Statements by religious leaders in the Holy Land, regarding the 2023 war between Israel and Hamas

In this post I will try to collect signficant statements by local religious leaders regarding the current ongoing war between the Israeli military and Hamas, in Gaza. 

Despite an initial search, I have not found public written statements by Jewish or Muslim leaders. I searched specifically for statements by the two chief rabbis of Israel, and by the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem, but to no avail. If I find them later, I will add them. 

Highlights in the statements are my own.

Português: Neste post tentarei reunir as declarações dos principais líderes religiosos da região, sobre a actual guerra entre as Forças Armadas de Israel e o Hamas, em Gaza. 

Apesar dos meus esforços, ainda não consegui encontrar declarações públicas de líderes muçulmanos e judeus. Procurei especificamente dos dois Rabinos-mor de Israel e do Grão-Mufti de Jerusalém, mas sem sucesso. Se os encontrar adicioná-los-ei. 

Os realces nos textos - que estão todos em inglês - são da minha responsabilidade.

Gaza is “truly horrible and really getting worse”

Full transcript of interview with Matthew McGarry, head of Catholic Relief Services in Palestine, on the situation in Gaza. News item (in Portuguese), can be found here.

Transcrição completa da entrevista a Matthew McGarry, responsável da Catholic Relief Services na Palestina, sobre a situação em Gaza. Pode ler a reportagem aqui.

How often are you in contact with your team in Gaza?

It depends on power, the power situation has been quite bad the last few days, but generally I am able to touch base 2 or 3 times a day, via phone call or SMS.

How would you describe the situation in Gaza at the moment?

It’s truly horrible and really getting worse. Gaza is a difficult place in what passes for normal circumstances, but with the escalation over the last three weeks, with the damage to the power plant, the sheer number of people displaced, its truly becoming completely unsustainable, potentially catastrophic situation.

Catholic Relief Services work with the whole population, correct?

That's correct. We've had an office in Gaza for over 30 years at this point, we have a network of partner organizations, we coordinate our work with the local church and work with a variety of partners but we are a needs based organization, that works based on needs not creed.

Has Hamas's rise to power made your work more difficult?

There are certain constraints. Being a US organization, obviously the blockade of Gaza since 2007 has created a lot of difficulties in economic activity and movement of goods. We are able to coordinate our activities through the UN Cluster System, through our connections with local partner organizations, our relationship with the church and our extremely talented hard working staff.

There was news that the only Latin Catholic Parish in Gaza had been hit by shelling. Can you confirm that?

I can't confirm that, I would refer you to the Latin Patriarchate. We are in contact with them, but I would not want to speak on their behalf.

The local priest says the Hamas militants fire rockets from nearby and hide in the alleys. The idea that we get overseas is that seems to be how Hamas works, they fire from civilian areas and then those areas get hit by Israeli shelling. Do you see any solution for this situation at the moment? Any way to avoid more civilian deaths?

As an agency, from the start of this most recent escalation we have been calling for an unconditional cease-fire. As an organization, our staff are affected directly by this conflict, we are calling on all parties to unilaterally cease-fire and to resume negotiations for a sustainable solution to the blockade of Gaza. Gaza is in a completely unnatural, unsustainable position. The status quo in Gaza is not acceptable, so we call on everyone to cease the current escalation which has resulted in so much suffering and loss of life in Gaza and to find a sustainable long-lasting solution which allows the people of Gaza the freedom and dignity to which they are entitled.

Your staff in Gaza, are they mainly Christians?

We hire people based on ability, we don't screen based on gender, age or religious belief. Our staff has been affected by the conflict. We have one staff person who lost several family members in an airstrike, we have several staff who have had to flee their homes and move in with relatives because of damage to their homes or airstrikes nearby. We had one woman who was an intern in a programme we were running for job placement for the hearing impaired, who was killed at her home. So this is a conflict which touches everybody in Gaza.

Have you been able to get into Gaza since the conflict started?

Not since it started, no. We have one international staff person, an American, who is based there full time and she came out about 3 weeks ago when the fighting really intensified. For much of the last three weeks her office has been closed and staff have been working from their homes, or moving around as they are able, but the freedom of movement we need to carry out our activities just hasn't been safe.

We have used a few of the cease-fires to carry out distributions, we actually have one running this afternoon, but I would be more of a burden on staff, because they would have to waste their time making sure I was ok, rather than taking care of their families or doing their jobs.

Um centro dirigido pela CRS, na Palestina

You mentioned distribution... there has to be something to distribute... has it been easy to get assistance in, or are you working with stocks you already had?

We have been able to procure some items locally that were imported through legitimate channels via commercial vendors. We are in the process of procuring additional items which may need to be imported from the West Bank, we've had a great deal of support from our donors, USAID is facilitating the shipment of goods, so it’s been possible. Right now our distribution is focused on hygiene kits, kitchens, coking sets and water storage kits. We've covered 300 families so far, we are planning on another 200 or so today and scaling up to an additional 2500 families over the next 10 to 15 days, depending on security.

The images coming from Gaza show a people who are obviously very badly affected by what is going on, but their spirit seems to be set on resisting. Does this include the Christian population? Do they feel the same as their Muslim neighbours in this situation?

I wouldn't speak for somebody who has lived their entire life in Gaza. I visit every few weeks, but it is a very superficial exposure, I am able to come and go as I please with my US Passport.

The Christian community is very much a part of Gaza. Many of the families trace their history back generation after generation, there has been a Christian presence in and around Gaza for thousands of years. They are a small minority, but they are woven into the fabric of Gaza and they are Palestinians, they are Gazans. An errant tank shell, mortar or rocket does not discriminate between Muslims, Christians or Atheists. The Christian community has had its own losses and fatalities, roughly proportional to their representation in the larger community and are very determined to riding out the current conflict in a prayerful, hopeful way, and rebuilding a more sustainable, just future for Gaza as a whole.

"Israel can't keep controlling the will of a nation"

Father Raed greeting Pope Francis.
(From Fr. Raed's Facebook page)

Full transcript of my interview with Fr. Raed Abusahlia, head of Caritas Jerusalem, about the situation in Gaza. The news item, in Portuguese, can be found here.

Transcrição completa da entrevista com o padre Raed Abusahlia, dirigente da Cáritas Jerusalém, sobre a situação em Gaza. A reportagem pode ser lida aqui.

Whjat is the situation on the ground?

The situation in Gaza has been dramatic for 24 days. Escalation from both sides, huge damages to properties, but most important are the human casualties from both sides. Unfortunately we have had more than 1250 Palestinians from Gaza who were killed. Most are innocent people, women, children and old people. More than 7000 people were injured. More than 250.000 people who evacuated their homes and are living in the UN schools, so it is a huge humanitarian crisis and at the same time, from the Israeli side, there are casualties, mainly among the army and soldiers, with more than 55 soldiers killed. And the whole Israeli society is under fear and they are terrorized.

So our position is very clear. This should stop and end as soon as possible, to save more lives, mainly among innocent people.

Have the staff at Caritas in Gaza been able to do their job?

We work in Gaza since 1990, mainly in the medical field. We have a medical center in Al Shati refugee camp and we have a mobile clinic working in six different localities in the Gaza Strip.

Now the mobile clinic cannot move, but we work in our medical center and we are receiving a lot of casualties, especially children, who are transferred to our center from the UN schools.

Then we have an immediate intervention, working with the displaced people who are living in the two schools which belong to the Catholic and Orthodox church. We have 1100 people in the Holy Family Catholic Church and 1900 in the Orthodox School. So Caritas Jerusalem is providing them with food, daily meals, milk, gasoline, for over 1 week, and we will continue doing that.

We hope that someday, after the end of this conflict and the war, we will be able to have a long term intervention, because we launched an emergency appeal through our partners in Caritas Internationalis, and thank God we had a good response from many friends all over the world.

We will intervene in three directions. The first is food distribution for 3000 families, distribution for 3000 families in medical supplies for our center and three other medical centers in Gaza, including Al-Ahli Hospital, which is run by the Anglican church. So we have a huge responsibility and work to do.

The 14 members of our staff are working hard, day and night, and sometimes risking their lives. Hopefully they will remain safe.

You mentioned The Holy Family Catholic Parish in Gaza. I have seen news that it was hit by Israeli bombing. Can you confirm this?

Our parish of the Holy Family is located in the Al-Zeitoun quarter, which has been under attack for over 1 week, with bombardments from all sides. So the situation is severe and critical. The population of the quarter received messages from the Israeli army asking everybody to evacuate, but our Parish priest, who is Argentinean, did not want to evacuate the Church and the school because they also have the sisters of Mother Theresa who are taking care of 28 Handicapped people and nine old people. So the question is, if they leave, where do they take all these people? For this reason they prefer to remain there.

The Israeli jets bombarded the surrounding houses in the last few days, and these houses were completely destroyed. Due to the explosions, the windows of the School and the Church were broken, but it was not targeted directly, but there were damages due to the surrounding buildings, which were destroyed.

Are you from Gaza?

No, I am not. I am based in Jerusalem at the moment, but originally from the West Bank and also the Parish priest of Ramallah and general director of Caritas, but I was in Gaza recently and already the situation was dramatic, but now it is worse.

This conflict is between Israel and Hamas, because al-Fattah is not involved. Do the Christians in Gaza feel at all represented by Hamas? Are they tired of Hamas? What is the relationship like?

Firstly you have to know that the Christian population in the Gaza Strip is very, very small. They are only 1300 people, around 300 families, and we can say that their numbers decreased over the last 10 years, due to the occupation and the siege. They are really tired. But we can say that the relationship is good, we can't say they are persecuted, because at the end of the day they are Palestinians and part of the Palestinian people. They are Christians, Arabs and Palestinians, like their brothers and sisters who are Arabs, Palestinians and Muslims. But they are tired of the whole situation.

My opinion is that if the siege could be lifted and the crossing opened... if the conflict is not resolved I am afraid that many of them would leave to Egypt or Jordon, or come here to the West Bank, because they are tired.

For this reason, the best solution for everybody is that Israel and Hamas, under the umbrella of the Palestinian Authority, with this National Unity Government, sit down and negotiate and resolve the root cause of this conflict, which is the occupation, which should end as soon as possible.

There is no military solution to this conflict. Israel, with its military might can't keep controlling the will of a nation, of a people asking for their freedom. Of course, in the case of Gaza Strip, they have to lift the siege and at the same time open the crossing at both sides, the Egyptian side and the Israeli side, so that the people of Gaza can live a normal life.

If the crossings from both sides are under the control of the Palestinian Authority, with an International presence, the crossing and the borders will be controlled. Hamas will not have any excuse to dig these thousands of tunnels which are underground from both sides.

So we say, really, ending this conflict, putting Gaza under the Palestinian Authority with an International presence, is in the interest of Israel and the Israeli people.