2 years after the ruling of the International Court of Justice on the illegality of the Israeli occupation, Oxfam launches the ©Palestine Campaign, all rights reserved to reiterate that the rights of the Palestinian people are inalienable, universal and protected by international law. These are not favors or concessions to be negotiated.
In fact, the campaign intends to involve in mobilization actions anyone who deems it right to reiterate the right of the Palestinians to be the exclusive authors of their own future, owners of their land, water, protagonists of the reconstruction in Gaza. Essential to this end will be the pressure on the Italian Government and the European Union for a radical reversal of direction that supports the self-determination of the Palestinian people and responds adequately to one of the most serious humanitarian emergencies of our time.
An appeal contained in the campaign video-manifesto voiced by the actor and Oxfam spokesperson, Antonio De Matteo: “Human rights are either universal, or they are at risk for everyone. Their protection does not stop at borders and their violation does not remain isolated. (…). Defending Palestinian rights means supporting the fundamental principle according to which every person is entitled to the same rights.”
To raise awareness of the issues at the center of the campaign, public initiatives will also be carried out over the next few months in some of the main Italian cities: flash mobs, meetings with citizens and institutions, the participation of volunteers and activists in summer festivals and events (like the Men/Go Music Fest and the Modena City Ramblers tour), the involvement of many testimonials.
Thus Palestine dies
“Gaza made unlivable and the West Bank fragmented to the point that it is impossible to delineate its borders, are now places where people survive with hardship – he said Paolo Pezzatispokesperson for humanitarian crises for Oxfam Italy – While not forgetting the atrocities of 7 October 2023, caused by Hamas attacks, we must remember the genocide committed in Gaza, the over 20,000 children who died and were deliberately targeted, the thousands of people queuing for a piece of bread under sniper fire, the lack of water which forced them to drink like animals directly from dirty sources or to wash and cook with sea water. As we must also remember the aggressions and ethnic cleansing in the West Bank, the destruction of schools and olive groves, the appropriation of flocks, the occupations and indiscriminate colonizations. We risk a point of no return towards the definitive disappearance of Palestine and its people.”
Hell Gaza
While attacks and military operations in Gaza continue, over 2 million people remain crowded into just 35% of the Strip’s territory. In most cases, people survive on less than 6 liters of clean water per person per day; while approximately 77% of the population (1.6 million people) suffers from serious levels of food insecurity, including 132 thousand children under 5 years old, affected by acute malnutrition. The most critical situation at the moment is given by the overcrowding combined with the lack of essential goods in the camps for displaced people in Deir al Balah and Al Mawasi, as well as in the rubble of Khan Yunis and Gaza City (where people survive on less than 2 liters of water per person). Here, in the midst of a torrid summer, the risk of new epidemics due to the heat, dehydration and continuous infestations of mice and insects is very high. Meanwhile, the only crossing that allows intermittent entry of essential goods remains Karem Shalom.
Overall, since the announcement of the ceasefire in April, just 100 trucks of humanitarian aid have been allowed into Gaza per day (with UN coordination), much less than the 600 declared by Israel. Insufficient aid, which often risks not reaching all those who need it most.
“In this context it is difficult to understand Italy’s permanence as an observer member of the Board of Peace, a modality not even foreseen by the statute of the body. In fact, the humanitarian situation remains catastrophic while the prices of the few essential goods that arrive on local markets remain inaccessible for hundreds of thousands of families who cannot count on any form of income – continues Pezzati – Suffice it to say that since the beginning of the conflict the price of wheat and eggs have increased fivefold, cooking gas costs more than double and basic medicines remain out of reach. Israel also continues to prevent the entry of materials that would be used to restore essential water infrastructure, after destroying approximately 90% of it.”
West Bank annexation
In the West Bank, the unprecedented violence of settlers, supported by Israeli military forces, deprives Palestinian communities of essential resources, causing ever more victims: from January 2025 (to April this year) almost 2,600 attacks have already occurred, causing 284 victims, including 66 children and more than 5,000 injured. An ethnic cleansing plan that does not tend to abate, given that in the first 4 months of 2026, another 788 episodes were recorded with deaths and injuries or damage to homes, the destruction of orchards, crops and essential infrastructure. In March alone, settler attacks caused agricultural losses of more than $4.2 million. The evident Israeli annexation plan has caused almost 40 thousand new displaced persons in the last year and a half out of the 46 thousand caused since the beginning of the conflict, exerting an increasingly strong suffocation of the population’s ability to subsist. The Palestinians also have almost no control over water resources. The consequences for agriculture and the economy are very serious: overall losses amounting to billions of euros per year, an increase in the poverty rate from 12% to 28% in the last 2 years, unemployment which has doubled since October 2023 and reached 35%.
Rights, not concessions
In defense of all the inalienable rights reserved for the Palestinian people, Oxfam invites all citizens to join and participate in the Campaign, which will develop through 3 main requests addressed to the Italian Government:
Stop the blockade of life-saving aid in Gaza:
allowing full humanitarian access to the population and the unrestricted operation of organizations, such as Oxfam, involved in rescuing tens of thousands of exhausted families.
Stop the illegal occupation of the Occupied Territory:
banning trade with illegal settlements, through the adoption of the bill – drawn up by Oxfam with the support of an Italian coalition of organizations – which has Giuseppe Conte, Nicola Fratoianni, Elly Schlein and Angelo Bonelli as its first signatories;
calling on Israel to end its illegitimate presence in the Occupied Palestinian Territory as quickly as possible;
promoting a reconstruction process in Gaza that includes the Palestinian people and is extended to the areas affected by the conflict in the West Bank and East Jerusalem;
through Italy’s recognition of the Palestinian State, not as a mere formal act, but rather by accompanying it with a plan that safeguards the rights and well-being of the Palestinian people, including the right of return of refugees, as stated by United Nations Resolution 194.
Stop Israel’s impunity:
calling it to account for the crimes committed in Gaza and the West Bank before the competent International Tribunals and stopping now and in the future any transfer of armaments to Israel;
You can join the campaign on: oxfam.it/palestina-tuttiidirittiriservati
