Pan-African activists, South African trade unionists and Muslim advocacy groups have called on Nigeria and the African Union to intensify diplomatic pressure and humanitarian support for Palestinians, warning that continued silence would amount to complicity in what they described as grave human rights violations in the occupied territories.
The call was made on Saturday, December 20, during a media engagement in Lagos organised by the Muslim Public Affairs Centre (MPAC) in collaboration with the Pan-African Palestine Solidarity Network (PAPSN) and South Africa’s Healthcare Workers 4 Palestine.
The press conference brought together civil rights organisations from across Africa and featured a South African delegation led by human rights activist Dr Fatima Hendricks, a crew member of the Global Sumud Flotilla. Dr Hendricks was recently recognised by Muslim News Nigeria as its Global Advocate for Peace and Justice of the Year 2024/2025.
Speaking under the theme “Reclaiming Justice in the Palestinian Narrative,” MPAC’s Executive Chairman, Mallam Disu Kamor, said the engagement was necessary to confront what he described as persistent misrepresentation of the Palestinian struggle.
“Truth, when persistently misrepresented, must be deliberately restated,” Kamor said, arguing that the issue was not a lack of evidence but “systematic erasure.” He said occupation had been reframed as “conflict,” collective punishment labelled “self-defence,” and genocide dismissed as “complexity.”
“Injustice does not become lawful because it is prolonged or because it has powerful backers,” he added. “Crimes do not disappear because they are repeated.”
Kamor said reclaiming justice meant insisting on accuracy over convenience, law over propaganda and humanity over geopolitics.
Addressing the state of healthcare in Gaza, Kamor, speaking on behalf of the coalition, condemned what he described as Israel’s persistent targeting of hospitals, clinics and educational institutions, calling the attacks war crimes aimed at crippling Palestine’s healthcare system.
He said Israel had continued to violate a ceasefire agreement that came into effect more than two months ago, with more than 400 people killed and over 1,060 injured since then. According to figures cited at the briefing, total casualties since October 2023 have exceeded 70,000 deaths.
Kamor said the destruction of medical training institutions threatened the future of Palestinian healthcare by halting the training of new professionals. He cited the torture and killing of Dr Adnan Bursh, an orthopaedic surgeon at Al-Shifa Hospital whose body is still being withheld, the detention of Dr Hussam Abu Safiya, and the destruction of a fertility clinic in Gaza that led to the loss of thousands of embryos.
He urged Nigeria not to see Gaza as a distant tragedy but as a familiar warning, pointing to the country’s own experience with prolonged insecurity.
“Nigeria understands the anatomy of prolonged violence,” he said, noting the long-term effects of collapsed healthcare systems, mass displacement and trauma passed across generations.
Kamor said Nigeria’s experience made its voice critical in global discussions on justice and human rights, adding that silence from those in power only deepens injustice.
He called on the Nigerian government and the African Union to strengthen diplomatic engagement with Palestine, support relevant United Nations resolutions, pressure Israel to lift the blockade on Gaza and increase humanitarian assistance. He also urged African leaders to support global movements advocating justice and freedom for Palestinians.
“We stand in solidarity with the Palestinian people and call on African leaders to act decisively for a just and lasting peace that guarantees freedom, independence and human rights for all Palestinians,” he said.
Dr Hendricks also condemned what she described as the deliberate targeting of healthcare infrastructure in Gaza, calling it a grave violation of international humanitarian law.
She said the destruction of medical training institutions was a strategic attempt to dismantle the future of Palestinian healthcare. “This is not only a war on Gaza’s present but an attempt to destroy its future,” she said.
“As healthcare workers, we are trained to recognise patterns of harm, and the pattern unfolding in Gaza is neither accidental nor defensible,” Hendricks added, citing repeated bombardment of hospitals, destruction of ambulances and the killing of healthcare workers.
