Break the selective silence on the genocide in Gaza by Roberto De Voglia, Jonathan Montomolib, Ghassan Abu-Sitta, Ilan Pappé

Substantial and well-documented evidence indicates a catastrophic public health emergency in Gaza (appendix pp 1–5), marked by severe food insecurity and alarming levels of malnutrition-related deaths.¹ Life expectancy at birth reportedly declined by approximately 35 years in 2024.² This represents a greater collapse in longevity than that recorded during the genocide in Rwanda, where life expectancy at birth declined from age 42·9 years in 1993 to age 12·2 years in 1994.³

… Starvation is being used repeatedly and relentlessly as a weapon of war.⁷ Leading human rights organisations, UN agencies, and UN Special Rapporteurs have officially recognised the genocide in Gaza.⁸ This position is also supported by a broad and distinguished group of genocide scholars.⁹ However, most public health, medical, and social science associations have either remained silent or issued vague statements—a response that contrasts sharply with their rapid and vocal support in other conflicts, such as with Ukraine.¹⁰ This pattern suggests a selectively empathic response: a tendency to express solidarity with people who are perceived as being part of a so-called in-group and neglect those classified as an out-group based on nationality, ethnicity, religion, or geopolitical alignment.¹¹

To challenge this selective silence, we issued an open letter urging professional and academic associations in the fields of health care, public health, and the social sciences to publicly recognise the genocide in Gaza and to revise their official positions accordingly (appendix pp 6–20).¹² Within days, the letter gathered over 3300 signatures, including 1300 from academics and professionals. Moreover, the initiative prompted three major public health associations—the European Public Health Alliance, the European Public Health Associations, and the World Federation of Public Health Association, who represent over 5 million health professionals globally—to issue a joint statement acknowledging the genocide.¹³