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The World Council of Churches (WCC) stands in solidarity with the Patriarchs and Heads of Churches in Jerusalem as they condemn Israeli airstrikes that exploded at the Orthodox Church compound of Saint Porphyrios in Gaza on 19 October. 

The World Council of Churches (WCC) expressed grave concern upon reports from the Palestinian Red Crescent of a concrete request from Israeli authorities for immediate evacuation of Al Quds Hospital in Gaza. 

The World Council of Churches (WCC) is condemning an attack on one of the buildings within the compound of the St Porphyrios Greek Orthodox Church in Gaza. The building—affiliated with the church, which is one the oldest churches in Gaza—has collapsed in the explosion, caused by Israeli missile strikes, according to the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate.

The World Council of Churches (WCC), in consultation with heads of churches and representatives of Palestinian Christian organizations within the Jerusalem Liaison Office Advisory Group, is making an urgent call for an international investigation led by the United Nations into the numerous war crimes committed against civilians during the ongoing conflict. 

Ambassador Ibrahim Khraishi, Mission of Palestine to Switzerland; and Doa Nofal, second secretary at the Permanent Observer Mission of the State of Palestine to the United Nations and other International Organizations in Geneva, requested an urgent meeting with the World Council of Churches (WCC) to discuss the war in the Holy Land and the current and urgent humanitarian situation.

The World Council of Churches (WCC) expressed both outrage and shock at the news of an airstrike on the Al-Ahli Hospital in Gaza. "Thousands of Palestinians who had lost their homes already were taking refuge at the hospital, run by the Anglican Church,” said WCC general secretary Rev. Prof. Dr Jerry Pillay. “The attack amounts to collective punishment, which is a war crime under International Law.”

Mehr als 1,1 Millionen Palästinenserinnen und Palästinenser versuchen derzeit, aus dem nördlichen Gazastreifen zu fliehen, den das israelische Militär eine Woche nach dem blutigen Angriff der Hamas auf Israel im Vorfeld der erwarteten Bodenoffensive ins Visier genommen hat. 

More than 1.1 million Palestinians are struggling to flee from areas of north Gaza targeted by the Israeli military ahead of an expected land offensive a week after Hamas’s bloody attack into Israel. 

The World Council of Churches will join a Day of Prayer and Fasting on 17 October, which will be hosted by the Patriarchs and Heads of the Churches in Jerusalem. 

The World Council of Churches (WCC), in the aftermath of brutal violence where thousands of innocent civilians lost their lives, is calling for a new approach to resolve the conflict in the Holy Land. 

More than 500 people from across the world followed a Service of Lament for Palestine and Israel, hosted by the Sabeel Ecumenical Liberation Theology Center on 12 October.

Church leaders in the Holy Land are raising their voices in unity to call for the cessation of all violent and military activities that bring harm to both Palestinian and Israeli civilians.

Following the outbreak of hostilities on 7 October – with a reported launch of thousands of rockets from Gaza into Israel and the infiltration of southern Israel by Hamas gunmen, and an ensuing Israeli military response – the World Council of Churches (WCC) is adapting its work in the Holy Land to continue to support efforts for just peace.

The World Council of Churches (WCC) is following closely the developments in Israel and Palestine since the outbreak of hostilities on 7 October, following the reported launch of thousands of rockets from Gaza into Israel, and the infiltration of southern Israel by Hamas gunmen. Israel’s prime minister has declared that the country is at war.

During a film screening at the World Council of Churches on 4 October, viewers got a deeper understanding of why Palestinians are about to lose one of the last green spaces left for them in the Bethlehem Governorate.