Save the Children has joined more than 30 other NGOs, community organisations, and church groups calling on the New
Zealand Government to grant emergency humanitarian visas to Palestinians in Gaza who have family members in Aotearoa New
Zealand.
The group has this week sent an open letter addressed to PM Christopher Luxon, Minister of Immigration Erica Stanford,
and Minister of Foreign Affairs Winston Peters stating the situation is urgent, with more than 1.7 million people
displaced and facing a rapidly worsening humanitarian crisis in Gaza.
"With no ceasefire in sight, children and families in Gaza are desperate," says Save the Children New Zealand Advocacy
Director Jacqui Southey.
"Five months of violence, displacement, starvation and disease have caused relentless mental harm to children in Gaza,
with parents and caregivers telling us that imagining a future without war has virtually disappeared.
"An emergency humanitarian visa would provide a lifeline to these families - and a tangible way that New Zealand can
help at least some children and families trapped in the violence. Alongside our partners, we are urging the New Zealand
Government to grant these visas just as they have done for Ukrainian and Afghan families in the past."
More than 30,717 people, including 12,550 children, have been killed since Israel’s military escalation in Gaza that
started on 7 October- in retaliation to attacks on Israel killing 1200 people, including 33 children and taking more
than 240 hostages, according to the Government of Israel.
Lack of food and clean water is also creating a catastrophic hunger crisis, children are now dying from starvation and
nearly every child in Gaza at risk of famine.
The open letter follows the calls from our Palestinian community in New Zealand for these visas, and lists the
devastating human toll of the situation in Gaza, as well as the severe and rapidly deteriorating humanitarian crisis, as
reasons for the Government to facilitate the evacuation of these family members immediately.
The open letter highlights New Zealand’s humanitarian response to Ukrainian and Afghan families as a precedent for
creating resettlement pathways for Palestinian families in Gaza, and calls for diplomatic assistance to facilitate their
evacuation as well as robust resettlement support once in New Zealand.
The open letter is supported by:Palestinian Youth AotearoaJustice for PalestinePalestine Solidarity Network AotearoaWorld Vision NZAmnesty International Aotearoa New ZealandTearFund NZSave the Children NZGreenpeace AotearoaChristian World ServiceActionStationHOST International Aotearoa New ZealandThe Refugee AllianceChangeMakers Resettlement ForumJustCommunityAsylum Seeker Support TrustSakinah Community TrustSh’ma Koleinu | Alternative Jewish VoicesAotearoa Christians for Peace in PalestineSudanese Society in New ZealandUNESCO Chair on Dance and Social Inclusion, University of AucklandWaikato Arab Social ClubNew Zealand Arab AssociationUnionAIDMigrant Action TrustMahi Mihinare | Anglican ActionAnglican AdvocacyCommon Grace AotearoaCaritas Aotearoa New ZealandDayenu: New Zealand Jews Against OccupationEnglish Language Partners NZCentre for Asia Pacific Refugee Studies, University of AucklandNational Tertiary Network to Support Refugee Background StudentsTe Ao o Rongomaraeroa | National Centre for Peace and Conflict Studies, University of OtagoKā Rakahau o Te Ao Tūroa | Centre for Sustainability, University of Otago
Save the Children is calling for an immediate, definitive ceasefire to save and protect the lives of children in Gaza
and effective implementation of the provisional measures from the ICJ, and has called on the Government of Israel to
allow the unfettered flow of aid and the resumption of entry of commercial goods into Gaza to prevent children from
dying of starvation and disease.
Save the Children is also calling for all donor governments and the rest of the international community to resume and
scale up funding for the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) on which the aid response in Gaza depends as
quickly as possible.