Human rights organizations call for an immediate physical and digital ceasefire in Gaza · Global Voices
Global Voices MENA

Demonstrators march in San Francisco demanding ceasefire in Gaza. Screenshot from a video by CBS News Bay Area. 28 October 2023. Fair use.
As the crisis in Gaza intensifies, Global Voices joins 140+ civil society organizations and activists in calling for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza and Israel.  The unified plea emphasizes the critical need to end the violence and prevent further loss of innocent lives in Palestine, Israel, Lebanon, and beyond.
The joint statement urges immediate global intervention to halt indiscriminate attacks on civilians in Gaza and implement a ‘digital ceasefire’ to stop online assaults targeting Palestinians worldwide.
This statement was originally published on Access Now on October 20, 2023.
We, the undersigned digital and human rights organizations, join the open call for an immediate ceasefire to end the ongoing bloodshed in Gaza, to halt a humanitarian catastrophe, and to prevent further loss of innocent lives in Palestine, Israel, Lebanon, and beyond. We further call on governments, international institutions, tech companies, and other international stakeholders to take responsibility for their actions which have enabled and abetted Israel’s unrestrained and indiscriminate attacks on civilians in Gaza, and to now take the necessary steps to help achieve an immediate ceasefire and more lasting peace. This includes upholding a “digital ceasefire” to bring an immediate end to online attacks targeting Palestinians around the world.
More than 4,200 people are reported killed and thousands more injured, missing, or trapped beneath rubble. A further 1.1 million Palestinians have been ordered by the Israeli military to evacuate from northern Gaza with no safe shelters which, according to the UN, would amount to a forcible transfer of civilians — a crime against humanity. The ongoing atrocities, including the repeated attacks against health facilities and personnel, have led to unfathomable destruction, trauma, and loss of civilian life. This continuous escalation of violence comes on top of an illegal and inhumane blockade on Gaza depriving millions of people of basic needs, including food, water, medicine, and electricity.
The people of Gaza — who have lived under military occupation, and injustice for 56 years in what is now understood as a system of apartheid — are also experiencing a near-complete communications blackout. Information has become scarce and the capacity to document atrocities perpetrated on the ground is severely hindered. The disruption of internet access and targeting of telecommunications infrastructure is helping fuel the dissemination of disinformation campaigns and war propaganda on social media platforms and across mainstream media, as it becomes harder to access and verify first-hand information or conduct independent investigations into atrocities committed on the ground.
Globally, Palestinian voices and those who support their cause have been muffled and silenced through a wide campaign of digital repression, including disinformation, censorship, online harassment, doxxing, and shadowbanning. Governments who regularly call for strong protection of human rights are emboldening Israel’s indiscriminate attacks by cracking down on free expression and peaceful assembly, online and offline. Likewise, social media companies have so far failed to address the alarming levels of disinformation and misinformation on their platforms, which are contributing to offline violence, dehumanization, and justifying attacks against civilians. Paired with inequitable, biased over-enforcement of content moderation policies, this is resulting in the silencing and deplatforming of Palestinians.
Further to the humanitarian blockade enforced by Israel on the ground, the flow of humanitarian aid has also been disrupted due to targeted cyberattacks affecting relief groups, including Medical Aid for Palestine (MAP). Websites, news agencies, and collectives providing resources and coverage have faced periodic DDoS attacks, causing their websites to go down. Meanwhile, Israel’s attorney general has approved shutting down Al Jazeera’s office, one of the few international media outlets with correspondents on the ground providing 24/7 live coverage from Gaza, further hindering press freedom and access to information in Gaza.
Despite these barriers, human rights defenders and journalists have documented evidence of multiple international humanitarian law violations since the start of this phase of the conflict, both by Hamas in its October 7 attacks on civilians in Israel and by Israeli authorities in the course of their ongoing military offensive in Gaza. Such violations include Israel's use of white phosphorus ammunition in densely populated areas, which can be considered an unlawful indiscriminate attack on civilians; the targeting of journalists, with at least 21 killed since the start of the war; and the blocking of aid from reaching Gaza. Civilian medical facilities have also repeatedly come under attack, with 51 attacks against healthcare facilities resulting in 15 health workers killed and 27 injured, including the recent explosion at the Al-Ahli Arab Hospital on Tuesday, October 17.
The international community has an obligation to ensure an immediate ceasefire comes into effect. An end to the continued loss of life must be the utmost priority, and governments, companies, and other stakeholders alike must each uphold their duty to respect and protect human rights by joining the call to end hostilities.
(organizational affiliation for identification purposes only)