A Call from the Workers of Gaza to Labor Unions Around the World:
A Cry in the Face of Starvation and Genocide
To all free workers everywhere,
To our comrades in trade unions and labor federations around the world,
We bring to you the statement of the workers of Gaza, issued by the Palestine General Federation of Trade Unions, addressed to the workers and unions of the world—this final appeal they have named “A Cry Before Death.” It reaches us from the midst of hunger and siege, from beneath the rubble of factories and homes, and from the heart of a continuing war of extermination that has gone on for nearly 22 months alongside a systematic policy of mass starvation executed by “Israel” with direct support from the United States and its European partners.
The statement reads: “The Israeli war has destroyed 80% of Gaza’s homes, all of its factories, workshops, and sources of livelihood, and most of its farmland has been bulldozed.”
Indeed, the lives of workers, fishermen, farmers, and all productive social sectors in the besieged Strip have been turned into a living hell. Their families are now without shelter and without income. There is no food and no medicine. One worker says: “We are besieged by American and European weapons, choked by hunger, neglect, and silence — all in an attempt to destroy our lives, to break our resilience, and to crush the will of resistance in our people.”
We address you today once again, not merely as victims, but as the workers of Palestine: an integral part of the popular and working classes of this world, struggling for justice, liberation, and dignity. And we call upon you to:
Break the silence and complicity, raise your voices within your unions and federations, and denounce the policies of starvation, siege, and massacre in Gaza.
Pressure your governments to end arms deals and military cooperation with the occupation, and to impose sanctions on the Zionist settler-colonial and apartheid regime.
Boycott companies that support the occupation, and withdraw union investments from any company, institution, or entity involved in funding or profiting from the war.
Organize days of rage and global solidarity in factories and workshops, in ports and airports, in the streets and public squares, in support of Palestine and its brave people.
We especially appeal to the unions of seafarers and port workers, urging them to refuse to load or unload “Israeli” ships or those bound for Zionist ports, and to halt any form of maritime or commercial cooperation with the tools of war and siege. Your strong hands and awakened consciences are capable of halting the machinery of extermination and stopping the shipments of death sent to Palestine. Show all humanity the power of the struggling working class when it rises united in defense of justice and human values.
From here, we proudly and gratefully salute our comrades, the port workers in Greece, for their principled and courageous stance, and their leading role in boycotting “Israeli” ships and rejecting complicity in war crimes. We also salute the labor unions in Norway, Spain, France, Canada, and elsewhere for their pioneering role in impactful solidarity with our people through the boycott of occupation institutions. We call upon all labor unions around the world to cut ties with the so-called “Histadrut”, the Zionist organization that claims to belong to the working class while participating in the siege of Palestinian workers, justifying the genocide in Gaza, and serving as an integral part of the Israeli occupation apparatus.
Comrades,
What is being carried out today in Gaza is a crime of mass starvation in full view of the world: its aim is to displace us and expel us from our land. This is not only a war of physical extermination; it is a series of crimes that surpass everything committed by Nazism and fascism in Europe. It is carried out with the aim of subjugating us by destroying the very conditions of life and human dignity. Yet the popular working classes and their free unions around the world possess a legacy of history, strength, and courage sufficient to defeat these criminal policies — if they unite their ranks and raise their voice in confrontation with colonialism, Zionism, and the savagery of capitalism.
We promise you:
We will rebuild the universities, schools, institutions, and factories of Gaza again, as we have always done after every American-Zionist war of destruction. And we will continue our steadfastness, no matter how great the hardships and challenges.
Let us turn anger into action, and solidarity into a concrete stance.
Let us break the policy of starvation and raise the banner of labor struggle for justice—For a free Palestine, from the river to the sea.
The Palestinian Alternative Revolutionary Path Movement (Masar Badil)
23 July 2025
(Text of the statement from the Palestine General Federation of Trade Unions – Gaza)
The Workers’ Cry Before Death
A cry we raise to speak to the consciences and dignity of our comrades in the unions, to call for mobilization in support of children who cannot find milk or a morsel of bread, for mothers whose breasts have dried up, for patients waiting to die of hunger, for elders who fear dying of hunger, and for workers who can find neither work nor bread.
Our free comrades, For 22 months, the occupation has carried out the killing of civilians and the destruction of homes—destroying 80% of Gaza’s houses, all of its factories, bulldozing most of its agricultural lands, and closing off most sources of livelihood.
Honorable colleagues, We think well of you, so roll up your sleeves to break the siege on Gaza. We await from you a human and moral role to save Gaza from a blockade in which the criminal occupation has sealed every window for the entry of food, medicine, and water to its people.
Our union comrades, We await your role in delivering the cry of the children and workers of Gaza to decision-makers and to the streets. You are the most worthy of carrying this responsibility—so be our support, move the streets, and stop the arms deals that are killing children, women, and workers. Mobilize the sympathizers and supporters to break the siege on Gaza, and deliver your free voice to the decision-makers.
There is no excuse for those who abandon Gaza and its people, or who abandon the workers.
Gaza will remain a witness to those who stood with the cry for humanity and the cry for freedom, and it will remain a symbol for the free people of the world.
