Weekly Action - 10 May 2024 - Rafah
Rafah
The world is waiting with huge concern for an imminent Israeli army ground offensive to be launched into Rafah. Humanitarian experts warn that it will be devastating. Rafah is a major city in the south of Gaza. Over 1.3 million Palestinian refugees have fled there since the start of the conflict. It is also the main hub for humanitarian operations in Gaza. The Israeli government believes the city to be one of the last strongholds of Hamas. Earlier this week the Israeli army occupied the Gazan side of the Rafah crossing into Egypt, which has been a major route for humanitarian aid. Israel’s allies, including the US, are warning against the offensive. On Wednesday 8 May President Biden warned that the US would not provide offensive weaponry to support the invasion of Rafah.[1]
More than 34,600 Palestinians have now been killed and over 77,900 wounded [2] in Gaza since the conflict began following the horrific Hamas led incursion into Israel on 7 October 2023. Hundreds of Israeli soldiers have been killed and injured during the same period. More than 100 Israeli hostages remain in captivity. More than 80% of the population have fled their homes. There is very limited access for humanitarian aid. The UN says the north of Gaza is already in full blown famine, while widespread suffering continues across the region. In just one tragic case, Sky News reports how doctors saved an unborn baby girl from her dying mother Sabreen, who was killed in an Israeli airstrike on Rafah, along with her husband Shoukri and their three year old daughter Malak. The unnamed girl will be cared for by her uncle.[3] Meanwhile across the world pro-Palestinian protests are taking place, including in Malmö, Sweden, where the Eurovision song contest is being held. Concerns are quite rightly being raised to ensure these continually remain focused on the policies of the current Israeli government, and the humanitarian crisis, and do not become more widely anti-Semitic in nature.
Action for peace
Even Israel’s staunchest allies recognise that it is now time for an immediate 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 meaningful peace talks. As the Bible tells us, “Peacemakers who sow in peace reap a harvest of righteousness” (James 3: 18). 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 that will end the cycle of violence and lead to a lasting peace. There is no way Hamas can be isolated and shut down, 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 key Arise blog from the end of last year maps out what the key elements of a peace process might look like.
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 of the West Bank and Gaza. Another crucial element must be the reconvening of a truly democratic representative government for the Palestinian people of Gaza and the West Bank, which recognises the right of Israel to exist and genuinely wants peace and can prevent extremist groups like Hamas conducting violent attacks on Israel, and ultimately shut them down. 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 meaningful peace talks in Israel and Gaza?
Take Action
Speak out in advocacy
Contact the Israeli ambassador to the UK, Mrs Tzipi Hotovely, via social media.
- Express condolences and sympathy for the tragic losses in Israel following the violent incursion by Hamas on Saturday 7 October 2023.
- But argue that the conflict in Gaza must end now and urge a ceasefire and complete humanitarian access into Gaza.
- Urge immediate progress in ceasefire and peace talks.
- Urge Israel to do all it can to help reconstitute a truly democratic and human rights respecting authority of the Palestinian people in Gaza and the West Bank.
Contact her on Twitter at: @TzipiHotovely, on Instagram at: tzipihotovely and on Facebook at: Tzipi Hotovely, or search for her on your favourite social media platform.
Pray
Pray for the people of Gaza and Israel. Pray for a ceasefire on all sides, the protection of all civilians, 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 Gaza and Israel. 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] ‘We will fight with our fingernails’: Netanyahu hits back at Biden’s threat to halt weapons, ITV News, (10 May 2024), https://www.itv.com/news/2024-05-10/netanyahu-vows-israel-will-stand-alone-if-it-has-to-after-biden-rafah-invasion
[2] Israel-Gaza war: Four soldiers killed in Kerem Shalom rocket attack, BBC, (6 May 2024), https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-68960585
[3] Gaza: Newborn baby saved from womb of mother killed in Israeli strike, Sky News, (22 Apr 20204), https://news.sky.com/video/gaza-newborn-baby-saved-from-womb-of-mother-by-doctors-killed-in-israeli-strike-13120836