Joint statement
Wednesday, May 29, 2024
We, the undersigned, denounce and condemn the continuation of genocidal massacres, war crimes, and crimes against international humanitarian law committed against our people in occupied Palestine by the occupying Zionist Israeli army forces since 1948. To this day, its pace and violence have escalated since October 7 of last year, as it continues not only to annihilate the Palestinians and their right to life and self-determination but also does not stop violating human rights, especially women’s rights, by targeting their reproductive health and physical and psychological safety and subjecting them to sexual violence without deterrence.
Civilians were not spared from the crimes of the occupying army, even though they were displaced several times from their homes to areas that the occupying army claimed were safe areas. On Sunday, 26 May 2024, the Israeli army bombed the tents of displaced Palestinians in Rafah, burning them, separating the heads of children from their bodies, and burning the displaced people alive. On Friday, 24 May 2024, before the Rafah massacre, the Palestinian Ministry of Health in Gaza announced that the number of Palestinian deaths in the Israeli war on the Gaza Strip since the seventh of last October had risen to 35,857. While the number of injured people increased to 80,011. For his part, UNRWA spokesman in Gaza, Adnan Abu Hasna, said it was likely that the death toll and injuries from yesterday’s Israeli strike on the displaced persons’ camp in the city of Rafah would reach 100 people. Today, hours ago, a new massacre occurred, leaving 21 martyrs, most of them women and children, and dozens wounded.
Two Egyptian soldiers (Abdullah Ramadan – Islam Ibrahim) were also martyred while performing their military service by bullets from the occupation army as a result of a shooting on the Egyptian-Palestinian border yesterday, according to the numbers announced so far.
Despite the issuance of several UN, international, and local reports about the crimes committed against the Palestinians in an unequal war of genocide and displacement, Antonio Guterres, the Secretary-General of the United Nations, condemned the Rafah massacre, saying: “The attack killed dozens of innocent civilians who were just looking for shelter to protect them from this deadly conflict… There is no safe place in Gaza, and these atrocities must be put to an end.” However, most Arab governments, the governments of European countries, and the United States of America turn a blind eye to what happens. Rather, it colludes with the occupation in killing and displacing Palestinians, and it condemns the right to resist and defend the land, as they are partners in genocide.
The signatories to this statement call on the Egyptian government to take the following measures: sever relations, suspend the Camp David Accords, and seriously seek to join the State of South Africa in its lawsuit against the occupying entity before the International Court of Justice. We also call for opening the Rafah crossing for displaced Palestinian men and women, providing them with full care, especially medical care, and forcing the occupation to bring aid and supplies into Gaza and Palestine.
The signatories also call on the United Nations, with all its institutions, member states, and the international community, to work to stop the brutal aggression against Palestine, to take serious and effective steps, and to withdraw its ambassadors from Tel Aviv (occupied Jaffa), and not to be satisfied with condemnation, and specifically, to take decisive decisions in a session. The emergency UN Security Council session conducted today is expected to issue a resolution obligating the occupying Israeli forces to implement the decision of the International Court of Justice to stop raids on Rafah, and to open the Rafah crossing for humanitarian aid to enter the Strip, as well as to guarantee the access of any investigation or fact-finding committee regarding the charge of genocide.
Signatories:
Mariam Koleib – Lawyer and Feminist Activist
Aya Abdel-Hamid – Feminist Activist
Nada Nashat – Lawyer and Physicist
Tasnim Mounir – Journalist and Feminist Activist
Intissar El-Saed – Lawyer and Feminist Activist
Aya Mounir – Feminist Activist
Mayar Mekky – Feminist Activist
Alaa Imam – Data Researcher
Hala Doma – Lawyer
Mohamed Tarek – Engineer
Maha Tolba – scientific journalist
Hadeer Ashraf – Researcher
Shorouk Raafat – Art Therapist
Nosili Ahmed – Content Writer
Malak Al-Kashef – Writer and Researcher
Dalia Radwan – Interior Designer
Nour El Naggar – Egyptian citizen
Dalia Fadel – Feminist Activist
Omnia Suwaidan – Feminist Activist and Filmmaker
Nesma Rady – Lawyer and Researcher
Shaimaa Tantawy – Feminist Researcher and Writer
Dalia Mahdi – Engineer
Mustafa Al-Haddad – Engineer
Mustafa Alaa – Planning Officer
Abdul Rahman Moataz – Application Developer
Mohamed Khaled – Lawyer
Ahmed Sabry – Egyptian citizen
Nesma Al-Khatib – Human Rights Lawyer
Ali Hatem – Egyptian citizen
Mai Saleh – Feminist Activist
Hossam Hassan – Egyptian citizen
Shaima Hamdy – Egyptian Journalist and Researcher
Mirna Ahmed – Barah Aman Foundation, Egypt
Heba El-Nimr – Egyptian citizen
Elham Aidaros – Deputy Founder of the Bread and Freedom Party
Mona Ezzat – Journalist
Azza Soliman – Lawyer
Samir Ghazi – Barah Aman Foundation
Basma Mustafa – Journalist
Abdullah Abdul Basit – Engineer
Suzanne Nada – Lawyer
Radwa Fouda – Researcher and Digital Rights Activist.
Marwa Mohamed – Egyptian citizen
Gawaher Al-Taher – Lawyer
Siham Ali – Lawyer
Iman Sari Al-Din – Researcher / Data Analyst
Magda Suleiman – Agricultural Engineer
Ola Moussa – Gender Consultant
Asmaa Mahmoud Mustafa – Researcher
Shaima Muhammad – Lawyer
Naglaa Abdel Tawab – Egyptian citizen
Shaima Essam – Egyptian citizen
Wafa Ashry – Researcher
Yara Saleh – Editor and Writer
Esraa Fehead – Woman Human Rights Defender
Organizations:
The Regional Coalition for Women Human Rights Defenders in Southwest Asia and North Africa (WHRDMENA)
Freedom Law Office
Barah Aman Foundation
Sanad Initiative for Legal Support for Women – Egypt
Bread and Freedom Party (under establishment)
Bar Aman Initiative – Egypt
