A popular, international and spontaneous movement that arises from an uncomfortable but inevitable question: “When future generations will ask us what we did in front of the genocide of Gaza, what will we reply?” This is the engine that gave birth to “March to Gaza”, an initiative born in France and who – in a few days – began to take hold in Italy and in many other countries of the world. The declared aim is to go to Egypt and move en masse to the Rafah pass, with one goal: “Open the border, let humanitarian aid enter and demand the end of the siege”.

A march towards Palestine

The idea is powerful in its simplicity: a march of ordinary citizens towards Palestine, a symbolic act of resistance and solidarity to stop – in the deafening silence of diplomacy – the massacre of the Gazawi people. A way to fill the void left by the inertia of the governments, in the face of the humanitarian tragedy that is consumed every day in the Gaza Strip, where the Israeli bombings caused, according to estimates, over 52,000 deaths; Of these, 18,000 are children and 12,400 women, two categories that alone represent 65% of the victims. And the numbers are underestimated.

Hunger is added to death under the bombs. From 2 March, Israel has blocked the entry of humanitarian aid, causing a mass caresty: the world food program (WFP) recorded a surge of 1,400% of the price of food (the few left), while the UN has reported about 10,000 cases of acute malnutrition among the children, of which 1,600 in serious form. The population is at the end: there are no food, medicines, water, fuel and electricity to make the hospitals work, as well as simple materials to shelter.

An uninhabitable land

Faced with this hell wanted by the far -right government led by Benjamin Netanyahu, on whose head a international setback for war crimes hangs, “March to Gaza” wants to be a concrete, visible, collective response, also a response to the complicity of the United States and Europe, who continue to sell weapons and do business with the state of Israel, whose explicit intent is now to make the north of Gaza a land of Gaza. Uninhabitable (to then take possession of it), forcing the population to move not to die of hunger.

The initiative of the march was born Oltralpe, with an open letter addressed to the French embassies of Egypt and Israel, by a group of pro-Pal activists. Reads the letter:

To the attention of the diplomatic authorities of the Arab Republic of Egypt and the state of Israel
And to all those who act – or who should act.
We, French citizens and citizens of the world, women and free men, coming from multiple countries, religions, languages ​​and cultures, we write to you to announce that the people get up.
In the face of the governments, in the face of the unsustainable suffering of the Palestinian people, in the face of the inhuman block imposed in Gaza, thousands of people, everywhere in the world, organize themselves for an unprecedented march.
A march towards Gaza.
We march for life. We march for dignity.
We will mark up to the Rafah pass, with a single goal: to open the border, let humanitarian aid enter and demand the end of the siege.
This movement, initially symbolic, becomes concrete. City delegations are being organized in various countries. Indoor groups are preparing to reach Rafah’s Egyptian border in the coming weeks. If you don’t react, we will arrive.
And if we have to go further, we will go to the West Bank, up to the lands where illegal colonization extends every day.
We will not bring weapons: we will bring our voices. But be sure that we will not stop.
We don’t want war. We want peace.
But since our managers do not make their duty, we, the people, will take our responsibilities.
We hope that this mobilization will arouse a jolt of consciousness.
We hope you listen to this appeal and choose not to hinder the will of free peoples.
This letter is addressed to you, but will also be widespread on social networks, in the press, in all possible languages.
The story is written now, and we want to be on the right side.
Open the border.
Liberate Gaza.
Peace is still possible.

The towns and citizens of the Collective March to Gaza

We talked to the Italian spokesman for the movement, Roberta Clemente, Apulian of Trani, with a past from military in the Italian army from 2011 to 2015. Currently he deals with online communication, managing social channels, in particular the Telegram group – which has already exceeded 2,600 members – and profiles on Tiktok and Instagram. “The adhesions are increasing visibly,” he says. “Soon a group of experts will also support me to better coordinate the organizational and communicative part”.

March to Gaza

Clemente is keen to clarify that “March to Gaza” is a movement born from below, without party bonds or religious affiliations. “We are common citizens, we do not represent any party. However, the initiative will also be presented in the coming weeks in Rome, with the support of the deputy of the 5 Star Movement Stefania Ascari, who has long been close to the Palestinian cause,” he explains.

As for the date of the march, there is still a question mark: “The French organizers speak of the beginning of June, but the times are very close and, in my opinion, we will hardly be able to be ready for then”, admits Clemente. “First of all, you have to deal with the institutional part: send communications to the embassies, request authorizations for transit, coordinate logistics”.

The Italian movement has been born for just a week and is still being structured. “On Monday I will have an important meeting with the French group, from there I will be able to provide more precise indications on the organization of the march,” says Clemente. Meanwhile, the contacts multiply: “Here in Italy I compare myself daily with Romana Rubeo, a journalist of Palestine Chronicle, and I carefully follow the evolution of the activities. Among the people involved there are also other journalists, photojournalists and activists who have already worked in the occupied territories, even if for the moment I prefer not to make names”.

From Europe to North Africa, from South America to the United States, the map of adhesions is wide and constantly updated: “Groups were also born in Germany, England, Ireland, throughout the Maghreb, in Chile, Argentina, Mexico and the USA, where the pro-Palestinian movement is very strong and rooted”. And what happens, if the Al-Sisi dictatorship will block the march? “The movement will remain in life, as a pressure tool towards governments”. We hope, as we read in the letter addressed to the French ambassadors of Egypt and Israel, that this mobilization really arouses a jolt of consciousness. Because Gaza is dying under the bombs, because Gaza is starving.