Around 300 writers, including two Nobel laureates, denounce 'genocide' in Gaza

Around 300 French-speaking writers, including two Nobel laureates in literature, Annie Ernaux and Jean-Marie Gustave Le Clezio, have condemned the "genocide" of the population in Gaza in an op-ed published Tuesday, calling for "an immediate cease-fire."

"Just as it was urgent to qualify the crimes committed against civilians on Oct.7, 2023, as war crimes and crimes against humanity, it is necessary today to name the genocide," they write in this op-ed published by the French daily Liberation. "More than ever, we demand that sanctions be imposed on the State of Israel, call for an immediate cease-fire — which ensures safety and justice for Palestinians, the release of Israeli hostages, the release of thousands of Palestinian prisoners arbitrarily detained in Israeli prisons, and which puts an end, without delay, to this genocide," they add.

Among the signatories are recent Goncourt Prize laureates, such as Herve Le Tellier, Jerome Ferrari, Laurent Gaude, Brigitte Giraud, Leila Slimani, Lydie Salvayre, Mohamed Mbougar Sarr, Nicolas Mathieu, and Eric Vuillard.

In response to the unprecedented attack on Oct. 7, 2023, in southern Israel by Hamas commandos infiltrated from the neighboring Gaza Strip, the Israeli army has been conducting an offensive on this besieged, starved, and devastated Palestinian territory for more than 19 months. Since May 17, Israel has intensified its offensive to free the last Israeli hostages, take control of all of Gaza, and annihilate Hamas, in power since 2007.

The term "genocide," strongly refuted by Israel, divides observers of this war. Accusations are multiplying from the U.N., human rights groups, and increasingly numerous countries. This qualification "is not a slogan," the signatories of the op-ed argue, refusing to "display a general and objectless empathy, without qualifying this horror, nor specifying what it is about."

The attack by Hamas on Oct.7, 2023, resulted in the death of 1,218 people on the Israeli side, mostly civilians, according to an AFP count based on official data. Of the 251 people then kidnapped, 57 are still held hostage, including 20 "with certainty" alive, according to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Israeli reprisals have killed over 54,000 people in Gaza, mostly civilians, according to the latest data from Gaza's Health Ministry, considered reliable by the U.N.