THE next United States administration must suspend lethal-arms transfers to Israel immediately, the Presiding Bishop of the US Episcopal Church, the Most Revd Michael Curry, has said.

Bishop Curry was among 20 Christian leaders in the US who signed a letter to the campaigns of both Kamala Harris and Donald Trump, making five recommendations for action. On the matter of arms sales, they cited “repeated apparent violations of international and US law and policy in Gaza and the West Bank”.

The letter, dated 15 October, was sent two days after the US Secretaries of State and Defense sent a letter, leaked on social media, to the Israeli government, demanding “urgent intervention” in response to the “deteriorating humanitarian situation” in Gaza, which the letter linked to Israel’s holding up the delivery of aid. It listed “concrete measures” that it required Israel to take, including enabling a minimum of 350 trucks a day to enter Gaza and moves to “end the isolation of northern Gaza”. Israel must allow the Red Cross access to detainees, it said. “Reports of abuses against detainees” added urgency to this demand.

The letter also raised concerns about proposals to “remove certain immunities and privileges” from the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA), warning that this would “devastate the Gaza humanitarian response”. To date, the US has not reinstated funding to UNWRA, after allegations by the Israeli government (News, 2 February).

On Tuesday, the Moderator of the World Council of Churches, Bishop Dr Heinrich Bedford-Strohm, described the UNWRA as “the only institution providing effective humanitarian assistance to desperate people”. He appealed to all parties in the conflict to “actively support them in every possible way”. The agency was “beset by accusations, acute political pressures and threats of many kinds — including to their very lives — simply for providing a humanitarian response where no one else is able or willing to do.”

Last month, Israel’s Permanent Representative to the UN, Danny Danon, said that UNWRA Gaza had become “nothing more than a cartel, fostering hatred and prolonging misery in Gaza”. He presented photos of “terrorists” killed by the IDF who, he said, had been employed by the UNWRA. “How long will the UN continue to bury its head in the sand?”

In recent days, the UNWRA has been raising the alarm about the plight of civilians who remain in northern Gaza, which has been pounded by Israeli air strikes. The UNWRA’s Commissioner General, Philippe Lazzarini, said: “The smell of death is everywhere as bodies are left lying on the roads or under the rubble. Missions to clear the bodies or provide humanitarian assistance are denied.”

The UN humanitarian office OCHA, said on Sunday that, for five days, people had been trapped under the rubble in the Falouja area of Jabalia. Pleas to be permitted access to help had been “repeatedly denied by Israeli authorities”.

On Sunday, the UN Human Rights Office said that it was “increasingly concerned that the manner in which the Israeli military is conducting hostilities in north Gaza, along with unlawful interference with humanitarian assistance and orders that are leading to forced displacement, may be causing the destruction of the Palestinian population in Gaza’s northernmost governate through death and displacement”.

Israeli authorities had “prevented the entry of all essential supplies to north Gaza between 1 and 14 October, exacerbating the already dire situation under which food and fuel supplies to the north were dwindling, and many were facing starvation.” While the Israeli military had demanded that all civilians leave north Gaza, its bombing had made it “extremely dangerous for civilians to flee”.

Among the successes hailed by the Israeli government in its ongoing campaign is the killing of the Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar on Wednesday of last week. The US President, Joe Biden, said in response: “This is a good day for Israel, for the United States, and for the world.” He described Sinwar as “the mastermind of the October 7th massacres, rapes, and kidnappings”. There was now, he said, “the opportunity for a ‘day after’ in Gaza without Hamas in power, and for a political settlement that provides a better future for Israelis and Palestinians alike”.

Last week, the Disasters Emergency Committee launched an urgent Middle East Humanitarian Appeal. The UK Government will match the first £10 million of donations from the British public.