Contact: Juan Michel, World Council of Churches, + 41 22 791 6153, +41 79 507 6363, media@wcc-coe.org

MEDIA ADVISORY, Jan. 9 /Standard Newswire/ -- Individuals, groups, churches and councils of churches from Kenya to Sweden to the United States to Australia are carrying out hundreds of advocacy actions involving Christians concerned about the Gaza crisis, especially the collective punishment of the people of Gaza, and the need for a just and lasting peace between the Israeli and Palestinian peoples.

The WCC has received reports of church-related advocacy in some 20 countries, including statements, public demonstrations and letter campaigns addressed to government officials and parliament members. They are usually accompanied by vigils and prayer services and collection of funds to support humanitarian relief work.

Their goals include an immediate cease-fire that ends violence against civilians on both sides of the border, free access for humanitarian aid, lifting of the blockade on Gaza, and internationally sponsored negotiations under the framework of international law as the basis for peace.

Two weeks after the Israeli army launched the current attack on Gaza, an estimated 770 Palestinians have been killed, several thousands have been wounded and many have been made homeless. Four Israelis have been killed by cross-border rocket attacks and seven members of the Israeli Defense Force (IDF) have died in the fighting, four of them killed by friendly fire.

The International Committee of the Red Cross says the IDF is failing to fulfill its obligation under international law to help wounded civilians in Gaza. A United Nations relief agency suspended aid operations in Gaza after some of their facilities were targeted and two of their local staff killed by the IDF. Church-related facilities are not spared, as three DanChurchAid-supported mobile clinics bombed by the IDF show.

See a list of church-related advocacy actions for ending violence in Gaza
http://www.oikoumene.org/?id=6549#c23029

WCC statements and actions:

WCC invites prayers and advocacy for peace in Gaza, 7 Jan. 2009
http://www.oikoumene.org/en/news/news-management/eng/a/article/1722/wcc-invites-prayers-and-a.html

WCC general secretary statement on the Gaza crisis, 29 Dec. 2008
http://www.oikoumene.org/en/news/news-management/eng/a/article/1722/violence-against-gaza-mus.html

WCC central committee minute on the humanitarian situation in the Gaza Strip, Feb. 2008
http://www.oikoumene.org/?id=5614

Additional information: Juan Michel,+41 22 791 6153 +41 79 507 6363 media@wcc-coe.org

The World Council of Churches promotes Christian unity in faith, witness and service for a just and peaceful world. An ecumenical fellowship of churches founded in 1948, today the WCC brings together 349 Protestant, Orthodox, Anglican and other churches representing more than 560 million Christians in over 110 countries, and works cooperatively with the Roman Catholic Church. The WCC general secretary is Rev. Dr Samuel Kobia, from the Methodist Church in Kenya. Headquarters: Geneva, Switzerland.