Tunisia’s People’s Movement party holds hunger strike for Gaza

In Tunisia, the People’s Movement party (El-Tayyar el-Chaabi) announced on August 24th that it would participate in a hunger strike, as an act of support for Palestinians in Gaza who are starving, as the war on the enclave continues, according to The New Arab.

Thee party issued a statement which said: “We activists announce the start of our hunger strike, commencing today [August 24th], for a week at the party’s headquarters in the capital, in solidarity with our people in Gaza – their pain, hunger, and suffering in confronting the enemy.” Roughly 15 members of the party are set to take part.

This comes following the announcement that Gaza had officially entered the stage of famine. On August 25th, the death toll caused by the starvation inflicted by Israel reached 300. The suffering facing Palestinians is a result of Israel’s restriction on humanitarian aid and its wider blockade.

“This struggle is the least we can do so that our people in Gaza do not go hungry and thirsty alone,” the statement said. It also added that it comes “in light of the horrors of the unprecedented crime the people of Gaza are being subjected to, where genocide, siege, and starvation are taking place.”

The party further revealed that their motivations behind the hunger strike was in accordance with their “pan-Arab, national and humanitarian values, and in accordance with what our consciences dictate.” They also highlighted the horrific attacks against children, women, and the elderly. This is amid a collapsed healthcare system in Gaza.

The People’s Movement called on individuals and organisations around the world to “escalate their protests in order to save humanity from Nazism and Zionism.” The hunger strike is not the only action being taken in Tunisia. 

On August 23rd, Tunisian activists organised 3 simultaneous demonstrations across the nation that condemned Israel’s attacks. Several demonstrators were chanting outside of the UN headquarters, while others gathered outside the US embassy. These demonstrators expressed their outrage towards Arab nations, for their “silence amid the war of extermination.”

Similarly, Tunisian activists previously maintained a sit-in outside the US embassy in Tunis, urging for an end to Israel’s attacks on Gaza.

The severity of Israel’s war on Gaza can be seen by the enormous figures, with more than 62,000 Palestinians being killed since October. During this period, more than 157,673 other people have been wounded. This war has been determined as a genocide by Amnesty International.

Aside from these protests to end the suffering in Gaza, other protests in Tunisia include one of the largest rallies seen in months against Tunisian President Kais Saied. On August 21st, several demonstrators protested against Saied for his growing pressure on the Tunisian General Labour Union.

The New Arab, Maghrebi.org