As Gaza Marks 1,000 Days of Genocide, Palestine Forum of New Zealand Calls for an End to Impunity

As the Israeli genocide against the Palestinian people in Gaza reaches its 1,000th day, the Palestine Forum of New Zealand expresses profound grief, outrage, and alarm at the international community’s continued failure to halt one of the gravest humanitarian catastrophes of our time.

For 1,000 days, Palestinians in Gaza have endured relentless bombardment, mass killings, forced displacement, and starvation. Hospitals, schools, universities, places of worship, and civilian infrastructure lie in ruins, while humanitarian aid is systematically denied. Entire families have been erased from the civil registry. Hundreds of thousands remain homeless, injured, orphaned, or missing beneath the rubble. Human rights organisations and United Nations bodies have documented widespread violations of international humanitarian law and serious allegations of genocide and other atrocity crimes.

Israel’s continued impunity has not only prolonged the suffering of more than two million Palestinians in Gaza it has undermined the credibility of the international legal system itself, and the principles on which the post-World War II order was built.

No state is above international law. Governments’ repeated failure to enforce binding obligations under the UN Charter, the International Court of Justice’s provisional measures, and the International Criminal Court’s accountability process has emboldened further violations and deepened Palestinian suffering.

As New Zealand prepares for its general election, we call on all political parties and candidates to commit to:

• Supporting a full and comprehensive sanctions regime against Israel until it complies with international law
• Ending all military cooperation and trade that contributes to human rights violations
• Supporting international accountability mechanisms, including the International Criminal Court
• Recognising the State of Palestine without further delay
• Advocating for the immediate lifting of the siege on Gaza and unrestricted humanitarian access
• Upholding New Zealand’s longstanding commitment to international law, human rights, and the protection of civilians

Silence and inaction in the face of mass atrocities amount to complicity. History will judge not only those who committed these crimes, but those who had the power to stop them and chose not to act.

As Gaza reaches this tragic milestone, we urge the people of New Zealand to stand on the side of justice, humanity, and international law. The time for expressions of concern has passed. The time for action is now.