NGO Action News – 12 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 10 June, the Palestinian Centre for Human Rights issued a statement condemning the targeting by Israeli forces of an ambulance carrying a humanitarian mission, killing 3 paramedics and a journalist on 9 June. The NGO stated that this latest attack was part of a pattern of systematic crimes committed against medical personnel within a broader policy aimed at undermining the healthcare system in the Gaza Strip. The statement reads that such actions constituted a blatant violation of international humanitarian law.
• On 10 June, Al-Shabaka published the policy memo “Outsourcing Occupation: US Private Contractors in Gaza”, criticizing the new food distribution scheme in Gaza which deliberately sidelined UN bodies and aid organizations that have been working in Gaza for decades, according to the article. The NGO added that the new aid distribution system has already led to over 100 Palestinian deaths, mostly from Israeli gunfire, as civilians faced perilous conditions at hubs near military posts along the Rafah border. The Palestinian Centre for Human Rights published a statement on this issue as well.
• On 5 June, Al Mezan published an article stating that the NGO had observed a significant escalation in Israeli strikes on residential neighborhoods, shelters, and displacement camps since 25 May 2025 in Gaza. In addition to targeting family homes, Israeli forces also attacked civilian infrastructure, including schools and shelters, the article reads, with repeated displacement orders issued across various areas of Gaza, forcing civilians to flee relentless bombardments and endure forced displacement while experiencing extreme hardship and amid widespread panic.

 Africa, Asia and Europe

• On 9 June, Law For Palestine published the document “Diplomatic Humanitarian Convoy to Gaza – Q&A”, describing the Diplomatic Humanitarian Convoy as a rights-based international initiative aimed at breaking the siege on Gaza and restoring humanitarian access. The report added that it was envisioned to be led by diplomats, government officials, and parliamentarians from around the world – joined by humanitarian actors and international media, to demand immediate humanitarian access, apply diplomatic pressure, and fulfill the obligations of third states to prevent atrocity crimes, including genocide.
• On 6 June, Agence Média Palestine reported (in French) that four journalists had been killed during an Israeli strike on an hospital in Gaza on 5 June. This attack brought to 224 the number of journalists killed by Israeli forces since 7 October 2023. The article further reads that, on the day of the attack, 130 global press and press freedom organizations called for international media to be given immediate access to Gaza and for Palestinian journalists to be given full protection.
• On 5 June, Amnesty International published the article “Israel’s destructive West Bank military operation fuels mass forced displacement of Palestinians”. According to the article, the Israeli military has displaced tens of thousands of Palestinians by destroying homes and essential civilian infrastructure in Jenin and Tulkarem refugee camps rendering them uninhabitable, as part of its ongoing military operation in the occupied West Bank. The NGO added that Israel must immediately halt illegal practices leading to the forced displacement of Palestinians, including attacks on residential areas, destruction of property and infrastructure, pervasive access and movement restrictions imposed on Palestinians.

North America

• On 11 June, Human Rights Watch published an article on sanctions announced by several countries against some members of the Israeli government. The article informed that the affected ministers have been sanctioned for their role in inciting violence against Palestinians in the West Bank, adding that Israeli military demolitions and settler violence have displaced more than 6,400 Palestinians in the West Bank since October 2023, and for their call for ethnic cleansing of the Gaza Strip.
• On 10 June, J Street published an article on the acceleration of Israeli annexation policies in the West Bank. The NGO stated that, while the world’s attention had been focused on the horrors of the Gaza war, 2024 and 2025 have seen record numbers of new settlement units, illegal outposts, home demolitions, expansion on state land, and violent settler attacks in the West Bank. Many of the most damaging developments have been administrative, legal, and legislative steps that do not generate headlines, but the impact on prospects for independent Palestinian statehood has been devastating, the article reads.
• On 9 June, the Foundation for Middle East Peace (FMEP) published the webinar “Daily Life while Committing Genocide: the Lexicon of Brutality in Israel”. Ahmed Moor, FMEP Fellow, spoke with sociologist Assaf Bondy and human rights researcher and historian Adam Raz about what they call the “lexicon of brutality,” drawing from a recent book the pair published on the language that Israelis use to discuss Palestinians and, specifically, the Israeli war on Gaza.
• On 4 June, J Street published an article highlighting that the Gaza humanitarian crisis had reached catastrophic levels, as reports and visuals describing the extreme plight of the civilian population in Gaza increased pressure on the Government of Israel to lift the blockade and allow for humanitarian access. The NGO also criticized the new food distribution system put in place by Israel, claiming it politicized aid delivery by side-stepping established humanitarian systems and by relying on a newly formed organization with no experience delivering assistance in Gaza. It also placed civilians at heightened risk by requiring them to leave their current shelters to walk through conflict zones to reach a limited number of hubs, the article reads.

United Nations

• On 10 June, the UN Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem, and Israel published a report considering that Israeli attacks on educational, religious and cultural sites in the Occupied Palestinian Territory amounted to war crimes and the crime against humanity of extermination. The Commission urged the Government of Israel to immediately end attacks targeting cultural, religious and education institutions and seizure and military use of such institutions; immediately end its unlawful occupation of Palestinian territory and cease all settlement plans and activities, including those conducted in or endangering religious and cultural sites; and comply fully with the provisional measures ordered by the International Court of Justice.
• On 10 June, the UN Special Rapporteur on the Palestinian Territories Occupied since 1967, Francesca Albanese, participated in the panel discussion “Journalism during genocide” organized at the UN Headquarters in New York by the Permanent Mission of Colombia to the UN and the Permanent Observer Mission of the State of Palestine to the UN, in collaboration with Reporters Without Borders. This panel event was hosted ahead of the opening of the photography exhibition “The War on Truth: Press freedom under Israeli occupation.”
• On 9 June, OCHA warned that the crisis in Gaza had reached unprecedented levels of despair, as people continued to go hungry across the Strip. Many are forced to risk their lives in search of food, amid further reports of people being killed and injured near non-UN distribution sites. Humanitarians also continued to face major impediments that hamper their ability to conduct these operations. According to OCHA, these impediments included unacceptably dangerous routes, a severe shortage of vetted drivers, and delays, with teams having to wait, often for hours, for military activities to pause and for a green light to be given by the Israeli authorities to proceed.