The people of Gaza ‘continue to be strangled.’ “They are being caught in a situation that requires wisdom rather than might; that requires moral courage rather than the power of the gun,” the Rt Rev Riah Abu al-Assal wrote in an email to supporters.

The government of Israel has halted fuel shipments to Gaza in retaliation to a campaign of rocket attacks by Hamas upon towns in southern Israel. Egypt also has blockaded its border with Gaza due to the collapse of civil authority under Hamas.

However, refugees overwhelmed the border crossing with Egypt at Rafah last week and have streamed into the Sinai to purchase provisions. Israel has responded by reinforcing its border with Egypt as Hamas terrorist cells are reported to have redeployed along the frontier for strikes into the Jewish state.

Bishop Riah, who last week addressed a rally at Damascus’ largest mosque, the al-Jame’a al-Akbar, in support of Gaza, implored the West to act. “Must those children of Gaza continue to feel the hunger in their empty bellies, the cold and darkness of their black nights, while we continue to enjoy the fruits of the earth and the warmth of our home? Must the words of Jesus Christ become true of us when he said ‘They have eyes but do not see, and have ears but do not hear?’

“The situation in Gaza has moved from being difficult to being tragic; and from being tragic to becoming catastrophic,” he said on Jan 23. “It is time for action.”

The charity Christian Aid has also denounced Israel’s response to the Hamas rocket attacks, condemning ‘in the strongest possible terms Israel’s blockade of the Gaza Strip, which did not begin last week as commonly thought, but has been going on since June 2007.’

"Since Hamas took power last June, Gaza has been subjected to severe restrictions on movement that have allowed in only a drip-feed of aid, preventing a full-scale humanitarian emergency but keeping the population in a perpetual state of economic crisis," said Janet Symes, Christian Aid’s Head of Middle East Programme.



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