What we are witnessing in Gaza is not only an unprecedented humanitarian catastrophe, but also what the UN Commission of Inquiry has now termed genocide.
With this conclusion, the Commission aligns with a growing number of human rights organizations and leaders worldwide, including in Israel.
The inhumanity of the situation in Gaza is unthinkable. As humanitarian leaders, we have directly witnessed the deaths and terrible suffering of the people of Gaza. Our warnings have been ignored, and thousands more lives remain at risk.
Today, as the Israeli government has ordered the mass displacement of the population of Gaza City – home to nearly one million people – we stand on the brink of an even deadlier period in Gaza’s history if no action is taken. Gaza has been deliberately made uninhabitable. Approximately 65,000 Palestinians have now been killed, including over 20,000 children. Thousands more are missing, buried under the rubble that has replaced Gaza’s once-bustling streets.
Nine out of ten of Gaza’s 2.1 million inhabitants have been forcibly displaced – most of them multiple times – to increasingly smaller areas incapable of sustaining human life.
Over half a million people are facing famine. Famine has been declared and continues to spread. The cumulative impact of hunger and physical deprivation is causing deaths every day.
Across Gaza, entire cities have been razed, along with vital infrastructure such as hospitals and water treatment plants. Agricultural land has been systematically destroyed.
If the facts and figures are not enough, we have overwhelming and increasingly terrifying accounts. Since the Israeli military tightened its siege six months ago, blocking food, fuel, and medicine, we have seen children and families waste away from hunger as famine sets in. Our own colleagues have been affected.
Many of us have been to Gaza. We have met countless Palestinians who have lost limbs due to Israeli bombings. We have seen children so traumatized by daily airstrikes that they can no longer sleep. Some can no longer speak. Others have told us they want to die to join their parents in heaven.
We have met families who eat pet food to survive and boil leaves as meals for their children.
And yet, world leaders are not responding. Facts are ignored. Testimonies are dismissed. And more lives are lost as a direct consequence.
Our organizations, alongside Palestinian civil society, the UN, and Israeli human rights organizations, cannot do it all. We have tirelessly advocated for the rights of the people of Gaza and maintained humanitarian aid, but we are hindered at every step.
Access is denied to us, and the militarization of the aid system has proven deadly. Thousands have been targeted while attempting to reach the few sites where food is distributed under armed protection.
Governments must act to prevent the annihilation of life in the Gaza Strip and to end the violence and occupation. All parties must renounce violence against civilians, respect international humanitarian law, and pursue peace.
States must use all political, economic, and legal means at their disposal to intervene. Rhetoric and half-measures are not enough. This moment demands decisive action.
The UN has enshrined international law as the cornerstone of global peace and security. If member states continue to treat these legal obligations as optional, they are not only complicit but are setting a dangerous precedent for the future.
History will remember this moment as a test for humanity. And we are failing. We are failing the people of Gaza, the hostages, and our shared moral duty. »
Signatories
- Arthur Larok, Secretary General of ActionAid International
- Othman Moqbel, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Action For Humanity
- Joyce Ajlouny, General Secretary of the American Friends Service Committee
- Sean Carroll, President and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Anera
- Reintje Van Haeringen, Executive Director of CARE International
- Jonas Nøddekær, Secretary General of DanChurchAid
- Charlotte Slente, Secretary General of the Danish Refugee Council
- Manuel Patrouillard, Director General of Humanity & Inclusion – Handicap International
- Jamie Munn, Executive Director of the International Council of Voluntary Agencies (ICVA)
- Waseem Ahmad, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Islamic Relief Worldwide
- Joseph Belliveau, Executive Director of MedGlobal
- Joel Weiler, Executive Director of Médecins du Monde France
- Nicolás Dotta, Executive Director of Médecins du Monde Spain
- Christopher Lockyear, Secretary General of Médecins Sans Frontières International
- Kenneth Kim, Executive Director of Mennonite Central Committee Canada
- Ann Graber Hershberger, Executive Director of Mennonite Central Committee USA
- Jan Egeland, Secretary General of the Norwegian Refugee Council
- Amitabh Behar, Executive Director of Oxfam International
- Simon Panek, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of People in Need
- Inger Ashing, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Save the Children International
- Donatella Vergara, President of Terre des Hommes Italy
- Rob Williams, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of War Child Alliance
Photo: AP-PhotoFatima-Shbair