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On the second day of the Spring General Meeting of the Irish Catholic Bishops’ Conference in Maynooth, the Bishop of Derry issued a hard-hitting joint statement with his fellow bishops.

They stated: “Stop the War! In saying this, we join with many in our parishes, together with all people of goodwill, in demanding an immediate end to the daily horror of killing, wounding and destruction of property and infrastructure there.

"We call on the Israeli government to comply with basic human and international standards in ensuring that Palestinians have full and unimpeded access to food, water and basic safety requirements.

Palestinian children receive cooked food rations as part of a volunteer youth initiative in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip, on March 5, 2024, amid widespread hunger in the besieged Palestinian territory as the conflict between Israel and the Palestinian militant group Hamas continues. (Photo by MOHAMMED ABED / AFP) (Photo by MOHAMMED ABED/AFP via Getty Images)

"At the same time, we call on Hamas to release all hostages and to end missile attacks on Israel. Equally, the attacks on Palestinians in the West Bank, which do not command as much attention in the public sphere, are also to be condemned. What is happening in this region cannot be morally justified.”

The bishops said the current aggression was not ‘a war between Jews and Arabs’.

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"People of all faiths, including many of the Jewish tradition, oppose what is happening and the effect it is having not only on Israel and Palestine but throughout the wider Middle East and further afield.

"There is no future in the perpetuation of conflict and human suffering. This is especially so when one considers the intensity of what is happening in the Holy Land.”

Bishop McKeown and his colleagues said international efforts to secure a ceasefire are welcome but that with the death toll continuing to rise ‘all possible pressure should be applied to prevail upon Israel to desist from military operations that impact so horrendously on innocent civilians’.

“Equally, any international support for Hamas terrorism is utterly unacceptable. The international community has failed to vindicate the right of the Palestinian people to a safe homeland, with statehood and freedom of movement, as part of a two-state solution which recognises both Israel and Palestine,” they stated.

The Bishops urged people to support Trócaire’s Gaza appeal on https://www.trocaire.org/.

Bishop McKeown joins ‘stop the war’ call as bishops decry ‘daily horror of killing and wounding’ in Gaza

37 pictures as thousands turn out in Derry calling for end to war on Gaza