NGO Action News – 5 September 2024

Middle East

• On 4 September, Al Mezan, the Palestinian Centre for Human Rights and Al Haq issued a press release accusing Israel of intentionally hampering the process of humanitarian aid delivery to and distribution in Gaza through various measures and policies. The NGOs stated that Israel’s “so-called humanitarian efforts” only served to shield it from criticism and ensure its long-enjoyed impunity, adding that hindering the humanitarian aid process in Gaza also included a pattern of attacking aid workers, convoys, and humanitarian relief operations.
• On 3 September, Al Haq published a statement from several Palestinian civil society organisations calling for all UN Member States to comply with the recent International Court of Justice Advisory Opinion and immediately take action to review all diplomatic, political, and economic ties with Israel. The statement also called on the UN General Assembly to instruct the organization’s organs and representatives, including the Secretary-General, to enact effective accountability mechanisms within the UN system to address Israel’s unlawful presence in the OPT.
• On 29 August, the Palestinian Centre for Human Rights warned of Israel’s disregard for urgent calls to intervene and save Palestinian civilians in Gaza who are on the brink of an unprecedented humanitarian disaster after confirming the first case of type 2 poliovirus in Gaza, a virus that had resurfaced in Palestine for the first time in 25 years. The NGO emphasized that Israel, as the occupying power, has conducted systematic attacks on civilians and infrastructure in the Gaza Strip, forcing the healthcare system into total collapse and created a coercive environment that has entrenched the humanitarian disasters and led to the outbreak of epidemics among hundreds of thousands of IDPs.
• On 28 August, the Cairo Institute for Human Rights Studies published an article on the recent Israeli military operations in the West Bank, which marked a dangerous escalation in the ongoing attacks and violence in the Occupied Palestinian Territory. These operations had opened a new phase of destruction in the West Bank, amid already critical humanitarian, economic, health and security conditions. The article reads further that an immediate and permanent ceasefire has never been more critical.

Africa, Asia and Europe

• On 30 August, Diakonia published the report “Unlawful Incarceration: Legal Analysis of Israel’s Military Detention Regime”. The document analyses the regime relied on by Israel to detain Palestinians from Gaza and addresses the responsibility of Israel and third States to bring the detention regime in line with the requirements of international law, to end ongoing violations of IHL and IHRL, and to provide redress for victims. It also examines the potential individual criminal liability of those responsible for creating and maintaining this system for war crimes and crimes against humanity.
• On 28 August, Amnesty International published an article warning that Israel’s launch of a major coordinated military assault on cities and towns across the occupied West Bank followed an escalation in unlawful killings by Israeli forces in recent months and will put more Palestinians at risk. The organization stated that there has been a spike in lethal force since October 2023 by Israeli forces and violent state-backed settler attacks in the occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem, with Israeli forces and settlers killing at least 622 Palestinians, including at least 142 children. The Palestinian Return Centre and Agence Média Palestine (in French) published articles on the same issue.

North America

• On 28 August, Jewish Voice for Peace published an article on the Israeli military’s destruction of hundreds of historical and religious sites, and centres of culture and learning like libraries, archives, and museums in Gaza, aiming at erasing the Palestinian national identity. The NGO considered these actions to be elements of a cultural genocide by the Israeli government as it has intentionally targeted cultural heritage sites and institutions including destroying all of Gaza’s universities.
• On 28 August, J Street issued a press release welcoming the Biden Administration’s significant announcement of sanctions against the extremist settler organization Hashomer Yosh and the Yitzhar settlement’s civilian security coordinator. The NGO stated that this was the first time an Israeli civilian security official of a West Bank settlement has been sanctioned under President Biden’s February 2024 Executive Order.

United Nations

• On 2 September, the UN Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process, Tor Wennesland, published a statement during a visit to Gaza where he witnessed firsthand the catastrophic impact of the hostilities. Mr. Wennesland stated that the scale of destruction was immense, the humanitarian needs colossal and soaring, and civilians continued to bear the brunt of this conflict. He unequivocally condemned the civilian death toll in Gaza. The Special Coordinator added that an immediate humanitarian ceasefire deal was crucial to saving lives, reducing regional tensions and enabling the UN, in cooperation with the Palestinian Authority, to accelerate efforts to address the pressing needs of Gaza’s population.
• On 2 September, the UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Palestinian territory occupied since 1967, Francesca Albanese, warned that Israel’s intensification of its military assault against the northern West Bank marked a dangerous escalation of grave violence and human rights violations committed by Israel against the Palestinian people since 7 October 2023. She stated that the international community, made of both states and non-state actors (including companies and financial institutions), must do everything it can to immediately end the risk of genocide against the Palestinian people under Israel’s occupation, ensure accountability and ultimately end Israel’s colonisation of Palestinian territory.
• On 29 August, the Acting Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator, Joyce Msuya, briefed the Security Council on the humanitarian situation in Gaza. She stated that what the world has witnessed over the past 11 months – and continues to witness – called into question its commitment to the international legal order that was designed to prevent these tragedies. Ms. Msuya appealed to Council Members and all Member States to use the leverage available to them to ensure respect for international law, combat impunity, and reach an immediate cessation of hostilities and a sustained ceasefire in Gaza.