn Israel’s strikes on displaced civilians and those searching for food, and to demand full, safe, and sustained aid access for people long denied the basics of life. Mr. Khaled Khiari, UN Assistant Secretary-General for the Middle East, Asia and the Pacific, also briefed the Council, stating that while intensive talks continued over a potential Gaza ceasefire agreement and release of hostages, the horrific situation in Gaza continued to deteriorate, with Israeli military operations and hostilities expanding throughout the Strip and the human toll mounting constantly.
• On 21 July, the Secretary General issued a statement stating that he was appalled by the accelerating breakdown of humanitarian conditions in Gaza, where the last lifelines keeping people alive were collapsing. He also deplored the growing reports of children and adults suffering from malnutrition, and strongly condemned the ongoing violence, including the shooting, killing, and injuring of people attempting to get food for their families.
• On 17 July, the UN Special Rapporteur on violence against women and girls, its causes and consequences, Ms. Reem Alsalem, called for immediate global action to halt what she described as an unfolding “femi-genocide” in Gaza. The Special Rapporteur reiterated findings from her recent report to the Human Rights Council stating that Israel was deliberately killing Palestinian women and girls with the intent to destroy them and the continuity of the Palestinian people.