'Let's stop the massacre in Gaza': the letter from authors and Nobel laureates to Italian institutions

Since 7 October 2023, military operations conducted by the Israeli army in the Gaza Strip have caused more than 61,000 deaths, including at least 18,000 children, and more than 150,000 injured, according to the World Health Organisation. According to the WHO, 94% of hospitals in Gaza have been damaged or destroyed, as have most schools and all universities. Unicef warns that over half a million people live in conditions of extreme hunger: 39% of the population goes days without eating, while acute malnutrition in children under five has quadrupled.

Violence is also on the rise in the West Bank: since 7 October 2023, Ocha has recorded 984 Palestinians killed, including 210 children. Military incursions, evictions and the construction of new illegal colonial outposts continue, often with the acquiescence, support and participation of the Israeli armed forces. Thousands of Palestinians are also detained without trial: Human Rights Watch reports that, as of June 2025, more than 3,000 people were in administrative detention. The organisation documents torture, sexual violence, deprivation of food and medical care in detention centres.

As emphasised in the letter recently signed by 40 former Italian ambassadors, 'for many months now, there has been no possible justification or convincing argument for the conduct of Israeli military operations in Gaza'.

We are aware of the complexity of the conflict and the pain that has affected both populations. We recognise the right of every people to security, freedom and life. But nothing can justify the collective punishment, the destruction of entire cities, the denial of human dignity that we see today in Gaza.

In the face of the dramatic escalation of violence, we call on Italian institutions to take urgent action for the protection of human rights and the protection of civilians, taking a clear position consistent with international obligations and the values of our Constitution.

We ask the Italian institutions to use all diplomatic channels to obtain:

a permanent ceasefire, the release of Israeli hostages and Palestinians in detention without trial, full and continued access to humanitarian aid, Israel's withdrawal from the illegally occupied territories, and impartial investigations to determine responsibility for the deaths of tens of thousands of innocent civilians.

We make our own and reiterate the appeal contained in the former ambassadors' letter and call on the Italian government to:suspend all relations and cooperation in the military and defence sector with Israel, revoking the Italy-Israel military cooperation memorandum; support individual sanctions against Israeli ministers who encourage phenomena of violence and the expansion of illegal settlements in the West Bank; suspend the EU-Israel Association Agreement as long as human rights violations persist; officially recognise the State of Palestine as a necessary act for peace and justice.

Ours is not a partisan stance, but a call for collective responsibility. Literature and culture are tools that amplify ignored voices and interrogate the collective conscience. Today we put our words at the service of a clear and non-negotiable demand: that the killing of civilians, wherever it occurs, be stopped, and that the right to life, freedom, and hope prevail'.

At least 36 people have been killed since dawn in the Strip, 31 of them in the city of Gaza: hospital sources told Al Jazeera. The airstrike also hit the home of the brother of Mohammed Abu Salmiya, director of the al-Shifa medical complex, killing the man and several of his children, some minors