Urges Global Christian Leaders to Speak Out
By Tafadzwa Muranganwa
The State of Palestine has expressed outrage and sorrow following the bombing of the historic Latin Church in Gaza City, calling it part of a broader campaign of “desecration and genocide” perpetrated by Israel in the besieged Gaza Strip.
In a strongly worded statement, Ambassador Tamer Almassri, the Palestinian envoy to Zimbabwe, condemned what he called “a systematic policy of ethnic and religious cleansing targeting all Palestinians, including Christians.”
“This was not just an attack on a church building,”Ambassador Almassri said in a statement on Thursday.
“It was an attack on the shared values of humanity, an assault on our heritage and faith. The targeting of churches, like the Latin Church in Gaza and Saint Porphyrius before it, is meant to send a chilling message that no place, no religion, and no people are safe under occupation,”he added.
The Latin Church bombing is the latest in a string of Israeli airstrikes and attacks that have damaged or destroyed religious sites across Gaza. In 2023, the Greek Orthodox Church of Saint Porphyrius, one of the oldest Christian sites in the world, was bombed during an Israeli military operation, killing at least 18 civilians who were sheltering inside. According to Palestinian officials, over 85% of Gaza’s mosques and several churches have been razed or badly damaged during the ongoing conflict.
In addition to the destruction in Gaza, Palestine is also raising alarm over settler violence in the West Bank. The Christian town of Taybeh, located east of Ramallah, has seen repeated attacks on its community and religious heritage. Settlers have reportedly stormed the revered St. George Church and vandalized the town’s Christian cemetery.
“The Israeli settler movement, under the protection of occupation forces, continues to terrorize Palestinian Christian communities.
“This is not just a war on land it’s a war on memory, identity, and coexistence,”the Palestinian ambassador to Zimbabwe said.
The ambassador issued a direct appeal to global church leaders, urging them to abandon neutrality and take a firm moral stand.
“I call upon Patriarchs, Eminences, and Heads of Churches around the world: do not allow history to record your silence.
“Prayers alone are not enough. What is required is bold, principled action to stop this calculated erasure of Christianity from the Holy Land,”he urged.
The Israeli-Palestinian conflict has its roots in the early 20th century, particularly with the collapse of the Ottoman Empire and the subsequent British Mandate in Palestine. The creation of the State of Israel in 1948, following the UN partition plan, led to the first Arab-Israeli war and the mass displacement of hundreds of thousands of Palestinians,a tragedy known as the Nakba (“catastrophe”).
Over decades, Israeli settlement expansion, military occupation, and repeated wars in Gaza have fueled cycles of violence and humanitarian crises. While Gaza has been under a strict Israeli-Egyptian blockade since 2007, the West Bank has seen a dramatic increase in settler-related violence, often with little accountability.