6/12/2023 Update: During the recent seven-day truce 113 Israeli and foreign nationals held hostage in Gaza and 240 Palestinians prisoners and detainees were released. Ever since, attacks by Israel in the occupied Gaza Strip and rocket fire from armed groups into southern Israel have resumed. World leaders must continue to step up their pressure on the warring parties to reach a sustained ceasefire. A sustained ceasefire is the best way to ensure all civilians are protected across Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories and to alleviate mass humanitarian suffering in Gaza.

The unparalleled escalation of the conflict between Israel and Hamas and other armed groups has taken a devastating toll on civilians. The level of casualties is unprecedented. Countless lives have been shattered, ripped apart, and upended. 

With each day the bombardment continues, more lives are lost and the humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza is getting worse. Civilian deaths in Gaza continue to rise at a staggering rate amid relentless Israeli bombardment, in response to the horrific attacks in Israel by Hamas and other armed groups that resulted in 1,400 people killed and the abduction of civilians. Thousands of people, mostly civilians, have been killed in Gaza including through indiscriminate and other unlawful attacks. More than a third of casualties in Gaza are children and countless bodies are still trapped beneath the rubble. Millions more face further displacement, dispossession and suffering. 

Israeli hostages taken by Hamas and other armed groups and held in Gaza remain in danger, and ongoing indiscriminate rocket fire into Israel places civilians at risk. 

Israel’s tightened siege of Gaza has blocked the entry of goods, including water, food and fuel leaving more than 2 million people in the Gaza Strip struggling to survive. The humanitarian catastrophe stemming from Israel’s 16-year-long illegal blockade on the occupied Gaza Strip will only get worse if the fighting doesn’t stop. 

Serious violations of international humanitarian law, including war crimes, by all parties to the conflict continue unabated. In the face of such unfettered devastation and suffering, humanity must prevail. 

A lasting ceasefire would put a stop to unlawful attacks by all parties, halt the mounting death toll in Gaza and enable aid agencies to get life-saving aid, water and medical supplies into the Strip to address the staggering levels of human suffering. It will also allow hospitals to receive life-saving medicines, fuel and equipment they desperately need and to repair damaged wards. 

A lasting ceasefire would also provide opportunities to continue negotiating the release of hostages detained in Gaza and for independent international investigations to take place into the war crimes committed by all parties in order to end long-standing impunity, which will continue to breed further atrocities. Tackling the root causes of this conflict, by dismantling Israel’s system of apartheid imposed on Palestinians is now more urgent than ever.

Take action and call on Foreign Minister Penny Wong to call for a lasting ceasefire and put an end to the ongoing humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza.