Calling for a ceasefire in Gaza

In late 2023, Oxfam asked di:ga to mobilise influential military and foreign policy experts to help build pressure for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza.

We developed a list of military and diplomatic leaders who might support a ceasefire, and emailed and set up calls with them to understand what they would be willing to say publicly. We then drafted an open letter to the UK Foreign Secretary warning the UK’s rejection of an immediate ceasefire was “strategically ill-advised and morally indefensible”. We secured support from 16 experts to sign the letter including a former Chief of the British Armed Forces, a former Director at the Ministry of Defence and six former British Ambassadors.

We pitched the letter to the media, securing coverage on BBC News Online, BBC News TV, Radio 4, Radio 5, BBC World Service, POLITICO, The Guardian, LBC and more. The letter was mentioned twice during an urgent debate in the UK House of Commons, and shared on X by at least seven politicians as well as influential journalists including Robert Peston.