300 French writers demand an end to Gaza genocide and Israeli impunity

In an open letter published in the French newspaper Libération, the signatories called for immediate sanctions against Israel and urged global leaders and the public to stop using vague descriptors such as “horror” or “atrocities” and instead name the reality as it is: genocide.

“It is time to use precise language. What is happening in Gaza is genocide,” the writers stated, emphasizing that euphemisms only serve to obscure the scale of Israel’s crimes.

The letter calls for an immediate ceasefire, justice for the Palestinian people, the release of both Israeli captives and the thousands of Palestinians arbitrarily detained in Israeli prisons, and an urgent international effort to stop what they describe as a genocide in which “each and every one of us bears responsibility.”

The statement comes amid escalating Israeli aggression. On March 18, Israel resumed its genocide in Gaza after reneging on a ceasefire agreement. Since then, over 3,800 Palestinians have been martyred and nearly 11,000 wounded, according to Gaza’s Ministry of Health.

“We, the writers, have been slow to speak with one voice. Some of us have signed petitions and joined protests. But today, we speak not because the life of a writer is more valuable than others—but because the murder of a writer is a form of censorship and cultural erasure,” the letter reads.

The authors stressed that the writers of Gaza serve as the living memory of a people, offering the world testimony, history, and humanization in the face of mass dehumanization.

“When a poet is killed, an archive is destroyed. A testimony is silenced. A memory is lost. Today, words are attacked like bodies. Words are erased, just as the living are erased,” they wrote.

On May 18, the Zionist regime’s occupation army launched a new phase of its campaign, dubbed “Gideon’s Chariots,” aimed at completing the occupation of Gaza, according to statements by Zionist regime’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu—who is currently wanted by the International Criminal Court for war crimes.

Since October 7, 2023, with the US support, Zionist regime has been carrying out what human rights groups and legal experts describe as an ongoing genocide in Gaza. More than 175,000 Palestinians have been martyred or wounded, the vast majority of them women and children, with over 11,000 still missing and hundreds of thousands displaced.