PALESTINE’S LEGAL SCENE – Issue. 304

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

26 Oct. – 1 Nov. 2025

Issued every Sunday by Law for Palestine

Prepared by: Nour Kharouf, Murad Abu Murad, and Arwa Abdel Moniam

Translation: Ferdous Abdul Hamid and Asma Louzon                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 condemned the field execution committed by the Israeli occupation forces in the town of Kafr Qud, in the Jenin Governorate, which resulted in the killing of three Palestinian citizens and the confiscation of their bodies. The Ministry affirmed that these ongoing violations and crimes constitute a breach of the Palestinian people’s rights and of international humanitarian law, reflecting a systematic and widespread policy of field executions and collective punishment. (October 29, 2025)
• The Colonization and Wall Resistance Commission (CWRC) reported that the Israeli forces and settlers have carried out 259 attacks against Palestinian olive harvesters since the start of the season in the first week of October 2025. Of these, 41 attacks were perpetrated by the Israeli army and 218 by settlers. The assaults included physical attacks, arrests, obstruction of access to the harvest, and direct gunfire and were concentrated in Ramallah, Nablus, and Hebron governorates. The Head of commission stated that this season has been among the most difficult and dangerous in recent decades. He called on the international community to move beyond rhetoric and take concrete actions to protect the Palestinian people. (October 28, 2025)

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

• Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir stated that the treatment of Palestinian prisoners in what he called “Ben-Gvir’s prisons” has been toughened, asserting that the prisons are no longer as they once were and are now described as “hell.” He added, “The next stage: executing the terrorists.” (October 27, 2025)
• Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced that, following security consultations, he directed the military to immediately carry out forceful strikes in the Gaza Strip. (October 28, 2025)
• Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich called for a meeting of the Security Cabinet to discuss the responses to Hamas’s repeated violations of the first phase of the ceasefire, warning of the lack of progress in dismantling and disarming Hamas. He also demanded the rearrest of all “terrorists” released in the prisoner exchange in the West Bank. (October 28, 2025)/ here
• Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz issued an order barring International Red Cross visits to Palestinian prisoners, including Hamas members who took part in the October 7 attack, citing Shin Bet warnings claiming that such visits could pose a national security threat. The order applies to all detainees defined as unlawful combatants. (October 29, 2025)
• Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir criticized the Israeli prime minister’s response to the killing of an Israeli soldier by Hamas during the ceasefire, saying that the measured response and the immediate return to the ceasefire while continuing to allow humanitarian aid, instead of resuming full-scale war, constitutes a grave concession of the goal to dismantle Hamas. (October 29, 2025)

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

• Germany has submitted preliminary objections to the International Court of Justice (ICJ) regarding the case filed against it by Nicaragua over its role in the genocide in the Gaza Strip, titled “Alleged Breaches of Certain International Obligations in respect of the Occupied Palestinian Territory (Nicaragua v. Germany)” The ICJ has set February 23, 2026, as the deadline for Nicaragua to submit its reply. (October 24, 2025)
• UNICEF Regional Director for the Middle East and North Africa, Edouard Beigbeder, said that the ceasefire in Gaza offers a vital chance for the survival, safety and dignity of children after two years of war. He called on Israel to open all crossings immediately, facilitate the unimpeded entry of humanitarian assistance, and allow the evacuation of children requiring urgent medical care. (October 26, 2025)
• The UN Human Rights Office in Palestine reported that Israeli settler attacks in the West Bank are surging, destroying Palestinian homes and livelihoods and forcing residents to leave. The Office noted that over the past year 84 new outposts have been established and that violence has reached historic levels-developments it described as accelerating steps towards annexation in clear violation of international law. (October 27, 2025)
• The Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) reported that displacement in the Gaza Strip continues, with more than 470,000 movements recorded towards the north since the ceasefire, amid dire living conditions and acute shortages of water, food and essential services. In the West Bank, OCHA documented more than 85 settlers’ attacks since the start of the olive harvest season, resulting in the injuries to more than 110 Palestinians and the vandalism of over 3,000 trees across 50 villages. (October 27, 2025)
• The General Secretariat of League of the Arab States condemned the settler attacks on Palestinians during the olive harvest season in the occupied West Bank, stressing that the escalation of such assaults is part of an organized effort to displace Palestinians, expand settlements, and impose facts on the ground by force. It also condemned the Israeli authorities’ pursuit of foreign activists who participated in solidarity campaigns  documenting settler crimes, considering this an attempt to cover up the occupation’s violations. (October 27, 2025)
• The Director-General of the World Health Organization(WHO), Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, announced the medical evacuation of 55 critical ill patients from Gaza to receive specialised treatment abroad. (October 27, 2025)
• The Media Observatory of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) issued its weekly report on Israeli crimes against Palestinians, recording that during the week of October 21-27, 2025, 314 Palestinians were murdered. The report also noted that Israeli occupation forces carried out 287 raids, arrested 168 Palestinians, including children, and demolished homes and agricultural structures. (October 28, 2025)
• In her address to the United Nations General Assembly, Navi Pillay, Chair of the Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory, stated that the commission had concluded that Israel committed four forms of the crime of genocide in Gaza. She noted that Israel seeks to impose permanent military control over Gaza and alter its demographic composition, while in the West Bank it continues to expand settlements, annex land, and prevent Palestinians from exercising their right to self-determination. For his part, Chris Sidoti, Commission member, said that one of the failures of the 20-point proposal is that there is no provision for accountability, stressing that peace cannot be achieved without accountability. (October 28, 2025)
• Following the Israeli attack that killed three Palestinian youths in Jenin, the United Nations Office for Human Rights in the Occupied Palestinian Territory expressed deep concern over the renewed Israeli airstrikes in the West Bank, stressing that the use of airstrikes in the occupied West Bank is illegal. (October 28, 2025)
• The United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights expressed deep shock over the deadly Israeli airstrikes on Gaza, noting that reports of more than 100 Palestinians killed overnight were appalling. The Commissioner emphasized that the laws of war are clear regarding the protection of civilians and civilian infrastructure, and called on all parties to act in good faith to implement a ceasefire. (October 29, 2025)
• UNRWA stated that its life-saving medicines remain stuck at the border after Israel prevented their entry into Gaza, at a time when the Strip faces a severe shortage of health facilities and a rise in preventable deaths. The agency stressed that every delay in delivering the medicines costs more lives, and called for support for its humanitarian operations. (October 29, 2025)
• The United Nations Secretary-General strongly condemned the killing of civilians in Gaza, including many children, as a result of Israeli airstrikes. He affirmed that any actions undermining the ceasefire and endangering civilian lives are unacceptable. He emphasized the urgent need for all parties to fully adhere to the ceasefire and refrain from obstructing humanitarian operations. (October 29, 2025)
• Axios reported that the United States is holding talks with several countries to establish an International Stabilization Force (ISF)) to stabilize Gaza. The plan includes training a new Palestinian police force under US, Egyptian and Jordanian supervision, with coordination with Arab and Islamic forces. The ISF would be deployed to oversee a phased Israeli withdrawal from the Gaza Strip, secure the borders, and prevent arms smuggling, provided Hamas agrees to relinquish its control and some of its weapons. (October 30, 2025)
• The General Secretariat of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) condemned the Israeli airstrikes on the Gaza Strip that killed more than 100 Palestinians, describing them as a clear violation of the ceasefire agreement. It also condemned the escalating Israeli attacks in the West Bank, including the closure of Jerusalem and the nearby roads  under the pretext of securing a settlers’ march. (October 30, 2025)
• The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) documented a sharp increase in settler violence, recording 60 attacks in a single week, and more than 126 attacks linked to the 2025 olive harvest season across 70 Palestinian towns and villages, with more than 4,000 olive trees and saplings were reported vandalized. (October 30, 2025)

Publications of human rights NGOs

• The Israeli newspaper Haaretz confirmed that the Israeli army is dumping large amounts of waste and debris, particularly construction waste, inside the Gaza Strip in areas under Israeli control. Video footage showed Israeli trucks owned by private companies crossing the Kisufim crossing and unloading their cargo about 200 to 300 meters inside Gaza before returning empty. A soldier explained that commanders justified this practice by saying that the foreign countries involved in Gaza’s future reconstruction would later handle the removal of the waste. (October 26, 2025)
• A report published by The New York Times revealed that U.S. officials were divided over Washington’s assessment of the 2022 killing of Palestinian American journalist Shireen Abu Akleh. Retired U.S. Colonel Steve Gabavics, who served in the Office of the United States Security Coordinator between Israel and the Palestinian Authority, accused the Biden administration of soft-pedaling the investigation’s findings to appease Israel. He affirmed that the Israeli sniper knew he was firing at journalists, and that the precise sequence of shots indicates deliberate targeting. (October 26, 2025)
• Former US contractor Anthony Aguilar provided his testimony regarding war crimes and acts of genocide committed by Israeli forces and American contractors working with the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, affirming that what he witnessed in Gaza reflects a deliberate plan of starvation, killing, and control. (October 26, 2025)
• Doctors Without Borders confirmed that the ceasefire has not ended the humanitarian emergency for more than two million people in the Gaza Strip. The organization explained that the population continues to suffer from dire living conditions, repeated displacement, and a severe lack of medical care. MSF stated that more than 15,600 people are awaiting life-saving medical evacuation from Gaza, with some patients dying before the evacuation process is completed. (October 27–28, 2025)
• Mondoweiss published a report highlighting testimonies documenting the Israeli army’s use of Palestinian women as human shields during the genocide in Gaza and in the West Bank raids, as part of a systematic practice known to Israeli military commanders. The report explained that these practices fall within a policy that involves using civilians and detainees to carry out dangerous military tasks. (October 28, 2025)
• The Wall Street Journal reported that Israeli forces, in the areas they control in Gaza, are reinforcing fortifications and establishing infrastructure that effectively divides the Strip into two zones: one under Israeli control and the other under Hamas control. The report explained that Israel has set up new observation posts, fences, and barbed wire, and has begun marking the dividing line with yellow concrete. It also noted that the U.S.-Israeli reconstruction plan aims to build infrastructure and services on the Israeli-controlled side of the line to provide what is claimed to be alternative safe zones for Palestinians, should Hamas continue to reject disarmament. (October 28, 2025)
• Le Monde published a report stating that the United States has begun establishing a new framework for delivering humanitarian aid to the Gaza Strip, excluding UNRWA and relying instead on American and other international humanitarian organizations. This framework includes the creation of a “humanitarian belt” of around ten distribution centers along the “yellow line” designated by Israeli forces, which could lead to further displacement of the Palestinian population. (October 28, 2025)
• A joint investigation by +972, Local Call Project, and The Guardian revealed that Google and Amazon agreed to unprecedented provisions  in their contract with the Israeli Ministry of Finance. The contract includes two main clauses: The first prohibits Google and Amazon from restricting how Israel uses their products, even if such use  violates the companies’ own terms of service; the second obliges the companies to secretly notify Israel if a foreign court orders the release of Israeli data stored on their cloud platforms, effectively allowing the companies to circumvent their legal obligations. (October 29, 2025)
• Doctors Without Borders confirmed that its teams in Gaza treated dozens of wounded people, including children, on October 29, following ongoing Israeli attacks despite the ceasefire. The organization shared testimonies from its medical staff affirming that the attacks constitute direct assaults on civilians. (October 30, 2025)

Research and academic studies (in Arabic and English):

• The Student Research Symposium published a research paper by Barry Mahmoud titled: “How and Why International Law Has Been Limited in Palestine” (2025)
• Sage Journals published a research paper by Alex Neve titled: “Israel/Palestine and Canada’s Empty Support for International Law” (2025)
• The Iranian Journal of International and Comparative Law published a new article by Associate Professor Seyed Yaser Ziaee, titled “All of Palestine for the Inhabitants of Palestine: The Legal Consequences of the Internationally Wrongful Act in the Establishment of Israel.” (2025)

Opinion Pieces and features

• Mondoweiss published an opinion piece by Adrienne Lynett and Mira Nabulsi, titled: “From the Margins to the Mainstream: How the Gaza genocide transformed U.S. public opinion”. (October 26, 2025)
• Haaretz published an editorial, entitled: “While We’re Not Annexing: Displacement and Violence Escalate in the West Bank’s Area C”. (October 26, 2025)
• Middle East Monitor published an op-ed Adnan Hmidan titled: “Catherine Connolly’s victory: Europe’s moral rebellion against the Israeli occupation”.(October 26,2025)
• Austrian Solidarity with Palestine published an article by Awad Abdel Fattah titled: “The End of One Phase and the Beginning of Another… and the Necessary Review.” (October 26, 2025)
• Mondoweiss published an op-ed by Abdaljawad Omar titled: “Israel seeks redemption in the Gaza ruins.”(October 27, 2025)
• +972 published an article by Basel Adra entitled: “In a West Bank ‘firing zone,’ Palestinians are erased as settlers lay down roots.” (October 27, 2025)
• Mitchell Plitnick published a research paper titled: “Smearing UNRWA: Exposing False Claims”.(October 27,2025)

• DAWN published an article by Brian K. Barber titled: “Gaza City: A Tribute to its History and A Call For Its Restoration.”(October 27, 2025)
• The Arab News published an op-ed by Osama Al Sharif titled: “The UN at 80 and the future of the ‘Palestine question’”.( October 28, 2025)
• The Counter Punch published an article by Vijay Prashad entitled: “The Powerful Who Stand With Israel.” (October 30, 2025)
• +972 published an article by Muhammed Shehada entitled: “What’s behind Israel’s new plan to divide Gaza in two.” (October 31, 2025)