The National Gathering of Palestinian Tribes, Clans and Families: the occupation is waging a comprehensive war on our Palestinian people, targeting them in all their components, and continues to carry out its war of extermination after one year of the October 2023 agreement.

The National Gathering of Palestinian Tribes, Clans and Families:

▪the occupation is waging a comprehensive war on our Palestinian people, targeting them in all their components, and continues to carry out its war of extermination after one year of the October 2023 agreement.

▪the occupation executed 30 of our Christian people during the war of extermination and erased an entire family from Al-Souri; and targeted the church’s various religious, cultural and educational assets.

▪We mourn the martyrs (killed) Mari Hafez Abu Dawood and her daughter Misa Abu Dawood, who were martyred (killed) at dawn today as a result of an Israeli strike that targeted a residential apartment west of Gaza City.

▪We affirm that Palestinian blood is one, and that what our people are exposed to does not distinguish between Muslim and Christian; Gaza’s Christians lived through siege, hunger, bombing and displacement alongside their people, and paid a heavy price in lives and property.

▪The Israeli attacks reached churches and Christian religious, educational and cultural institutions; including the Church of the Holy Family, the Holy Family School, the Orthodox Cultural Center, and the Sisters of the Rosary School, in addition to previous damage to the Church of Saint Porphyrius.

▪What is happening in Gaza, in parallel with the attacks and violations affecting Islamic and Christian holy sites in Jerusalem and the rest of the Palestinian territories, reflects the seriousness of the situation faced by Palestinian civilians of all sects.

▪The continued martyrdom (killed) of civilians and damage to houses of worship and religious and educational institutions requires effective international action to ensure the protection of civilians, houses of worship and civilian facilities, stop military operations that put their lives at risk, and comply with the rules of international humanitarian law.

▪Protecting the Palestinian human being, whether Muslim or Christian, and protecting their holy sites and their right to life and security, is a responsibility the international community must not evade.