PJN Reiterates Condemnation of Israel’s Ongoing Genocide in Gaza
Photo by Emad El Byed on Unsplash
We at the Palestine Justice Network of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) write to you with increasing alarm, as ever-deteriorating conditions unfold in Gaza. By enforcing a total blockade on the territory, the Israeli military is intentionally starving to death babies, children, parents, and grandparents alike. The New York Times reported on July 27 that at least 56 people have died of starvation in Gaza this month alone. Twenty-one children died of starvation and malnutrition in just 72 hours last week. The World Food Program announced that one in three Gazans are forced to go without food for multiple days in a row. Israel has prohibited Gazans from importing not just food, but also medicine, baby formula, and every other necessity for life. Doctors without Borders said last week that a quarter of pregnant people and children are suffering from malnutrition. Israel has collaborated with the United States to set up a paltry few food distribution points, but the Israeli military has on a near-daily basis opened fire on the unarmed Palestinians lining up for this aid. Israel has killed more than 1,000 since May, thus giving people a choice between death by starvation or death by assassination.
This use of hunger as a weapon against a civilian population is taking place on top of daily attacks by the Israeli military on homes, churches, mosques, schools, cafes, shelters, hospitals, tents, and any and every other piece of the Palestinian built environment. Israel even announced earlier this month that it was prohibiting Gazans from swimming in the Mediterranean Sea, which had been serving as a small but vital source of relief for a population that is without electricity amidst a brutally hot summer.
It is long overdue that the international community steps up and ends this genocide. Please contact your Congress members and ask them to impose an arms embargo on Israel. We also recommend donating to Gaza Soup Kitchen, an organization on the ground in Gaza to which PJN has helped fund. Please tell your pastor to preach on Palestine. And pray ceaselessly for the liberation of Palestine from genocide, apartheid, and ethnic cleansing. If your church would like to learn more about Palestine and what Presbyterians can do, we would be happy to work with you to develop educational and advocacy plans.