UNIFIED CALL TO CONFRONT FAMINE IN GAZALAUNCH THE DIPLOMATIC HUMANITARIAN CONVOY NOW

from the Palestine-Global Mental Health Network:

UNIFIED CALL TO CONFRONT FAMINE IN GAZA
LAUNCH THE DIPLOMATIC HUMANITARIAN CONVOY NOW

12th May 2025

Palestinian civil society, joined by humanitarian and human rights organisations worldwide, issues this urgent and unified call: The manufactured famine in Gaza must be halted. The international community must act decisively, immediately, and with full moral and legal responsibility.

We are witnessing, in real time, the deliberate starvation of a civilian population as a method of warfare. Over two million Palestinians in Gaza are living in famine. Since 2 March 2025, Israel has blocked all humanitarian supplies and life-saving assistance, constituting the longest total siege Gaza has ever experienced. UNICEF and OCHA have sounded the alarm: in Gaza, farmland has been destroyed, fishing waters are off-limits, bakeries and community kitchens are shutting down, food has run out, and people are fighting over water amid relentless bombardment. Children are “going to bed starving.”92% of children under two and breastfeeding mothers are not receiving adequate nutrition. Hospitals have run out of blood, and those burned in explosions are left with no water to save them. 

UNRWA and the World Food Programme have exhausted their reserves, while Israel moves to dismantle the existing UN-run aid distribution system. On 11 April 2025, the Palestinian NGO Network declared Gaza in an advanced stage of famine, followed by Palestine’s official declaration of the Strip as a famine zone and a call for urgent international intervention, including under Article 99 of the UN Charter. Deaths from famine are already occurring and are expected to rise sharply if conditions persist.

Despite this catastrophic reality, over 3,000 aid trucks and 116,000 metric tonnes of food are ready and waiting to enter Gaza – obstructed solely by Israel. This is being done in open defiance of the core principles of international law, as reiterated in binding legal orders, including the International Court of Justice’s provisional measures in South Africa v. Israel - orders that remain ignored and unfulfilled over a year later.

The UN Secretary-General António Guterres has said:

“Aid is non-negotiable…. The entry of assistance must be restored immediately…. There must be no hindrance in humanitarian aid.. This is not a time for ritualistically expressing support, ticking a box, and moving on.”

On 29 April 2025, UN Human Rights Chief Volker Türk warned of the total collapse of life-saving support, stating that:

“Third States have clear obligations under international law to ensure that such conduct stops immediately, and they must act accordingly.”

We therefore call for the immediate organisation and deployment of a Diplomatic Humanitarian Convoy to Gaza.

We urge states to join the humanitarian convoy by dispatching official diplomatic missions -at the highest possible level- to accompany the aid trucks already waiting at the Rafah Crossing, and to enter Gaza alongside them. This is an act of legal obligation, moral courage, and human solidarity. To that end, we demand the following:

1. We call on all states to publicly commit to joining the humanitarian convoy by dispatching official diplomatic missions to accompany the aid trucks into Gaza via the Rafah Crossing. A specific departure date will be announced soon. States must also reject the weaponisation of aid and Israel’s planned distribution mechanisms, which militarise relief efforts and bypass UN agencies and humanitarian actors.

2. We urge all states to coordinate with the United Nations and the Government of Egypt to facilitate the convoy’s entry and ensure the immediate, unhindered, and safe passage of humanitarian aid, medical teams, and relief workers.

3. While some governments complicit in the ongoing atrocities may choose not to participate, we call on individual diplomats, parliamentarians, and ministers from those countries to join the convoy in their personal capacities.

4. We urge international media outlets to accompany the convoy - to bear witness, to document the famine, and to expose the blockade starving Gaza.

5. We call on global civil society, including NGOs, trade unions, student groups, political parties, and solidarity networks, to mobilise immediately - to pressure governments to support the convoy and provide material, political, and public support.

6. We call on the United Nations to immediately declare Gaza a famine zone based on the verified data, and to support this unified call by actively facilitating, endorsing, and joining the Diplomatic Humanitarian Convoy.

This is a human imperative. A Diplomatic Humanitarian Convoy would mark a historic step to break the siege, end the starvation, and affirm the world’s rejection of hunger as a weapon of war.

This call is grounded in international law, shared morality, Genocide Convention, the ICJ’s provisional measures, the UN Charter, and countless resolutions from the UN, OIC, Arab League, and theEuropean and African Unions.

Inaction will lead to mass death by starvation, enable further grave illegalities, and undermine the international legal system. We are calling on you today to:

Let Gaza Live. End the Starvation. End the Siege. Open the Crossings.

Launch the Diplomatic Humanitarian Convoy - NOW

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Joint statement on the Israeli plan to expand its military operations in Gaza

Joint statement on the Israeli plan to expand its military operations in Gaza

Nyhet | Dato: 07.05.2025

Statement by the Foreign Ministers of Iceland, Ireland, Luxembourg, Norway, Slovenia and Spain on the Israeli plan to expand its military operations in Gaza.

 

We, the Foreign Ministers of Iceland, Ireland, Luxembourg, Norway, Slovenia and Spain express our grave concern about the reported Israeli plans to expand its military operations in Gaza and to establish a prolonged Israeli presence in the Strip. This would mean crossing yet another line, marking a dangerous new escalation and jeopardizing any prospects of a viable Two-State solution.  

 

A further military escalation in Gaza will only exacerbate an already catastrophic situation for the civilian Palestinian population and threaten the lives of the hostages that remain in captivity. 

 

We firmly reject any demographic or territorial change in Gaza, including any scheme that would force or facilitate the permanent displacement of its population, which would be in violation of international law. We also strongly oppose a system that does not ensure that the entire population gets access to humanitarian aid. Gaza is an integral part of the State of Palestine, which belongs to the Palestinian people. 

 

For more than two months, Israeli authorities have blocked all humanitarian aid and commercial supplies from reaching the civilian Palestinian population in Gaza. Despite repeated calls on Israel to lift these measures and to facilitate relief, Israel has instead further tightened, rather than eased, the measures. We call on Israel to immediately lift the blockade. It is essential to facilitate relief for all civilians in need, without discrimination, and to follow the other humanitarian principles of impartiality, independence and neutrality.  

 

Together, we call on the Israeli authorities to show restraint. We further call on Israel to take all necessary and effective measures to ensure, without delay, in full cooperation with the United Nations and humanitarian organizations, the unhindered provision at scale of urgently needed basic services and humanitarian assistance.  

 

What is needed more urgently than ever is a resumption of a ceasefire, and the unconditional release of all hostages. We reaffirm our unwavering support for the two-state solution — Israel and Palestine living side by side in peace and security. 

 

Thorgerdur Katrin Gunnarsdottir, Minister for Foreign Affairs of Iceland 

Simon Harris, Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade of Ireland 

Xavier Bettel, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade of Luxembourg 

Espen Barth Eide, Minister for Foreign Affairs of Norway 

Tanja Fajon, Minister of Foreign and European Affairs of Slovenia 

José Manuel Albares Bueno, Minister for Foreign Affairs, EU and Cooperation of Spain