The University of Trieste wishes to align itself with the position of CoPER – the Council of Presidents of Public Research Bodies – which in a statement ‘shares the feelings of horror, pain, indignation and anguish at the dramatic humanitarian crisis that the Palestinian population is suffering as a result of the military actions undertaken by the Israeli Government in the Gaza Strip. The brutal terrorist attack carried out by Hamas on 7th October 2023 cannot in any way justify what is being inflicted on Palestinian civilians, victims of continuous attacks, bombings and famine.

It condemns the actions that have caused, and continue to cause, thousands of civilian casualties, including a very high number of children. It also condemns the obstacles to the delivery of aid, in clear violation of international humanitarian law, and the destruction of essential civilian infrastructure. A tragedy for which the International Court of Justice has declared the risk of violation of the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide – a position confirmed by a special United Nations commission which concluded that Israel’s war practices in Gaza ‘bear the characteristic elements of genocide’.

In these dramatic days, UniTS also recalls that its actions are inspired by respect for constitutional principles, with specific reference to Article 11 of the Italian Constitution, which states that ‘Italy repudiates war as an instrument of aggression against the freedom of other peoples and as a means of resolving international disputes’; and Article 33, which affirms that ‘the arts and sciences are free, and free is their teaching’, thereby forcefully asserting the value of freedom of research; as well as to the values enshrined in its Statute and in its Code of Ethics.

The UniTS community shares and makes its own the concern and distress of the entire italian academic community regarding all the wars currently underway in the world, with particular reference to the crisis in Gaza, expressing its sorrow for the immense suffering inflicted on the civilian populations involved.