PALESTINE’S LEGAL SCENE – Issue. 284

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

8 – 14 June 2025

Issued every Sunday by Law for Palestine

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

Translation: Maisaa Abdelqader and Mohammed Janineh         

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 Ministry of Foreign Affairs praised international supporters who risked their lives at sea to assist the Palestinian people in Gaza, stating that their actions reflect a noble humanitarian message in the face of genocide, ethnic cleansing, and starvation. The ministry called for an urgent international response to stop the crimes being committed against Palestinians and to ensure the unconditional entry of humanitarian aid into Gaza. (June 9, 2025)
• The Palestinian Commission for Detainees’ Affairs reported the spread of the disease known as “Scabies” in Megiddo Prison, amid delays by the authorities in providing essential medication. Prisoners have yet to receive any antibiotics or treatment. The commission confirmed that the occupation’s ongoing practices, such as systematic torture, water shortages, limited access to showers, and increased use of solitary confinement, have contributed to the spread of diseases and epidemics within the prisons. (June 10, 2025)
• The PLO’s Refugee Affairs Department condemned the continued demolition of homes by Israeli occupation forces in camps across the northern West Bank. More than 100 demolition notices were issued in Jenin camp alone, an act the department described as both a war crime and a form of ethnic cleansing. The PLO’s Department of Human Rights and Civil Society also stated that the field executions of unarmed civilians in Nablus by occupation forces amount to a full war crime. (June 10, 2025)

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

• Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz announced that he had instructed the military to prevent the Madleen boat, part of the “Freedom Flotilla” Coalition, from reaching the Gaza Strip and breaking the naval blockade. He stressed that “the State of Israel will not allow anyone to violate the naval blockade on Gaza”. (June 8 2025)
• Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich vowed to respond to British sanctions with increased settlement activity, dismissing past attempts to halt it. He condemned sanctions imposed by the UK, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and Norway on him and National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, calling it a “grave mistake” and a red line. Smotrich promised a strong retaliation, including canceling billions in state guarantees for Israeli banks working with Palestinian banks. He also accused the Palestinian Authority of using international courts against Israel and warned that unilateral recognition of a Palestinian state would dismantle the Authority. (June 11 2025)
• The Constitution Committee of the Knesset approved the draft law in its second and third readings, mandating the use of the term “Judea and Samaria” instead of “West Bank” as the official term in legislation and administrative directives. The law bans the use of any alternative term and calls for the amendment of existing laws that include the term “the West Bank.” (June 11 2025)
• Israeli army spokesperson Avichay Adraee announced new evacuation orders for residents in the city of Khan Younis, noting that the army is carrying out military operations “with very intense force” in those areas. (June 12, 2025)

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

• Juliette Touma, Director of Media and Communication at UNRWA, stated that the current aid distribution model in Gaza is “ineffective” and amounts to “a call for people to their deaths.” She stressed that the only way to ensure safe and widespread aid delivery is through the United Nations, including UNRWA. (June 8, 2025)
• The Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) warned that conditions in Gaza have reached unprecedented levels of despair and hunger, forcing civilians to risk their lives in search of food. The United Nations affirmed that Israel, as the occupying power, is responsible for allowing supplies to enter through multiple crossings. Amid the severe collapse of the health sector, the World Health Organization (WHO) warned of an imminent breakdown of the healthcare system in Gaza, citing a critical shortage of medical supplies and unsafe access to hospitals. (June 9, 2025)
• Francesca Albanese, UN Special Rapporteur on the occupied Palestinian territory, called on Israel to immediately release the crew of the “Madleen” ship, who have been detained for more than 17 hours off the coast of Ashdod, and to allow them to sail unimpeded to Gaza. Albanese also urged the United Kingdom to fulfill its obligations under Article 94 of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) as the flag state, to ensure the crew’s safety. She emphasized that “there is no legal basis for Israel’s actions.” (June 9, 2025)
• The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestinian Refugees (UNRWA) confirmed that Israeli authorities have blocked the delivery of safe and dignified aid at scale to the people of Gaza for over three months, despite the population having lost everything and being in desperate need. UNRWA stated, “We are not asking for the impossible. Allow us to do our work: assist people in need and preserve their dignity.” (June 9, 2025)
• Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director-General of the World Health Organization, announced that Al-Amal Hospital in Khan Younis is now essentially out of service due to escalating hostilities in the surrounding area. Ghebreyesus explained that the deterioration has prevented new patients from accessing care and has led to preventable deaths that could have been avoided. (June 9, 2025)
• Irish Deputy Prime Minister Simon Harris emphasized that the ship Madleen was not merely a civilian attempt to deliver food and medicine to Gaza, but rather a symbol of the urgent need to end the blockade imposed on the Strip. He stated that the interception of the ship marks yet another attempt by Israeli authorities to prevent the entry of humanitarian aid, and affirmed that it is a shame for the world that people in Gaza are starving. (June 9, 2025)
• The Bolivian Ministry of Foreign Affairs condemned the hijacking of the humanitarian aid ship Madleen by Israeli occupation forces in international waters while it was transporting aid to the Gaza Strip. The ministry described the act as a serious violation of international law, the United Nations Charter, and the fundamental rights of the Palestinian people. The Organization of Islamic Cooperation also condemned the incident, calling it an extension of the state terrorism practiced by Israel. (June 9, 2025)
• The Elders, a group founded by Nelson Mandela in 2007, sent an open letter to the leaders of Canada, France and the United Kingdom urging them to fulfil their stated commitment to recognise the State of Palestine without condition or delay. The group emphasized that such  recognition is a necessary step toward  achieving a two-state solution and ending illegal Israeli occupation, stressing that this process must not be held hostage to negotiations. ( June 9. 2025)
• The United Nations Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory and Israel issued a report examining Israel’s destruction of Gaza’s educational system and its demolition of more than half of the religious and cultural sites in the Strip. The report describes these actions as part of a widespread and relentless assault on the Palestinian people, in which Israeli forces committed war crimes and the crime against humanity of genocide. It frames these acts as part of a systematic campaign to erase Palestinian life. The report also examined attacks across the Occupied Palestinian Territory and in Israel. (June 10, 2025)
• S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee stated that Washington no longer wholeheartedly supports the creation of an independent Palestinian state and suggested that such a state could be established elsewhere, rather than being demanded from Israel. The U.S. State Department declined to clarify its position on his remarks. A spokesperson stated, “I think he certainly speaks for himself.” (June 10, 2025)
• The foreign ministers of Australia, Canada, New Zealand, Norway, and the United Kingdom announced in a joint statement the imposition of sanctions and other measures targeting Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir and Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich for inciting violence against Palestinians in the West Bank. According to The Times of London, the UK sanctions include freezing their financial assets within the United Kingdom and banning their entry into British territory. The decision was welcomed by the Organization of Islamic Cooperation, the Arab Parliament, and the State of Palestine, while the U.S. Department of State condemned (June 10, 2025)
• The U.S. Department of the Treasury imposed sanctions on five individuals and five “sham charities”, which it described as “front organizations,” for being prominent financial supporters of Hamas’s military wing and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP). Among those targeted was the Addameer Prisoner Support and Human Rights Association in the West Bank. (June 10, 2025)
• UNRWA Commissioner-General Philippe Lazzarini stated that the aid distribution system managed by Israel and private security companies is not intended to address hunger. He noted that the equivalent of 6,000 aid trucks are currently sitting in UNRWA warehouses outside the Gaza Strip. He added, “Letting food rot and medicine deliberately expire would be simply obscene.” (June 10, 2025)
• The Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan condemned the Israeli shelling near the Jordanian field hospital in southern Gaza, which resulted in the injury of a Jordanian nurse. The incident was described as a flagrant violation of international law and international humanitarian law. Jordan also condemned the storming of Al-Aqsa Mosque by Israel’s National Security Minister under the protection of Israeli occupation police, calling it another clear breach of international law. (June 11 2025)
• The Spanish government expressed its condemnation of the attack carried out by an Israeli drone on the offices of Doctors of the World Spain in Deir al-Balah. The facility had been used to coordinate numerous humanitarian interventions supported by the Spanish Agency for International Development Cooperation (AECID). The government stated that the building was targeted despite prior notification to Israeli military authorities that it belonged to a humanitarian organization. (June 11 2025)
• Argentine President Javier Milei announced  that his country will move its embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem next year. (June 11, 2025)
• UNRWA stated that children in Gaza are waking up during surgical procedures due to a severe shortage of medical supplies, such as anesthesia, according to reports by Save the Children. The agency emphasized that this tragic reality must end once and for all, underscoring the urgent need for the wide and safe delivery of humanitarian aid, including medical supplies, to the Strip. (June 12 2025)
• The UN Special Rapporteur on the occupied Palestinian territory, Francesca Albanese, stated that Israel has isolated Gaza and cut off its communications, while continuously bombing the hungry, the wounded, and the displaced. She added that the GHF is not aid but a criminal project, and described “Abu Shabab” as not a security entity but a criminal gang and proxy militia accelerating Gaza’s collapse. Albanese called on countries serious about ending this crisis to immediately send naval forces loaded with food, medicine, doctors, and nurses to Gaza. (June 12 2025)
• The United Nations General Assembly adopted a resolution, supported by 149 countries, calling on Israel to immediately lift the blockade on the Gaza Strip and open all border crossings to ensure the delivery of humanitarian aid to civilians throughout the Strip. (June 12 2025)

Publications of human rights NGOs

• The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) warned that the healthcare system in Gaza is on the verge of total collapse, stressing the urgent need to protect the remaining medical facilities and strengthen their capacity to prevent avoidable loss of life. The ICRC noted that most of those injured in recent incidents were trying to reach aid distribution sites, and highlighted the growing number of attacks near the few hospitals still operating in the Strip. (June 8 2025)
• The legal center “Adalah” sent an urgent letter to the Israeli authorities demanding the immediate disclosure of the whereabouts of 12 international activists who were forcibly detained after the Israeli navy seized the ship “Madleen”, part of the “Freedom Flotilla“, despite it being in international waters en route to the Gaza Strip. The center affirmed that the interception of the ship and the arrest of the activists constitute a blatant violation of international law. (June 9, 2025)
• Save the Children UK called on the Israeli occupation government to lift the siege on Gaza and allow the safe and  unobstructed delivery of aid across the Strip.The organization emphasized that depriving children of humanitarian aid constitutes “a crime and a grave violation against children rights.”( June 9, 2025)
• The BDS Movement stated that Israel violated international law by illegally hijacking the ship Madleen, calling the act part of ongoing Israeli efforts to block humanitarian aid and enforce a suffocating blockade on the Gaza Strip. The organization AJP Action also emphasized that the raid on the ship constitutes a flagrant violation of maritime and humanitarian laws, describing it as piracy and state aggression. Meanwhile, the Palestine Solidarity Initiative called on the Austrian government to push for the immediate release of the peace activists detained during what it described as a piracy operation carried out by the Israeli government in international waters. (June 9 2025)
• The Hind Rajab Foundation has filed a war crimes complaint with the War Crimes Unit of the British Metropolitan Police against the Israeli naval unit Shayetet 13 and Vice Admiral David Saar Salama for their role in the maritime raid on the Madleen, a British-flagged ship that was part of the Freedom Flotilla carrying humanitarian aid to Gaza in international waters. The foundation also filed a legal complaint with the Dutch Public Prosecution Service against Israeli Air Force officer Lavi Lazarovich, who is currently in the Netherlands as part of the “CyberArk World Tour”, for his involvement in the genocide committed against Palestinians in Gaza. (June 9/10 2025)
• The Hind Rajab Foundation reported that the Republic of Peru has formally assigned the genocide case it filed against a soldier in the Israeli Combat Engineering Corps to its Prosecutor’s Office for Human Rights, moving the case into the preliminary investigation phase in accordance with Peru’s obligations under the Rome Statute and international humanitarian law. (June 11 2025)
• The Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR) in the United States has notified the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) of its potential legal liability for complicity in war crimes and genocide against Palestinians. It stated that if GHF continues its militarized relief operations, it should be prepared to face legal consequences both within the United States and internationally. (June 11 2025)
• The Palestinian Human Rights Organizations Council and the Palestinian NGO Network condemned the U.S. sanctions imposed on Addameer Prisoner Support and Human Rights Association, describing them as retaliatory measures and collective punishment against Palestinian prisoners. They emphasized that the sanctions are part of a broader U.S.-Israeli campaign to undermine the human rights movement and criminalize the Palestinian struggle for self-determination. The statement warned that these sanctions will severely impact Palestinian detainees. (June 12 2025)
• Palestinian civil society organizations in both Palestine and the diaspora issued a unified call ahead of the international conference on a peaceful settlement of the Palestinian question, scheduled for June 17 2025 under French and Saudi leadership. The call demanded a just and lawful solution based on the inalienable rights of the Palestinian people, foremost among them the right to self-determination and return. It emphasized that the current international approach has failed to address the root causes of injustice, namely settler colonialism, apartheid, and genocide, and called for the dismantling of this system. (June 12 2025)
• Zeteo reported that a U.S. security contractor working with the US-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation project provided exclusive testimony revealing chaos and serious violations within the mission’s operations in the Gaza Strip. The contractor described the project as a complete sham, and pointed to an incident in which civilians were bombed after aid trucks arrived at night, suggesting that the aid may have been used as a trap. (June 12, 2025)

Research and academic studies (in Arabic and English):

• The International Journal of Linguistics, Literature and Translation published a research paper by researcher Ibrahim M. Alsemeiri and others titled “Law, Power, and Language: A Comparative Study of Western Responses to the ICC’s Netanyahu-Gallant Warrants” (2025).
• The Modern Journal of Legal Studies published a research paper by researcher Yusra Draghmeh titled “International Responsibility Arising from the United States’ Recognition of Unified Jerusalem as Israel’s Capital and the Relocation of Its Embassy” (2025).
• The Wasit Journal of Humanities published a research paper by researcher Muhammad Tomeh Joudeh titled “Contemporary Practice of Genocide (A Study of the Palestinian Case in the Gaza Strip)” (2025).

Opinion Pieces and features

• Al Jazeera published an opinion piece by Ahmad Najar titled “The real reason why Israel is arming gangs in Gaza” (June 8, 2025).
• Mondoweiss published an opinion piece by Dom Kelly titled “There is no disability justice without a Free Palestine” (June 8, 2025).
• Al Jazeera published an opinion piece by Yara Hawari titled “The Freedom Flotilla achieved its mission” (June 9, 2025).
• Al-Shabaka published a policy brief by Safaa Joudeh titled: “Outsourcing Occupation: US Private Contractors in Gaza.” (June 9, 2025)
• The Institute of Development Studies published an opinion piece by Martin Griffiths and Philip Proudfoot titled: “It is genocide: Humanitarian law must be enforced in Gaza” (June 10, 2025)
• Counter Punch published an opinion piece by Chris Hedges titled “Genocide by Starvation” (June 10, 2025).
• Arab News published an op-ed by Osama Al-Sharif titled: “Israel’s antisemitism card wears thin amid Gaza genocide.”( June 10, 2025)
• The Guardian published an op-ed by Owen Jones titled: “Compare the courage of Greta Thunberg’s Gaza aid mission with the inaction and complicity of western governments.”        ( June 10, 2025)
• Mondoweiss published an op-ed by Malak Hijazi titled: “Why the Freedom Flotilla matters to us in Gaza.”(June 10, 2025)
• Pass Blue published an article by Damilola Banjo titled: “ UN General Assembly to Vote on ‘Accountability’ by Israel in Gaza,”( June 10, 2025)
• J Street published an article by Frank Lowenstein titled: “The Dramatic Acceleration of Israel’s Annexation Policy in the West Bank.” (June 10, 2025)
• The New Yorker published an article by Isaac Chotiner titled: “An Inside Look at Gaza’s Chaotic New Aid System.” (June 11, 2025)
• Haaretz published an opinion piece by Gideon Levy titled: “Sanctioning Ben-Gvir and Smotrich Is but a Tiny, Sad Step in Ending the Gaza Massacre.” (June 11, 2025)
• Truthout published an article by Sharon Zhang titled: “Smotrich Moves to Destroy Palestinian Economy After UK, Others Sanction Him.” (June 11, 2025)
• The Middle East Research and Information Project (MERIP) published an article by Hala Shoman titled: “Israel’s War on Reproduction in Gaza.”(June 11, 2025)
• Mondoweiss published an article by Qassam Muaddi titled: “Israel just changed how land ownership works in the West Bank. Here’s what that means.” (June 12, 2025)
• The Guardian published an article by Mahmoud El-Sobky and Annie Kelly titled: “Attack dogs: how Europe supplies Israel with brutal canine weapons.” (June 12, 2025)
• Foreign Affairs published an article by Michael Robbins and Amaney Jamal titled: “A Hidden Force in the Middle East, How Arab Public Opinion Constrains Normalization With Israel.” (June 12, 2025)
• The Guardian published an article by Barry Trachtenberg and others titled: “Harvard appears to think all Jews support Israel. That is discriminatory.” (June 12, 2025)
• The Guardian published an opinion piece by Husam Zomlot titled: “I call on the UK to join the world majority – and recognise the state of Palestine.” (June 13, 2025)
• The Canary published an article by Hannah Charland titled: “Israel caught working with dark-money think tank Henry Jackson Society to push anti-UN propaganda.” (June 13, 2025)
• Just Security published an article by Adil Ahmad Haque titled: “The Fall and Rise of German Arms Exports to Israel: Questions for the International Court of Justice.” (June 13, 2025)

Legal Achievements/Impacts for Palestine

• Delft University of Technology announced that it will not initiate new collaborations with Israeli universities and organizations due to serious concerns about potential involvement in genocidal violence and human rights violations in the context of the Israel–Gaza conflict. (June 10, 2025)

Human rights conferences and events

• Human rights organizations, including the Global Legal Action Network (GLAN), Al-Haq, and Sadaka, the Irish-Palestinian Alliance, have launched a series of legal actions in the United Kingdom, the United States, and Ireland against Airbnb. They accuse the company of laundering money generated from war crimes by listing rental properties located in illegal Israeli settlements, including homes belonging to Palestinian refugees that were seized since the Nakba. (June 10, 2025)