By Minaz Kerawala, Communications and Public Relations Advisor
Development and Peace ― Caritas Canada welcomes the long-overdue Gaza ceasefire that came into force on January 19, 2025, because it ends the bloodshed that Palestinians have been enduring for over 15 months. We rejoice, too, for the families of the Israeli hostages, whose anguish has prevailed just as long.
Early on, we had heeded Pope Francis’s appeal for “believers to take just one side in this conflict: that of peace,” and echoed his prayer that the “weapons be silenced.” Today, we accompany the Holy Father in expressing “gratitude to all the mediators” and “all the parties involved in this important result.”
Gaza ceasefire: a new beginning
Like our partner Caritas Jerusalem, “we see this day as a new beginning” and “a chance to save lives and restore the human dignity that was nearly crushed under the horrors of war.” We share the Caritas Internationalis view that the ceasefire should be “a step towards long-lasting peace in the region.” Anton Asfar, the secretary general of Caritas Jerusalem, eloquently expresses what this reprieve means to the Palestinian people:
Gaza ceasefire: a test of commitment
A complex, multi-stage agreement, the ceasefire is rendered fragile by several ambiguities and unknowns. Ensuring that it takes hold and proceeds as planned will require firm commitment and good-faith action by all parties. Its prospects are helped neither by Israel’s choice to have killed over 110 people between its announcement and commencement nor by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s belligerent talk of reserving the right to restart the war.
It is therefore imperative, as UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk said, for “all countries with influence to do everything in their powers to ensure the success of next stages of the ceasefire, including the release of all hostages and to end the war in its entirety.”
The long road ahead
Over more than 15 months of relentlessly bombing Gaza, Israel has killed 46,645 people; injured 110,012; and displaced some 1.9 million people, per the latest report. Months ago, an authoritative estimate had placed the potentially true death toll at closer to 186,000. Among the dead, there are reportedly 183 journalists, 1,047 health workers and 340 aid workers (who include our Caritas Jerusalem colleagues Viola Al ‘Amash and Issam Abedrabbo).
According to the December 2024 update on Gaza issued by the Global Protection Cluster, a network of NGOs and UN agencies, 70 per cent of the casualties are women and children; over 10,000 people may lie buried under the rubble; a fourth of the injured will have lifelong disabilities; and over a million children need mental health support.
The update also notes that two-thirds of critical infrastructure has been destroyed. This includes 66 per cent of buildings, 68 per cent of road networks, 70 per cent of agricultural land and 92.9% of schools. All hospitals have been damaged and fewer than half are partially functioning, and children and vulnerable adults are dying of malnutrition and curable diseases. Less than halfway into its murderous campaign, Israel had dropped 85,000 tonnes of bombs on Gaza. This bombardment has left behind over 50.7 million tons of debris.
In September 2024, a UN report had concluded that it could take up to 350 years after a ceasefire to restore Gaza’s economy to its 2022 level of productivity. Aid agencies have estimated that reconstruction could cost as much as US$80 billion.
A time for everyone to reflect
As the Palestinian people heave a sigh of relief, the world cannot help but join them in celebrating and savouring this ceasefire. But euphoria must not become complacency, much less amnesia.
Yesterday, the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights reported “a wave of renewed violence perpetrated by settlers and Israeli security forces in the Occupied West Bank, coinciding with the implementation of the Gaza ceasefire agreement and the release of hostages and detainees.”
We also cannot lose sight of what is happening beyond Gaza in Lebanon, Iran, Iraq, Syria and Yemen, all of which have been repeatedly attacked by Israel or its allies over the past year. Stopping all this violence should now be prioritized.
It is time for all peoples and nations to take stock of collective failures. We must ask what allowed Israel to continue the carnage that Pope Francis characterized as “terrorism” and that Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International have deemed genocidal. We must commit to securing the success and permanence of the ceasefire; contributing all we can to the monumental relief and reconstruction efforts that lie ahead; seeking justice and accountability; and ensuring that the ceasefire opens a pathway to a just and lasting peace.
A time for Canada and Canadians to step up
Inspired by Catholic Social Teaching and with the conviction that our country has an important role to play, we urge the Government of Canada to maintain an embargo on arms exports to Israel and to:
- Closely monitor the implementation of the ceasefire and ensure that it is respected in letter and spirit by all parties
- Urge Israeli authorities to allow even more than the agreed 600 aid trucks per day into Gaza
- Use all moral, diplomatic, political and economic means to compel Israel to curb settler violence in the West Bank and ease the additional restrictions placed on Palestinians in the wake of the war on Gaza
- Urge Israel to reverse any decision to ban or impede UNRWA
- Honour its undertaking to execute arrest warrants issued by the International Criminal Court regardless of which party assumes power after the next election
- Clearly and publicly commit to supporting all International Court of Justice proceedings currently underway
- Support UN resolutions that denounce or seek to constrain Israel’s continued occupation of the Palestinian Territories and persecution of the Palestinian people
- Work toward an internationally mediated process to secure a just and lasting peace for the people of Palestine and Israel
- Commit substantial funding to immediate humanitarian aid and longer-term recovery efforts
Counting on the generosity of Canadians, we remain committed to supporting all our partners in the Holy Land and to helping Caritas Jerusalem fulfill its promise of not “only rebuilding buildings but also rebuilding the human being, preserving their dignity, and giving them the chance to live the life they deserve.”
