Global campaign calls for immediate, permanent ceasefire in Gaza
A global campaign has been launched to turn the traditional New Year’s countdown into a countdown to immediate and permanent ceasefire in Gaza as Israel’s killing campaign against the besieged territory in entering its fourth month.
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Countdown2Ceasefire, as the campaign has been named, started out in London two weeks ago by a group of young activists who came together through social media, but has rapidly spread to many countries around the world by Sunday.
As the death toll keeps mounting in Gaza due to Israel's relentless attacks, campaigners aim to change the traditional New Year's countdown into an influential and resounding countdown for a permanent ceasefire in Gaza.
To do this, local countdown events have been arranged across the world, from Southeast Asia to Latin America with Countdown2Ceasefire campaign planning to livestream the events across multiple social media platforms.
According to its organizers, the campaign has been embraced by over 40 countries to stop the brutal killing of civilians and save the lives of the Palestinian people in the besieged Gaza Strip, the occupied West Bank, and the 1948 occupied territories.
The campaign urges people across the globe to carry banners and ask for a permanent ceasefire in Gaza while joining the New Year's celebrations in their cities, and shout "CEASEFIRE NOW" as the countdown to the New Year takes place.
The participants in the campaign were also asked to livestream the countdown in their locations and share the campaign’s social media accounts in their networks.
"New Year’s Eve is a moment of celebration worldwide and an opportunity to create resolutions for a brighter future.... [and] our only New Year’s resolution is to call for a permanent ceasefire” in Gaza, Countdown2Ceasefire said in a statement earlier this week.
The Israeli regime launched its genocidal war on October 7 following an operation by Gaza's resistance movements, dubbed Operation al-Aqsa Storm. Close to 22,000 people, most of them women and children, have been killed in the regime's military campaign so far.
"A permanent ceasefire is the first step in ending the current deplorable situation and a tangible move towards a future where traumatized communities can rebuild and recover," Bushra Mohammad, a campaign spokesperson, said on Saturday.
Countdown2Ceasefire also presses for an end to Israeli aggression in the West Bank as the occupied territory witnesses a rise in Israeli bloodletting since the onset of the regime's war on the Gaza Strip.
