After 15 years of carrying out essential fieldwork in the Strip, Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor (Euro-Med Monitor) has closed its Gaza office.
Precautionary measures in place
The decision was taken as a precautionary measure, in response to recent Israeli occupation threats, smear campaigns, and actions targeting the organisation and its staff.
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Maha Hussaini, Euro-Med Monitor’s head of media, manages the Gaza office. Herself and her Gaza team have received threats, including death threats via social media and phone calls. There have also been multiple hacking attempts of Euro-Med Monitor’s website.
She tells the Canary that Euro-Med Monitor has suffered from continuous Israeli targeting campaigns for years, and throughout the genocide. Staff members were used to this, but they now fear these actions will actually progress to targeting on the ground.
Our staff in Gaza are aware of the extent to which these Israeli campaigns are targeting them, individually and also as a human rights group. We have witnessed hundreds of Palestinians, including human rights defenders, journalists and activists on the ground in Gaza, not just targeted, but assassinated. And attempts at assassinations have occurred multiple times.
They come after these individuals. If they get injured the first time, they come after them and bomb them again. So they can make sure they are completely silenced. We know this is something Israel does here in Gaza, and this is why we took the decision to close our office, our physical space in Gaza. This was a decision to protect our staff — so they are now scattered, and not in one central place, that could be bombed.
Sexual violence against Palestinian detainees is widespread and systemic
But “Israel’s” targeted campaign against Euro-Med Monitor recently escalated to an unprecedented level. In April 2026, the human rights NGO released a report titled Another Genocide Behind Walls.This detailed widespread, systematic and institutionalised sexual violence and torture inside Israeli detention facilities. It also claimed that sexual violence is designed to violate the dignity of Palestinian detainees and is used as a strategy of “psychological warfare.”
Then, on 11 May, an op-ed by two-time Pulitzer Prize-winning columnist Nicholas Kristof was published in the New York Times (NYT). Titled thesilence that meets the rape of Palestinians, the article was based on the testimonies of 14 Palestinians. It detailed a pattern of widespread Israeli sexual violence against men, women and even children. This was carried out by soldiers, settlers, interrogators in the Shin Bet internal security agency and, above all, prison guards. The story cited Euro-Med Monitor among other well-respected human rights organisations, lawyers, journalists and activists.
Kristof’s story also included accusations of the occupation using dogs to rape detainees. Although well researched and accurate, the information in it was nothing new. What was unusual though was for the NYT, which has long favoured Israeli occupation narratives, to publish such a piece.
The backlash by the Israeli occupation and its affiliated groups was huge, and was mainly directed at Euro-Med Monitor.
NYT and Euro-Med Monitor in Israel’s bad books
Yesterday, the New York Times published an op‑ed alleging Israel trains dogs to rape prisoners—a modern-day blood libel in the “paper of record.” Allegations of abuse toward Palestinians deserve serious, rigorous investigation.
Yet this piece, while opinion, appeared to be…
— American Jewish Committee (@AJCGlobal) May 12, 2026
Instead of launching an investigation the occupation accuses NYT of inaccuracy and threatens Euro-Med Monitor
The Israeli occupation accused the NYT of “a troubling failure of journalistic judgement and standards.” This was because information was published that challenged a narrative that “Israel” has spent years promoting. The anger was not about inaccuracies or false reporting, but about the fact that long-suppressed realities are becoming harder to hide. As more people become aware of the occupation’s countless crimes, controlling the narrative is no longer as easy as it once was, for the “only democracy in the Middle East.”
According to Diaspora Affairs Minister Amichai Chikli :
It is regrettable to hear the New York Times, which for years served as a symbol of quality journalism, falls victim time and again to the Palestinians’ wholesale lies….The Euro-Med organisation, which the newspaper chose to cite, is headed by none other than a Hamas member and terrorist.
The Israeli occupation government condemned the piece as
one of the worst blood libels ever to appear in the modern press.
Foreign minister Gideon Sa’ar said:
In an unfathomable inversion of reality, and through an endless stream of baseless lies, propagandist Nicholas Kristof turns the victim into the accused.
Today, the @nytimes chose to publish one of the worst blood libels ever to appear in the modern press.
In an unfathomable inversion of reality, and through an endless stream of baseless lies, propagandist Nicholas Kristof turns the victim into the accused.
Israel – whose…— Israel Foreign Ministry (@IsraelMFA) May 11, 2026
Euro-Med Monitor describes the Israeli occupation’s targeting of the organisation and its staff as
a coordinated campaign of incitement and defamation,” which lacks any evidence.
Euro-Med Monitor team has downsized
Hussaini says:
What happened to us because of the NYT article was just an excuse. Israel claims this story about sexual violence did not rely on credible sources, and solely relied on Euro-Med Monitor. This is untrue. The NYT relied on many other sources, including UN bodies and UN Committees. Euro-Med Monitor wasn’t the first body that spoke about the sexual violence.
This is an Israeli systematic policy, where they try to persecute the source rather than investigate the claims. This was the easiest way for them to overlook the accusations against them, to just speak about the source that documented these testimonies. They are now saying they will come after this source.
Euro-Med Monitor’s Lebanon office is now also closed, and its operations in its central Geneva office have been suspended. In addition, it has had to downsize its team and reduce its activities for safety reasons. Only core staff members are now working.
At the peak of the genocide, Euro-Med Monitor had 22 field researchers, distributed throughout the Gaza Strip. Now, there are only six. These researchers are vital in investigations into Israeli war crimes. They collect testimonies and carry out interviews. Euro-Med Monitor’s legal team then analyses the information and prepares a draft report.
The NGO not only documents violations, but also prepares and produces reports and investigations. It also carries out advocacy work, in which it communicates and reaches out to decision makers.
Hussaini says:
We also worked closely with the South Africa team during the genocide, at the International Court of Justice. And we are working as an alternative to Enquiry Committees and UN experts, which Israel has banned from entering Gaza. This is why our role has become more important than ever, during the genocide- because we are the connection point with these. This is why we are being targeted.
Entry ban on 40 Euro-Med Monitor staff
This incitement campaign has not only targeted Euro-Med Monitor’s Gaza office, but the organisation as a whole. The occupation has banned almost 40 of the organisation’s members from entering “Israel” and the occupied Palestinian territory. This applies to founder and chairman Ramy Abdu, internationals, senior officials, board members, and Gaza employees, including Hussaini.
Palestinians in Gaza already have a travel ban. The occupation does not allow them to enter “Israel”, the West Bank or Jerusalem. But the ban, of course, will affect the internationals. This includes Richard Falk, the former UN Special Rapporteur, who is now chairman of Euro-Med Monitor’s Board of Trustees. There are also Palestinians, originally from the West Bank, who are on this travel ban, but Hussaini still does not know how they will be affected. According to Hussaini, these measures show the extent to which Israel is willing to go, to silence those working on the ground in Gaza.
We have witnessed hundreds of Palestinians who have not just been targeted, but assassinated by Israel. This includes human rights defenders, journalists and activists on the ground in Gaza. And attempts at assassinations have occurred multiple times. They come after these individuals. If they get injured the first time, they come after them and bomb them again, so they can make sure they are completely silenced. We know this is something Israel does here in Gaza, and this is why we took the decision to close our office, our physical space in Gaza. This was a decision to protect our staff- so they are now scattered and not in one central place, that could be bombed.
‘Israel’ aims to silence truth tellers
But despite the worrying threats, the Euro-Med Monitor’s Gaza team are aware their role is now more important than ever. The scale of violations is overwhelming, yet Israel continues to ban international journalists and experts, Special Rapporteurs, UN Special Enquiry Committees, and international NGOs. All those who would report on the Israeli occupation violations objectively on the ground in Gaza have been barred from entering. At the same time, “Israel” has used a systematic policy to silence voices inside Gaza, so it can commit its crimes with a total information blackout.
Hussaini, who has been forcibly displaced eight times since October 2023, says her staff are willing to continue under any circumstances. They have lived through, and survived, the genocide in Gaza. Even though “Israel” has starved, displaced, and intentionally targeted them.
Euro-Med Monitor has been here since the very beginning. This campaign will not stop us. We either die silently or die speaking to the world, conveying the truth about what’s happening here in Gaza. I believe that in both ways we will be targeted. But today it’s better to speak out, not only for us but all the victims affected by Israel’s policies.
Featured image via the NGO’s Website
By Charlie Jaay
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