Over 300 Christian leaders from states across the US called on Congress this week to stop funding Israel and allow unimpeded aid into Gaza.
Christian leaders from New York, California, New Jersey, Virginia, and Maryland, among others, joined the campaign and raised the alarm over the treatment of Palestinians by Israeli forces.
Dozens of Christian organisations also took part in a demonstration in front of Capitol Hill in Washington DC on Thursday, emphasising their rejection of any further US funding of Israel.
The religious leaders urged members of Congress to instead provide funding for hospitals in occupied East Jerusalem and in Gaza , as well as to restore funds to the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestinian Refugees (UNRWA), which serves as a lifeline for many Palestinians.
Several of the church leaders visited members of Congress at their offices this week, where they detailed the dire conditions in Gaza and the occupied West Bank.
Some of the primary concerns mentioned were the lack of access to medical treatment for children and the daily suffering of civilians, particularly as Israel continues to launch daily attacks and killings in Gaza despite an October ceasefire. Eli McCarthy, a member of the Franciscan Action Network, said in a press conference this week that arms sent to Israel were being used to kill civilians in Gaza and Lebanon.
"Our political demands focus on the need to provide funding for the East Jerusalem hospital network, allow access for the people of Gaza, restore funding to UNRWA, and prevent the transfer of weapons and bombs to Israel," McCarthy said.
During the demonstration on Thursday, Reverend Mira Solan of Riverside Church in New York said the killing of children in Gaza was a "disgrace".
"Nearly 80 percent of children in Gaza do not have access to their basic needs or healthcare, and nearly half of families in the Strip cannot access a health facility. As a result, children are dying at a higher rate than ever before," she said.
Prominent New York-based Greek Orthodox nun, Agapia Stephanopoulos, said Israel’s actions against Muslims and Christians in occupied East Jerusalem can only be described as a "slow genocide".
Drawing on the nine years she spent in Palestine, she decried Israeli oppression during the demonstration and shed light on the plight of civilians in the occupied West Bank.
"I am here today to sound the alarm. I said about 25 years ago that this is a slow-moving genocide, and now we see Christians leaving the Holy Land because of the difficult conditions they are living in, where there are settlers in Christian towns who are trying to seize the property of its people," she said.
Other speakers at the demonstration shared their experiences from their time in the West Bank, with one pastor from the Evangelical Lutheran Church in the United States saying he witnessed "the ongoing oppression, genocide, apartheid, and ethnic cleansing imposed on the Palestinian people".
Reverend Allison Tanner, who works for the American Friends Service Committee, also joined the bid to pressure US members of Congress.
In a speech on Thursday, she said: "We are here to denounce the cruel and inhumane policies against Palestinians implemented by our government, and to demand a ban on the sale of weapons used in genocide by Israel, and the restoration of the humanitarian aid programme to Palestinians and the end to injustice and inhumane practices against them".
"Under international law, Israel is committing war crimes, crimes against humanity, apartheid," Tanner added.
The campaign comes against the backdrop of increased Israeli raids on Christian villages in the occupied West Bank.
This week, residents of Taybeh, a largely Christian town, told reporters that Israeli settlers were trying to force them off their land through intimidation.
Residents have taken to social media to decry the raids and ongoing harassment, stating that settlers have threatened to kill them if they return to their land.