Churches call for Gaza ceasefire

Around 140 Christian leaders have signed a letter addressed to US President Joe Biden calling for a permanent ceasefire in Gaza and an end to foreign military support for the Israeli occupation.

“As Christians around the world prepare to commemorate the final suffering in the earthly life of Jesus Christ during Holy Week, we stand in solidarity with all in the Holy Land who suffer,” began the letter.

The nonprofit Churches for Middle East Peace, a group of over 30 national church communions and organisations comprising Orthodox, Roman Catholic and Protestant churches founded in 1984, organised the statement.

Those involved span the Roman Catholic, Lutheran, Mennonite, Quaker and Evangelical backgrounds.

The signatories include Roman Catholic Cardinal Alvaro Ramazzini of Guatemala, Evangelical Lutheran Church in America Presiding Bishop Elizabeth A. Eaton, Episcopal Church Presiding Bishop Michael B. Curry, United Church of Christ President Karen Georgia Thompson, progressive Evangelical activist Shane Claiborne, Sojourners President Adam Taylor and longtime progressive Evangelical activist Jim Wallis.

Writing that “the global church — and world — cannot be silent as people continue to die in Gaza,” the leaders also express repentance of “the ways we have not stood alongside our Palestinian siblings in faithful witness in the midst of their grief, agony, and sorrow”.

Part of the letter reads: “World leaders have responded with empty rhetoric and political volleying about addressing the ‘humanitarian crisis’ in Gaza while ignoring the direct causes of the catastrophe.

The letter later demands: “We say, ‘Enough killing!’ and collectively call for an extensive and lasting ceasefire.”

This letter follows Justin Welby’s “moral cry” in February 2023 for an Israel-Hamas ceasefire, where he stated, “The killing must stop.”

Since his appeal, others, including Rabbi Elliot Kukla of Rabbis for Ceasefire, have echoed the call for peace. Kukla saw advocating for a ceasefire as a tribute to her father, who tragically lost his life in the Jewish Holocaust during World War Two.

(Agencies; Picture Courtesy: Alamy)