Association
On 31st December 2025, the UN Human Rights Chief Volker Türk called Israel’s suspension of numerous aid agencies from Gaza outrageous, and urged all States, in particular those with influence, to take urgent steps and insist that Israel immediately allow aid to get into Gaza unhindered.
🇮🇱 🇵🇸 Israel has said 37 aid organisations will be banned from operating in Gaza from Thursday unless they comply with guidelines requiring detailed information on Palestinian staff, drawing criticism from the United Nations and the European Union.
— AFP News Agency (@AFP) December 31, 2025
➡️ https://t.co/sHHHeJE7rh pic.twitter.com/harunQHP21
On 30th December 2025, Israel announced its intention to prevent 37 international humanitarian and aid organisations from operating in the occupied Palestinian territory (OPT) for allegedly failing to meet new requirements for sharing detailed information about their staff, funding and operations.
Civil society groups condemned these restrictions on the work of international humanitarian organisations at a time when the civilian population is going through an unprecedented humanitarian and health crisis. CSOs have also noted that these Israeli measures are part of a broader policy aimed at continuing the crime of genocide through the tightening of the suffocating siege and the restrictions on the entry of aid to the Gaza Strip.
PNGO in its statement emphasised that humanitarian and health work is protected under international humanitarian law, particularly the Geneva Conventions, which oblige the occupying power to facilitate humanitarian access and ensure the unhindered continuity of health and humanitarian services. Likewise, in a statement, Al Haq highlighted that Israel’s admission to UN membership through UNGA Resolution 273 was made conditional on Israel honouring its obligations under Resolution 181 with respect to the status of Palestine and Jerusalem, and Resolution 194 on the return and repatriation of Palestinian refugees, two resolutions which Israel has consistently refused to fulfil since 1948. Al Haq noted that these attacks on institutional humanitarian support in Palestine were in violation of
Israel’s terms of membership in the UN.
Systematic attacks and raids on civil society offices have also continued. On 1st December 2025, the offices of the Union of Agricultural Work Committees (UAWC), a member of La Via Campesina (LVC), a farmers’ membership organisation, were raided in Ramallah and Hebron. Calling for the urgent release of their members, LVC noted that the raid targeted specifically the infrastructure of the Palestinian seed bank in Hebron, destroying seed stocks that represent their plant genetic heritage. The attack followed weeks of harassment and public incitement by Israeli settlers and leaders of settler groups, particularly citing UAWC’s work during the olive harvest season.
Expression
Between 7th October 2023 and 14th December 2025, the UN Human Rights Office in the Occupied Palestinian Territory verified the killing of 289 journalists in Gaza by Israeli military operations.
Additionally, according to the Palestinian Journalists Syndicate, at least 42 Palestinian journalists were arrested in 2025. While the overall number of arrests declined compared to the previous year, the syndicate noted that the decrease reveals:
“A dangerous shift from quantitative targeting to qualitative targeting, characterised by focusing on the most influential journalists, repeated arrests of the same journalists, expanded use of administrative detention without charge or trial, and the use of physical and psychological violence as a deterrent”.
- The Palestinian Journalists Syndicate