Dear members of the international academic community,

We are a group of Israeli academics from a range of fields across the sciences and humanities, from Israel and around the world. We have initiated this petition, which is addressed to the Israeli government, and invite all of you to join us in signing it. In previous correspondences, we have expressed our horror and outrage at the Hamas attack of October 7, 2023; disputed agenda-driven anti-Israel reactions in academia; and appealed to our colleagues to respond to the international anti-Israel and anti-Semitic backlash that we have witnessed with great dismay.

In this letter, our focus is the pressing need to address the humanitarian crisis in Gaza and in Israel, to return the hostages, and to develop a plan for the future of Gaza. We urge the global community to recognize the horror and devastation inflicted on the victims of the October 7 Hamas terror attack and their families, and the ensuing suffering of the civilian population in Gaza.

First and foremost, we advocate for the immediate release of all hostages and the cessation of all threats of Hamas terror, so that residents of Gaza as well as the residents of Israel can rebuild their lives and return to their homes. These are imperative, initial steps that will allow Israelis to begin the process of recovery from the trauma and grief of October 7 and its aftermath including months of rocket attacks.

At the same time, we are deeply concerned about the humanitarian crisis unfolding in the Gaza Strip, which begins with the disregard of Hamas to human life of Israelis, Palestinians, and foreign nationals, and, sadly, is aggravated by the absence of a strategic vision from the Israeli government. Driven by our sense of moral duty and legal obligations, we believe the global academic community has an important role to play in advancing tangible solutions toward resolving the humanitarian crisis, which affects the 2.3 million Palestinians in Gaza.

We advocate for swift and effective solutions (as outlined below), grounded in the ethical duty and responsibility of the State of Israel and the international community vis a vis Palestinian civilians in Gaza, as defined by the Geneva Convention and its additional protocols. In our view, the duty of the State of Israel to address the crisis is based on values of humanism, responsibility, solidarity, and compassion—values of Israel and of Judaism—toward both the Israeli hostages and the non-combatant Gazan Palestinian victims. We strongly believe that adherence to humanistic values and international law is essential for the existence of a democratic society in Israel and thriving educational institutions where academic freedom drives progress and excellence, even amidst a war with a terror organization that disregards such values and exploits its own people as human shields.

The October 7 attack on Israel and the ensuing humanitarian crisis in Gaza

Israelis were shocked by the brutal attack by Hamas on Israel, which trampled on every basic norm of humanity. The ruthlessness continues today with Hamas’ ongoing refusal to release the remaining 134 hostages, and the organization’s refusal to allow the International Committee of the Red Cross access to the hostages. Hamas rocket attacks have displaced tens of thousands of residents from the south of Israel, and the hostage crisis remains our primary concern including evidence of systematic rape and testimonies of ongoing rape and sexual violence particularly among the women hostages. All of this constitutes a serious violation of international humanitarian law.  The October 7 attack caused the deaths of 1,200 people, including more than 800 civilians, and triggered Israel’s military response aimed at preventing the recurrence of such atrocities.

The shock was compounded by the international community’s slow response to the event, including the reticence to react quickly and strongly enough to the instances of rape and sexual assault perpetrated by Hamas, as outlined in the UN report released on March 4, 2024, five months after the attacks. We remain deeply concerned about the ongoing health condition and safety of female hostages with regard to rape and sexual violence, and the health and mental wellbeing of all Israelis subjected to the Hamas attack that left in its aftermath countless orphans, widows, and grieving families and friends.

The egregious attacks constitute Hamas’ first war crime. Its second has been its cynical use of the Palestinian population in Gaza as human shields and of civilian infrastructure, including hospitals, schools, mosques, apartment buildings, and UNRWA facilities, as well as its construction and use of an extensive underground tunnel system. It is from these facilities that Hamas has operated its terror activities and hidden its weapons—toward the singular stated purpose of carrying out attacks aimed at the destruction of Israel. Hamas’ civilian-infiltration tactic has made combat highly complex and resulted in the deaths of many Israel Defense Forces (IDF) soldiers.

It has also put the entire Gazan population in harm’s way. In using civilian infrastructure for combat purposes, Hamas effectively holds the Palestinian population hostage, deliberately exacerbating the suffering and maximizing the death toll as a way to gain world sympathy against Israel. Moreover, the vast expense involved in building and maintaining the tunnel system, as well as weapons acquisition, terrorist training, and widespread use of civilian facilities—funded primarily by international aid from unwitting donor countries—has robbed the Palestinian population of the opportunity to build a more positive future, one in which they might live in dignity and prosperity.

In a genuine and ongoing effort to reduce civilian casualties, the IDF has ordered mass evictions of residential areas before engaging in combat with Hamas fighters. As a result, the bulk of the population of Gaza has fled to a small area in the south of the Strip, in and around Rafah, where they are living in squalid, inhumane conditions. In this area and elsewhere across Gaza, civilians are suffering from insufficient food and water, and often desperately flock aid convoys—many of which are being hijacked by armed terrorists who frequently shoot citizens approaching the convoys. As example, a stampede that killed more than 100 people in February was a tragic result of the potent mix of all these forces. The Gazan population is experiencing varying degrees of hunger, malnutrition, and starvation, and the area (particularly in the north) is on the brink of famine. Particularly worrisome is the inability of many mothers to breastfeed, which is resulting in malnutrition and starvation of infants.

Beyond hunger, the state of public health and living conditions are abysmal. Most civilians have been displaced from their homes and are living in tent cities, where conditions have become acutely unhealthy, with the absence of proper sewage systems and running water. We believe that the IDF made a sincere but insufficient effort to fulfill the requirements of the Convention (I) for the Amelioration of the Condition of the Wounded and Sick in Armed Forces in the Field. Geneva, 1949[1] before the displacement of the population and discontinuance of protection of medical establishments and units. However, many hospitals, schools, mosques, and other public spaces that might otherwise accommodate civilians have been destroyed, because Hamas—with the witting or unwitting support of United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA), which operates many of these facilities—uses them as terrorism hubs and fronts for tunnel networks, forcing Israel to engage in combat in and around them. Moreover, the destruction of schools and hospitals has contributed to the collapse of the school system and the health system. Hospitals are chronically short on medical supplies; only the most serious cases are cared for.

The role of UNRWA

The role of UNRWA, the main UN relief agency in Gaza, remains largely misunderstood and distorted. The UN Secretary-General has received extensive evidence of the widespread involvement of UNRWA employees in terrorist activity on October 7 and throughout the war. The UN is now well-informed about the victimization of Palestinian youth by these employees whose racist hate speech and indoctrination has lured these youth to participate in the ‘armed struggle’ against Israel, with devastating consequences for both sides.  

Alarmingly, UNRWA has been supported by the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child and as such has an a undisputable record, publicized by UN Watch , of violating children’s rights under the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child. It is not only obvious that UNRWA has betrayed its mandate and in so doing has betrayed helpless children. It is also clear that the UN bodies and individuals entrusted with monitoring children’s rights and supervising UNRWA have also betrayed the trust of the Palestinian people and the international community that funds these agencies.

As revealed repeatedly throughout the last decade, Hamas and UNRWA have collaborated for years, working against humanitarian efforts and perpetuating the misery of Palestinian refugees. As opposed to working to resolve Palestinian suffering, Hamas has abused the Palestinian population, using their misery to garner the sympathy of the world, and as a political weapon against Israel. In early March, Israel called for the dismantling of UNRWA. If UNRWA is dismantled, other agencies must step in and fill the void and genuinely help the Palestinian people overcome the current crisis. Dismantling UNRWA is one major step towards a better future for the Palestinians. But it must be coordinated in tandem with building alternative organizational infrastructure to provide for immediate humanitarian assistance. And at the same time, the Israeli government and the international community must commit not to abandon Palestinians to the hands of politicians and relief agency bureaucrats who perpetuate their suffering and are indifferent to building a viable future for the population. A coordinated and large-scale effort must be undertaken to nurture a democratic culture for Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza, offering a better political alternative to the tragic current reality.        

We call on the Israeli government to take action to avoid a humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza

We deeply lament the insufficient action and the absence of clear strategy of the Israeli government in overcoming the void created with the elimination of Hamas as a governing body in Gaza and the dismantling of UNRWA. Under the leadership of PM Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli government has so far failed to provide a clear plan for the ‘day after’, and has not provided an alternative for the IDF as the reluctant occupying power in Gaza. While Israel has supplied food aid in large quantities, it has not adequately planned to cope with the humanitarian crisis and the collapse of local civilian infrastructure, and as such it has not yet fully lived up to its legal and moral obligations. Its legal obligations as per Article 58c of the Geneva Conventions are “to take the necessary precautions to protect the civilian population, individual civilians and civilian objects under their control against the dangers resulting from military operations.”[2]

Beyond legal obligations, there are also moral ones. Proactive countermeasures are especially important from a moral standpoint in the face of extremist, racist statements by members of the Israeli coalition that promote their vision for reoccupying Gaza and creating new settlements there. The Israeli government’s insufficient action in the face of the humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza is at odds with our core humanitarian values, as well as the interests of Israel, and plays directly into the hands of Hamas. Furthermore, the humanitarian crisis actually undermines IDF efforts to dismantle Hamas, and could lead to the further de-legitimization of IDF activity in Gaza.

Even if criticism in a time of a just war is not fully warranted and is liable to be misunderstood as ignoring the responsibility of Hamas for starting the war and perpetuating Palestinian misery, Israel nevertheless bears a large share of the responsibility as the occupying power in Gaza. Israel must urgently attend to this responsibility. Our view is consistent with that of legal experts regarding the obligations of warring parties.[3]

We have already proposed a series of recommendations, and we urge the government to move forward on them. As proud Israelis, we are committed to upholding the values of our country, and to ensuring the country is one where we see a bright and promising future for our children and our grandchildren. Only as a country that abides by its principles of morality, one which both defends its citizens and does its utmost to protect all human life, will Israel continue to be a thriving homeland for the Jewish people and a democratic country for all its citizens—and deserving of the admiration and respect of the international community. Israel will not thrive if it becomes a pariah in the world community or perpetually teeters on the edge of acceptance.

Professional parties have identified the following concrete steps to addressing the humanitarian crisis, and we call upon the Israeli government to ensure they are being pursued in earnest:

• Enabling Gazan importers to buy food and medicine in Israel and allowing them to transport goods via land crossings

• Opening additional land crossings for humanitarian aid in Rafah and anywhere else necessary

• Enabling the influx of Israeli and international aid from sea and air corridors. The maritime effort is now underway, spearheaded by the US government; the distribution will remain a challenge and we urge Israel to work in close partnership with the US government to ensure it is carried out swiftly and effectively.

• Removal of barriers that hinder the entrance and thorough distribution of aid across the population of Gaza, including mitigating the prohibitions of vague and expansive definitions of dual-use products that could be used by Hamas

• Establishing an effective mechanism to secure aid convoys

• Cooperating with all international aid bodies willing to work with Israel, and extricating all political barriers to such efforts

We end this appeal by calling on our government to address the urgent need for the release of the hostages, and to amplify its efforts toward their immediate return within the context of a ceasefire and paving a clear path towards a future truce. Deep in Hamas’ tunnels and in above ground locations in Gaza, the hostages are experiencing the most unimaginable personal humanitarian crisis, as are their families at home. Secondly, we reject any attempt by any party to make deliberate use of humanitarian suffering to advance political goals. Lastly, ameliorating the current humanitarian crisis among Palestinians in Gaza and preventing further suffering is a moral imperative and legal obligation that is consistent with Israel’s interests and values as a liberal democracy, and oppose the interests of Hamas.

Please join us in signing this open letter.

[1] https://ihl-databases.icrc.org/en/ihl-treaties/gci-1949/article-21?activeTab=1949GCs-APs-and-commentaries and https://ihl-databases.icrc.org/en/ihl-treaties/gciii-1949/article-69

[2] Protocol additional to the Geneva Conventions of 12 August 1949, and relating to the Protection of Victims of International Armed Conflicts (Protocol 1), 8 June 1977. https://www.ohchr.org/en/instruments-mechanisms/instruments/geneva-convention-relative-protection-civilian-persons-time-war

[3] Michael Walzer, “Responsibility and Proportionality in State and Non-state Wars,” Parameters 39, no. 1 (2009), doi: 10.55540/0031-1723.2467.