Some 380 UK and Ireland writers denounce Gaza 'genocide'
"The use of the words 'genocide' or 'acts of genocide' to describe what is happening in Gaza is no longer debated by international legal experts or human rights organisations," the letter continued.
Israel has repeatedly denied all accusations of genocide in its campaign to crush Palestinian militants in the Gaza Strip.
The letter comes a day after 300 French-language writers, including Nobel Literature prize winners Annie Ernaux and Jean-Marie Gustave Le Clezio, signed a similar statement condemning "genocide".
"Palestinians are not the abstract victims of an abstract war. Too often, words have been used to justify the unjustifiable, deny the undeniable, defend the indefensible," the British and Irish writers said.
The writers, including novelist Elif Shafak and playwright Hanif Kureishi as well as the Scottish and Welsh writers PEN clubs, called for a ceasefire, the "immediate distribution of food and medical aid" in Gaza and sanctions on Israel.
International condemnation has grown over Israel's humanitarian aid blockade and relentless strikes after it ended a ceasefire in March and intensified military operations this month.
The health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza said 53,977, mostly civilians, have been killed in Israel's offensive since October 2023, when a Hamas attack on Israel triggered the war.
Some 1,218 were killed in the Hamas attack, according to an AFP tally based on official figures. Militants also took 251 hostages, 57 of whom remain in Gaza, including 34 who the Israeli military says are dead.
"This is not only about our common humanity and all human rights; this is about our moral fitness as the writers of our time," the writers said.
On Monday over 800 UK-based legal experts, including former Supreme Court justices, wrote to Prime Minister Keir Starmer saying: "Genocide is being perpetrated in Gaza or, at a minimum, there is a serious risk of genocide occurring.
"Serious violations of international law are being committed and are further threatened by Israel," the lawyers said, adding the UK is "legally obliged to take all reasonable steps within their power to prevent and punish genocide."
© 2025 AFP
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
LeMonde
3 hours ago
- LeMonde
Trump orders tariffs on dozens of countries to go into effect next week
President Donald Trump ordered the reimposition of tariffs on dozens of trading partners on Thursday, July 31, his cornerstone strategy for reshaping global trade to benefit the US economy. However, in a minor reprieve, the White House said the measures will take effect in a week, not this Friday as previously expected. The tariffs are a demonstration of raw economic power that Trump says will put US exporters in a stronger position while encouraging domestic manufacturing by keeping out foreign imports. But the muscular approach has raised fears of inflation and other economic fallout in the world's biggest economy. And with questions hanging over the effectiveness of bilateral trade deals already struck – including by the European Union and Japan – the outcome of Trump's plan remains uncertain. Trump's new measures in an executive order raised duties on dozens of economies up to a 41% rate. Frantic negotiations Most of these new tariff hikes were first announced in April when Trump slapped a minimum 10% levy on goods from almost every country in the world, citing unfair trade practices and US deficits. However, Washington then postponed implementation, amid a frantic series of negotiations, alongside announcements of new duties and deals with some partners. Just Thursday, Trump announced he was delaying a tariff hike on products from the major US trading partner Mexico. The postponement by 90 days came after talks with his counterpart Claudia Sheinbaum. The 79-year-old Republican has made tariffs core to his protectionist brand of hard-right politics. On Thursday, he claimed that the US economy had "no chance of survival or success" without tariffs. But the latest salvo came amid legal challenges against Trump's use of emergency economic powers. On Thursday, the US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit heard arguments in cases brought against Trump's blanket tariffs targeting different countries. And questions linger over the effectiveness of Trump's grand plans, or even whether he will hold firm on his most drastic threats. While Trump has touted a surge in customs revenues since the start of the year, economists warn the duties could fuel inflation. Proponents of his policy argue that its impact will be one-off, but analysts are awaiting further economic data to gauge for more persistent effects. China? Among those who managed to strike deals with Washington were Vietnam, Japan, Indonesia, the Philippines, South Korea and the European Union. Britain also reached a pact with the United States, although it was not originally targeted by higher "reciprocal" tariffs. Washington did not finalize a deal with neighboring Canada, but Trump reached agreement with Mexico to maintain an existing 25% duty on its products. Partner service Learn French with Gymglish Thanks to a daily lesson, an original story and a personalized correction, in 15 minutes per day. Try for free Canada, however, was slapped with duties of 35% in the Trump executive order. An exemption for goods entering the country under a North American trade pact remained in place, according to the White House. But transshipped goods to evade the 35% duty would face even higher levels. Canada's trade relations with the United States came under renewed threat after Prime Minister Mark Carney announced plans to recognize a Palestinian state at the UN General Assembly in September. Notably excluded from the latest drama was China, which faces an August 12 deadline instead, when duties could bounce back to higher levels. Washington and Beijing had slapped tit-for-tat tariffs on each other's goods, bringing them to triple-digit levels before both countries reached agreement in May to temporarily lower these duties. The superpowers are now working towards extending their truce.
LeMonde
6 hours ago
- LeMonde
Zelensky urges allies to seek 'regime change' in Russia after latest deadly drone attack on Kyiv
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Thursday, July 31, urged his allies to bring about "regime change" in Russia, hours after a Russian drone and missile attack on Kyiv killed 16 people, including a six-year-old boy, and wounded at least 150 others, authorities said. The overnight strikes reduced part of a nine-story apartment block in Kyiv's western suburbs to rubble. The Russian army, meanwhile, claimed to have captured Chasiv Yar, a strategically important hillside town in eastern Ukraine where the two sides have been fiercely fighting for months. Moscow has stepped up its deadly aerial assaults on Ukraine in recent months, resisting US pressure to end its nearly three-and-a-half-year invasion as its forces grind forward on the battlefield. Speaking virtually to a conference marking 50 years since the signing of the Cold War-era Helsinki Accords, Zelensky said he believed Russia could be "pushed" to stop the war. "But if the world doesn't aim to change the regime in Russia, that means even after the war ends, Moscow will still try to destabilize neighboring countries," he said. 'Unimaginable scale of terror' From late Wednesday to early Thursday, Russia fired over 300 drones and eight cruise missiles at Ukraine, with Kyiv the main target, the Ukrainian Air Force said. One missile tore through a nine-story residential building in the west of the capital, tearing off its facade, authorities said. AFP journalists at the scene saw rescuers scouring through a smoldering mound of broken concrete, the belongings of residents scattered among the debris. Among the victims was a six-year-old boy who died on the way to the hospital, the head of the city's military administration, Tymur Tkachenko, posted on Telegram. Zelensky said late Thursday that over 150 people had been injured, "including 16 children and six policemen," denouncing an "unimaginable scale of terror and brutality" from the Russian strikes. Kyiv's mayor, Vitali Klitschko, said Friday had been declared a day of mourning in the capital for the victims. The Russian army said it had hit a military airfield, ammunition warehouse and drone production facilities with a combined overnight strike using weaponry and drones. The attack came just days after US President Donald Trump issued a 10-day ultimatum for Moscow to halt its invasion, now in its fourth year, or face sanctions. Trump on Thursday blasted Russia's actions in Ukraine, suggesting that new sanctions against Moscow were coming. "Russia – I think it's disgusting what they're doing. I think it's disgusting," Trump told journalists. "We're going to put sanctions," he said, before specificially referring to Putin: "I don't know that sanctions bother him."
LeMonde
7 hours ago
- LeMonde
Trump envoy to inspect Gaza aid as pressure mounts on Israel
President Donald Trump's envoy to the Middle East met Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Thursday, July 31, ahead of a visit to inspect aid distribution in Gaza, as a deadly food crisis drove mounting international pressure for a ceasefire. Steve Witkoff, who has been involved in months of stalled negotiations for a ceasefire and hostage release deal, met Netanyahu shortly after his arrival, the Israeli leader's office said. On Friday, he is to visit Gaza, the White House announced. Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters that Witkoff, who visited Gaza in January, would inspect "distribution sites and secure a plan to deliver more food and meet with local Gazans to hear firsthand about this dire situation on the ground." German Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul also met Netanyahu in Jerusalem, and afterwards declared: "The humanitarian disaster in Gaza is beyond imagination." "Here, the Israeli government must act quickly, safely and effectively to provide humanitarian and medical aid to prevent mass starvation from becoming a reality," he said. "I have the impression that this has been understood today." Even as Wadephul met Israeli leaders, the armed wing of Palestinian militant group Islamic Jihad released a video showing German-Israeli hostage Rom Braslavksi. In the six-minute video, Braslavski, speaking in Hebrew, is seen watching recent news footage of the crisis in Gaza. He identifies himself and pleads with the Israeli government to secure his release. Braslavski was a security guard at the Nova music festival, one of the sites targeted by Hamas and other Palestinian fighters in the October 2023 attack that sparked the Gaza war. In an example of the deadly problems facing aid efforts in Gaza, the territory's civil defense agency said that at least 58 Palestinians were killed late Wednesday when Israeli forces opened fire on a crowd attempting to block an aid convoy. 'Warning shots' The Israeli military said troops had fired "warning shots" as Gazans gathered around the aid trucks. An AFP correspondent saw stacks of bullet-riddled corpses in Gaza City's Al-Shifa Hospital. Jameel Ashour, who lost a relative in the shooting, told AFP at the overflowing morgue that Israeli troops opened fire after "people saw thieves stealing and dropping food and the hungry crowd rushed in hopes of getting some." Witkoff has been the top US representative in indirect negotiations between Israel and Hamas but talks in Doha broke down last week and Israel and the United States recalled their delegations. Israel is under mounting international pressure to agree to a ceasefire and allow the world to flood Gaza with food, with Canada and Portugal the latest Western governments to announce plans to recognize a Palestinian state. Trump criticized Canada's decision and, in a post on his Truth Social network, placed the blame for the crisis squarely on the Palestinian militant group Hamas. "The fastest way to end the Humanitarian Crises in Gaza is for Hamas to SURRENDER AND RELEASE THE HOSTAGES!!!" declared Trump, one of Israel's staunchest international supporters. Earlier this week, however, the US president contradicted Netanyahu's insistence that reports of hunger in Gaza were exaggerated, warning that the territory faces "real starvation." UN-backed experts have reported "famine is now unfolding" in Gaza, with images of sick and emaciated children drawing international outrage. The US State Department said it would deny visas to officials from the Palestinian Authority, which exercises limited self-rule in parts of the Israeli-occupied West Bank – the core of any future Palestinian state. The Israeli offensive has killed at least 60,249 Palestinians, most of them civilians, according to Hamas-run Gaza's health ministry.
