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 they told me that the place is completely crowded with displaced people. I don’t know what to do now. Time goes by and every day it becomes more difficult for us to make decisions.

I was thinking of moving to the central region, but I learned that Netanyahu was planning to launch a military operation there. We are in a great confusion. I don’t know where to go. If they allow us to travel outside Gaza, I will go to save my family. Can you talk to the Dutch Red Cross to work on evacuating us from Gaza??”

Salama goes on to write that there is no place to pitch a tent in southern Gaza. He is also worried about his children.

“My children have become strangely behaving. My son has become more aggressive as a result of the excessive violence. The bombing, destruction and sounds of explosions affect my children in a very negative way.

I have become afraid for their mental health due to the current situation. The sounds of the shelling, the shooting, and the lack of food. All of these factors affect their mental and physical health.”

Salama asks me once again if I can get him and his family out of Gaza soon. Although I would like to, I cannot. However, in this opinion piece, I once again call for an end to this horrific violence and famine in Gaza. UN Human Rights Chief Volker Türk also said in a statement that Israel’s plan for a military takeover of the occupied Gaza Strip must be stopped. Relatives of hostages who are united in Bring Them Home Now are also opposed to the continuation of the war. They fear they will never see their loved ones alive again and call the occupation of Gaza City a death sentence for the hostages.

In the Nederlands Dagblad newspaper, Minister Veldkamp called the occupation of Gaza City a wrong move. However, he does not want to take any new measures. I believe that the Dutch government has hardly taken any measures at all, as several members of the House of Representatives argued yesterday during the committee debate on Gaza. The German government, however, is taking steps. For example, the NOS published a report today that the German government is blocking the export of military goods that can be used in the Gaza Strip until further notice. This is a step that should have been taken much earlier, but it would be good if the Netherlands were to follow suit. During yesterday’s debate, members of the House of Representatives specified further measures that Minister Veldkamp could take. I hope that he will consider these today and act quickly. As far as I am concerned, the Netherlands should make every effort to prevent the genocide in Gaza from getting even worse.

See also the report of the Advisory Committee on Public International Law (CAVV). The Netherlands has a legal obligation to prevent genocide. Every state is obliged to act, even if it does not have the capacity to prevent genocide on its own. According to The Rights Forum, De Volkskrant newspaper reported that international law expert Marieke de Hoon “advises the government to ‘condemn Israel for most likely committing genocide’”. She calls for “measures that can be effective” to be taken. These include “joining South Africa’s genocide case, stopping arms exports to Israel and arms imports from Israel, and imposing sanctions and trade restrictions”.

A ceasefire in Gaza must be achieved as soon as possible. The food that is waiting at the border must be transported inside by UN trucks and trucks from international organisations, and all hostages and Palestinians who are being held arbitrarily must be released. Hopefully, the Dutch government will really commit to this, instead of just paying lip service. As I mentioned earlier, it is outrageous that people in Gaza are starving while truckloads of food and other humanitarian supplies are waiting at the border.

Let us take care of each other and nature. Hopefully, we will soon see: A World Where All Children Can Play.

May-May Meijer

Chairperson, Peace SOS

Photo: Jackson David, Rio de Janeiro/Brazil via Pixabay

Note: This article was published in Dutch under the title: Kun je ons zo gauw mogelijk uit Gaza evacueren on the Joop BNNVARA website on 8 August, 2025.