Gaza unions appeal to stop the genocide

On August 18, 2025, the Gaza branch of the Democracy and Workers’ Rights Center (DWRC) held the Fifteenth Annual Trade Union Forum with the participation of several representatives of labor unions, including: the General Union of Health Service Workers, the General Union of Public Services Workers, the General Union of Media and Printing Workers, the General Union of Educational Services Workers, the Kindergarten and Day-Care Workers’ Union, the Hairdressers and Beauty Workers’ Union, the Fishermen’s Union, the Agriculture and Food Processing Workers’ Union, the General Union of Textile and Garment Workers, the Public Employees’ Union and the Palestinian Union of Social Workers and Psychologists. Alongside them were representatives of various civil society organizations and dozens of workers. At the end of the forum, participants issued the following appeal to their sisters, brothers, and comrades, leaders of labor unions and federations around the world:

An Appeal to Stop the Genocide against the Palestinian People in Occupied Gaza

For nearly two years, we have lived through the most difficult days in the Gaza Strip, days that bear witness to the crime of genocide committed by the Israeli occupying power against our children and women. Dozens of families have been annihilated in their entirety, including fathers, mothers, and children. Dozens of people have died of hunger as a result of the policies of starvation and thirst pursued by the Israeli occupation army and its political leaders to force our people to emigrate from their homeland, the land of their parents and ancestors. They have destroyed schools, universities, hospitals, governmental institutions, trade union headquarters, civil society organizations, and drinking water wells. They have destroyed factories, uprooted trees, and bulldozed farms. More than 90% of residential homes have been destroyed, and more than two million Palestinians are living in the open, with only a small number finding tents to shelter in.

We appeal to our sisters, brothers, and comrades, our fellow workers and trade union movement leaders, to stand in solidarity with us to:

1. Stop the genocidal war against our people by pressuring your governments to take effective and impactful measures, such as stopping the supply of weapons to war criminals and imposing comprehensive economic and cultural boycotts on the Israeli occupying power, as was done to isolate the apartheid regime in South Africa. Your solidarity and union mobilization can safeguard the lives of those who have survived so far.
2. We appeal to you to urge the opening of border crossings to allow the entry of food, water, and medicine, and to enable the wounded and sick to travel for treatment in neighboring countries and in countries willing to receive the wounded, including children, women, and the elderly.
3. We also appeal to you to support us in providing tents, shelters, blankets, and clothing for children and women.
4. We also call upon all labor unions and civil society organizations worldwide to show practical solidarity with the workers of Palestine and the Palestinian people through disseminating information about their circumstances, communicating with their representative and grassroots bodies, and providing all types of support within capacities and possibilities, whether moral, legal, political, relief, or developmental.

On this day, Palestinian workers are in dire need of others to stand by their side and strengthen their steadfastness on their land. Together, let us make the voice of the workers of the world and their trade union leaders heard by those who refuse to listen. Make them hear the voice of those who reject injustice, war crimes, and genocide, the voice of those who struggle for justice, equality, and the right of peoples to self-determination