End Hunger in Gaza! Stop the War, Say Civil Right Groups, Activists

New Delhi: Amid reports of rising starvation and diseases, especially among children, after Israel’s unrelenting bombing and war crimes in Gaza, the Right to Food Campaign (RFC), a collective of several civil society groups and individual activists, has called for the used of “starvation as a weapon” by the Israel government.

Expressing solidarity with the people of Palestine, RFC also expressed dismay at the stance of the Indian government and its “complicity” with Israel’s war crimes in Gaza.

“This attack on the right to food and healthcare is reason enough on its own to call for an immediate ceasefire and to end all cooperation with the state of Israel for the time being.

Unfortunately, the Government of India has done nothing to contribute to an end to these war crimes. On the contrary, it has remained a faithful ally of the Israeli government – subsidizing Indian companies that produce military material for Israel, sending Indian workers to Israel in replacement of Palestinian workers, and suppressing protests against Israel in India,” the RFC said in a statement.

Read the full statement below:

End Hunger in Gaza! Stop the War!

Uphold the Right to Food and Freedom of the Palestinian People

The Right to Food Campaign is appalled by the merciless use of starvation as a weapon of war in Gaza by the Israel government. We are equally dismayed by the Indian government’s continued complicity with this and related war crimes in Gaza.

During the last nine months, tens of thousands of Palestinian civilians including countless children have been blown to pieces, buried under the rubble, charred to death or grievously wounded. Most of the injured have been deprived of medical care as the Israeli army relentlessly targeted hospitals, health centres, ambulances and health workers (more than 500 have been killed so far). For good measure, the survivors are now being starved. United Nations agencies estimate that more than 90% of the population of Gaza is suffering from acute food deprivation. Rampant undernutrition and abominable sanitary conditions have led to the rapid spread of disease. The Health Ministry in Gaza has recently declared a polio epidemic, no less.

This attack on the right to food and healthcare is reason enough on its own to call for an immediate ceasefire and to end all cooperation with the state of Israel for the time being.

Unfortunately, the Government of India has done nothing to contribute to an end to these war crimes. On the contrary, it has remained a faithful ally of the Israeli government – subsidizing Indian companies that produce military material for Israel, sending Indian workers to Israel in replacement of Palestinian workers, and suppressing protests against Israel in India. Even at the United Nations, India has mostly abstained from efforts to bring about resolutions that would restrain Israel.

According to the International Court of Justice, complicity with genocide occurs when “some positive action has been taken to furnish aid or assistance to the perpetrators of the genocide”. This is an accurate description of what the Indian Government is doing at the moment.

In spite of the Indian government’s clampdown on protests against the Israeli government and manifestations of solidarity with the Palestinian people, there have been many protests in different parts of India in the last few months. Hopefully, there will be more in the near future. The use of starvation and disease as weapons of war is unacceptable, full stop.

As an All India network upholding everyone's right to food and nutrition in India, we stand in solidarity with the people of Gaza and Palestine. We call for an immediate end to the war and ceasefire now. We the Right to Food Campaign of India uphold the Right to Food and Freedom of the Palestinian People.

 On behalf of the Steering Committee of the Right to Food Campaign:

National Networks:

Aysha and Gangaram Paikra (Conveners- Steering committee), Kavita Srivastava (People’s Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL), Anjali Bhardwaj (National Campaign for the People’s Right to Information (NCPRI) and Satark Nagrik Sangathan), Aruna Roy, Nikhil Dey and Shankar Singh (Mazdoor Kisaan Shakti Sangathan, National Campaign for the People’s Right to Information (NCPRI), SR Abhiyan, Jan Sarokar, Pension Parishad), Annie Raja and Koninika Ray (National Federation of Indian Women (NFIW), Colin Gonsalves (Human Rights Law Network (HRLN), Anuradha Talwar (Pashchim Banga Khet Majdoor Samity (PBKMS), Chandrakant (Jan Swasthya Abhiyan (JSA), Asmi Sharma (Jan Sarokar), Nancy Pathak (Pension Parishad), Richa Singh, Ashish Ranjan and Arundhati Dhuru (National Alliance of People’s Movement (NAPM), O.P.  (Bharat Gyan Vigyan Samiti), Zakia (Bhartiya Muslim Mahila Andolan) Gautam Modi (New Trade Union Initiative), Subhash Bhatnagar (National Campaign Committee for Unorganised Sector Workers (NCC-USW)

State Representatives

Amrita Johri (Delhi), Sunita Singh (Uttar Pradesh), Sameet Panda, Bidyut Mohanty (Odisha), Narendra Kumar Das (Chhattisgarh), Mukta Srivastava, Ulka Mahajan, Chandrakant Yadav and Shabbir Deshmukh (Maharashtra), Abhay, Sharada Gopal (Karnataka), S.Q. Masood (Telangana) Ashrafi Nand Prasad, James Herenj, Afzal Anis and Taramani Sahu, Dheeraj (Jharkhand), Tapojay, Pawan (West Bengal), Sachin Jain (Madhya Pradesh), Nesar Ahmad and Shyam Lal Maneriya (Rajasthan), Ritwij (Bihar), Tarulata, Ramesh and Sejal Dand (Gujarat).

Individual Representatives

Aditya Srivastava, Bharti Ali, Dipa Sinha, Jean Dreze, Swati Narayan and Vandana Prasad.