PALESTINE’S LEGAL SCENE – Issue. 285

Your weekly survey of the most important publications and activities related to Palestine and law, from local and international sources

15 – 21 June 2025

Issued every Sunday by Law for Palestine

Prepared by: Razwan Issa, Nour Kharouf, Arwa Abdel Moniam, Murad Abu Murad, Ahmad Rjoub

Translation: Sundus Al-Fararja and ‏Sabrin Alsheikh Ahmed

Editing: Widad Hussein

This weekly report reviews the legal dynamics of the Palestine question, and everything related to international law and Palestine. The report includes an account of the most important publications, activities and conferences related to Palestine at the local, regional, international levels. The report further covers decisions, decrees, and judicial orders affecting the Palestinian cause, whether made at the official, academic or public levels. The report aims to be a reference for monitoring, documenting and archiving the latest human rights developments related to Palestine, and to present them to individuals, researchers, study centers, and official, academic and legal institutions concerned.

To view this Issue of Palestine’s Legal Scene, please click here (5 minutes read)

Judicial decrees, decisions, positions, and orders issued by official Palestinian bodies

• The Palestinian prisoners’ institutions (including the Commission of Detainees Affairs, Palestinian Prisoners Society, the Higher Committee for Prisoners’ and Ex-Prisoners’ Affairs, and the Center for Defending Freedoms) have strongly slammed the inclusion of Addameer Prisoner Support and Human Rights Association, along with several other Palestinian organizations, on the US Treasury Department’s “terrorist” list. They called on the international human rights community and the United Nations to denounce this US decision, describing it as part of a broader attempt to undermine the human rights system in Palestine, and urged immediate action to stop it. (June 15, 2025)
• The Palestinian Ministry of Foreign Affairs stressed that no form of aid in Gaza can coexist with atrocity, and that genocide cannot be disguised as humanitarian relief. It called for urgent international action to end the war of extermination in the Gaza Strip. (June 17, 2025)
• The Commission of Detainees Affairs and the Palestinian Prisoners’ Society disclosed harrowing new testimonies from detainees in the Gaza Strip, revealing that they have been subjected to systematic torture and brutal interrogations. The Commission also warned of the grave consequences of the continued ban on lawyers’ visits to detainees imposed by the occupation authorities. (June 18–19, 2025)
• The Jerusalem Governorate voiced deep concern over escalating Israeli measures aimed at strangling the city of Jerusalem and fully isolating it from its Palestinian surroundings. These measures include the installation of new iron gates, the intensification of military checkpoints, and the accelerated expansion of colonial settlements and annexation. (June 18, 2025)
• The Ministry of Women’s Affairs released a report marking World Refugee Day, highlighting the harsh realities faced by Palestinian refugee women in the West Bank, including Jerusalem, as well as in Gaza and the diaspora. (June 19, 2025)

Judicial decrees, decisions, positions, and orders issued by official Israeli bodies

• Israeli army spokesperson Avichay Adraee declared new evacuation orders in the Gaza Strip covering several areas, including the Al-Jalaa neighborhood, Hamad City, and parts of Al-Qarara. The orders also extended to the Old City and Al-Tuffah neighborhood in Gaza City. (June 17/20, 2025)

Judicial decrees, decisions, positions, and orders issued by Arab, European, and international bodies

• The Commissioner-General of UNRWA warned of the continuing humanitarian tragedies in the Gaza Strip while international attention shifts elsewhere, noting that scores of people have been killed and injured in the past days including of starving people trying to get some food from a lethal distribution system. He pointed out that restrictions on bringing in aid and severe shortages of fuel are now hampering the delivery of critical services, especially  health and  water, despite an abundance of assistance ready to be moved into Gaza. (June 16, 2025)
• World Health Organization Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus warned that Gaza’s health system is on the brink of collapse due to more than 100 days of fuel shortages, with repeated attempts to retrieve fuel stocks from evacuation zones denied. He reported that 17 hospitals, 7 field hospitals, and 43 primary health centers are operating on minimal daily fuel supplies, risking the failure of essential systems for ventilators, dialysis machines, incubators, and vaccine cold chains. (June 16, 2025)
• UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk warned that the current trajectory of the conflict in Gaza and the West Bank reflects a blatant disregard for international law and human rights, accusing Israel of weaponizing food by blocking the delivery of humanitarian aid. (June 16, 2025)
• The United Nations confirmed the postponement of the High-Level International Conference for the Peaceful Settlement of the Question of Palestine and the Implementation of the Two-State Solution. UN Deputy Spokesperson Farhan Haq emphasized that the Secretary-General remains committed to a negotiated two-state solution, in line with UN resolutions, international law, and previous agreements, so that Israel and Palestine can finally live side by side in peace and security, with Jerusalem as the capital of both states. (June 16, 2025)
• Eluned Morgan, First Minister of Wales; Andy Burnham, Mayor of Greater Manchester; Emily Thornberry, Chair of the Foreign Affairs Committee in the House of Commons; and Andy Slaughter, Chair of the Justice Committee, called on the UK government to immediately recognize the State of Palestine alongside Israel. They affirmed that the Israeli military occupation of East Jerusalem, the West Bank, and Gaza is unlawful as confirmed by the International Court of Justice, and urged the UK to take a clear and urgent stance. (June 16, 2025)
• The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs in the Occupied Palestinian Territory (OCHA) warned that more than 100 days of a total blockade and fuel depletion have caused the collapse of critical lifelines. The office reported that hospitals are going dark, water pumping has ceased, and ambulances are no longer operational, signaling a complete breakdown of life-sustaining systems in the Gaza Strip. (June 18, 2025)
• Philippe Lazzarini, Commissioner-General of UNRWA, stressed that Palestinian lives have been devalued to the point where shooting at starving people as they attempt to obtain food has become routine. Lazzarini stated that hundreds of Palestinians have been killed since the establishment of what he called the “Gaza Humiliation Foundation”, a crude, medieval, and lethal system that deliberately harms people under the guise of “humanitarian aid,” but is in fact based on lies, deceit, and cruelty. He emphasized that luring starving people to their deaths constitutes a war crime, calling for those responsible to be held accountable. He described the situation as a disgrace and a stain on our collective conscience. (June 18, 2025)
• UN Special Rapporteur on the right to housing stated that Israel has openly squeezed the people of Gaza into “concentration zones” aka camps, while using aid as a weapon to torment and kill.( June 18, 2025)
• UN Secretary-General António Guterres stated that “it is unacceptable that Palestinians are risking their lives for food” and demanded an immediate and independent investigation. The Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) urged the Israeli military to end the use of deadly force near food distribution points following repeated shootings of Palestinians attempting to access food. The office emphasized that targeting civilians seeking food is a serious violation of international law. (June 18, 2025)
• High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Vice-President of the European Commission, Kaja Kallas, stated that Israel is exceeding the bounds of self-defense, adding that blocking food and medicine from reaching Palestinians trapped in Gaza neither protects Israel nor aligns with decades of humanitarian principles. Kallas also warned that the West Bank is simultaneously descending into chaos, with increasing settler violence. She noted that the European Union has already imposed sanctions on nine individuals and five entities responsible for serious human rights violations against Palestinians. Kallas explained that the EU’s inability to take stronger action to address the humanitarian crisis stems from the requirement for consensus among member states, and urged members of the European Parliament to pressure their governments to change their positions. (June 18, 2025)
• Croatian President Zoran Milanović stated that Croatia should recognize the State of Palestine, stressing the need to speak openly about “the ugly policy pursued by Israel.” He added, “Criminals must be held accountable, and part of the current Israeli leadership is guilty.” Milanović asserted that Israel is pursuing a criminal policy that will lead to no positive outcome. (June 19, 2025)
• Maxime Prévot, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs, European Affairs, and Development Cooperation of Belgium, announced that nine EU Member States have called on the European Commission to examine whether trade in goods and services linked to illegal settlements in the Occupied Palestinian Territory is compatible with international law. This request follows the Advisory Opinion of the International Court of Justice, which clearly states that involvement in trade contributing to the maintenance of an illegal situation in the Occupied Palestinian Territory must be avoided. (June 19, 2025)
• UN Special Rapporteur on the Occupied Palestinian Territory, Francesca Albanese, has issued a warning about an imminent threat facing twelve Palestinian villages in Masafer Yatta, located in the South Hebron Hills. These villages, home to around 2,800 residents, are at risk of mass demolition and forcible displacement, which Albanese described as “a war crime and a crime against humanity.” She stressed that the move aims to forcibly clear Palestinians from the area as part of a system of colonial apartheid. (June 20, 2025)
• According to the BBC, UK Home Secretary Yvette Cooper is preparing to proscribe the activist group Palestine Action, effectively designating it as a terrorist organization. This move follows an incident in which pro-Palestinian activists broke into RAF Brize Norton, a Royal Air Force base in Oxfordshire, and sprayed red paint on two military aircraft. (June 20, 2025)
• Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan accused Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of pursuing Zionist ambitions that, like Adolf Hitler’s rise ninety years ago, are dragging the region and the world toward a big disaster. He described Israel’s military actions in Gaza, Lebanon, Yemen, Syria, and Iran as acts of “plunder” and state terrorism. Erdoğan called on influential powers not to fall for Netanyahu’s provocations and urged them to use their leverage to secure a ceasefire. He also emphasized that Israel must not be allowed to obstruct the work of UNRWA, and appealed to the Organization of Islamic Cooperation and its member states to provide both material and moral support to the agency. (June 20, 2025)
• The U.S. Supreme Court has ruled to revive the lawsuit filed by Fuld against the Palestinian Authority and the Palestine Liberation Organization, sending the case back to the Court of Appeals for further proceedings. The lawsuit alleges that the PA and PLO are responsible for the killing of an American citizen in a 2018 attack, citing the Palestinian Authority’s practice of providing payments to prisoners and to the families of martyrs. (June 20, 2025)
• The European External Action Service (EEAS) has conducted a review of the EU-Israel Association Agreement and concluded that there are “indications” Israel has breached its human rights obligations—particularly in Gaza. The findings cite restrictions on humanitarian aid, attacks on hospitals, forced displacement of Palestinians, mass and arbitrary detentions, settlement expansion, and settler violence. (June 20, 2025)
• Speaking before the Council of Foreign Ministers of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), Arab League Secretary-General Ahmed Aboul Gheit urged the international community and the United Nations Security Council to fulfill their responsibilities in halting crimes committed against Palestinians. He denounced the continued use of the Veto to protect the occupation. (June 21, 2025)
• UNRWA Commissioner-General Philippe Lazzarini stated that “two million people in Gaza are starving,” describing the newly established so-called ‘aid mechanism’ as “a death trap that costs more lives than it saves.” He warned that food is being weaponized and Palestinians are being humiliated without consequence. Lazzarini also pointed to widespread displacement in the West Bank, the destruction of infrastructure, and the continued advancement of annexation. He stressed that UNRWA itself has become a target in the ongoing war, and cautioned that a severe financial crisis may soon force the Agency to make decisions that would negatively impact Palestinian refugees. He called on the Organization of Islamic Cooperation and its member states to provide both political and financial support to UNRWA. (June 21, 2025)

Publications of human rights NGOs

• The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) confirmed that civilians continue to be killed and injured as intense hostilities persist, while access to basic necessities, particularly fuel, grows increasingly difficult due to restrictions on humanitarian aid. The ICRC reported that over 170 patients were treated in a short period, many suffering gunshot wounds sustained while attempting to reach a food distribution site. (June 16, 2025)
• The Al Mezan Center for Human Rights reported a complete shutdown of internet and landline telecommunications across the Gaza Strip after Israeli forces struck the last remaining fiber-optic cable serving the central and southern areas. This followed an earlier outage in Gaza City and the northern region, resulting in a total communications blackout across the territory. The Center stated that the disruption has paralyzed essential services, including emergency response, humanitarian relief operations, media coverage, and education. (June 16, 2025)
• Jewish Voice for Peace stated that the United States is providing Israel with unlimited weapons and funding, fueling massacres against Palestinians. The organization called for an immediate halt to arming Israel. (June 16, 2025)
• Doctors Without Borders (MSF) reported that the hypocrisy and inaction of the European Union and its member states have allowed Israel to continue its massacre of Palestinians in Gaza with total impunity, despite these countries having political, economic, and diplomatic tools to pressure Israel to stop its aggression and open humanitarian crossings. MSF Secretary General Christopher Lockyer called for political courage, legal responsibility, and moral commitment to end the crisis. (June 17, 2025)
• The Renaissance Strategic Center and the Arab Renaissance for Democracy and Development (ARDD) have published a report titled Militarization, Climate Change, and Gendered Injustice: The Case of Gaza. The report highlights how Israeli military operations have exacerbated existing environmental pressures in Gaza by targeting water and energy systems, agricultural lands, and marine ecosystems. The organizations issued an urgent appeal to the international community to intervene immediately to halt Israel’s ongoing campaign of starvation and genocide in Gaza and to ensure accountability. (June 17/19, 2025)
• The Legal Center for Arab Minority Rights in Israel, Adalah, confirmed that the Israeli Supreme Court has rejected an urgent petition submitted by the center to halt widespread demolitions in the Jenin refugee camp, effectively giving the Israeli military the green light to destroy approximately 90 civilian buildings in the occupied West Bank. Adalah stated that the decision provides “judicial cover for a policy of systematic destruction.” (June 18, 2025)
• The International Commission to Support Palestinian Rights (ICSPR) expressed grave concern over the Israeli occupation’s dual assault on the people of Gaza: a systematic campaign of genocide combining military aggression with a strategy of starvation. This dangerous approach, the Commission argued, seeks to pressure residents over their political rights, particularly their fundamental right to self-determination. These findings were presented in a legal position paper titled “Bargaining for the Right to Self-Determination in Exchange for Food.” (June 19, 2025)
• Human Rights Watch, along with more than 110 human rights organizations and trade unions, issued a joint statement urging the European Union to ensure that its ongoing review of Israel’s compliance with Article 2 of the EU-Israel Association Agreement is thorough, comprehensive, and credible. The statement stressed that overwhelming evidence of grave human rights violations, including war crimes, crimes against humanity, apartheid, and genocide against Palestinians, demonstrates Israel’s blatant non-compliance with the agreement. The signatories called for concrete measures, including at least a partial suspension of the agreement, and criticized the EU’s delayed response. (June 9, 2025)
• The International Humanitarian Law Centre at Diakonia issued a legal appraisal of Israel’s aid delivery scheme in Gaza, introduced in May, concluding that it entails multiple violations of international law. The report highlights severe restrictions on the quantity and type of supplies permitted, the establishment of Israeli-controlled distribution hubs, and the involvement of private armed contractors alongside the Israeli military. The report finds that Israel continues to violate its obligation to meet the needs of the civilian population, obstructs impartial humanitarian operations, and uses starvation as a method of warfare. (June 20, 2025)

Opinion Pieces and features

• The Guardian published an article by Julian Borger and Quique Kierszenbaum titled: “They just see you as an Arab’: Israel’s Palestinian citizens given cursory protection from attack.”(June 15, 2025)
• Pass Blue published an article Damilola Banjo titled: “The French-Saudi 2-State Solution Debate: Postponed or Canceled?”(June 16, 2025)
• Al Araby Al-Jadeed published an opinion article by Daoud Kuttab titled: “Will Macron Continue to Pursue the Recognition of the State of Palestine ?”( June 16, 2025)
• The Conversation published an article by Leonie Fleischmann titled: “Itamar Ben-Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich: the Netanyahu government extremists sanctioned by the UK.” (June 16, 2025)
• Mondoweiss published an op-ed by Rupa Marya, titled: “UC San Francisco fired me for speaking out against genocide, but as a physician I could not remain silent”. (June 16, 2025)
• Mondoweiss published an opinion piece by Rameen Javadian, titled: “Zionism is the root of violence from Palestine to Iran”. (June 17, 2025)
• Mondoweiss published an opinion piece by Qassam Muaddi, titled: “How Israel is using the war with Iran to accelerate its annexation of the West Bank”. (June 18, 2025)
• The Palestine Chronicle published an article by Mats Svensson titled: “Sweden and UNRWA: Time for the Three Wise Ones to Reveal Their Sources on Gaza.” (June 18, 2025)
• The Irish Times published an opinion piece by David Landy titled: “Why Academic Institutions are Cutting Ties with Israel?” (June 19, 2025)
• Mondoweiss published an opinion piece by Malak Hijazi titled: “While the World Is Busy with Israel’s War on Iran, Gaza Continues to Starve.” (June 20, 2025)
• Mondoweiss also published an opinion piece by Maura Finkelstein titled: “The Jewish Supremacy at the Heart of the Zionist Project.” (June 20, 2025)
• Counter Punch published an article by Palestine Global Mental Health Network titled: “Israeli Impunity and the Neo-Colonial System That Dehumanizes Palestinians.” (June 20, 2025)
• +972 Magazine published an article by Ahmed Ahmed and Ibtisam Mahdi titled: “‘The Hunger Games’: Inside Israel’s Aid Death Traps for Starving Gazans.” (June 20, 2025)

Research and academic studies (in Arabic and English):

• The Arab American University – Palestine published the master’s thesis of researcher Ahmad Mohammad Al-Rajoub, titled “The Israeli Occupation and the Law Governing the State of Occupation” a legal analytical study. (2025)
• Journal of Law Society and Authority magazine published a research paper by Kada Afia and others tiled: “Palestine’s United Nations Membership and Overcoming the American Veto.”( 2025)

Legal Achievements/Impacts for Palestine

• A group of Microsoft shareholders launched an initiative to submit a co-file resolution calling for an assessment of the effectiveness of the company to human rights, aiming to pressure leadership and hold the company accountable for its ethical and social responsibilities in light of the situation in Palestine.
• A federal judge ordered the release on bail of Palestinian activist Mahmoud Khalil, who has been detained by the Trump administration, in a Louisiana detention facility, since March on immigration charges to punish him for his pro-Palestine activism. Judge Michael E. Farbiarz stated that there is an effort that the charges were used to punish Khalil, that would be unconstitutional. (June 20, 2025)

Upcoming human rights opportunities and events

• The Boğaziçi Law Review has announced a call for papers for a special issue titled “Palestine and International Law: Confronting Legal Violence and Mobilising for Liberation.” Guest editors Mohsen al Attar and M. Behesti Aydogan are inviting submissions. The issue aims to deepen academic and activist debates on the contradictions of international law as, first, a terrain of violence; second, a site of contestation; and third, a (potential) site of liberation, particularly in light of the situation in Gaza and the failures of international legal institutions. The deadline for submitting abstracts (300–500 words) and a short biography is June 30, 2025.