Statement on Gaza

The Most Pure Heart of Mary Province of the Carmelites is deeply disturbed by the wanton destruction of life we are witnessing in the Holy Land. From the illegal occupation of the Palestinian West Bank, which grows more violent by the day, to the attacks on Israeli communities and the holding of hostages, the never-ending cycle of violence must stop.

Of particular horror is the unrelenting attack on the people of Gaza by the Israeli government. The true number of deaths is unknown, but it appears to be more than 60,000, as of the end of July 2025 (with thousands of others simply buried in the rubble and remaining uncounted). About 20,000 of these known deaths are of children. More than 175 journalists and 1400 medical workers are also among the dead. And there is this statistic: Gaza now has the highest per capita number of child amputees in the world. The truth is, nobody is safe in Gaza, especially as starvation and disease spread across the population (as Israel has greatly limited and for extended periods of time completely halted the entry of food and water to the territory). People are now being shot and killed while desperately waiting in long lines for food.

Across the whole of Gaza, houses of worship, schools, hospitals and clinics, and aid delivery locations have all been bombed, shot at, or otherwise damaged or completely destroyed. Very little is now left intact, as one of the most sophisticated armies in the world continuously assaults a mostly civilian population with little ability to defend itself.

The only Catholic Church in Gaza, Holy Family, with which Pope Francis regularly communicated, has been among the victims of the assault, and more than once. People seeking refuge in the compound have been shot and some killed and their school bombed by Israeli forces.

Does all of this destruction amount to a genocide? Genocide is defined as “the deliberate and systematic killing or persecution of a large number of people from a particular national or ethnic group with the aim of destroying that nation or group.”

Pope Francis had supported an investigation to determine whether or not Israel’s actions against the Palestinian people amounted to a genocide. And as he said on December 22, 2024, “…with sorrow I think of Gaza, of so much cruelty; of the children machine-gunned, the bombing of schools and hospitals… So much cruelty!”

More recently, Pope Leo has expressed his disgust at the unrelenting assault on Gaza and called for “an end to the barbarity of the war.”

Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem, Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa, has called the situation, “morally unacceptable and unjustifiable.”

The UN’s special rapporteur on the Occupied Territories, Francesca Albanese, issued her judgment in a report from October 2024: “Today, the genocide of the Palestinians appears to be the means to an end: the complete removal or eradication of Palestinians from the land so integral to their identity, and which is illegally and openly coveted by Israel.” Her full report can be found here: Genocide as colonial erasure – Report of Francesca Albanese, the UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Palestinian territories occupied since 1967 – Question of Palestine

Also accusing Israel of genocide are Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, Doctors Without Borders, the Lemkin Institute for Genocide Prevention, and other organizations, along with many genocide scholars.

In addition, Jewish groups like Jewish Voice for Peace and IfNotNow have identified what is happening as a genocide, as have many Jewish scholars.

B’Tselem, the Israeli Information Center for Human Rights in the Occupied Territories, has been using the term “ethnic cleansing” to describe their government’s project and has documented horrific “systemic human rights abuses” and violations of international law across the Occupied Territories. It has now just issued their report on Gaza and they have determined that Israel’s actions amount to a genocide. Further information on B’Tselem’s report, including a short video presentation, can be found here: https://www.btselem.org/publications/202507_our_genocide

Physicians for Human Rights Israel also recently released their report on Gaza. They, too, state that Israel is committing genocide and they call upon the world to stop it and to hold accountable those responsible. Their report is here: https://www.phr.org.il/en/genocide-in-gaza-eng/

Breaking the Silence, an organization of former Israeli military, has spoken out against the actions of their military, such as the use of civilians as human shields and the “horrifying moral collapse” that has made such practices commonplace.

The International Criminal Court has issued arrest warrants for the prime minister and a former defense minister. The charges of genocide can and should be formally made and defended in a court of law.

We will leave it to the courts to eventually rule on this matter, but regardless, one thing that we believe is certain, the mass destruction of life has been horrific and we condemn it in no uncertain terms.

We, as Carmelites, are committed to the promotion of human dignity and to the protection of all human life. We object to actions that dehumanize, that subject civilians to collective punishments, and that clearly fail to recognize the sacredness of life. THOUGH SHALT NOT KILL is not a request from our God. It is a commandment!

We stand in solidarity with others—including Christians, Jews, and Muslims—who are demanding an immediate ceasefire and an intensive campaign to bring humanitarian aid to the people of Gaza.

Then a rebuilding must occur and a Free Palestine must be established, so the people may live in dignity and peace and are able to determine their own future.

We quote here a letter signed by over 200 Christian leaders (including many Catholics) and issued in July 2024:

As global Christian leaders committed to peace and justice and the recognition of the image of God in all humanity, we abhor the ongoing violence…

Against this catastrophic backdrop, we have called before and call again now, with heartfelt insistence, for a comprehensive and permanent ceasefire, for the return of hostages, and the release of Palestinian prisoners held without due process. Immediate and untrammeled access for the huge humanitarian response is now required to restore to the people of Gaza their God-given dignity and the same right to food, shelter, education, healthcare and the means to support themselves that we enjoy.

Challenging as this will be to achieve, it will not be enough. Regrettably, we now face the threat of even greater and more widespread violence. This is a moment of extreme peril not only for Israelis and Palestinians but for the entire region…

We fear the existential threat to the Christian presence in Israel and the occupied Palestinian territories – the very place where our faith tradition began…

The full text of the letter and the names of the signatories can be found here: July 2024 Global Christian Leaders Letter – Churches for Middle East Peace

Over 800 years ago Carmelite hermits living on Mount Camel received a rule of life from Saint Albert, Patriarch of Jerusalem. In allegiance with Jesus Christ, with all those suffering violence, and in fellowship with Cardinal Pizzaballa, the current Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem, the Carmelites of the Most Pure Heart of Mary province state our support for the sentiments expressed in the letter quoted above.

Finally, here is a letter from a mother in Gaza, written earlier this year and published on the website of Amnesty International this past April (her name is withheld for security reasons):

March 21 marks both the beginning of spring and Mother’s Day in Palestine. A day of celebration, of hope, but it is hard for us to think of hope now.

My 12-year-old son apologized to me because he could not buy me a present on Mother’s Day, I hugged him and said that their survival – for now – is the most precious present that God has given me, I want nothing more.

I live in Beit Lahia. We are still sweeping the rubble, trying to restore our damaged house, to make it livable, more than a month after our return to the north. Everything here is a struggle: to be a mother during genocide is to fight, every minute, every second to maintain your family when nothing is available. Getting clean water is a battle; securing food is a battle; getting fresh vegetables or fruits is a dream, but I am a lucky mother because my children are still alive.

I look at my children and feel guilty because they have been denied their childhood, they were forced into the cruel world of adulthood, of war: no schools, no playgrounds, no daily walks by the sea. I hear bombs and wish I could wrap them with my own body, wish that my love, larger than the universe could protect them, shelter them.

Half an hour before we were due to break our fast, on Mother’s Day, in Ramadan, we saw that the Israeli military has ordered our area to “evacuate,” but to where? We are tired of displacement, of carrying an entire life on our shoulders and fleeing again, starting all over again; we are trying to rebuild the remnants of our lives: we were hoping to do that without fearing the non-stop bombs raining on us. Was that too much to ask?

You have no choice under genocide. You gamble with death: please stay away from my children; We were already displaced on nine occasions to flee death. We try to cheat it, but eventually you know that we are all defenseless against this.

I do not know if we will survive this round of bombardment, I do not know if the world will remember that one day people lived in a small place called Gaza, which had the most beautiful coastline in the world. Here lived people who wanted to live, they had so many dreams, they wanted to raise their children under normal circumstances but never got the chance to do so.

All I know is that if we do not make it, we will leave knowing that we did everything in our power and beyond to protect our children. Beit Lahia is the capital of strawberries and flowers; it is now a city of rubble, smoke, and stench of death. But please remember us by our strawberries and poppies and remember the names and faces of our martyred children, who will never have the chance to give their mothers a present on Mother’s Day.

It is with this mother and all of the children of Gaza in our hearts, that we pray that peace and justice may prevail in the Holy Land.

Most Pure Heart of Mary Province of the Carmelites