Palestinian church appeals for international aid protection in Gaza
The call comes after Israeli authorities moved to revoke the registration of dozens of international organizations, instructing them to cease operations by March. The decision was linked to the groups’ refusal to hand over staff lists and comply with newly introduced security-related registration requirements, as stated by reports.
Ramzi Khoury, head of the Palestinian Presidential Higher Committee for Church Affairs, described the decision as a “highly dangerous development.”
“It touches the core of human values and the Church's mission, and reflects a systematic targeting of international non-governmental organizations operating in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank, including Jerusalem,” he said in a message addressed to churches worldwide, according to reports.
Khoury warned that the situation in Gaza has gone far beyond administrative restrictions on aid work. “What is happening today in Gaza is no longer merely a restriction on humanitarian work, but a systematic attempt to criminalize relief itself and paralyze the institutions that make the bare minimum of life possible in the face of siege, war and total collapse.”
He also cautioned that remaining silent in the face of these measures carries serious moral implications. Khoury said silence toward the Israeli restrictions “cannot be understood as neutrality.”
“It is interpreted as moral abandonment. Preventing humanitarian work and criminalizing relief, at a time of a documented need for hundreds of aid trucks daily, constitutes a grave violation of international humanitarian law and a stark contradiction of Christian teachings that place the human being and human dignity at the heart of the mission.”
In his appeal, Khoury urged churches across the globe “to declare a clear ecclesiastical position rejecting the targeting and banning of international nongovernmental organizations, to exert moral and international pressure to open crossings and ensure the entry of aid in quantities required on humanitarian grounds, and to stand with Gaza, not with words alone, but with positions that translate faith into action.”
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