July 31, 2025
David Thomson, CEO, publishes new statement on Gaza
We have all seen the horror on our TV screens and I’m sure it makes us sick to the stomach – it does me! But it’s not about our reaction to what we are witnessing that matters, but rather it’s the reality that Palestinians are facing. Gaza is experiencing a starvation crisis, with the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC), a global hunger monitoring system, warning that the “worst-case scenario of famine” is now unfolding in the besieged enclave. This IPC classification is ‘where a large portion of the population is acutely malnourished, experiencing starvation and death’.
The IPC has said ‘One in five Palestinians in Gaza faces acute hunger, with half a million nearing starvation as the entire besieged enclave faces food insecurity’. One of our partners has described this as ‘[one of the] most harrowing and unprecedented of times.’ This is what they are witnessing and experiencing. Forced starvation is a crime against humanity and what we are witnessing is a siege!
We are thankful that some aid has started to enter Gaza – but it is just a trickle, and air drops with brief pauses for meagre aid deliveries will not suffice. Much more is needed if we are to turn the tide on the forced starvation of people in the occupied strip. We know that only immediate and full-scale action will alleviate the situation!
Throwing food aid out of the back of airplanes is not good enough, and is in fact dangerous. It will never be enough and is only usually used as a last resort in highly remote inaccessible areas. This is not the case for Gaza with its multiple land routes, which must be opened and made safe for food and water to reach those in great need.
As All We Can, we continue to partner in the Red Line For Gaza campaign. Babies are starving to death. People are collapsing in the streets. The food that would save them is deliberately denied. Parents face a horrifying choice: let their children go hungry or walk through fire to find food — not knowing who will feed them tomorrow if they don’t return. Starving people to death is a red line. We encourage you to support Red Line for Gaza, make your voices heard by your MP, and put pressure on those who do hold power to act.
It is important that the UK Government has said it will recognise Palestinian statehood, but this should not be used as a distraction from the unfolding famine nor as a bargaining chip! It should not be linked to Israeli conduct in Gaza & West Bank or even Hamas. It is the Palestinians’ inalienable right – recognition is about acknowledging rights of a people to nationhood, and should not be used as a tool of pressure.
The UK Government needs to support:
1. A full ceasefire now
2. The safe passage of increased humanitarian aid into Gaza to affected civilians
3. An end to all arms sales to Israel
4. Cooperation with the International Criminal Court (ICC) to bring the perpetrators to justice.
At the end of June, the Methodist Conference formally approved support for the World Council of Churches position on Palestine and Israel. You can read the statement in full here.
The Revd Raj Patta shares an reimagining of the Lord’s Prayer in the context of Gazan famine and starvation on the Methodist Church in Britain website: click here to read it.
