Zadie Smith and Hanif Kureishi among 380 writers calling for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza

Zadie Smith, Elif Shafak and Hanif Kureishi are among the 380 writers and organisations from the UK and Ireland that have signed an open letter denouncing Israel’s war in Gaza as genocidal and urging an immediate ceasefire.

The letter begins with A Star Said Yesterday, a poem by the late Palestinian poet Hiba Abu Nada, who was killed in an Israeli airstrike in October 2023. The poem, imagining a cosmic sanctuary, is a poignant yearning for refuge and safety amidst devastation.

“The government of Israel has renewed its assault on Gaza with unrestrained brutality,” the letter reads. “The use of the words 'genocide' or 'acts of genocide' to describe what is happening in Gaza is no longer debated by international legal experts or human rights organizations.

"Amnesty International, Medecins Sans Frontieres, Human Rights Watch, the International Federation for Human Rights, the United Nations Human Rights Council and many other specialists and historians have clearly identified genocide or acts of genocide in Gaza, enacted by the Israel Defence Force and directed by the government of Israel.”

Besides an immediate ceasefire, the letter calls for the unrestricted distribution of humanitarian aid in Gaza, the release of all Israeli hostages and the liberation of Palestinian prisoners held in Israeli jails. It also urges the imposition of sanctions on Israel should these demands not be met.

“Palestinians are not the abstract victims of an abstract war,” reads the letter, which was also signed by Ian McEwan, Brian Eno, Ben Okri, Kate Mosse and Irvine Welsh. “Too often, words have been used to justify the unjustifiable, deny the undeniable, defend the indefensible. Too often, too, the right words – the ones that mattered – have been eradicated, along with those who might have written them.”

“The term 'genocide' is not a slogan. It carries legal, political and moral responsibilities.”

Israel's war on Gaza has killed at least 54,084 Palestinians and injured 123,308 since October 7, 2023, the enclave's Health Ministry said on Wednesday. Israel resumed military operations in the territory on March 18 ending a two-month ceasefire. Since then, 3,924 people have been killed.