NGO Action News – 25 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 24 September, the Cairo Institute for Human Rights Studies published the article “Palestine’s recognition rings hollow without action to end Israel’s genocide, occupation and annexation”. The NGO stated that the recognition of the State of Palestine by several countries, or their announced plans to recognize, was a significant diplomatic milestone but also raised serious concerns over Israel’s impunity for, according to the article, its war crimes and the international community’s failure to uphold the rights of Palestinians.
• On 22 September, the Palestinian Center for Human Rights published a press release condemning the new restrictions imposed by Israeli authorities on residents of three Palestinian villages in the occupied West Bank. Under Israeli military orders, these residents are now required to obtain special permits to enter and remain in their own villages. According to the NGO, this measure deepens the separation policy and imposes a new reality that turns the daily lives of Palestinians into a series of restrictions and hardships. It also exposes Israel’s systematic efforts to entrench the annexation policy. The statement reads that the residents are deprived of basic services, such as medical centers and schools, and are forced to move under complex procedures just to obtain their most basic daily needs.
• On 18 September, BADIL published a press release stating that Israeli authorities have sharply expanded the installation of iron gates across the occupied West Bank since 7 October 2023. The iron gates can be closed at will, without warning, turning entire cities, villages or neighborhoods into enclaves overnight. The NGO added that this development was part of the Israeli regime’s strategy of ultimately erasing and eliminating the Palestinian presence, through further fragmentation, isolation and suffocation.
• On 18 September, Al Mezan published an article highlighting that it has been one year since the UN General Assembly passed Resolution ES-10/24 demanding from Israel to end its unlawful occupation of the Palestinian territory of Gaza and the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, within 12 months. The NGO urged the international community to enforce this resolution.

Africa, Asia and Europe

• On 23 September, Law for Palestine, in collaboration with the Independent Commission for Human Rights, published the report “Legal insights from UN Special Procedures on the responsibilities and the path forward following Israel’s non-compliance with the ICJ Advisory Opinion and UNGA Resolution to end its occupation of Palestine”. In this report, the NGOs conducted interviews with seven Special Rapporteurs whose mandates are relevant to the situation in the Occupied Palestinian Territory. The NGO also published the article “Justice Beyond Power: The Hague Group and the Future of International Law – The Legal Resistance of the Global South”, on the emergence of The Hague Group, a coalition of States, as a voice from the Global South committed to defending international law.
• On 23 September, the Palestinian Return Centre published its intervention before the UN Human Rights Council, stressing that the sharp escalation of Israeli settler violence in the occupied West Bank was not a reaction to the events of 7 October 2023, but part of a “long-term colonial project” backed by the occupying power and aimed at the de facto annexation of Palestinian land.
• On 18 September, Amnesty International published a briefing calling on States, international, municipal and other public institutions and bodies and companies and other private organizations to step up their pressure on Israel to abide by its international obligations and put an end to what the NGO considers to be a genocide of Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, an unlawful military occupation of the Occupied Palestinian Territory and its system of apartheid against Palestinians.
• On 18 September, Diakonia published the brief “Unheeded Ultimatum: Israel’s Never-Ending Occupation and Defiance of International Law”, on the anniversary of General Assembly resolution ES-10/24, had which affirmed the conclusions of the landmark Advisory Opinion rendered by the International Court of Justice (ICJ) on 19 July 2024, which found that Israel’s policies and practices as well as its continued presence in the OPT are unlawful and must be terminated as rapidly as possible. The NGO added that many States have neglected their obligations, either failing to take any meaningful action to enforce this resolution or actively facilitating violations and obstructing accountability mechanisms.

North America

• On 22 September, J Street issued a statement welcoming a wave of recognition of Palestinian statehood by Member States. The NGO stated that those official recognitions reflected the broad international consensus that the Israeli-Palestinian conflict could only end with two states living side by side.
• On 21 September, the Foundation for Middle East Peace (FMEP) published a webinar with FMEP Fellows Ahmed Moor and Peter Beinart who spoke about the recent developments regarding Palestinian statehood, their meaning and implications. They also discussed United States politics and culture in relation to Israel and the situation in the Middle East. The NGO also published the webinar “Poetry of the Camps: Poems from Gaza on Homeland, Miracles, and Freedom”, on a poetry program in Gaza with young writers.

United Nations

• On 24 September, Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator Tom Fletcher, gave remarks at the high-level event “Call to Action for Palestinian Children in the West Bank and Gaza”, organized during the UN General Assembly High-Level Week, where he stated that children in Gaza had as much right as children anywhere else, including water, food, safety, health, shelter and education. Fletcher also called for a ceasefire and unimpeded humanitarian access to the most vulnerable civilians in Gaza.
• On 22 September, UN Secretary-General António Guterres gave a statement during the High‑Level International Conference for the Peaceful Settlement of the Question of Palestine and Implementation of the Two-State Solution, in New York, saying that the two-State solution was the only credible path to a just and lasting peace between Israelis and Palestinians – and to wider peace and security in the Middle East. In addition to Member States representatives who gave statements during the event, the President of the General Assembly Annalena Baerbock stated that an immediate, unconditional and permanent ceasefire in Gaza was urgently needed, adding that Israel must immediately facilitate the full, rapid, safe and unhindered entry and delivery of humanitarian assistance to all Palestinian civilians.