As Israel’s bombardment and ground invasion against the Gaza Strip approaches its fifth month, Palestinians across the region, in the West Bank and East Jerusalem, experience the loss of their jobs and the inability to move across checkpoints, or buy or sell food. They face a constant threat of harm and harassment, not because they are anywhere near Gaza, but because they are the Palestinians within reach.
Amid the scenes of overwhelming death and destruction, by God’s grace, small miracles happen each day.
Amir*, a Palestinian youth, finds it nearly impossible to cross the Palestinian/Israeli line to get to his school in a safe way. Yet, his school, community and United Methodists giving through the United Methodist Committee on Relief (UMCOR) created a way for him to continue his education. Hope Secondary School opened a remote learning station in his neighborhood and provided him with an electronic tablet and a place where wi-fi still works.
Your gifts on UMCOR Sunday helps support the foundation for the United Methodist Committee on Relief (UMCOR) to share God’s love with communities everywhere.
In efforts to support Palestinians in places like the West Bank and the Northern Galilee section of Israel, where most Palestinian citizens of Israel live, UMCOR supports partners that serve marginal and vulnerable Palestinian communities. Though many of these have specific areas of service to specific populations, they now find their communities need emergency help. Two grants to Hope Secondary School have helped Palestinian children and families affected by the repercussions of the war in Gaza.
In this way, Amir has been able to rely on the safety of his own community and continue his education – a small but important miracle for him and other students.
David Wildman, Global Ministries’ United Nations and Middle East liaison, traveled to the region in December 2023 with a South African international solidarity delegation. They met with Palestinian Christian colleagues and human rights leaders across Palestine, Jordan and Egypt, as well as in Tel Aviv with the families of hostages being held by Hamas in Gaza. “There is a trickle of aid getting through,” Wildman said. “There should be more than 500 trucks going into Gaza every day, but there are at most 120 allowed to pass from Cairo to Rafah, but the little aid that gets in cannot reach all the people safely.”
UMCOR, like other humanitarian agencies, has found it difficult to get relief into Gaza. A long-time Global Ministries’ partner, the Department of Service to Palestinian Refugees (DSPR) of the Near East Council of Churches, has staff in Gaza that have been working with what they have, but they, like 90% of all Palestinians in Gaza, have been displaced. UMCOR affirms the ACT appeal for Gaza relief that will support the work of DSPR, but how soon the aid can reach Gaza is a real challenge. An emergency grant to provide 14,000 people with emergency food rations made it to the DSPR in Gaza early in the conflict.
Finally, Palestinian Christians have reached out to Christians across the world to call for an immediate cease-fire and to trust in God and pray for them.
*Name changed to protect identity.
excerpt from a story by Christie R. House, consultant writer and editor with Global Ministries and UMCOR.
One of six churchwide Special Sundays with offerings of The United Methodist Church, UMCOR Sunday calls United Methodists to share the goodness of life with those who hurt. Your gifts to UMCOR Sunday lay the foundation for the United Methodist Committee on Relief (UMCOR) to share God’s love with communities everywhere. The special offering underwrites UMCOR’s “costs of doing business.” This helps UMCOR to keep the promise that 100 percent of any gift to a specific UMCOR project will go toward that project, not administrative costs.
When you give generously on UMCOR Sunday, you make a difference in the lives of people who hurt. Give now.
