Gaza: voices of resistance against genocide, occupation and colonisation

Nearly a year after a ceasefire was announced in October 2025, the Israeli government is still killing and displacing Palestinians in Gaza, restricting essential supplies, from wheelchairs for child amputees to material for homes , and denying people the conditions needed to rebuild lives and recover from the impact of enforced starvation . A ceasefire should protect life. If civilians, including children, are still being killed, aid workers remain in danger and families cannot safely return home, how can we call this a ceasefire? The central story is not only the scale of destruction. It is also the courage of people who have resisted genocide, occupation, colonisation and political indifference. Palestinians in Gaza, the West Bank and the diaspora have continued to organise, document, care for one another, grow food, report the truth, and pursue justice while demanding the full protection of their human rights and the enforcement of international law. They have been joined by dockworkers, journalists, UN experts, humanitarian workers, artists, filmmakers, students and millions of people worldwide who refuse to let the violations in Palestine be ignored and are demanding governments act to end impunity and complicity. A ceasefire must mean safety View this post on Instagram A post shared by Greenpeace International (@greenpeace) The ceasefire that was announced in October 2025 should have opened a path to safety, humanitarian access, recovery and accountability. Instead, it has revealed how easily governments can describe a situation as “peace” while Palestinians remain under Israeli occupation, exposed to military attacks, hunger, displacement and the destruction of civilian life. Since October 2023, reportedly more than 73,000 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza , more than 1,100 Palestinians in the occupied West Bank , and more than 1,670 Israelis and foreign nationals , most of them on 7 October and in its immediate aftermath. Nearly a year after a ceasefire was agreed in Gaza, Israeli forces continue to carry out attacks on the Strip, killing and injuring people in Gaza every day . According to Gaza Ministry of Health figures cited by the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs , 1,381 Palestinians were killed and 4,757 injured between the 10 October 2025 ceasefire announcement and 16 September 2026. The total includes people killed in attacks, those who died from their wounds and bodies recovered from under destroyed buildings . It is likely incomplete because people remain missing, many bodies are still under rubble, access to affected areas is restricted and Gaza’s health system has been devastated. For children, the ceasefire has been what UNICEF called a “ cruel and deadly illusion .” In August 2026, the agency reported that at least 300 children had been killed in roughly 300 days following the ceasefire agreement. That is, on average, one child killed every day during a period that should have brought safety. 95% of Gaza schools have been damaged or destroyed. Israeli Defence Forces are responsible for an assault on childhood, education and the possibility of a future for Palestinians. February 2025: Children amid damaged homes and rubble in Gaza. Photo: Mohammed Ibrahim / Unsplash. © Mohammed Ibrahim / Unsplash UN reporting has also documented the continued killing of Palestinian women and girls . Between the start of the ceasefire and 28 July 2026, 246 Palestinian women and girls were killed by Israeli air bombardment and military ground operations. A ceasefire worthy of its name would mean an end to killing and injury. It would mean access to food, water, medicine, fuel, shelter and functioning hospitals. It would mean children returning safely to school, farmers returning to their land, fishing communities reaching the sea, journalists working without fear and families rebuilding homes rather than burying relatives. Before October 2023: the long violence against Palestine The Hamas-led attacks of 7 October 2023 were abhorrent. The deliberate killing of civilians, the taking of hostages and the abuse of those held captive were grave crimes that must be unequivocally condemned. According to Israeli sources cited by the UN Independent International Commission of Inquiry , more than 1,200 people were killed on that day, including at least 809 civilians, and at least 252 people were abducted and taken to Gaza as hostages. The UN Commission found that Hamas and other Palestinian armed groups subjected hostages to torture, cruel treatment and other inhumane acts, and that several were killed in captivity. All hostages have now been returned, including the remains of those who were killed. As of September 2026, according to OHCHR , Israel held 9,329 Palestinian prisoners, of which around one third are under ‘administrative detention’, and 1,393 Palestinians, mostly from Gaza, were detained as ‘unlawful combatants’. The routine use of such administrative detention – on security grounds without criminal charge or trial – continues to expose Palestinian detainees to prolonged arbitrary deprivation of liberty, torture and other ill-treatment and enforced disappearance. Palestinians unlawfully detained by Israel must be released, and all people deprived of liberty must be treated humanely and in accordance with international law. Any honest account of Palestine-Israel must include the Nakba of 1948 , when more than 750,000 Palestinians were forcibly displaced . It must include the military occupation that began in 1967, decades of land seizure, settlement expansion, military rule, segregation and the blockade imposed on Gaza in 2007. People carry belongings through a heavily damaged neighbourhood in Gaza. © Jaber Jehad Badwan, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons. For almost two decades, Israel’s blockade has restricted the movement of people and goods, weakened Gaza’s economy and constrained access to food, fuel, construction materials, health care, agricultural land and fishing waters. Gaza was systematically made dependent on an occupying power that controls many of the basic conditions needed for life while denying Palestinians the freedom to determine their own future. In July 2024, the International Court of Justice concluded that Israel’s continued presence in the occupied Palestinian territory is unlawful . The Court also stated that other states must not recognise it as legal, or provide aid or assistance in maintaining the situation created by that unlawful presence. Since 2023, the Israeli government led by Benjamin Netanyahu has escalated this longstanding system of domination. Its extreme-right coalition has included ministers who have advocated annexation, settlement expansion, displacement and the denial of Palestinian statehood. The destruction of Gaza cannot be separated from settler colonialism , a system rooted in taking land, fragmenting communities, controlling resources and using force to entrench domination. In the occupied West Bank, this system is enforced not only through state policy and settler violence but also through documented cases in which Israeli soldiers and security forces have facilitated , protected or directly participated in attacks on Palestinians and the forced displacement of their communities. Nothing on this scale could have happened without outside support. The United States has remained Israel’s principal military and diplomatic backer, while other governments have continued arms transfers , military cooperation, trade and political cover. Governments that arm Israel , facilitate weapons logistics, insure shipments, finance manufacturers or obstruct accountability cannot credibly claim to be neutral observers. Palestinians resist erasure Peaceful Palestinian resistance has many forms. It is the work of people who protect life, preserve memory, bear witness, and insist on freedom when systems of violence are designed to make all three impossible. In Gaza and across Palestine, resistance can mean running a community kitchen, sharing water, teaching children in makeshift classrooms, helping a neighbour find shelter, documenting an attack, caring for the wounded, preserving a family archive, growing food in damaged soil, or foraging for native plants such as za’atar and akkoub despite laws that criminalise or restrict their collection. It can mean keeping music and dance alive or bringing children together to watch World Cup matches outdoors. This is sumud , often translated as steadfastness. It is not passive endurance. It is the active refusal to disappear. Journalists in Gaza have continued reporting while living through hunger, displacement, bereavement and danger themselves. Their work has provided a record of events when much of the international press could not enter Gaza independently. The International Federation of Journalists and the Committee to Protect Journalists have documented the devastating toll on Palestinian journalists and media workers. View this post on Instagram A post shared by Al Jazeera English (@aljazeeraenglish) Among those killed were Hossam al-Masri, a Reuters photographer; Mohammed Salama, an Al Jazeera photojournalist; Mariam Abu Dagga, who worked for Associated Press and Independent Arabia; and Moaz Abu Taha, who worked with NBC News. They were killed in an Israeli attack on Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis on 25 August 2025. The same attack also killed other civilians seeking medical care and safety at the hospital. Other journalists killed include Al Jazeera correspondent Anas al-Sharif, Palestinian journalist and television presenter Hossam Shabat, broadcaster Roshdi al-Sarraj and Reuters videographer Issam Abdallah , who was killed by Israeli shelling in southern Lebanon while reporting on the wider regional escalation. Each name represents a person who continued bearing witness in circumstances that should be unacceptable to every media organisation and government claiming to defend press freedom. Humanitarian workers, along with those they’re seeking to help, have also been targeted. On 29 January 2024, the five-year-old Palestinian girl Hind Rajab was trapped in a car in Gaza City after her family members were killed. During her calls with the Palestine Red Crescent Society, Hind pleaded for help while an ambulance was dispatched to reach her. Hind, her relatives and the two paramedics sent to rescue her were later found dead. Investigations by Forensic Architecture and other organisations found evidence that the ambulance was struck after being given clearance to travel. On 19 August 2026, the Israeli military admitted that its troops had opened fire on the car carrying Hind and six relatives and that they had also fired on the ambulance sent to rescue her. It said it would open a criminal investigation. Hind’s story has come to represent the suffering inflicted on so many Palestinian children. But she must never be reduced to a symbol. Hind was a five-year-old child with a family, a voice and a future. She was a child and should have lived . Palestinian farmers and food producers also resist through their connection to land. Gaza’s orchards, farms, greenhouses and irrigation systems have been damaged by military action, restricted access, pollution and the collapse of water infrastructure . By May 2025, satellite assessments cited by UNEP found that 97.1% of Gaza’s tree crops, 82.4% of annual crops and 95.1% of shrubland had been damaged. Destroying agriculture threatens not only meals today but communities’ ability to feed themselves and rebuild tomorrow . The destruction of olive trees is part of this wider assault. Olive trees sustain livelihoods and food systems, but they also carry family histories, agricultural knowledge and connections to land across generations. Uprooting or destroying them is not simply environmental damage. It undermines Palestinian food sovereignty, culture and continuity. Palestinian farmers have documented years of aerial herbicide spraying along Gaza’s perimeter. Forensic Architecture’s investigation found that Israel carried out aerial spraying in Gaza from at least 2014, damaging crops hundreds of metres inside the Strip. A 2019 investigation cited Palestinian Ministry of Agriculture estimates that spraying between 2014 and 2018 damaged more than 13 square kilometres of farmland. The scale and potential long-term impact of the environmental damage have led to calls for it to be regarded as “ecocide” and investigated as a possible war crime . Similar allegations emerged in southern Lebanon in February 2026 . On 1 February, Israel notified the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) that it would carry out an aerial operation near the Blue Line involving what it described as a “non-toxic chemical substance.” Lebanese authorities subsequently said laboratory testing of soil samples from areas including Ras Naqoura, Aita al-Shaab and Dhayra identified glyphosate at concentrations far above normal agricultural levels. Lebanon’s Ministries of Agriculture and Environment condemned the operation as an environmental and health crime that threatened farmland, food security and farmers’ livelihoods. Lebanese authorities and Human Rights Watch have also accused the Israeli military of using white phosphorus munitions in residential areas of southern Lebanon. Such weapons can cause horrific burns, respiratory damage, organ failure and death, as well as long-term harm to the environment. As Ghiwa Nakat, executive director of Greenpeace MENA, wrote from Beirut on 8 April 2026, after the Israeli military carried out over 100 air strikes in just 10 minutes, hitting Beirut, Mount Lebanon, the South, and the Bekaa simultaneously, without warning, “Sadly, what we are seeing is the Gaza doctrine expanding to Lebanon: systematic, deliberate, and total destruction of civilian life and infrastructure, carried out with complete impunity.” The Israeli military campaign of human displacement and environmental devastation in southern Lebanon continues . Voices, institutions and governments resisting impunity At the UN, Francesca Albanese , the Special Rapporteur on the human rights situation in the Palestinian territory occupied since 1967, has used her mandate to name occupation, apartheid, corporate complicity and genocide. She has done so despite sustained attacks , public misrepresentation and pressure from governments that would prefer the world to soften its language. South Africa’s case against Israel at the International Court of Justice is another defining example of resistance to impunity. The case alleging violations of the Genocide Convention remains ongoing. The Court has not yet issued a final ruling on the merits, but it has issued legally binding provisional measures requiring Israel to prevent acts prohibited by the Convention, enable humanitarian assistance and preserve evidence. Photo: © UN Photo/ICJ-CIJ The International Criminal Court has also issued arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Defence Minister Yoav Gallant. The Court found reasonable grounds to believe they bear criminal responsibility for the war crime of starvation as a method of warfare and the crimes against humanity of murder, persecution and other inhumane acts. The ICC also issued a warrant for Hamas military commander Mohammed Deif, alleging crimes against humanity and war crimes, including murder, torture, hostage-taking and sexual violence. Arrest warrants are not convictions, but they are a major step towards individual criminal accountability and a reminder that international law must apply to all parties. Some governments have also chosen to speak with greater clarity, even if their actions still fall short of what justice requires. Spain has been among the clearest European voices. In September 2026, Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez condemned what he called “the genocide that Netanyahu is still perpetrating in Gaza” and reiterated Spain’s support for an arms embargo on Israel and for preventing Spanish territory from being used to facilitate actions contrary to international law. Words must be followed by enforceable measures, including ending arms transfers, trade and financial ties that sustain occupation and violence. Humanitarian workers have also continued to protect life under impossible conditions. Palestinian staff of UNRWA, local medical teams, emergency responders and aid organisations have distributed food, water, shelter and health care while basic infrastructure collapsed around them. Hundreds of UNRWA personnel have been killed since October 2023, illustrating the exceptional danger facing people trying to sustain civilian life in Gaza. An UNRWA staff member comforts a child at a school-turned-shelter in Nuseirat, Gaza, January 2024. © Ashraf Amra / UNRWA, CC BY-SA 3.0 IGO, via Wikimedia Commons. Israeli authorities have also imposed registration requirements that threatened the work of dozens of international NGOs , including Médecins Sans Frontières , Oxfam, Save the Children, ActionAid, CARE and the Norwegian Refugee Council. The organisations were asked to provide detailed information about Palestinian staff, creating grave security concerns in a context where aid workers and their families face extraordinary risk. MSF warned that the rules could prevent essential medical care, supplies and international staff from reaching Gaza and the occupied West Bank. In September 2026, Israeli authorities suspended the access of 37 foreign humanitarian organisations to Gaza after they refused to hand over staff lists. The organisations included MSF, Oxfam, CARE, World Vision International and the Norwegian Refugee Council. The UN Secretary-General called for the measure to be reversed, warning that international NGOs are indispensable to life-saving humanitarian work and that the suspension risked undermining already fragile humanitarian progress. Culture, labour and direct action Musicians, actors, writers, filmmakers and cultural workers have used their platforms to call for a ceasefire, defend Palestinian rights and reject censorship. Macklemore’s 2024 song Hind’s Hall drew global attention to Palestinian solidarity protests and called for an end to US support for Israel’s assault on Gaza. Actors Mark Ruffalo and Javier Bardem have repeatedly used their public platforms to call for a ceasefire, humanitarian protection and recognition of Palestinian rights. Their interventions matter not because celebrities should lead a movement, but because public figures with large audiences can choose to amplify voices that institutions try to marginalise. Macklemore performing on stage. © Amanda Rhoades / San Francisco Foghorn via Flickr Like all public figures who are vocal on atrocities in Gaza, from Macklemore and Ruffalo to toddler TV star Ms Rachel, filmmakers Yuval Abraham and Rachel Szor have also faced a concerted backlash for refusing silence. Their documentary NAZA , which won the Special Jury Prize at the 2026 Venice Film Festival, examines the systems behind Israel’s mass killing of Palestinian civilians in Gaza through interviews with 24 Israeli military and intelligence insiders. The title refers to an Israeli military intelligence acronym used to denote the expected number of civilian casualties in an air strike. Israeli Culture Minister Miki Zohar responded by accusing the directors of treason and calling for their citizenship to be revoked. Abraham and Szor previously co-directed the Oscar-winning documentary No Other Land with Palestinian filmmakers Basel Adra and Hamdan Ballal. That film documented Israeli settler violence and demolitions in Masafer Yatta in the occupied West Bank. Their work shows the power of cinema to connect the destruction in Gaza to the broader system of occupation and settler colonisation. In July 2025, Israeli settler Yinon Levy shot and killed Awdeh Hathaleen , a Palestinian teach