Dominican Priest who Survived Rwanda's Genocide - Prophetic Cry for an End to Genocide in Gaza - EXCLUSIVE

A Dominican Priest who Survived Rwanda's Genocide says it's the Duty of Christians to Call for a Ceasefire in Gaza Fr. Ineza writes - In the face of what many now recognize as a genocide in Gaza, marked by over 54,000 deaths, mostly women and children, Christians are called to a posture of moral clarity and courageous witness. The prophetic tradition of Scripture demands nothing less. As the prophet Isaiah declares, “Learn to do good; seek justice, rescue the oppressed, defend the orphan, plead for the widow” (Isaiah 1:17). The sustained silence or cautious equivocation of powerful nations stands in stark contrast to this biblical imperative. 

EXCLUSIVE to Catholic News World by Fr. Gustave Ineza, OP - Genocide in Gaza: Moral Abdication is not an option

Since October 7, 2023, Gaza, often described as an open-air prison due to decades of systemic

blockade and military aggression by Israeli forces, has endured twenty months of escalating

violence. On June 4, 2025, the Palestinian News & Information Agency (WAFA) reported that

“medical sources in Gaza” had confirmed a death toll of 54,607, the vast majority of whom were

women and children. It also states that the number of wounded has risen to 125,341, with

thousands still trapped beneath the rubble in areas inaccessible to rescue teams due to

continued airstrikes and ground operations. What began as a military campaign has evolved, in

the view of many observers, into an unmistakable genocide. Equally troubling is the persistent

absence of decisive political will among powerful nations, beyond vague warnings and rhetorical

condemnation, to bring an end to this atrocity.

More than 600 days after the events of October 7, Palestinians have endured the equivalent of

hundreds of “October Sevenths” in terms of trauma and loss. Yet, mainstream media often

continues to frame the ongoing violence as an inevitable outcome of that single day, largely

ignoring the broader historical context and minimizing the scale of its aftermath. One

mechanism by which this genocide is downplayed is the systematic erasure of the identities of

children killed in Israeli bombings. By withholding their names, these children are reduced to

faceless statistics, numbers that are frequently met with skepticism simply because they are

released by Gaza’s Health Ministry, whose legitimacy is regularly questioned due to its affiliation

with Hamas.

Despite this climate of denial and minimization, not all voices have remained silent or complicit.

Pope Francis, for instance, regularly contacted a parish in Gaza, often calling daily when

possible. He publicly denounced the violence and, on several occasions, referred to it explicitly

as genocide. United Nations humanitarian agencies and independent NGOs have likewise used

this term. Numerous Israeli human rights organizations have echoed these assessments. Most

notably, two former Israeli prime ministers have recently warned that current Prime Minister

Benjamin Netanyahu could, in the future, face legal accountability for the military campaign in

Gaza and the West Bank. Ehud Olmert calls what is happening a genocide.

Medical professionals from Canada, France, the United Kingdom, and the United Nations –

excluding for the purpose of this reflection voices from the Global South, whose testimonies, like

those of Gazans themselves, are often ignored in dominant international narratives – have

spoken out with both moral clarity and professional urgency. Their testimonies combine rigorous

analysis with deep compassion, highlighting the vast human cost of the ongoing aggression.

While Canada, France, and the United Kingdom have recently issued restrained statements

regarding Israel’s military operations, these remarks remain devoid of any clear consequences

or sanctions. Describing them as “cautious and restrained” reflects this absence of enforceable

accountability. Importantly, it must be noted that only months ago, these same governments

appeared to offer Israel unconditional support, a fact that suggests a subtle but significant

political, ethical, or diplomatic shift in the international discourse.

Signs of this evolving discourse are also evident in academic and activist spaces. For over a

year, university students across numerous campuses have engaged in sustained protest. These

demonstrations have intensified around graduation ceremonies, where students have publicly

challenged their institutions; financial investments in companies linked to the Israeli military

apparatus. In some instances, students have faced punitive consequences, including the denial

of degrees, for their principled resistance.

Similarly, for the past ten months, a group of theological students from the Toronto School of

Theology, alongside members of Christians for a Free Palestine and their allies, have gathered

every Wednesday to pray Vespers. These services have been offered in solidarity with the

people of Gaza, the West Bank, and East Jerusalem, and occasionally extended to those

affected by Israeli military action in Lebanon, Syria, and other regions.

Amid this slowly shifting narrative, there is growing recognition of the suffering of Palestinians

and a renewed scholarly effort to interrogate the historical and political context of the conflict.

Increasingly, independent voices, including leading Jewish Holocaust historians who had

previously been reluctant to criticize Israel, are engaging in critical reassessments of the state's

actions. In light of this, it is imperative that we recover a sense of moral clarity. The moral

abdication of world leaders – particularly in the West, where support for Israel’s colonial project

has long been a default position – has actively suppressed dissent and enabled violence

against Palestinians since 1948. The time has come to confront this silence and renew our

collective commitment to justice, accountability, and human dignity.

In the face of what many now recognize as a genocide in Gaza, marked by over 54,000 deaths,

mostly women and children, Christians are called to a posture of moral clarity and courageous

witness. The prophetic tradition of Scripture demands nothing less. As the prophet Isaiah

declares, “Learn to do good; seek justice, rescue the oppressed, defend the orphan, plead for

the widow” (Isaiah 1:17). The sustained silence or cautious equivocation of powerful nations

stands in stark contrast to this biblical imperative. In such a context, moral courage means not

only lamenting the violence but naming it for what it is, regardless of political cost. The

consistent efforts of students, religious leaders like Pope Francis, and grassroots Christian

communities to denounce this violence align with the biblical call to “speak up for those who

cannot speak for themselves, for the rights of all who are destitute” (Proverbs 31:8).

Christian discipleship, as modeled in the life of Christ and the early church, calls for solidarity

with the marginalized and oppressed. In Gaza, this means refusing to dehumanize the victims

by reducing them to disputed statistics and instead affirming their dignity and sacred worth. It

also requires confronting systemic injustice with the boldness exemplified by the apostles who

declared, “We must obey God rather than human beings” (Acts 5:29). As global discourse

slowly shifts and more voices rise to challenge the normalization of Israeli state violence,

Christians must remain steadfast. Prayer, protest, and public witness, such as the weekly

Vespers held by theological students and allies, are not peripheral acts of faith, but essential

expressions of it. In reclaiming the moral compass lost by much of the international community,

Christians must embody the Gospel’s demand for justice, mercy, and truth.

Fr. Gustave Noel Ineza, OP, is a doctoral student at St. Michael’s Faculty of Theology. Born and raised in Rwanda, he lived through the 1994 genocide against the Tutsi and went into exile for a month in what was then Zaire. His family left the refugee camps and returned to Rwanda after three members of his family developed cholera. He studied in the minor seminary and joined the Dominican Order in 2002. He studied Philosophy in Burundi, and Theology in South Africa (SJTI/Pietermaritzburg) and the UK (Blackfriars/Oxford). Ordained in 2014, he worked for Domuni (www.domuni.eu) and was a chaplain to university and high school students. In 2018, he came to Canada to pursue studies in Christian-Muslim dialogue. He is currently reading on post-colonial approaches to the taxonomies assigned to religious traditions (Muslims and Christians) by colonial powers in Rwanda.