PSA STATEMENT
The Palestine Solidarity Alliance (PSA), in conjunction with its partners across the African continent, issues this statement in light of Egypt’s continuing and unlawful failure to fulfill its legal, humanitarian, and moral obligations regarding the worsening genocide in Gaza.
As of 21 April 2025, the genocide against the Palestinian people in Gaza has continued for nearly 570 days. During this time, the humanitarian situation has not improved—rather, it has deteriorated to its most catastrophic state. Entire communities have been decimated. Families have been erased. Gaza’s population is enduring mass displacement, systematic starvation, and indiscriminate bombardment. The scale and gravity of the atrocities have been recognised by global institutions, including the International Court of Justice and the International Criminal Court.
Amidst this devastation, the role of Egypt has become alarmingly clear. The Rafah border crossing—Gaza’s only viable humanitarian lifeline—remains closed due to Egypt’s deliberate inaction and obstruction. Critically wounded civilians, humanitarian convoys, medical personnel, and aid supplies continue to be denied entry and exit.
Egypt’s conduct not only breaches the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights, but constitutes active complicity in the genocide being carried out against the Palestinian people.
This is not a failure of capacity—it is a failure of conscience, law, and duty.
Recent figures provided by UN agencies and medical organisations underline the scale of the atrocity:
- Over 50,950 Palestinians have been killed, with over 116,000 injured. Over 70% of those killed are women and children.
- 1.9 million people—90% of Gaza’s population—are displaced.
- Only 12 of Gaza’s 36 hospitals are even partially functional. Over 1,000 healthcare workers have been killed.
- 91% of the population is experiencing acute food insecurity, with many areas already classified under famine conditions.
- Gaza’s educational, cultural, medical, and civilian infrastructure has been comprehensively destroyed.
- Egypt has blocked or severely restricted the flow of humanitarian aid, including food, water, medicine, and emergency personnel through the Rafah crossing.
This genocide is not only a crime by the hands that drop the bombs, but by those who seal the exits. It is a crisis that demands our immediate, strong, and unwavering attention. Every moment we hesitate is another moment that a child dies preventably, a mother mourns her family, a hospital is reduced to rubble.
EGYPT’S COMPLICITY: A VIOLATION OF INTERNATIONAL AND REGIONAL LAW
Despite being a State Party to the African Charter on Human and Peoples’
Rights, Egypt has not acted to uphold its legal duties. Rather, it has actively
contributed to the suffering in Gaza by maintaining the closure of the Rafah border crossing. Egypt has denied critically injured civilians access to lifesaving medical care, blocked humanitarian convoys, and prevented the passage of essential personnel and rebuilding materials.
This conduct represents clear and egregious violations of:
- Article 4 of the African Charter: The right to life and integrity of the person.• Article 12: The right to freedom of movement and to seek asylum.
- Article 20: The duty of African States to assist oppressed peoples in their liberation struggle.
Moreover, Egypt’s actions are in direct conflict with principles of customary international law, including the Responsibility to Protect (R2P) and the doctrine of non-refoulement, which prohibits returning or trapping civilians in conditions where they face serious threats to life or dignity.
In support of these findings, the International Court of Justice (ICJ) has declared that Israel is “plausibly” committing genocide. The International Criminal Court (ICC) has issued arrest warrants for Israeli leaders for war crimes and crimes against humanity, reinforcing that no individual is above international law. In addition, the
International Union of Muslim Scholars (IUMS) has affirmed that it is a Shar‘ī duty for Muslim governments to intervene — politically, economically, and if necessary militarily — to halt the genocide.
Egypt is also failing to comply with its obligations under the Geneva Conventions of 1949, which have been ratified by every member state of the African Union, including Egypt. These Conventions form the foundation of modern international humanitarian law and impose core duties that are legally binding on all parties.
Relevant provisions include:
- Common Article 1: “The High Contracting Parties undertake to respect and to ensure respect for the present Convention in all circumstances.”
- Article 59 of the Fourth Geneva Convention: “If the whole or part of the population of an occupied territory is inadequately supplied, the Occupying Power shall agree to relief schemes… and shall facilitate them by all the means at its disposal…”
By obstructing humanitarian assistance and failing to ensure respect for the Convention, Egypt is violating both the letter and spirit of international law.
THE SUBMISSION TO THE AFRICAN COMMISSION
The PALESTINE SOLIDARITY ALLIANCE (PSA), alongside regional complainants, CAGE PRISONERS NPC, ZIMBABWE PALESTINE SOLIDARITY COUNCIL, DREAMS DEFENDER ORGANIZATION TANZANIA, KENYA NA PALESTINE and KENYA FOR PALESTINE (K4P), has formally submitted a communication to the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights, seeking urgent relief and the immediate referral of Egypt to the African Court on Human and Peoples’ Rights under Article 58 of the Charter. The aim is to compel Egypt to open the Rafah border and allow the delivery of essential aid, evacuation of the wounded, and entry of humanitarian personnel and supplies.
A CONTINENTAL CALL TO ACTION
In this hour of global moral reckoning, the Palestine Solidarity Alliance calls on religious and cultural leaders, legal professionals, civil society actors, and African Union bodies to take immediate and unified action.
We call on:
- Churches, mosques, synagogues, temples, and all houses of worship;
- Faith-based organisations and interfaith councils;
- Traditional leaders and cultural authorities;
- Legal experts, bar associations, and human rights defenders;
- NGOs, academic institutions, and grassroots movements;
- AU member states and continental institutions; to stand in firm opposition to
Egypt’s complicity and to the broader system of apartheid and genocide being enacted upon the Palestinian people.
We urge you to:
- Speak out boldly and consistently against the genocide and Egypt’s role in enabling it;
- Organise days of prayer, remembrance, protest, and educational engagement; • Issue public declarations and legal statements calling for diplomatic pressure on Egypt to open Rafah;
- Mobilise communities for coordinated solidarity campaigns across Africa;
- Support Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) strategies targeting enablers of genocide;
- Engage regional and international forums to escalate legal, diplomatic and or direct action.
The suffering in Gaza is being live-streamed in real-time.The cries of Gaza are not echoes from a distant past—they are the living voices of a people under siege, pleading for justice. Our faith demands that we do not stand idly by the blood of our neighbours.
The Global South, and Africa in particular, must respond with courage, clarity, and conscience. Our history obliges us. Our laws demand it. Our humanity depends on it.
Let this moment be remembered not for our silence, but for our principled stand. Let the world know that in our churches and mosques, in our temples and townships, in our synagogues and cultural halls, the cries of Gaza are heard — and met with action.
ISSUED BY: Palestine Solidarity Alliance (PSA)
Johannesburg
South Africa
info@palestinesa.co.za
21 April 2025
For comment please contact:
Nadeem Mahomed Attorneys Tel: 082 341 1808 nadeem@mahomedlaw.co.za
/ legal@mahomedlaw.co.za
Stanley L Cohen Tel: +1 (917) 544 5471
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