This session is co-organised with Dutch Relief Alliance and follows on the session held in June 2025, see report.
For close to three years, the Dutch Relief Alliance and its Palestinian partners have provided life-saving assistance in Gaza under conditions that have profoundly challenged the foundations of humanitarian action. The scale of Israel’s violence against civilians and aid workers, destruction of civilian infrastructure, and restrictions on humanitarian access have created an operating environment in which principled humanitarian actors are systematically obstructed, delegitimized, and prevented from carrying out their work. These conditions raise urgent questions about the protection of civilians, the viability of humanitarian response, and the future of humanitarian action in Gaza and the occupied Palestinian territories.
This session will examine the implications of sustained restrictions on humanitarian action in the context of ongoing impunity and absence of enforcement of international law. It will explore the impact on civilian populations and consider the broader consequences for the international humanitarian system when established norms governing civilian protection, humanitarian access, and accountability are repeatedly violated and challenged. Drawing on operational experience and local partnerships, the discussion will reflect on what the Gaza context signals for the future of humanitarian action both in the occupied Palestinian territories and in conflicts worldwide.
Objectives
- Keeping (humanitarian action in) Palestine on the political agenda;
- Reflecting on three years of joint response in Gaza to deepen knowledge on responding in a context of atrocity crimes, extreme violence to aid workers and active obstruction to humanitarian operations;
- Identifying lessons and needs for future responses in Palestine and other humanitarian contexts.
- Hossam Al Madhoun, Maan Center for Development in Gaza
- Dr. Yasser Abu Jamei, Director General, Gaza Community Mental Health Program
- A Palestinian Joint Response representative
- Nina Goricar, Gaza Joint Response Country Coordinator
- Polly Pallister-Wilkins, Associate Professor, University of Amsterdam
Other speakers to be confirmed
