The Evangelical Lutheran Church in Jordan and the Holy Land has issued a scathing condemnation of Israel’s siege on Gaza, accusing it of using hunger as a weapon to “accelerate ethnic cleansing” of Palestinians.
Bishop Sani Ibrahim Azar said the world is witnessing “mass starvation” as months of blockade have choked humanitarian access. Only a trickle of aid is entering, available at dangerous distribution points. “One in five children faces severe malnutrition, and 113 Palestinians, including 81 children, have already died of starvation, dozens in recent days alone,” Azar said in a statement.
He cited eyewitness accounts from Greek Orthodox Patriarch Theophilos III and Latin Patriarch Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa, who saw starving families waiting hours in the sun “for a piece of bread.”
Aid, Azar noted, sits untouched in warehouses just kilometres from desperate civilians.
Calling the crisis a “man-made famine at the point of no return,” he urged governments, faith leaders, and international bodies to break the silence and act to lift the siege, ensure safe delivery of aid, and enforce an immediate ceasefire.
“Silence in the face of suffering is a betrayal of conscience… we cannot be neutral,” he said, echoing the patriarchs.
The statement closes with a prayer for Gaza’s hungry, sick and displaced, and a plea for justice: “Give us this day our daily bread… we call out for an immediate ceasefire, an end to this genocide, and for justice to come to our land.”
