Women's Voice for Gaza: A Palestinian Christian Call for Justice and Life

~ We invite you to endorse this statement and share it widely to amplify Palestinian women's voices in this critical moment. Your support helps ensure that our call for justice reaches communities worldwide who can act to end the starvation of Gaza.

We, Palestinian Christian women from across historic Palestine—grandmothers, mothers, daughters, sisters, aunts, and caregivers—raise our voices as our people in Gaza face deliberate starvation. We speak from our faith and humanity, following the prophetic voices of our ancestors in scripture who proclaimed God's justice in times of crisis.

Our Prophetic Tradition 

Like our matriarch Mary, mother of Jesus, we magnify the Lord who "has brought down the powerful from their thrones, and lifted up the lowly; he has filled the hungry with good things, and sent the rich away empty" (Luke 1:52-53). Mary's song was a radical proclamation of justice recognizing God's preference for the oppressed.

We stand with Tabitha, known for her "good works and acts of charity" (Acts 9:36), who made garments for widows. Like Tabitha, Palestinian women have threaded our stories into fabric through traditional tatreez embroidery—patterns that speak to our indigenous roots connecting us to this land since ancient times. This embroidery tradition embodies sumud—our Palestinian practice of steadfastness that refuses to surrender our humanity.

We remember Huldah, who spoke truth to King Josiah (2 Kings 22), and Rizpah, who kept vigil over her sons' unburied bodies, refusing to let them be forgotten (2 Samuel 21:10). We honor Phoebe, the deacon whom Paul trusted to carry his letter to the Romans, calling her 'a benefactor of many' (Romans 16:1-2).

Our Reality

The reality in Gaza is one of "inhuman conditions, under permanent blockade" (Kairos Palestine, §1.1.1). Today, this has worsened into what human rights organizations recognize as genocide. Our children waste away from hunger, our elderly die without medicine. As women, we comfort our children while hiding our own fears, distribute meager food while our stomachs ache.

In scripture, many women remain unnamed—"the woman at the well," "the Syrophoenician woman." Similarly, Palestinian women today are rendered invisible or reduced to "women and children"—a nameless collective whose stories and agency are erased.

The Unchilding of Our Children

Jesus said, "Let the little children come to me" (Matthew 19:14). Yet today, more than 14,000 children in Gaza face death from malnutrition and disease through deliberate withholding of food, water, and medicine.

We reject the narrative that categorizes only "women and children" as innocent victims. This dehumanizes Palestinian men and normalizes genocide against our entire people. All Palestinians deserve protection under international law.  Our Muslim sisters also cradle hungry children, search for medicine, and mourn the dead. While we speak from our Christian faith, our suffering and our hope for justice are shared.

Palestinian Women's Nonviolent Resistance

As Palestinian Christian women, we stand in a tradition of nonviolent resistance that gives us agency even in dehumanizing circumstances. From organizing the first intifada to creating therapy programs for traumatized children, we resist oppression while affirming life. This resistance is our sumud—refusing to surrender our humanity.

Our Call to Action

Scripture commands: "Is it not to share your bread with the hungry and bring the homeless poor into your house?" (Isaiah 58:7)

We call upon women of all nations to join us in demanding an immediate end to the starvation of Gaza. The deliberate withholding of food, water, and medicine constitutes war crimes under international law, yet continues with impunity. This human-made catastrophe can be stopped today with political will.

We affirm that "resistance is a right and a duty for the Christian. But it is resistance with love as its logic" (Kairos Palestine, §4.2.3).

Our Hope

As Palestinian Christian women, our sumud and "our hope remains strong, because it is from God" (Kairos Palestine, §3.1). With those who signed the Call to Repentance, "we proclaim our hope. We believe that God's goodness will finally triumph over the evil of hate and of death that still persist in our land" (Kairos Palestine, §10).

Until that day comes, we will not be silent. We will speak truth, demand justice, work for peace, and never stop insisting that our children—all our children—deserve to live.

Signed,

Palestinian Christian Women from across historic Palestine;
The named and the unnamed, the heard and the unheard, the visible and the invisible

Endorsed by,

• Kairos Palestine, Palestine
• Bethlehem Bible College, Palestine
• Christ at the Checkpoint, Palestine
• Dar Al-Kalima University, Palestine
• Sabeel
• Friends of Sabeel North America
• Canadian Friends of Sabeel
• Canadian Ecumenical Justice Initiatives
• The United Church of Canada 
• Black Christians for Palestine 
• Mennonite Church Canada, Palestine-Israel Network
• Christians for a Free Palestine Canada
• Chasing Justice
• Churches for Middle East Peace (CMEP)
• And Still We We Rise (ASWR)
• Pax Christi Toronto (Canada)
• Catholics for Justice and Peace in the Holy Land
• The Presbyterian Church in Canada
• Canada Stand Up for Palestinian Children’s Human Rights (CSUFPCR)
• Palestinian Anglicans and Clergy Allies (PACA)
• Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada
• United Network for Justice and Peace in Palestine and Israel (UNJPPI)
• Al Awda Vancouver
• Apartheid-Free British Columbia
• Trinity Grace United Church
• The Anglican Church of Canada
• Pacific Network of Pacific Mountain Region (PalNet)
• United Methodists for Kairos Response (UMKR)
• Benat Maryam
• Canadian Memorial United Church
• Canadians for Justice and Peace in the Middle East Okanagan
• Palestine Justice Network of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)
• Peace Catalyst International
• Virginia for Palestine

~ An expanded version of this statement is available here.