10 calls to action: Free the hostages, ceasefire, and a path to peace

1. We call for the immediate and unconditional release of the hostages held by Hamas. This is a standalone imperative under international law and a humanitarian, moral, legal, and international responsibility of the first order. We urge the international community to impose political and economic pressure on Hamas and its allies – including Qatar, Iran, and South Africa – to secure the imminent release of the hostages.
2. We call for the enhancement of humanitarian aid to Gazans. Israel and the international community must work together to ensure the protected delivery and distribution of humanitarian aid to Gazan civilians. Crucially, Hamas must be prevented from hijacking and pillaging the aid – otherwise it will not reach the intended civilian population, and Hamas will simply use it to fund its war efforts, prolonging the conflict to the detriment of Palestinians and Israelis alike.
3. We call on the international community to ensure that Hamas is disarmed and that it plays no future role in the governance of Gaza. There is no prospect for a lasting peace if Hamas is able to maintain its tyrannical rule over Gaza. Its terrorist infrastructure – which is embedded in hospitals, schools, mosques, UNWRA offices, and homes throughout Gaza – must be totally dismantled.
4. We call for – in conjunction with the disarmament and dismantling of Hamas and release of the hostages – a ceasefire and cessation of all hostilities. It is crucial that the peace is a lasting and sustainable one – we cannot simply return to an October 6^th This requires new leadership in Gaza that is not dedicated to the destruction of Israel and genocide of its inhabitants. It will also require commitment by Israelis to developing peaceful relations with the people of Gaza, and a rejection of the radical views expressed by certain extremist members of the Israeli government. The international community must dedicate its energy towards enabling and facilitating local, regional, and global conditions that will create a pathway towards a peaceful two state solution – characterized by two democratic states for two peoples. The Palestinian people have a right for their self-determination to find expression in a democratic, rights-protecting, rule-of-law state. The Middle East does not need another terrorist authoritarian state – so we call for giving the Palestinian people moral and legal agency, and call on global democracies to work with them to develop their democracy.
5. In order to hasten the dismantlement of Hamas and cessation of hostilities, we call on the international community to actively support the Palestinian civilians who are bravely resisting Hamas and protesting against it. This is how the world can be truly pro-Palestinian, and will help bring an end to the conflict and the suffering of innocent Palestinians.
6. We call for the international community to hold Hamas and its allies accountable for the unspeakable mass atrocities it perpetrated on October 7^th. These included crimes against humanity, war crimes, and acts constitutive of genocide – including the mass murder of civilians, the widespread use of rape and sexual violence, torture, maiming, the abduction of hostages, and the targeting and weaponizing of families – the crime of kinocide. We call on the international community to recognize the crime of kinocide – it is not the first time that the crime has been committed, but it is the first time that those perpetrating it celebrated and glorified it as Hamas did on October 7^th.
7. We call on the international community to hold Hamas accountable for its standing incitement to genocide. Hamas is not just a terrorist organization – it is an antisemitic, genocidal terrorist organization – not because we say so, but because Hamas has affirmed it in its founding Charter of 1988 and consistently since. Worst of all, Hamas has repeatedly proclaimed that it will commit October 7th again, and again, and again, until Israel is annihilated. Incitement to genocide is a standalone crime under the genocide convention. Hamas has never been held accountable for this crime – this culture of impunity helped precipitate October 7th, and has continued to enable Hamas’ tyrannical rule in Gaza.
8. We call on the international community to actively support regional peacebuilding efforts. This should involve the enhancement and expansion of the Abraham Accords – leading to more countries in the region recognizing Israel’s existence, normalizing relations with it, and the development of bilateral and multilateral economic, political, and cultural ties. Key countries that show promise for joining the Abraham Accords include Saudi Arabia, Syria, and others. Notably, Hamas launched the heinous October 7^th attack in part to scuttle Saudi Arabia potentially joining the Abraham Accords – we must be clear-eyed about who in the region is pushing for peace and who seeks only more death and destruction.
9. We call on the international community to combat the regional and global threat posed by the Islamic Republic of Iran and its terrorist proxies. These proxies include the Houthis, Hezbollah, Hamas, and Shiite militants in Iraq. Iran and its proxies are the largest threat to peace and security in the Middle East, and the Iranian regime is the primary state sponsor of terrorism worldwide. The global nature of Iran’s threat is further demonstrated by its significant and material support for Russia’s illegal war of aggression in Ukraine, including through the supply of deadly suicide drones. At the same time, Iran engages in horrific domestic repression – executing, torturing, wrongfully imprisoning, and otherwise repressing its own people.
10. We call on the international community to take action against rising hatred, division, and incitement in their own countries with respect to the conflict in the Middle East – especially the exponential and deadly rise in antisemitism. Hateful, inflammatory, and dehumanizing rhetoric serves only to expand the conflict and make peacebuilding more challenging. Antisemitism in particular is rising precipitously, and as the recent cold-blooded murders of two individuals outside a Jewish event in Washington, DC clearly demonstrates, the path from hateful rhetoric to violent action is swift and direct. Governments must act firmly to stamp out rising hatred and hostility, and must themselves ensure they do not propagate inflammatory, delegitimizing, and dehumanizing falsehoods.

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Irwin Cotler is the international chair of the Raoul Wallenberg Centre for Human Rights, a former minister of justice and attorney general of Canada, and has been involved in Israeli-Arab peace-building for almost 50 years.

Noah Lew is special advisor to Irwin Cotler and a director of the Raoul Wallenberg Centre for Human Rights.