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German Chancellor Friedrich Merz holds a press conference in Berlin, Germany on July 18, 2025. [Halil Sağırkaya – Anadolu Agency]
More than 200 prominent German celebrities and journalists on Thursday urged Chancellor Friedrich Merz to stop arms deliveries to Israel and to impose further sanctions on Tel Aviv over its deadly military campaign in Gaza, Anadolu reports.
In an open letter, the group pointed to the suffering of children in the Gaza Strip and stressed: “We, too, condemn the horrific crimes of Hamas in the strongest possible terms. But no crime legitimizes the collective punishment of millions of innocent people in the most brutal way.”
The letter added that in the Gaza Strip, children who are not part of the war yet bear its burden are starving and dying.
“More than 17,000 have already been killed. Hundreds of thousands are injured, traumatized, displaced, and starving.
The signatories – including actors Liv Lisa Fries (Babylon Berlin), Katharina Thalbach (Miss Merkel), and Benno Furmann (North Face) – acknowledged Merz’s criticism of the Israeli government in recent days. However, they urged the chancellor to take further steps, including halting all German arms exports to Israel, supporting the suspension of the EU Association Agreement with Israel, and demanding an immediate ceasefire and unhindered access for humanitarian aid.
“These steps are deeply aligned with European values and would make it unmistakably clear to the Israeli government that even its closest allies can no longer tolerate the suffering and that words are no longer enough,” the open letter said.
On Monday, Merz said his government is considering stepping up pressure on Israel over the dire humanitarian situation in the enclave.
The German government “reserves the right” to take concrete measures to increase pressure on Israel to improve “the catastrophic situation” in the Gaza Strip, he said.
He added that the Security Cabinet had not yet made any decisions on the matter but had discussed options.
“We reserve the right, however, to take such steps,” he stressed.
Palestinian children wait for food at a charity kitchen in the Mawasi area of Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip, on 22 July 2025 (AFP)
Official X account of Israel and some pro-Israeli social media users have launched a campaign denying there is hunger in Gaza
An Israeli campaign on social media this week is claiming there is no hunger in Gaza, while Palestinians have been documenting people dying from starvation due to the Israeli-imposed blockade on the strip.
The official X account of the State of Israel has shared numerous posts suggesting that images of starving and malnourished children being shown across the world are fabricated, claiming that the children are suffering from other illnesses, such as “cystic fibrosis”.
In recent weeks, many international organisations, as well as the Palestinian health ministry, have warned of looming famine in Gaza.
The United Nations has warned of “catastrophic hunger” in Gaza and said the entire population of over two million people is severely food insecure. “One out of every three people has not eaten for days, and 80 percent of all reported deaths by starvation are children,” the agency said.
While the death toll in Gaza is now over 60,000, at least 154 people have died due to malnutrition and starvation in the enclave, according to various news reports and international organisations.
Keir Starmer objects to criticism of the IDF. He asks how could anyone object to them starving people to death, forced marches like the Nazis did, bombing Gaza’s hospitals and universities,mass-murdering journalists, healthworkers and starving people queuing for food, killing and raping prisoners and murdering children. He calls for people to stop obstructing his genocide for Israel.
Genocide denier and Current UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer is quoted that he supports Zionism without qualification. He also confirms that UK air force support has been essential in Israel’s mass-murdering genocide. Includes URLs https://www.declassifieduk.org/keir-starmers-100-spy-flights-over-gaza-in-support-of-israel/ and https://youtu.be/O74hZCKKdpAVote Labour for Genocide.UK Labour Party government ministers Keir Starmer, Angela Rayner and Rachel Reeves explain that they are partners complicit in Israel’s Gaza genocide. The UK has provided Israel with arms, military and air force support. They explain that they don’t do gas chambers but do do forced marches, starvation, destroy hospitals, mass-murders of journalists and healthcare workers.
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Injured Palestinians, including children are brought to al-Ahli Baptist Hospital for medical treatment aftermath of Israeli attack on Gaza City, Gaza on July 16, 2025. [Dawoud Abo Alkas – Anadolu Agency]
During a session at the UN Security Council on Wednesday, the Executive Director of UNICEF, Catherine Russell, revealed alarming figures about the impact of the ongoing Israeli offensive on Gaza.
She confirmed that more than 17,000 children have been killed since the beginning of the war, at an average rate of 28 children each day– the equivalent of an entire classroom.” It is as if we are losing an entire classroom of pupils every single day for two years.”
“Children are not political actors. They do not start conflicts, and they are powerless to stop them. But they suffer greatly, and they wonder why the world has failed them,” she added.
Meanwhile, the UN Under-Secretary-General Mr Tom Fletcher warned that the health situation in Gaza has reached catastrophic levels.
“Only 17 of 36 hospitals and 63 of 170 primary healthcare centres are functioning, all only partially, even as mass casualties arrive daily,” he highlighted.
Fletcher indicated that half of all medical equipment has been damaged, with the ongoing fuel crisis remaining critical, despite its vital role in powering ambulances and other essential services.
Expressing concern over the alarming rates of child starvation in June, he revealed that “more than 5,800 girls and boys have been diagnosed as acutely malnourished.”
“Last week, amid this hunger crisis, children and women were killed in a strike while waiting for the food supplements to keep them alive,” he warned.
Weeks after Israeli forces abducted the Madleen’s crew in international waters, the Freedom Flotilla is ready to launch its next mission, the Handala.
Only weeks after the crew of the boat Madleen was intercepted and abducted in international waters by Israeli occupation forces, the Freedom Flotilla coalition is preparing to set sail again. The Handala, carrying essential supplies including food and medicines, will begin its voyage from Italy on July 13, with 18 crew members on board, including trade unionists and parliamentarians such as US labor organizer Christian Smalls, French MEP Emma Fourreau, and MP Gabrielle Cathala.
Breaking the siege for Gaza’s children
Michele Borgia, spokesperson for Freedom Flotilla Italy, told Peoples Dispatch that beyond the Flotilla’s consistent message of solidarity with the Palestinian people under siege, this mission has an additional focus: the children of Gaza. Thousands of Palestinian children, including babies, have been killed in Israel’s ongoing attacks, Borgia warned. The ship’s cargo includes baby formula. The name of the ship, Handala, is a reference to the cartoon character who turns his back on the world in protest until Palestine is free.
Since Israel broke the ceasefire in March and imposed a blockade on all humanitarian aid to Gaza, children have starved as formula and food remain out of reach, Borgia continues. “There are also many reports of children and parents being targeted while waiting in line for aid, specifically baby formula.”
When announcing the mission, Freedom Flotilla wrote: “The children of Gaza – who make up over half the population – have been living under a brutal blockade and siege for their entire lives. Since October 2023, over 50,000 have been killed or injured, tens of thousands orphaned, and nearly a million forcibly displaced and homeless. All now face famine, disease, and trauma few of us can imagine. This mission is for them.”
The specific link to Gaza’s children has also prompted a call to action for southern Italy. Puglia was the first in the country to officially support severing ties with Israel, Borgia points out. Now, children from Puglia have been invited to send drawings to children in Gaza. These will be carried aboard the Handala as an additional message of solidarity.
Handala’s political message
Borgia says that the supplies on board the Flotilla’s ships are far from enough to meet the needs of the people in Gaza after months of blockade. “Critics, including Israel, never miss the chance to point out that we’re carrying so little, asking what good it can do,” he said. “But they fail to mention that, for example, last year, when we organized the delivery of thousands of tons of essential supplies, those shipments were blocked too.”
The mission of the Handala, like that of the Madleen and earlier voyages, goes beyond delivering material aid, he adds – it is, in many ways, a political statement. “For years, Israel has undermined Palestinians’ ability to fish or farm,” Borgia said. “This has forced Palestinians in Gaza into complete dependency on aid, with devastating consequences for their sense of dignity and self-sufficiency.”
In this context, as governments remain silent in the face of Israel’s genocide, ongoing occupation and other crimes, Freedom Flotilla aims to break the silence. “Where governments fail, we, the people, are there to act,” Borgia emphasized.
Freedom Flotilla Italy has taken an important role in organizing the Handala’s departure, coordinating aspects of technical and logistical preparations. The chapter draws links to Palestine solidarity mobilizations in the early 2000s, including the work of journalist and activist Vittorio Arrigoni, who joined a mission that successfully reached Gaza. “Ever since then, Israel has cracked down on similar missions,” Borgia noted, referencing the violent obstruction of recent sailings, including the Madleen.
Many of the Freedom Flotilla’s crew members are still from Europe and North America. “Israel tends to hesitate a bit more before attacking international activists,” Borgia said. But as the world witnessed with the Madleen, even that doesn’t stop them from kidnapping crews from international waters and subjecting them to abuse. Meanwhile, governments from which the activists originate largely remain silent, including Italy, Borgia says. “Our ministers shake hands with ICC suspect Benjamin Netanyahu, but they say nothing about Palestine.”
Trade unionists on board
He also pointed out that Italian companies like defense giant Leonardo continue arms exports to Israel, despite constitutional prohibitions to do so. Others taking part in the mission have echoed similar critiques. US union leader Christian Smalls announced his participation in the Handala mission together with an appeal for an end to US support for Israel. “It’s not just the government,” he wrote. “Our own US labor union organizations that are supposed to fight for justice are complicit.”
In his statement, Smalls denounced the silence of some major US unions on the genocide in Gaza and urged them to listen to their members. “The killing of innocent people does not go beyond the scope of labor,” Smalls said on social media. “I am calling on US labor to take a stand: shut down all arms shipments to Israel, pass ceasefire resolutions immediately, and get on the right side of history. We will not be intimidated. We will not be silent.”
Across Europe, trade unions are increasingly endorsing pro-Palestinian resolutions under pressure from their rank and file. In many ways, this mirrors the experience of the Freedom Flotilla that Borgia describes: strong grassroots support and growing engagement from communities, met with indifference or hostility from the political class. “But that hasn’t stopped us,” he said. “Many of our core organizers are Palestinian, and when we talk to people in Palestine, they always urge us to keep speaking out.”
As the Handala prepares to set sail, its crew is determined to keep the focus on Gaza. And more ships are being prepared to do the same
Keir Starmer objects to criticism of the IDF. He asks how could anyone obect to them starving people to death, forced marches like the Nazis did, bombing Gaza’s hospitals and universities,mass-murdering journalists, healthworkers and starving people queuing for food, killing and raping prisoners and murdering children. He calls for people to stop obstructing his genocide for Israel.
![Injured Palestinians, including children are brought to al-Ahli Baptist Hospital for medical treatment aftermath of Israeli attack on Gaza City, Gaza on July 16, 2025. [Dawoud Abo Alkas - Anadolu Agency]](https://i0.wp.com/www.middleeastmonitor.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/AA-20250716-38579326-38579324-ISRAELI_ATTACK_ON_GAZA_LEAVES_MULTIPLE_CASUALTIES-1-1.jpg?fit=920%2C613&ssl=1)
