NGO Action News – 7 August 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 6 August, Defense for Children International – Palestine interviewed four children living in Gaza about the status of their rights. According to the NGO, each child described how their most basic human rights have been stripped from them and their families, highlighting their lack of access to shelter, healthcare, food, water, and education.
• On 5 August, Al Mezan Centre for Human Rights issued the press release “Palestinians seeking aid abducted as Israel uses starvation as a tool of genocide”. Their cases were filed with the UN Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances. The NGO stated that the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) “must be immediately dismantled, and delivery of humanitarian aid must be returned to a unified, UN-led coordination mechanism, grounded in international humanitarian law and inclusive of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the New East (UNRWA), Palestinian civil society and the wider humanitarian community.”
• On 4 August, the Palestinian Center for Human Rights published a press release raising concerns over the escalation of Israeli settler’s attacks against Palestinians in the West Bank, after five Palestinians were reportedly killed by settlers in a month. Following the killing of a Palestinian near Nablus on 2 August, the NGO stated that this crime was part of an alarming escalation in violence committed by settlers, whom, it claimed, have been armed and supported by the Israeli government. Association France Palestine Solidarité published an article (in French) on this issue as well.
• On 4 August, Al-Haq published a legal brief on the “Protected Group under the Genocide Convention”. According to the NGO, the brief defined the types of groups protected by the Genocide Convention, and the debate surrounding their definition.
• On 4 August, Gisha reported that Israeli petitioning organizations submitted a request to the Israeli High Court of Justice demanding an immediate hearing with a panel of three justices regarding the petition filed on May 18 to open the crossings to Gaza and take all measures to ensure full and effective humanitarian aid to the population in the Strip.
• On 2 August, the Palestinian Center for Human Rights published the article “Intensified Naval Blockade Deprives Gaza’s Population of Fisheries Resources: A Continuing Crime of Genocide and Deadly Starvation”. The NGO stated that Israeli forces had intensified the naval blockade on the Gaza Strip, denying fishermen access to the sea and preventing them from carrying out their work. According to the NGO, this blockade is part of a broader pattern of systematic Israeli measures aimed to tighten control over Palestinians, starve the population, and eliminate one of their last remaining sources of food, the article read.
• On 2 August, Al-Haq welcomed the report on “Pre-Legislative Scrutiny of the General Scheme of the Israeli Settlements in the Occupied Palestinian Territory Bill”, published by the Joint Committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade of the Parliament of Ireland on 31 July. The Committee’s Report had stated that the draft legislation “is intended to ensure that Ireland is compliant with its international legal obligation, as identified by the International Court of Justice in its advisory opinion of 19 July 2024, to take steps to prevent trade relations that assist in the maintenance of the illegal situation created by Israel in the Occupied Palestinian Territory.”

Africa, Asia and Europe

• On 31 July, Law for Palestine published an article on the webinar “Breaking Impunity: Global Strategic Litigation and Accountability for Palestine”. The NGO stated that the event, co-organized with other organizations, had brought together prominent legal practitioners, human rights defenders, and civil society representatives to discuss the potential of strategic litigation, universal jurisdiction, and corporate accountability in confronting Israeli impunity for international crimes committed in the Occupied Palestinian Territory.
• On 30 July, the Palestinian Return Centre submitted a human rights briefing to UN Member State missions in Geneva, on the escalation in the scale and severity of violations committed by Israeli authorities against Palestinian detainees, particularly those from the Gaza Strip, since the beginning of the war on 7 October 2023. The briefing outlined what the NGO considered to be Israel’s use of systematic torture methods against Palestinian detainees, including severe beatings, deliberate starvation, prolonged suspension in painful positions, medical neglect leading to death, among other torture techniques.

North America

• On 1 August, Human Rights Watch published the article “Gaza: Israeli Killings of Palestinians Seeking Food Are War Crimes”. The NGO stated that Israeli forces at food distribution sites operated by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation in Gaza have routinely opened fire on starving Palestinian civilians in acts that amount to serious violations of international law and war crimes. The article also argued that States should press Israeli authorities to immediately stop using lethal force as a method of crowd control against Palestinian civilians, lift sweeping restrictions on the entry of aid, and suspend this distribution system.
• On 1 August, Foundation for Middle East Peace (FMEP) published the webinar “Music & Dance in Jerusalem: The Power of Culture in the Face of Israeli Repression”, with Hilary Rantisi, FMEP Fellow, and Rania Elias, former director of the Yabous Cultural Centre in Jerusalem and the Jerusalem Festival. The NGO stated that participants spoke about Palestinian culture in Jerusalem, both the powerful potential for activities like dance and music to revive Palestinian society as well as the challenges of maintaining culture under occupation.

United Nations

• On 3 August, UNRWA Commissioner-General Philippe Lazzarini stated that the Israeli Government continued to ban international media from getting into Gaza, silencing voices who speak out against atrocities in Gaza, while UN officials and humanitarian workers have been banned from going back to Gaza.
• On 1 August, UNICEF Deputy Executive Director Ted Chaiban published remarks following his recent travel to Israel, Gaza and the West Bank. He stated that Gaza faced a grave risk of famine and that over 18,000 children have been killed in Gaza since the beginning of the war. Mr. Chaiban added that UNICEF had pressed Israeli forces for a review of their military rules of engagement to protect civilians and children and called for more humanitarian aid and commercial traffic to come in – moving closer towards 500 trucks a day.