In their joint statement, the Catholic, Orthodox and Protestant church leaders also called for stemming the violence that has erupted since Hamas’ surprise attack on Israel last weekend, which took the lives of 1,300 Israelis. About 1,900 Palestinians have been killed in the conflict over the past week.

The statement followed Israel’s call for the 1.1 million people living in northern Gaza to flee toward the southern part of the territory. The 141-square-mile Gaza Strip, home to more than 2 million people, has been enclosed in an Israeli land, sea and air blockade since 2007 and has a closed border with Egypt.

The Christian leaders also criticized the cutting off of electricity, water, fuel, food and medicine supplies to the area.

Palestinian Health Minister Mai Al-Kaila warned on Thursday of imminent health collapse in the Gaza Strip as a result of a severe shortage of medicines, supplies and blood bags due to the Israeli blockade.

The large number of wounded exceeds the capacity of hospitals in the coastal enclave, Al-Kaila warned.

Earlier, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) warned that due to the lack of electricity, following the Israeli blockade, hospitals run the risk of becoming morgues.

“The human misery caused by this escalation is abominable and I implore the parties involved to reduce the suffering of civilians,” Fabrizio Carboni, ICRC’s Regional Director for the Near and Middle East, said in a statement.

Amid this scenario, the Palestinian Foreign Ministry accused Israel of committing genocide.

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