Human rights organizations join the open call for an immediate physical and digital ceasefire in Gaza, and for Palestinians globally

We, the undersigned digital and human rights organizations, join the open call for an immediate ceasefire to end the ongoing bloodshed in Gaza, to halt a humanitarian catastrophe, and to prevent further loss of innocent lives in Palestine, Israel, Lebanon, and beyond. We further call on governments, international institutions, tech companies, and other international stakeholders to take responsibility for their actions which have enabled and abetted Israel’s unrestrained and indiscriminate attacks on civilians in Gaza, and to now take the necessary steps to help achieve an immediate ceasefire and more lasting peace. This includes upholding a “digital ceasefire” to bring an immediate end to online attacks targeting Palestinians around the world. 

As of October 17, more than 4,200 people are reported killed and thousands more injured, missing, or trapped beneath rubble. A further 1.1 million Palestinians have been ordered by the Israeli military to evacuate from northern Gaza with no safe shelters which, according to the UN, would amount to a forcible transfer of civilians — a crime against humanity. The ongoing atrocities, including the repeated attacks against health facilities and personnel, have led to unfathomable destruction, trauma, and loss of civilian life. This continuous escalation of violence comes on top of an illegal and inhumane blockade on Gaza depriving millions of people of basic needs, including food, water, medicine, and electricity.

The people of Gaza — who have lived under military occupation,and injustice for 56 years in what is now understood as a system of apartheid — are also experiencing a near-complete communications blackout. Information has become scarce and capacity to document atrocities perpetrated on the ground is severely hindered. The disruption of internet access and targeting of telecommunications infrastructure is helping fuel the dissemination of disinformation campaigns and war propaganda on social media platforms and across mainstream media, as it becomes harder to access and verify first-hand information or conduct independent investigations into atrocities committed on the ground.

Globally, Palestinian voices and those who support their cause have been muffled and silenced through a wide campaign of digital repression, including disinformation, censorship, online harassment, doxxing, and shadowbanning. Governments who regularly call for strong protection of human rights are emboldening Israel’s indiscriminate attacks by cracking down on free expression and peaceful assembly, online and offline. Likewise, social media companies have so far failed to address the alarming levels of disinformation and misinformation on their platforms, which are contributing to offline violence, dehumanization, and justifying attacks against civilians. Paired with inequitable, biased over-enforcement of content moderation policies, this is resulting in the silencing and deplatforming of Palestinians.

Further to the humanitarian blockade enforced by Israel on the ground, the flow of humanitarian aid has also been disrupted due to targeted cyberattacks affecting relief groups, including Medical Aid for Palestine (MAP). Websites, news agencies, and collectives providing resources and coverage have faced periodic DDoS attacks, causing their websites to go down. Meanwhile, Israel’s attorney general has approved shutting down Al Jazeera’s office, one of the few international media outlets with correspondents on the ground providing 24/7 live coverage from Gaza, further hindering press freedom and access to information in Gaza.

Despite these barriers, human rights defenders and journalists have documented evidence of multiple international humanitarian law violations since the start of this phase of the conflict, both by Hamas in its October 7 attacks on civilians in Israel and by Israeli authorities in the course of their ongoing military offensive in Gaza. Such violations include Israel’s use of white phosphorus ammunition in densely populated areas, which can be considered an unlawful indiscriminate attack on civilians; the targeting of journalists, with at least 21 killed since the start of the war; and the blocking of aid from reaching Gaza. Civilian medical facilities have also repeatedly come under attack, with 51 attacks against healthcare facilities resulting in 15 health workers killed and 27 injured, including the recent explosion at the Al-Ahli Arab Hospital on Tuesday, October 17.

The international community has an obligation to ensure an immediate ceasefire comes into effect. An end to the continued loss of life must be the utmost priority, and governments, companies, and other stakeholders alike must each uphold their duty to respect and protect human rights by joining the call to end hostilities. 

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All parties to the conflict must:

• Immediately cease the indiscriminate targeting of civilian infrastructure, including medical, energy, and telecommunications infrastructure, and, more broadly, halt the use of explosive weapons in urban areas; 
• Take all feasible precautions to protect civilians and refrain from indiscriminate and disproportionate attacks;
• Protect the physical and digital safety, dignity, and integrity of anyone deprived of liberty and under their control –including protection from public curiosity on social media and other communication channels – and refrain from using disinformation campaigns;
• Ensure that all persons deprived of liberty without due process are allowed to return safely to their families – including through the assistance of neutral intermediaries such as the ICRC, who have been offering their support through traditional channels and publicly on social media; and
• Uphold and demonstrate through actions their adherence to international humanitarian law.

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In particular, Israeli authorities must:

• Immediately and unconditionally allow free, unhindered, and safe humanitarian access to Gaza and its population and facilitate the delivery of lifesaving assistance. This includes restoring freedom of movement for individuals and goods in besieged areas, as well as the electricity and water supply – noting, however, that the restoration of access to these services is necessary but insufficient, and does not supercede the call for a total and immediate ceasefire; 
• Ensure that the civilian population has access to free, reliable, stable, open, and secure telecommunications infrastructure, enabling them to receive early warnings, communicate with humanitarian services and their loved ones, and otherwise exercise their fundamental human rights;
• Ensure the protection of health providers, humanitarian personnel, journalists, and other specially protected actors. This also includes addressing the spread of coordinated disinformation campaigns that undermine the neutrality of their work and increase their vulnerability;
• Rescind orders for civilians to evacuate northern Gaza; and
• End its illegal blockade of the Gaza Strip and its ongoing military occupation of the Palestinian territories. 

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Private sector actors must:

• Adhere and uphold their responsibilities to respect human rights and mitigate any risks or negative impacts of their policies, actions, and services, as per the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights, and publicly and consistently communicate steps taken to ensure continued respect for human rights; 
• Expand and include in their heightened due diligence efforts all potential areas of their business, including, for example, reviewing customers’ purchasing of targeted advertising services in the region and elsewhere for propaganda purposes;
• Take measures to further protect the accounts and data of users from hacking, surveillance, censorship, and other threats, and to strengthen infrastructure against unlawful access;
• Ensure complete transparency of received government requests — both on the basis of the law or the terms and conditions — submitted by the Israeli public authorities, including the Cyber Unit. At a minimum, disclose the type of content enforcement; and data regarding the amount of content removed in Arabic, and compliance rate with government requests, including legal basis for restrictions; 
• Clearly communicate to users any limitations, restrictions, or changes to service they may experience;
• Provide transparency with respect to where machine learning systems are being used to moderate content related to Palestine and Israel, including indicators of the accuracy, the possible rate of error, and machine learning classifiers;
• Provide information about parameters used by content recommender systems with explanations for why certain information is shown to individuals, including the most important criteria for determining what information will be shown to whom; 
• Fully investigate any cyber attacks that undermine human rights, and limit the reach of state and non-state sponsored propaganda actors and the spread of disinformation with any restriction being in compliance with the rule of law and the principles legality, legitimacy, necessity, and proportionality;
• Preserve and be prepared to openly share, where possible, documentation of violence, for potential future efforts to hold people accountable for violating humanitarian law and human rights violations and ensure victims’ access to remedy; and
• For investors and financial institutions linked to businesses operating in the region, hold these businesses accountable for full transparency on their business conduct and the above requirements. 

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Global leaders must:

• Use all available channels to urge parties to the conflict, as well as businesses, to immediately implement the actions outlined above;
• Demand an end to the blockade in defense of access to essential goods and services, as governments including the US have done in other recent conflicts; 
• Call for the full and transparent investigation of war crimes and crimes against humanity, also through the financial and political support of the investigation capacities of the International Criminal Court, and the exploration of alternative options for an independent international tribunal or a hybrid court, as the European Union proposed after the Russian invasion of Ukraine;
• The European Union and United States must call for the Israeli government to strictly abide by international humanitarian law; and
• The European Union and United States must end their endorsement of the Israeli government’s response to avoid any complicity with the ongoing perpetration of war crimes and crimes against humanity. 

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Signatories:

Organizations

Individuals (organizational affiliation is for identifying purposes only)