Continuing to Get in the Way of Genocide

Dear friends,

As we approach two years of Israel’s genocidal aggression against the people of Gaza, the resulting humanitarian crises only continue to escalate. The news from Palestine is often difficult to read, and the scale of cruelty and suffering grows more impossible to comprehend. Nonetheless, we must look for points of light and hope to guide us and keep us moving forward to interrupt genocide however we can, drawing inspiration from one another.

Today, the Ministry of Health in Gaza announced that at least four people had died of starvation in the last day alone, two of which are children. This brings the number of known martyrs killed by a manufactured famine in the Gaza Strip to 317. At least 121 of these people are children. 39 — more than ten percent — of the 317 people have died since August 22, 2025, which is less than a week ago. As always, this data is incomplete as it only includes those who were brought to a hospital and could be identified. Every person in Gaza who has died from malnutrition and hunger has been killed by the state of Israel, which orchestrated this famine and continues to maintain it.

As we witness these human-made atrocities, we must be moved to action, not helplessness. Despite personally enduring the genocide, Palestinians in Gaza are leading the way in this regard, refusing to submit to attempts by Israel and its forces to tear the very fabric of indigenous society apart.

Yesterday, the Latin and Greek Orthodox Patriarchates of Jerusalem released a joint statement, condemning Israel’s orders for Palestinians to flee Gaza City as Israeli forces invade and assault it from every direction. The Patriarchates called this evacuation order a “death sentence” for those in the city who are forced to choose whether to remain in the city or risk evacuating south, where displaced people continue to be targeted by airstrikes in tents within Israeli prescribed so-called “safe zones”.

The joint message declared that the two compounds belonging to these churches, St. Porphyrius and Holy Family, have become shelters for hundreds of forcibly displaced Palestinians in the last two years. They declared that their clergy members serving and supporting these families will not leave the compounds and will continue to care for those who stay there.

Today, the emergency committee of the Holy Family church in Gaza City reinforced this decision, stating that the committee will also remain and continue its work, supporting the clergy and the displaced families in the complex. This is no small decision, as it means refusing to comply with Israeli forces’ orders and choosing to endure an unknown fate, with continued lethal violence the only certainty in the short term. The Holy Family church was already struck by Israeli forces less than two months ago, and more than 800 mosques across the Gaza Strip have been the target of destruction in less than two years.

The decision by clergy and committee members to remain in these churches in order to support the most vulnerable of their community members follows a similar decision made by others: hospital staff remaining in besieged facilities facing the certainty of violence, journalists refusing to halt their reporting despite personal threats against themselves and their families, and civil defense members who continue to try to rescue the wounded from rubble, knowing Israel’s tactic of repeated strikes to target them. It is a decision made out of a commitment to one’s community and the value of their lives; it is a refusal to be cowed into fearful submission by Israel’s genocide machine.

Knowing that the world will never go back to the way it was before this genocide began, we have a similar choice to make: will we quietly watch a genocide unfold from the safest distance possible, bending to fear and pressure after almost two years of livestreamed mass slaughter? Or will we insist on the inherent, irrevocable value of life, including Palestinian life, and throw whatever we can in the gears of this death machine? The second option requires being more creative in our actions, being willing to sacrifice, and refusing to turn away from our values as the stakes get higher.

Until liberation and return,

Lara Kilani

Resources

Check out this livestreamed event on Sept 7 and buy a ticket in solidarity with Palestine

Read When Theory Falters, or on the Weight of Reality by Ameed Faleh