The board of Kairos Palestine, a Christian Palestinian movement, has written an open letter to the Executive Committee of the World Council of Churches (WCC), after it issued a statement describing Israel’s attacks on Palestine as an “escalating crisis”, rather than a genocide.

The WCC published its Statement on the Escalating Crisis in Gaza after a meeting in Bogota, Colombia, acknowledging the suffering in Gaza and the need for prayer for the region.

However, Kairos Palestine responded with an Open Letter to the World Council of Church’s Executive Committee:

“We trust that the statement was issued with great concern and with the urgent need to terminate the atrocious crimes in Gaza. As Palestinians, as Christians and as your partners, we would like to bring to your attention the following points.  

“We believe that the title “Escalating Crisis in Gaza” is neither accurate, nor adequate. The protracted ‘crisis’ is a result of 8 months of Israel’s incessant large-scale military aggression which amounts to acts of genocide, prior to which Gaza has been strangled by a 17-year blockade that forced 2.3 million people to become aid-dependent and extremely vulnerable to famine and starvation.

“Not only is the term genocide absent from the title, it is marginalized in the body of the statement instead of being the essence of what the statement is condemning. It cannot be acceptable that crimes of such scale, committed deliberately over 8 months, be narrowed down to a ‘crisis.’”

Kairos Palestine emphasise the need for peace, saying: “We hold a clear position that non-violent resistance to this injustice is a right and duty for all Palestinians, including Christians.”

The World Council of Churches has been outspoken about the need for peace in the region, stating: “The situation in Gaza exposes the lowest decline in our shared humanity and our collective total failure to honour life. We need to take decisive action to redeem the little of our humanity that may be left."