Manchester Amnesty Statement on Israel and Palestine - May 2025

MANCHESTER AMNESTY DEMANDS PROTECTION OF CIVILAN LIVES

Call to respect and apply international law

Amnesty International, Manchester Group, calls on our political leaders to end the humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza. This deepening tragedy requires that governments which have a close relationship with Israel insist that international humanitarian law be respected. Failure will mean even more innocent civilian deaths. The perpetrators must face accountability for war crimes.

Manchester Amnesty condemns the war crimes and breaches of international law. Israel’s massive bombing campaign in Gaza has killed over 53,000 people (as at May 2025), many of them women and children, and injured more than 120,000. Israel has killed journalists, health professionals and humanitarian workers. It has attacked and destroyed aid convoys, hospitals, schools, places of worship and shelters.  It has restricted, and even banned, all shipments of aid including food, water, medicine, fuel and other vital supplies. These are all war crimes and breaches of international law.

Indiscriminate killing must end. Aid must be restored. The collective punishment of Gaza’s civilian population must not be allowed to continue. Israel has a clear obligation under international law to protect the civilian population and ensure their basic needs are met.

Manchester Amnesty also condemns the killings and kidnappings by Hamas and other Palestine armed groups. They have violated international law and displayed a disregard for life by carrying out crimes including summary killings and hostage-taking.  

Manchester Amnesty calls on Israel and on Palestinian armed groups to uphold their obligations under international humanitarian law to protect civilians.

• Indiscriminate bombing and destruction must be stopped.
• Collective punishment of the population of Gaza must be ended.
• Forced expulsion of civilians must stop.
• Humanitarian aid to the population of Gaza must be allowed through.
• All civilians who were abducted, including children, must be released immediately.
• Political prisoners must be freed

Britain’s political leaders are shirking their legal responsibility to uphold and enforce the Geneva Conventions and a moral responsibility to prevent further war crimes. The protection of all civilians, Israeli and Palestinian, must be prioritised.

We demand that our political leaders take immediate steps to:

• Demand a ceasefire, an end to hostilities and a negotiated peace
• End arms supplies to Israel
• Insist that all parties uphold international humanitarian law
• Press all parties to protect civilians from military action

• Require Israel to end its illegal siege of Gaza, and enable unrestricted humanitarian aid

We call on our government to support the call by British and international aid and humanitarian agencies to save civilian lives in Gaza now.

We recognise the huge need for support for all survivors who are suffering bereavement or loss. This includes the thousands of people in Gaza whose family members have been killed or injured, and all who are suffering trauma and mental breakdown. It also includes the families of those killed or taken hostage in the Hamas attack.

We note the bravery of Israeli citizens who have spoken up against Israel’s war on Gaza, including conscientious objectors who refuse military service and ex-soldiers who promote awareness of the suffering they have witnessed.

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BACKGROUND

GENOCIDE

Amnesty International undertook extensive research and concluded that Israel has committed genocide against Palestinians in the occupied Gaza strip. This is a matter of law and evidence, rather than opinion. Amnesty examined Israel’s acts in Gaza closely and in their totality and published the evidence in a comprehensive report in December 2024*. Amnesty found that Israel unleashed destruction on Palestinians in Gaza brazenly, continuously and with total impunity. The number of Palestinian civilians killed, the scale of physical destruction, the blocking of life-saving aid before the ceasefire, and the stream of dehumanising and racist anti-Palestinian rhetoric from Israeli officials, provide clear evidence of genocidal intent, as defined by law, in Israel’s actions in Gaza.  Amnesty also noted that high level Israeli officials in charge of the war efforts frequently made public statements announcing or calling for prohibited acts.

Other humanitarian organisations have reached the same conclusion. In January 2024, the International Court of Justice (ICJ) found plausible risk that Israel is committing genocide in Gaza. The UK government has disregarded its legal obligation to prevent genocide; this has contributed to Israel’s impunity and risked British complicity in serious crimes against international law. 

HUMANITARIAN AID

In Gaza there is an overwhelming need for humanitarian aid. Amnesty International condemns the Israeli law banning the UN Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA).

This law amounts to the criminalization of humanitarian aid and worsens an already catastrophic humanitarian crisis. UNRWA has been a lifeline for Palestinian refugees in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank for 75 years. It has provided food, water, medical aid, education and shelter to the nearly 2 million Palestinians in Gaza who have been forcibly displaced, subjected to an engineered famine, and stand at serious risk of genocide as a result of Israel’s relentless offensive in the last 12 months. This law flies in the face of the International Court of Justice order to Israel to ensure sufficient humanitarian assistance. Amnesty condemns Israel’s total siege of Gaza from March 2025, which prevents the delivery into Gaza of all humanitarian aid.

UK RESPONSIBILITIES

As a state party to the Genocide Convention, the UK has a legal obligation to use all reasonable means to help prevent genocide and to be consistent when supporting international law – just as it has done when calling out crimes carried out by Russian forces. 

Prime Minister Keir Starmer must accept the UK’s obligations to help ensure there is justice and accountability. To avoid the risk of being complicit in genocide, the UK should have ended all arms transfers to Israel long ago and committed full support to the International Court of Justice (ICJ) and other important international accountability mechanisms. The UK should take those steps urgently now. 

ACCOUNTABILITY

Amnesty International, Manchester Group demands accountability for these crimes. We call on our political leaders to ensure accountability for the war crimes committed by Israel and by Hamas. We demand that the international laws established to protect all peoples be respected and applied to bring perpetrators to justice.

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* ‘You Feel Like You Are Subhuman’: Israel’s Genocide Against Palestinians in Gaza