A group of Christian leaders visiting the Holy Land say they “hope that a fragile ceasefire agreement” between Israel and Palestinians will hold.
Eight bishops travelled to Jerusalem from January 18-23 for the Holy Land Co-ordination, an organization founded by the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of England and Wales in 2000. They were present in the Holy Land as Israel and Hamas put a ceasefire in place to end a 15-month conflict.
The Gaza war broke out following an Oct. 7, 2023, surprise attack by Hamas militants that left 1,200 Israelis dead and more than 250 taken as hostages. Of the roughly 100 hostages who remain in Gaza, a third are believed to be dead, according to Israeli Defense Forces.
Israel immediately launched a retaliatory offensive in Gaza to oust Hamas from leadership, with the subsequent conflict resulting in the deaths of over 40,000 people in Gaza, according to Palestinian estimates.
The bishops said they came to the Holy Land as “pilgrims of hope.”
“We came in hope that a fragile ceasefire agreement, announced as we travelled here, would hold,” they said in a statement on Thursday.
“We came looking forward to those, in both Israel and Palestine, who have suffered the atrocities of violence and war, being able to rebuild their shattered lives, to mourn the loss of their loved ones, to come together again as families and to start on the long, uncertain road to recovery,” they continued.
