[Blog] Why are we silent? Condemn this genocide!

56,142 Palestinians killed, murdered by Israel since October 2023.

(Hamas official, 29th June 2025) (84 more Palestinians killed on 30th June 2025)

About 1,500 Israelis were killed during the same period, with 50 hostages still held by Hamas and around 1,000 Palestinian political prisoners in Israeli jails.

Humanity, the human civilization of this 21st century, cannot just continue to sit and witness this genocide of a people. Genocide, you remember, means elimination of a people, a civilization, a country, by one or more murderous groups. I personally remember the worst sentence I ever heard, namely the call by one of the Hutu leaders on Radio Mille Collines in Kigali in 1992, urging their people to go to all villages to kill Tutsis, “n’oubliez pas les femmes et les enfants.” Since October 2023, 60% of those killed in the violence in Gaza are women and children.

This genocide of Palestinians must stop now.

We invite all states of the world, all 191 countries, all members of the United Nations, to now issue a warning to the state of Israel for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza and other necessary actions (see below). (With a warning of complete isolation, trade, and communication sanctions to Israel if it does not act now.)

Calling for a UN General Assembly resolution for Israel, its Prime Minister Netanyahu, and government to be sued for war crimes if, let’s say by 14th July 2025, all above are not achieved.

As indeed the world would have done to Hitler in 1945, had he not ended his own life.

Since October 2023, 60% of those killed in the violence are women and children, and there are over one million children in dire need nationally. Including 2-year-old babies, all labelled by the Israeli army as “terrorists.” Children bear a disproportionate burden of the crisis. Beyond the immediate physical dangers, the psychological trauma of constant displacement, loss of family members, and disrupted education can create lasting impacts that will affect an entire generation.

Over 90% of homes in Gaza have been damaged or destroyed, leaving most Palestinians without a permanent and safe place to live. People are seeking refuge in tents or makeshift shelters that fail to provide safety or dignity and are continually (purposefully!) moved by the Israeli army.

Civilians injured in the conflict and those suffering from everyday health problems are increasingly unable to access basic care. Almost half of Gaza’s 36 hospitals are even partially functional—and they’re understaffed, lacking proper medical supplies, and overwhelmed with patients.

With the use of food distribution as a “weapon,” the daily killing amounts to 30, 50, 70 deaths.

With the end of June Israeli order to evacuate part of North Gaza, the genocide continues. (The well-rehearsed method used by Hitler: move people from this house/home and oblige them to move, gathered into specific areas, camps. Then came the gas chambers and extermination.)

Perpetrated by the state of Israel, largely with American weapons supplied free to them or purchased by Israel with American money (14 billion US dollars given to Israel by the USA in 2024).

Immediate action is necessary. The world has known a few genocides: of Tutsis in Rwanda, of 6 million Jews by the Nazis, of Native Americans, to name but a few. We all must act to stop this one now!

The government of each of the 191 countries of the world, all members of the United Nations, must now urge the state of Israel to take these urgent actions:

An immediate ceasefire. The free flow of food and medical aid into Gaza. Gradual retreat of Israeli troops (after Hamas actions are fully completed). 

With external aid, the reconstruction of Gaza will start: its habitats, roads, hospitals, schools, production systems, trade, and policing. Clean drinking water through water trucking. Urgent re-upgrade of all hospitals, sanitation, and hygiene services—including building emergency latrines. Direct cash assistance to help families meet their urgent needs.

From Hamas’ side: the immediate release of all hostages held, as well as return, if any, of bodies of those who died in custody. The formal replacement of the name and constitution of Hamas as an organization by a new one named PPP (Palestine People’s Party) or alternative appellation, with as main organizational objective the governance and development of independent Gaza and Palestine. 

With, of course, the same membership and responsible officers as now in Hamas, such as that of the Minister of Health, etc.

Genocide is gradually erasing the population of Gaza. Hamas, with the bien-être of that population in mind (whose genocide could erase it completely, and for which Hamas would have a complicity role), must equally do these: immediate release of all Palestinian hostages, return the bodies of those dead, if any, while Israel would gradually release Palestinian political prisoners in Israeli jails.

Additionally: Israel and Gaza can build a road for free travel from Gaza to the West Bank. The loss of land to be compensated by giving an equal area of West Bank land to Israel, as well as the return of all settlers in the West Bank back to Israel.

The two-state solution is the proposed long-term approach to permanently resolving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, by creating two states on the territory of the former Mandatory Palestine, details to be worked out with, for instance, UN and American assistance.

Dr. Michael Atchia

(Ex-Programme Director, UNEP; Past President, Mauritius Academy of Science & Technology; D.Sc. University of Salford, Manchester, UK)
mklatchia@intnet.mu

1st July 2025