Palestine entering New Year amid silence over Gaza: Church Affairs

By Al Mayadeen English
Source: The Higher Presidential Committee for Church Affairs in Palestine
31 Dec 2024 12:51

The Higher Presidential Committee for Church Affairs in Palestine urges the world to "act decisively to rescue the Palestinian people from Israel’s tyranny."

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Gaza City's Greek Orthodox Church of Saint Porphyrius, damaged in Israeli bombardment, on October 19, 2023 (AFP)

The Higher Presidential Committee for Church Affairs in Palestine stated that the Palestinian people, particularly in the Gaza Strip, are entering the new year amid increased suffering, displacement, starvation, killing, destruction, ethnic cleansing, and forced displacement, as a result of Israeli brutality over more than 14 months of genocide, taking place amid "deafening global silence and complicity."

In a statement issued by its president, Dr. Ramzi Khoury, a member of the Executive Committee of the Palestine Liberation Organization, on the occasion of the new Gregorian year, the committee said that the Israeli occupation is waging an open genocide against the existence of the Palestinian people—its women, children, elderly, men, land, and holy sites—along with the destruction of vital infrastructure, including the health system, as evidenced by the destruction and burning of hospitals such as Kamal Adwan, the Indonesian, al-Wafa, the Baptist, al-Awda, and others.

The committee pointed out that the occupation is waging what is likely the first of its kind in history: a war on hospitals that save lives.

It highlighted that nearly 1,068 medical personnel have been killed, hundreds have been humiliated through detentions, 34 hospitals have been rendered inoperable, 242 health centers and institutions have been destroyed or targeted, 136 ambulances have been destroyed, and access to medicines, medical supplies, and primary care has been obstructed.

The occupation has turned the Gaza Strip "into a living nightmare" after destroying its infrastructure and facilities, the committee indicated.

According to the statement, the Israeli occupation forces have committed around 10,000 brutal massacres, resulting in the martyrdom and disappearance of 57,000 people, erased 1,413 families from the civil registry, injured 108,000, displaced 90% of Gaza's population, and forced them into harsh conditions within 20% of the strip’s area.

It also emphasized that the actions of the Israeli government in Gaza and the rest of the Palestinian territories "set a dangerous precedent that undermines international law, ushering in a world governed by brute force."

"Nations that hold sway over global decisions bear direct responsibility for enabling a fascist state to commit genocide against an entire people," the committee stressed.

It indicated that "rather than holding Israel accountable as a rogue state that violates international law, major powers have instead rewarded it with diplomatic protection in the UN Security Council and supplied it with the tools to continue its atrocities."

The committee added that the international community’s abandonment of the Palestinian people, allowing "Israel" to destroy hospitals, dismantle UNRWA—an organization vital for the Palestinians—and remaining silent on the siege of a suffering people whose tattered tents have become their graves, where they die from cold, hunger, and disease, reflects "a full bias toward the murderous criminal, soaked in Palestinian blood."

The statement also pointed out that the genocidal war and ethnic cleansing extend to the occupied West Bank, where the Israeli military and settlers "relentlessly seize land, displace rightful owners, and build and expand illegal settlements."

"Settler militias rampage through cities, villages, and refugee camps, committing heinous crimes to entrench their colonial project," the statement added.

The Higher Presidential Committee warned that "Muslim and Christian holy sites are desecrated, and efforts to alter the historical, legal, and religious status of Al-Aqsa Mosque continue unabated."

"In occupied Jerusalem, systematic demolitions of Palestinian homes and forced expulsions aim to Judaize the city," it added.

Elsewhere, the committee concluded by saying that "these well-documented crimes leave no room for excuses," underlining that "the legal and moral responsibility now lies with the international community, its institutions, and people of conscience worldwide, including churches, to stand firmly on the side of justice."

"The world must act decisively to rescue the Palestinian people from Israel’s tyranny."