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News Petition to end the suffering of children in the Middle East

The petition was initiated by ASH academics Claudia Hruska, Nils Altner and Anja Voss – Signing now possible!

| Claudia Hruska

Since the Hamas attack on October 7, 2023, thousands of children and young people have lost their lives in Israel and Gaza (Israel National Council for the Child, 2023; Unicef, 2025). The armed conflict between the Israeli army and the Palestinian Hamas is turning children and young people into innocent victims who are unable to live a child-friendly life in protection. In addition, the military escalation in Gaza City is causing many children to suffer from hunger; two out of 10 children in Gaza City are acutely malnourished (Deutsches Ärzteblatt, 2025).

In addition, a large number of surviving children have suffered massive injuries and psychological trauma. This has long-term and sometimes irreversible consequences for the children's further development (IPC, 2025; Unicef, 2025).

The ongoing violence caused by the bombing of homes, hospitals and schools not only destroys the current livelihoods of the adult Palestinian civilian population in the Gaza Strip, but also particularly affects the most defenceless of the population - the children. Without their survival, no hope, however small, of a dialog on reconciliation and peace will ever be recorded. This is contrary to the international conventions on children's rights (UN CRC)[1]which 195 countries have ratified, including Germany and Israel.

As representatives of childhood education, social work and the health, therapy and nursing sciences in education, practice and science, we condemn any harm or killing of children - regardless of origin, religion or nationality.

We advocate the consistent and unconditional implementation of international children's rights in areas of armed conflict.[2] currently especially in Gaza.

We appeal to the Federal Government,

that Germany complies with the obligations entered into by signing the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child and actively promotes the implementation of the following children's rights:

  1. Every child has a right to life and survival (UN Convention on the Rights of the Child Art. 6) and all 195 states are obliged to ensure the survival and development of children with the greatest possible commitment. In war zones such as Gaza, this includes the special protection of children who are threatened by bombing, blockades of essential supplies such as food, or targeted attacks on civilian infrastructure (schools, homes, hospitals and other social facilities such as playgrounds).
  2. Right to protection from violence, ill-treatment, torture and exploitation (UN CRC Art. 19, 37): Children in Gaza are currently experiencing systematic violence, such as the loss of relatives, attacks on their physical and mental integrity, medical care, starvation and even the lack of protection and escape options. This usually leads to deepening fears and traumatization of the affected children. In addition, the medical and mental health care system has largely collapsed. The material infrastructure, including social, medical and educational facilities, can no longer offer reliable protection.
  3. Children have the right to health and medical care (UN CRC Art. 24), food, drinking water and sanitary facilities. The destruction of clinics, lack of medicines and targeted blockades of relief supplies fundamentally violate this right with serious, often irreversible consequences for children's ability to survive and their further development.
  4. Children have a right to education and development (UN CRC Art. 28, 29), which is geared towards the "development of the personality, respect for human rights and peaceful coexistence". Due to the destruction of educational institutions such as schools, there is a lack of safe places of learning. Places of education are areas of social life that enable the acquisition of knowledge and skills. Preventing education makes it impossible for children to actively shape their future on a personal, communal and cultural level.
  5. Play, recreation and child-friendly development are just as important as children's cultural participation (UN CRC Art. 31). Play and recreation also offer opportunities to process traumatic events. In war zones with uncertain military conflicts and a lack of basic services and without security, social infrastructure and emotional stability, children's regulatory and developmental needs are completely disregarded.
  6. In international humanitarian law, children are considered particularly vulnerable and in need of protection. They require special protection from armed conflict (UN CRC Art. 38 and Geneva Convention IV). Protection of Civilians in Time of War, Additional Protocol I: Protection of Victims of International Armed Conflicts. Reports on the use of children as human shields by armed groups and attacks on civilian facilities contradict international agreements. The massive intermingling of civilian and military locations, such as attacks on schools and the accommodation of aid organizations or the destruction of escape routes, disregards this special right to protection of children.

We call on the Federal Government to

not only to remain "deeply concerned about the continuing suffering of the civilian population in the Gaza Strip" (BPA press release 178, statement by Chancellor Merz on developments in the Gaza Strip, BPA), but to follow up with consequences that are in line with the European consensus and the international response to the atrocities of warfare in the Gaza Strip, which, in view of the thousands of children killed in the Gaza Strip, does not stop at the mass extermination of young and very young adolescents, to de-legitimize the military doctrine of the Israeli government in all its severity and to resolutely counter its continued implementation through consistent measures of diplomatic influence, international sanctions and humanitarian aid.

Specifically, we demand

  • Germany's political leadership to actively advocate for an immediate end to the famine and
  • for the immediate guarantee of the protection of life and limb of children and
  • provide access to medical and psychosocial assistance, such as trauma education and therapy, in order to mitigate the psychological damage,
  • the fastest possible implementation of educational services - regardless of origin, religion or political context,
  • humanitarian aid that brings a rapid easing of the current situation and no undignified dropping of food and other relief supplies that bring more suffering as well as relief. We ask for a deeply humane approach to the children.

We take an explicit stance against voices that justify violence in any direction, including anti-Semitism and other forms of racism, including in Germany.

We expressly advocate the position of non-violence and a willingness to engage in dialog in order to create safe spaces for relationships.

We call for, and reiterate, support for dialogical processes between Israel and Palestine and the highest possible diplomatic efforts to achieve solutions in the territories and opportunities to protect children and young people.

 

The “Petition to end the suffering of children in the Middle East” can be signed here. 

 

References

[1] Both Germany and Israel have committed themselves under international law to respecting, protecting and implementing the children's rights set out in the Convention. Germany signed the UNCRC on January 26, 1990, ratified it on March 6, 1992 and it entered into force on April 5, 1992. On July 15, 2010, the exceptions relating to asylum and aliens law were also completely abolished. Israel signed the UN CRC on July 3, 1990, ratified it on August 4, 1991 and it entered into force on November 2, 1991.

[2] We would also like to draw attention to the fact that there are other areas of hunger and war in the world. The regions in East Africa with Sudan, Somalia and Ethiopia as well as on the Arabian Peninsula of Yemen should be emphasized (see GHI Hunger Atlas).

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