Response to ‘an open letter: in solidarity with all children suffering in wars; to all who hold or share a concern for the wellbeing of children’
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Date
2025
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Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
SAMJ
Abstract
Since 7 October 2023, when Hamas launched an attack in Israel, killing over 1 200 people, the response has unleashed a humanitarian disaster of incomprehensible scale. By October 2024, over 43 000 Palestinians, including more than 13 700 children, have lost their lives in Gaza. These continuously increasing numbers have been numbing our minds for over a year now, but they are not just statistics. All of these numbers are children who once had names, dreams and laughter. They are families erased. Schools and hospitals, meant to protect and nurture and serve people, have become gravesites. Entire futures are being wiped out in Gaza. Over 11 000 schoolchildren have been killed. Nearly 700 000 children have gone without education for over a year. Their teachers, classmates and sanctuaries of learning have been obliterated. One can only imagine the silence that has replaced the once-boisterous hum of schoolyards. When the Secretary-General of the United Nations called Gaza’s plight a ‘crisis of humanity’, it was more than rhetoric.[1] It is a call to awaken the collective conscience of the world. The deliberate targeting of civilians, the denial of humanitarian aid and the relentless bombing campaigns all point to a moral collapse – one that implicates us all if we remain silent. This is not merely a war; it is increasingly agreed upon that this conflict has taken the shape of a modern-day genocide
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Keywords
Antisemitism, Israel, Jewish
Citation
Van As, A.B., Sidler, D., Uema, J.H.A., Leva, E., Marincowitz, G.J.O., Tonkin, S., Rose, P.C., Govender, S., London, L., de Agustin, J.C. and Schimanek, C., 2025. An open letter: In solidarity with all children suffering in wars; to all who hold or share a concern for the wellbeing of children. SAMJ: South African Medical Journal, 115(2), pp.5-6.