Blogs
This page features blog posts and updates from Peace SOS.
Topics include peacebuilding efforts, humanitarian concerns, and reflections on current events.
All our lives we have been waiting for peace in Gaza
On Thursday 20 September, I was concerned for the safety of Salama and his family in Gaza. Yesterday, NOS news reported that on Wednesday 19 November, Israeli bombings on Gaza killed 25 people, according to the Palestinian authorities. Fortunately, I soon received a...
Summary of the report of the UN Independent International Commission of Inquiry on Ukraine
The Independent International Commission of Inquiry on Ukraine submitted the present report to the 80th session of the UN General Assembly on 27th October 2025. Below you find the summary of this report. The Commission’s latest investigations have established that in...
Stop killing children and civilians in Gaza and around the world
On 29th October, Salama sent me another urgent message. Salama coordinates Peace SOS Gaza. “Unfortunately, there are sounds of explosions and aircraft…” Then I see a photo of a huge cloud of smoke next to their tent. “The bombings affected all areas of the Gaza Strip,...
Allow humanitarian aid into Gaza
Since the ceasefire came into effect, Salama has returned to his home to film what remains of it. His family's house was completely destroyed at the beginning of the war. He and his family also lived in his father's house, but that too was destroyed during the last...
Salama’s family in Gaza happy with ceasefire
The first words Salama sent me this morning, 9 October, were: Good morning and happiness my friend May. Since yesterday I have been trying to congratulate you that the war will stop but the internet connection was very difficult. The ceasefire is expected to take...
We hope that the killing machine in Gaza will be stopped
The Salama family in Gaza, with whom we are in contact, has fled from Gaza City to another part of Gaza. On Sunday, 28 September, Salama wrote to me: Bombing and destruction are widespread in Gaza. More than 90 people lost their lives in 24 hours. Entire families were...
Yesterday felt like doomsday in Gaza
The Salama family, with whom we are in contact in Gaza – and who until recently distributed drinking and shower water to refugees in Gaza – are having a very tough time. They now have to flee to the south of Gaza. To a so-called “humanitarian zone” in Gaza, but as...
The principle of nonviolence remains key even after this Russian attack
On Thursday morning, I read on the Dutch news website NOS that 15 people had been killed in a major air strike on Kyiv, including four children. An EU building had also been hit. My thoughts went out to Yurii Sheliazhenko, my pacifist Ukrainian peace activist friend...
Can you evacuate us from Gaza as soon as possible?
Today I read on the NOS website that Israel wants to occupy Gaza City. A little later, Salama contacted me from Gaza City. “Unfortunately, Israel wants to occupy Gaza City and displace us from it. I am thinking of moving to the south. I contacted my friend there and...
Starving and bombed in a ‘safe’ zone in Gaza
Netherlands and EU: stop genocide now On Tuesday morning, Salama, the husband of the family from Gaza wrote to me: ‘my children are still crying from hunger.’ I thought about that, and how bad that must be. That as parents you want nothing more than for your children...
Make babies and hostages in Gaza a priority
Note: trigger warning related to violence in Gaza Today I read on the Dutch national news broadcaster NOS website that peace negotiations for a cease-fire in Gaza are in danger of failing. Which very sad, because a cease-fire and humanitarian aid for the people of...
SOS message from Gaza
On Tuesday I received this SOS message from Gaza and I hope that all world leaders attending the second day of the NATO summit in The Hague today read it: The current situation in Gaza is very difficult. Food is very scarce, prices are high, and aid distribution has...