ADD YOUR NAME

In 2024, Gaza became the deadliest place on earth to be a child. Right now, 2.38 million Palestinian children are living under blockade and Israel’s unlawful occupation. This is one of the most urgent and devastating crises of our time. While the world watches, violence continues in the Occupied Palestinian Territory - and hope fades for millions of children. 

These children are not numbers. They have names. They have rights. They deserve to live in peace. We refuse to let them become statistics. The world cannot look away. 

In a landmark 2024 report, Amnesty International determined that Israel is commiting genocide against Palestinians in the occupied Gaza Strip. Nearly two million Palestinians are enduring relentless bombardment, forced displacement and intentional starvation. More than 60,000 Palestinians, nearly a third of them children, have been killed since October 7, 2023. 

Australia’s reluctance to take a stronger stand against Israel is helping to shield it from accountability and is enabling war crimes and human rights abuses in Gaza to continue unchecked. Prime Minister Albanese has stated Israel is clearly breaching international law and that Australia will recognise a Palestinian state - but it’s not enough. To end the genocide, we need urgent humanitarian aid, an end to the siege, and real accountability. 

“The international community’s seismic, shameful failure for over a year to press Israel to end its atrocities in Gaza, by first delaying calls for a ceasefire and then continuing arms transfers, is and will remain a stain on our collective conscience." Dr Agnès Callamard, Amnesty International Secretary General.  

Until Israel's brutal military occupation and the apartheid regime is dismantled once and for all, our calls to the Australian Government remain: stop rendering aid to the occupation, publicly recognise Israel is committing the crime of genocide, and use all available diplomatic, legal, and economic measures to end the atrocities in Gaza. We must move from words to decisive action.

Your support is critical. Add your name now and call on the Australian Government to stop fuelling Genocide in Gaza.

 

Sign the Petition

  Our Petition
 
 

Senator the Hon Penny Wong 
Minister for Foreign Affairs  
PO Box 6100 
Senate 
Parliament House 
Canberra ACT 2600 

Subject: Urgent Appeal to end the genocide in Gaza 

Senator the Hon Penny Wong, 

I am writing to you to take necessary measures to immediately stop the ongoing genocide against Palestinians in the occupied Gaza Strip.  

We welcome the Australian Government’s recent statements, calling on Israel for the full and immediate resumption of aid access and condemned the statements by Israeli leaders. 

Now is the time for concrete action, not just words. Australians have given the Labor Government a second term to  uphold international law and protect the human rights of Palestinians.  
 
Latest poll reveal that Australians overwhelmingly (82%) think that Israel’s deliberate blocking of aid into Gaza cannot be justified. 67% believe that the Australian Government should do more to support civilians being able to access food, water and medicine in Gaza. And 81% of Labor voters hold this view. 

Two million Palestinian people continue to struggle for dignity, equal rights and justice under Israel’s illegal military occupation and system of apartheid.  Israel’s brutal onslaught and relentless attacks on Gaza have brought unprecedented levels of death and destruction in the occupied Gaza Strip, and a deplorable catalogue of violations and crimes.    

Amnesty International’s report titled “‘You feel like you are subhuman’: Israel’s genocide against Palestinians in Gaza” provides research findings and legal analysis to support the conclusion that Israel has committed and is committing genocide in Gaza. The report concludes that during the nine-month period under review, Israeli forces committed acts prohibited under the Genocide Convention, namely killing, causing serious bodily or mental harm, and deliberately inflicting on Palestinians in Gaza conditions of life calculated to bring about their physical destruction. These acts were committed with the specific intent to destroy Palestinians in Gaza.   

Australia’s continued support and assistance to Israel is shielding Israel from accountability or effective international scrutiny regarding its treatment of Palestinians. Diplomatic backing and impunity enable human rights abuses and war crimes, and further fuel the genocide in Gaza.  

We therefore call on you to: 

  • Oppose any attempts by Israel to establish a permanent military and Israeli civilian presence in Gaza, alter its borders and demographic make-up, or shrink its territory, including through any expanded buffer zones or the construction of permanent checkpoints;
  • Publicly recognise Israel is committing the crime of genocide;  
  • Use all available diplomatic, legal, and economic measures to stop the ongoing atrocities and to ensure the immediate, sustained, and unhindered delivery of humanitarian aid into Gaza; 
  • Ensure Australia plays its role to hold Israel for war crimes and crimes against humanity, including by calling on the UN Security Council to impose targeted sanctions against Israeli government officials responsible;
  • Ensure that Israel immediately complies with the measures ordered by the International Court of Justice, including; providing basic aid and humanitarian assistance, ending the unlawful occupation, and preventing genocide against Palestinians in Gaza; 
  • Immediately halt the sale and transfer of arms, parts, and related assistance that may contribute to serious violations of international law;
  • Stop rendering aid to the occupation. 

Sincerely,

[Your name]