Weekly Action - 11 December 2023 - Gaza Ceasefire

Gaza ceasefire

It is now over a month since the horrific incursion by Hamas from Gaza into Israel, which left more than 1,100 innocent Israeli civilians (men, women and children) dead, over 4,500 injured and more than 200 taken as hostages into Gaza. Israel’s retaliation through hundreds of airstrikes and a massive ground invasion of Gaza has killed more than 18,000 Palestinian men, women and children and injured and over 50,000. More than 1.8 million Palestinians, over 80% of the population of Gaza, have been forced to leave their homes to try desperately to find a place of safety within the tiny and densely populated Gaza strip. The fighting has turned much of Gaza into a wasteland. Israel has closed the borders and shut off the flow of all electricity, fuel, food, goods and water supplies into Gaza. Only extremely limited humanitarian access has been allowed. There were several days of temporary ceasefire in late November to enable the exchange of 110 Israeli hostages for over 240 Palestinians held in Israeli jails. However, fighting has now resumed and there is no sign of a permanent and lasting ceasefire, despite growing international pressure. The suffering in Gaza is unspeakable. The BBC reports the story of Ahmed Alnaouq, whose father, three sisters, two brothers, a cousin and 13 nieces and nephews were all killed in a single Israeli airstrike. “Still, after a week, nine of them are under rubble” he says. “No-one can take their bodies out from under the rubble. I don't know how to describe it, but I feel like my heart is torn.” ^[1]

Urgent need for peace

Like any nation, Israel should be able to use limited and proportionate force to protect its citizens. Arise explored this and other issues around this tragic conflict in several weekly blogs in October. However, what we are now witnessing goes well beyond a proportionate and restrained response. It is now time for an immediate permanent ceasefire by all parties; for the release of all hostages; for full humanitarian access; for basic essentials like electricity, fuel, food and water to be allowed in; and for an urgent return to peace talks. As the Bible tells us, “a future awaits those who seek peace” (Psalm 37: 37). At the moment Israel’s bombardment and ground offensive in Gaza is driving more and more Palestinians into the arms of Hamas. There is no military solution for either side that will end the cycle of violence and lead to a lasting peace. There is no way Hamas can be isolated, contained and shut down through the limited and proportionate use of force, unless there is also a significant parallel track to rebuild progress towards peace with the Palestinian people, and gradually begin to peel their support away from Hamas.

A crucial part of this process must be meeting the legitimate concerns of the Palestinian people, which are a significant part of the background context to the current violence. This includes ending Israeli settlement in the West Bank; ending the restrictions Israel imposes on goods coming in and out of the occupied territories; ending Israeli restrictions on where ordinary Palestinians can live, build, work and travel; ending the harassment of ordinary Palestinians; and ultimately an end to the occupation. Another crucial element must be the reconvening of a truly democratic representative government for the Palestinian people of Gaza and the West Bank, which genuinely wants peace and can prevent extremist groups like Hamas conducting violent attacks on Israel, and ultimately shut them down. Hamas is not democratic and believes in the complete destruction of Israel. Supporting bottom-up Reform Movements (and the Christians that are so often at the heart of them) that are seeking to bring about truly democratic governments that respect human rights in countries all around the world is one of three key focus campaigns for Arise. There are few places where this is needed more urgently than in Gaza, as an essential element for a lasting peace.

This week will you take action as part of Arise’s Reform Movements campaign, to call for an immediate ceasefire, humanitarian access, democratic reform and the urgent resumption of peace talks in Israel and Gaza?

Take Action

Speak out in advocacy

Write urgently to the Israeli ambassador to the UK in your own words.

Express condolences and sympathy for the tragic losses in Israel following the violent incursion by Hamas on Saturday 7 October.
Show your understanding that Israel must act in a limited and proportionate way to protect its citizens.
But argue that there can be no military solution to this crisis, without a corresponding peace process, otherwise the bombing and invasion of Gaza simply creates more support for Hamas amongst the Palestinian people, and there can be no long-term security for Israel.
Urge a ceasefire now.
Urge complete humanitarian access into Gaza.
Urge the resumption of the flow of basic essentials like electricity, fuel, food and water back into Gaza.
Urge the resumption of urgent peace talks with legitimate representatives of the Palestinian people, who can in time side-line Hamas, and urge making compromises to demonstrate a willingness for peace.
As part of this process ensure Israel does all it can to help reconstitute a truly democratic and human rights respecting authority of the Palestinian people in Gaza and the West Bank.

You can write to her at:

Mrs Tzipi Hotovely
Ambassador of Israel to the UK
Embassy of Israel
2 Palace Green
London
W8 4QB

Pray

Pray for the people of Israel and Gaza. Pray for a ceasefire on all sides, the protection of all civilians on all sides, release of all hostages, for all those who are injured and have lost loved ones, for humanitarian access to Gaza, for basic essentials like food and water to get in, and for a real peace process to re-start again, even in these darkest days. Pray for democratic and human rights reform in Gaza, the West Bank and Israel.

Give

Give to Christian organisations like Cafod, Christian Aid, Tearfund or World Vision who have launched urgent appeals to support the people of Gaza who have been impacted by the fighting.

Practical Action

Reach out to friends and neighbours in your community with roots and family in Israel and Gaza. How have they and their families been affected? How can you and your church support them?

Encourage us and others by letting us know what actions you have taken – message us at info@ariseuk.org, or via Twitter, Instagram or Facebook.

Find out more

It’s great to take this action as individual Christians, but even better to come together with others to pray, discuss, worship, learn, have fun and take action together. Contact Arise if you are interested in joining or starting a local Arise group in your church or area. If you are already in an Arise group, take this action to your wider church, and get them all to do it too.

Find out more in the Arise Manifesto, Arise’s big picture, researched, Biblical, holistic and practical vision for a better world. It looks at what the Bible says, and what we can learn from the best data and the world’s leading experts on the five major areas of evangelism, discipleship, social justice, development and the environment. It then draws these lessons together into a practical road map for the changes we need to see in our world, which the Arise movement campaigns to achieve.

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[1] Anguished UK Palestinians grieve for loved ones in Gaza, BBC, (31 Oct 2023), https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-67266873