In an unprecedented act of global solidarity, more than 52 international and regional trade union federations have jointly called for an immediate end to Israel’s assault on Gaza, denouncing the siege as a tool of starvation and collective punishment. Their powerful statement urges the world to confront what they describe not as a war, but a systematic genocide.

The signatories, spanning Latin America, Europe, Africa, and the Arab world, demand a full ceasefire, unrestricted humanitarian access, and the lifting of the blockade. They hold the Israeli occupation directly responsible for the devastation in Gaza, where over half a million Palestinian workers have lost their livelihoods and thousands more have been killed or displaced.

Shaher Saad, Secretary-General of the Palestinian General Federation of Trade Unions, welcomed the statement as a “rare show of moral clarity” from the international labour movement. He emphasised that the destruction of Gaza’s workforce and infrastructure is not only a humanitarian crisis, but an economic one of historic scale.

The statement also condemns the use of hunger as a weapon and calls for an end to arms exports to Israel. It underscores the need to uphold international law, support Palestinian self-determination, and establish an independent state on the 1967 borders with East Jerusalem as its capital.

From COSATU in South Africa to CGT in France, KCTU in South Korea, and the UGTT in Tunisia, the message from labour federations is unified: enough silence, enough complicity. The time has come to act, not only in the name of workers' rights, but in defence of humanity itself.