Hundreds of rabbis worldwide have signed a letter calling for Israel to stop using starvation as a “weapon of war,” bring home the hostages and end the fighting in Gaza.

The letter, posted Friday and featuring the names of several leading rabbis across denominations, said the “Jewish People face a grave moral crisis.”

Its signatories, the text read, “are deeply committed to the wellbeing of Israel and the Jewish People,” but “cannot keep silent” in the face of Gaza’s growing death toll and rising malnutrition.

The letter was published as global concern intensified over mounting reports of starvation and lack of food in the war-torn enclave. It is one of the most prominent examples of Jewish and pro-Israel leaders publicly endorsing those concerns and demanding that Israel address them.

“We recognize, and many of us endure, the huge challenges the State of Israel relentlessly confronts, surrounded for so long by enemies and facing existential threats from many quarters,” the letter said.

The signatories also said they “unequivocally support” Israel’s battle against Hamas and Hezbollah and understand the IDF’s policy of protecting its soldiers’ lives.

“But we cannot condone the mass killings of civilians, including a great many women, children and elderly, or the use of starvation as a weapon of war,” the letter continued. “The severe limitation placed on humanitarian relief in Gaza, and the policy of withholding of food, water, and medical supplies from a needy civilian population contradict essential values of Judaism as we understand it.”

The Hamas-run health ministry has said deaths from hunger are rising sharply in Gaza. Hundreds of aid groups have called the situation a humanitarian catastrophe and called on Israel to let in more supplies,........

© The Times of Israel