Justice for Palestine welcomes the New Zealand Government joining 22 other countries and representatives of the European Union in calling for immediate full resumption of independent aid distribution into Gaza.

In a continuation of a series of illegal acts of collective punishment over the past 19 months, Israel imposed a suffocating blockade on humanitarian aid entering the Gaza Strip in March 2025. Food, medicines and essential supplies are exhausted and the population faces intentional mass starvation and famine. This act constitutes an unprecedented form of collective punishment and a stark violation of international humanitarian law.

However, aid is not enough. It is the bare minimum. Justice for Palestine calls on the NZ government to join the governments of Canada, the UK and France in opposing Israel’s renewed military offensive, threatening concrete actions in response, and threatening the imposition of sanctions in response to any further expansion of illegal Israeli settlements in the West Bank. But the threat of “concrete actions” is not enough: Israel has been flouting international law with impunity, and New Zealand must urgently impose sanctions.

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Israel is currently carrying out a genocide in Palestine, and the New Zealand Government has failed to take meaningful action to pressure Israel to comply with international law, despite the people of NZ repeatedly calling for it. We urge the government to act decisively and implement sanctions on the state of Israel without delay. Imposing sanctions would ensure New Zealand adheres to its obligations under international law and lives up to its proud history of doing what is morally right in the face of human rights violations.

The members’ bill Unlawful Occupation of Palestine Sanctions Bill, which mirrors the Russia Sanctions Bill, has already been drafted. We call on the NZ Government to adopt the Bill without delay, so we as a nation can take concrete legislative measures to save Palestinian lives and uphold international legal frameworks that benefit all of humanity.

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