LET CHILDREN LIVE. PLEASE PRAY FOR THE CHILDREN OF PALESTINE’S WEST BANK
A Palestinian child looks out from behind a gate as an Israeli soldier stands guard in the Old City of Hebron, West Bank, on September 20, 2025. The army reinforced security in the area during a settler raid that triggered clashes and the arrest of a foreign activist. (Photo by Mosab Shawer / Middle East Images via AFP) (Photo by MOSAB SHAWER/Middle East Images/AFP via Getty Images)
Let us pray:
In a world that God made good
let us pray for people seeing things no human being should see
for people seized by terror no human being should experience
for people whose depths of suffering no human being should know.
God of unquenchable hope confirm our belief that this is not how things should be;
Affirm our belief that things can and will be different;
Strengthen our belief in Jesus who opens the way from death to resurrection,
And help us, as his disciples, to be your agents for change in our broken world. Amen
https://www.methodist.org.uk/faith/prayer/israel-palestine/prayers-for-israel-palestine/
Context: A brief comparison of the Gaza Strip and the West Bank
For the past 9- 10 months we have been praying for 9-year-old Khalid and his family in Gaza. We have learned of the horrors and destruction of life there- the thousands of people killed, the shattered homes, the destroyed hospitals and schools, the lack of security, lack of medical care, lack of education, lack of food, lack of sanitation, lack of hope.
Now we are turning our attention to the children of the West Bank.
Both the West Bank and Gaza are territories occupied by Israel since 1967, but they differ significantly in geography, internal governance, current crisis conditions, and their day-to-day realities.
Gaza, a narrow, coastal enclave bordering the Mediterranean Sea and Egypt, has been subjected to a strict blockade by Israel and Egypt since 2007. The Gaza Strip, with an area of about 365 sq km and a population of somewhat over 2 million, governed by Hamas, is an active conflict zone experiencing widespread devastation, high civilian casualties, and restricted aid.
The much larger West Bank (2,270 sq km) is a landlocked territory located east of Israel with a population of approximately 3.3 million Palestinians and over 700,000 Israeli settlers. Under the Oslo framework, the Israeli military retains overriding security control across the entire West Bank and full administrative control over Area C, which contains all Israeli settlements. The Palestinian Authority (PA) manages civic, educational, and medical services for the local population. The West Bank is largely defined by Israeli military control, accelerating settlement expansion, and frequent settler violence. It is fragmented by over 800 Israeli checkpoints, roadblocks, and expanding settlements.
