NEW YORK (RNS) — On Thursday (May 22), dozens of religious activists and war veterans gathered outside the United Nations headquarters in Manhattan to launch a 40-day fast protesting the humanitarian aid blockade in Gaza.
The fast, initiated by Veterans for Peace, an anti-war organization, and a dozen Christian organizations, intends to raise awareness of the famine looming over Gaza. Participants plan to consume less than 250 calories a day, mirroring the average daily nutrient intake of residents in Gaza.
Members of Christian organizations like Pax Christi, Friends of Sabeel North America (FOSNA), the Mennonite Palestine Israel network and the Palestine Justice Network of the Presbyterian Church joined Veterans for Peace in the fast.
In total, 249 people across the country plan to fast and demand the UN enable humanitarian aid to enter the Gaza Strip and that the U.S. stop sending weapons to Israel, according to a Christians for Ceasefire press release.
“The whole situation is just horrifying, heartbreaking, criminal, sinful,” Rosemarie Pace, a coordinator for Pax Christi’s New York state chapter, told RNS at the event. “Like Pope Francis said, I’m for peace. It’s not so much to take sides. It’s to say we need peace. We need justice.”
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After a press conference in front of the Isaiah Wall, where a verse from the Book of Isaiah (2:4) is inscribed, the group marched to the nearby U.S. Mission to the United Nations building, where fasters plan to maintain a presence each day during the fast.
Circling a black, red, green and white banner reading “Veterans & Allies Fast for Gaza,” the dozens who came on Thursday also chanted “Ceasefire now, we cry, let Gaza live and thrive.”
The group announced its fast as 470,000 people face the threat of starvation in Gaza, according to an Integrated Food Security Phase Classification report, released in early May.
“As we commemorate the 77th Nakba Day this month, we commit — with our bodies — to interrupt that evil plan to starve our Palestinian kin in Gaza,” said the Rev. Addie Domske, a field organizer for FOSNA, in a Christians for Ceasefire press release. The Nakba, or “catastrophe,” refers to the Palestinian displacement during the establishment of the state of Israel in 1948, and is memorialized annually on May 15 by Palestinians and allies around the world.
The humanitarian situation in Gaza has worsened in the past few weeks following a decision by Israel to block the entry of humanitarian aid into the strip. On Monday (May 19), Israel lifted the 78-day blockade and allowed the first trucks to enter the strip. On Wednesday evening, 90 trucks loaded with flour, baby food and medication entered the territory. The UN noted it was “nowhere near enough to meet the vast needs in Gaza.”
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Anti-war activists demonstrate outside the United Nations headquarters on Thursday, May 22, 2025, in Manhattan, New York. (RNS photo/Fiona André)
Jack Gilroy, a Pax Christi member, hopes the fast will prompt reactions from U.S. government officials and compel them to stop providing military support to Israel.
“We are enablers. The United States people and the United States government are enablers of what is happening. Stopping the shipping of weapons is just one aspect that needs to be done, opening up the gates to humanitarian assistance for the starving people of Gaza, that is a must,” said Gilroy during Thursday’s press conference.
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Anthony Donovan, a Catholic worker and Pax Christi member, told RNS he plans to fast for a week. Donovan, who is 73 years old, said he will mostly drink water and green juice, following a recipe recommended by FOSNA.
“I can’t pray hard enough,” he said. “That’s very important to help guide me, to let me know what the next step will be. But really, we have to walk. Prayers are walking. Prayers are action. So that’s why we’re here, and that’s why we’ve been out since October 7.”
After Israel launched its military campaign on Gaza in response to the Hamas attacks on Oct. 7, 2023, members of Pax Christi and Veterans for Peace started protesting outside the U.S. Mission to the United Nations building every Thursday.
Mary Yelenick, a member of Pax Christi International, said she joined the weekly protest to denounce the U.S. military support provided to Israel.
“What prompted me to come here originally was the images of the children in Gaza, the little children who lost both arms and both legs and both parents. We did that with our tax dollars. We did that with supplying munitions,” Yelenick told RNS.
Though she isn’t sure she will fast for 40 days, Yelenick intends to fast for a few days every week.
“Even when we fast, they don’t have access to water. So even with water, I have far more than the people in Gaza, and that’s because of our country,” she said.
