Dear Ministers:
As a united global community, we, the undersigned, demand an immediate, permanent ceasefire and an end to the brutal siege on Gaza. We demand the immediate creation of an international coalition to secure the safe entry and delivery of all aid, the immediate entry of trucks and an increase in the number of trucks carrying humanitarian and medical aid. We further demand the creation of an international coalition to investigate Israel’s crimes in Gaza, Jerusalem and the West Bank.
We are witnessing a genocide-induced famine intentionally inflicted upon the Palestinians in Gaza for political ends. Israel and the United States have used everything in and outside of their power to prevent any meaningful action to stop the genocide and prevent the famine against Palestinians. While reports of air dropping aid into Gaza is welcome news, air drops into conflict zones are complex, costly and often seen as a final option—once all other avenues are exhausted. As an occupying power, Israel has clear and unequivocal obligations towards the Palestinian people, and we urge the international community and in particular the United States to exercise maximum leverage over their closest ally and to take all the necessary steps to compel Israel to comply with the provisional measures ordered by the International Court of Justice (ICJ) on January 26 2024, and put an end to the unfolding genocide in Gaza and open all humanitarian corridors to provide lifesaving aid to the besieged population, with immediate effect.
On February 20, 2024, the World Food Program announced that it was suspending all food aid to the northern part of Gaza until conditions allow for safe distribution. On February 29, 2024 Israel opened fire on crowds of hungry and desperate Palestinians seeking aid. During the flour massacre, Israel occupation forces killed more than 115 Palestinians and critically injured more than 750 Palestinians—doctors in Gaza confirmed that 80% of the wounded Palestinians had been struck by gunfire, suggesting there was heavy shooting by Israeli occupation troops. The flour massacre was trial ballon, on March 3, 2024 Israel again killed and wounded dozens of Palestinians in a horrific massacre of aid seeks at the Kuwaiti roundabout in Gaza city.
The massacres committed by Israel against desperate and hungry Palestinians seeking aid will likely increase. UNICEF Chief Catherine Russel has called for an immediate ceasefire, stating that “every minute counts” for Palestinian children in Gaza facing “deadly” malnutrition.
According to a UN statement released on February 27, 2024, at least 576,000 people in Gaza—a quarter of the population—are one step away from famine, with 1 in 6 children under 2 years of age in northern Gaza suffering from acute malnutrition and myriad types of waste, with every possibility for further deterioration. The statement warns that if there is no ceasefire, famine in Gaza is “almost inevitable.”
It is time for the countries of this world to assume their responsibility towards the principles of humanity and justice enshrined in their constitutions. If the world allows the people of Gaza to starve to death, all principles collapse and our laws lose meaning. The world is in desperate need of an honorable collective stance against the injustice, genocide, starvation, and colonization of Palestine and its steadfast people.