We write this letter as academics and students who specialise in the study of children and childhood to call for the immediate cessation of the Western-backed Israeli genocide in Gaza and the egregious violation of Palestinian children’s rights.

For many of us, entering this field of study was motivated by a desire to improve the material, social, and political conditions of life for children globally. We cannot, therefore, sit by as the situation in Gaza continues to deteriorate because of Israeli bombardment with arms provided by Western powers; the forced evacuation of over a million people by the Israeli Defence Forces; and the denial of food, water, and fuel by the Israeli state. This compounds 75 years of settler-colonial occupation in Palestine and 17 years in which Gaza has been little more than an open-air prison. Together, this has produced some of the most heinous conditions of life imaginable for Gaza’s civilian population, almost half of whom are children.

Children are losing their lives, their futures, and their ability to breathe. As we write, more than 7,000 people have been killed in Gaza, nearly 3,000 of whom are children, and more than 16,000 have been wounded since Israel launched its attack on the besieged territory on 7th October. According to Defence for Children International, more than 100 children killed each day or 1 child every 15 minutes. Many others are among the wounded and orphaned. As the British-Palestinian surgeon Ghassan Abu Sitta pointed out, the Al Shifa Hospital has had to create the category of ‘wounded child with no surviving family’ given the sheer numbers the hospital is supporting. He explained that children are being operated on without anaesthesia and with no support, leaving them in a state of “daze” and total loss. Gazan children are writing their names on their arms so their bodies can be identified should they be killed.

Our research with children has shown that colonial occupation, state violence, and terrorism means a real threat to children’s physical and psycho-social continuity. Our research exposes the long-term effects of wartime experiences, and in Gaza it reveals the ongoing cumulative trauma, and its effect on children’s well-being and emotional, mental, and physical health. There is no moral justification whatsoever for continuing this brutality which will result in the debilitation, wounding and death of thousands more children. These injuries and deaths are preventable. It is a choice, and we call upon those who have the power and can act to save the lives of these children to do so. Stopping the genocidal war NOW is crucial for the survival and wellbeing of children. 

It is often assumed that if children are the targets of state-sanctioned killings, enforced starvation, and dispossession, perpetrators will be immediately condemned. As they should be. Yet, not all lives are treated equally. The lack of attention to the horrific hardship facing Palestinian children furthers their debilitation and traumatisation, and continues to be complicit in dehumanising them, while minimising their agonies and death. Palestinian children have names, families, stories, and dreams, yet they are facing global and local brutalities that reduce them to anonymous numbers. As academics and students of childhood, we say that no child should be subjected to violent death, injury, or starvation, no matter where they are from. We affirm: Palestinian children’s lives are precious.

The intolerable consequences of the genocide in Gaza are not just affecting children, but their parents, grandparents, relatives, and adult neighbours. To protect and support children also means protecting and supporting the adults in their lives. The availability of emotional resources for children - including from family, friends, and neighbours - can ease the ‘wounds inside’.  But the lives of Palestinian adults do not only matter because they care for children. We say: all Palestinian lives are precious.

We therefore support the call for immediate action from the people of Gaza for:

1.       An immediate ceasefire.

2.       The urgent restoration of water, food, fuel, medical supplies and humanitarian aid.

3.       Immediate protection of medical and mental health facilities and the reversal of the illegal and inhumane evacuation orders for hospitals.

4.       The facilitation of safe passage for casualties and critically-ill individuals.

5.       The opening of crossings for those seeking to evacuate and permitting the entry of medical and rescue teams.

We support calls from within Palestine/Israel for a long-term political solution, premised on ending the ongoing occupation of Palestine and the Israeli apartheid regime.

We support global calls for the immediate release of civilians, including the 500-700 Palestinian children arbitrarily detained by Israel each year and those children held hostage by Hamas.

We commit ourselves to taking action wherever we are by:

●     Demanding that our governments urgently and actively press for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza, publicly on the international stage and in back-channel discussions with Israel.

●     Calling for Israel, our local and national governments and professional associations, the international community, and Hamas to uphold the rights of children affected by armed conflict as laid out in the Geneva Conventions and Article 38 of the UN Convention on the Rights of Children.

●     Countering the dehumanisation of Palestinian children and adults, wherever we encounter these, whether in our schools, universities, media, or communities.

●     Demanding the immediate release of Palestinian children arbitrarily held in detention and children held hostage by Hamas.

●     Exposing our governments’ complicity in enabling the Israeli genocide in Gaza to continue unabated.

●     Standing in solidarity with those organisations and individuals working for a just and lasting peace in Palestine/Israel, including those who have faced threats and harassment for speaking out in support of Palestine.

26th October 2023.