.png)
Cardinal Vincent Nichols, Archbishop of Westminster and president of the Catholic Bishops' Conference of England and Wales, has spoken out following Israel’s security cabinet’s plan to take control of Gaza City.
His comments came on the feast day of Edith Stein, the convert from Judaism who became a Discalced Carmelite nun and was murdered in the gas chamber at Auschwitz.
“Today, and in these days, I weep for the people of Gaza as they face not just a continuation of their immense suffering but an escalation in their hardship and desperation.
“To increase the destruction of Gaza City and then the rest of its territory, in order to defeat a terrorist organisation and movement, is a development that is rightly being condemned around the world. There must be a better way, one that does not heap yet further suffering and misery on so many people who are not combatants but defenceless in the face of the perpetrators of violence in their midst. Already too much innocent blood has been shed; too many lives destroyed; too much hunger and starvation. This war must be ended, not increased.
“My heart goes out to my fellow Catholics and Christians in Gaza, and to HE Cardinal Pizzaballa. His consistent appeals for peace, for aid to be safely delivered, together with his sustaining of the Parish of the Holy Family as a haven of compassion and prayer, must evoke from us all our practical help and our prayers.”
This centre of peaceful resilience and profound solidarity, in the midst of such devastation and inhumanity, must be protected and preserved as one sign of hope for the future.
Our Lady of Gaza, pray for us. St Teresa Benedicta of the Cross, pray for us.
The remarks follow Israel’s political-security cabinet giving the green light to a military plan to take control of Gaza City, the most populous city in the Gaza Strip. This plan has been positioned as a step toward defeating Hamas—not a permanent occupation of Gaza—but it marks a clear shift toward a deeper incursion.
Since the 8 August announcement of the military plan, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said that Israel plans to widen the offensive beyond Gaza City to the last areas not yet under Israeli control.
Netanyahu has laid out his five stated aims for the intervention: disarming Hamas, returning all hostages, demilitarising the entire Gaza Strip, taking security control of the territory, and establishing “an alternative civil administration that is neither Hamas nor the Palestinian Authority.”
In previous comments, Cardinal Nichols has taken a middle line when addressing the Israel–Hamas conflict. In an interview last month with the UK’s Daily Express, the Cardinal described Hamas in Gaza as “the gang that has been running the prison” and said “what happened on October 7th should never, ever be forgotten.” On the other hand, he noted that “no terrorist organisation has ever been beaten on the battlefield” and said the Israeli action is not going to undermine Hamas. He also highlighted the evil of Gaza’s inhabitants being starved.
His latest intervention comes amidst growing international criticism of Israel’s military action. France, Australia, Canada, the UK and Malta have made plans to recognise Palestinian statehood at the UN General Assembly in September of this year.
