Update on MennoPIN’s relationship with the people of the Gaza YMCA
by David Janzen
The exchange of bombing between Israel and Iran, and now the United States, has taken the attention of most media in recent days. Many lives have already been claimed and the plight of the Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank is off the front page. The entire Middle East is in a perilous situation.
In this time, MennoPIN continues to send prayers and food/supply donations to the hundreds of children, women and men living in the St. Porphyrius and Holy Family Churches in Gaza City. Some of the people formerly sheltering there have returned to the relative safety of the two church buildings after attempting to live in their damaged homes during the brief ceasefire period. Our meager efforts cannot touch the needs of the people given the expense of food and lack of medical care. Many have died, especially the young and old. Our main contact at the Gaza YMCA immigrated to the United States and has had relatively consistent internet access to friends in the churches over the past year. However, this communication was cut off recently when all of northern Gaza lost internet access.
The new “Gaza Humanitarian Fund,” implemented by private American contractors in coordination with the Israeli government, is by all accounts, doing a very poor job of getting food/supplies to those who are in need. Much violence has taken place as desperate people try to access the distribution sites. The United Nations has refused to work with this organization because it does not live up to the principles of international humanitarian aid.
So we continue to solicit funds to Fellowship of Hope, 1614 S. 6th St, Elkhart IN 46516 by check or using the Givelify app. Please include “Gaza Help” as a memo line.
Another of our Gaza YMCA friends remains in Egypt seeking a country that will take a Palestinian family of six. The parents are professionals, who along with their children, would make a most positive contribution to a new community. Our friend in the US, also an experienced administrator, has had difficulty finding employment.
We wish we could be more hopeful for a resolution that opens the way to a lasting peace. It seems that only new leadership on both sides can break the stalemate. And as long as the United States provides military hardware for the Israeli government, the genocide will continue. Our friends with whom we connect haven’t lost hope that love can find a way to peace. Keep speaking out for peace to your government representatives.
+972 Magazine, an independent, online, nonprofit magazine run by a group of Palestinian and Israeli journalists, describes the experiences of Palestinians seeking to receive aid from the U.S.- and Israeli-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation’s food distribution sites:
After two months without a single drop of food, medicine, or fuel entering Gaza, a trickle of white flour and canned goods has been allowed in since late May. Most of it has gone to sites in Rafah and the Netzarim Corridor managed by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), guarded by private American security contractors and Israeli soldiers. On June 10, small shipments also began arriving via aid trucks operated by the World Food Programme (WFP).
But with hunger deepening, people no longer wait for the trucks to move safely past Israeli troops. Instead, they rush toward them the moment they appear, desperate to grab whatever they can before supplies vanish. Tens of thousands gather at the distribution points, sometimes for days in advance, and many go home empty-handed.
Starving civilians gather in massive crowds, waiting for permission to approach. In many instances, Israeli troops have opened fire on the masses — and even during distribution itself — killing dozens as they try to collect a few kilos of flour or canned goods to bring home in what Palestinians have dubbed “The Hunger Games.”
Upcoming Opportunities:
Take a stand Against Christian Zionism
Next Sunday-Tuesday! You can participate online!
The Interfaith Action for Palestine (IAP) is bringing together a coalition of faith-rooted activist organizations for a critical intervention this summer: we’re coming together to counter Christians United for Israel (CUFI) — the largest “pro-Israel” organization in the United States — during their Annual Summit June 29-July 1, 2025 in National Harbor, Maryland, and Washington, DC. If you would like to participate, either full or part-time in-person or online, please click below to register.
Join us at the MCUSA Convention and connect with fellow Mennos who have a heart for peace and justice in Israel/Palestine
MennoPIN has planned a number of activities for the MC USA convention in Greensboro, NC this summer.
We’d love to meet or reconnect with you by having you join us! Let’s forge connections and Follow Jesus
Drop by our booth in the Intersectionality section of the Exhibit Hall anytime Tuesday, July 8 – Friday, July 11 and say hello!
Wednesday, July 9 at 5:15 pmImperial Ballroom DInformal reception with refreshments and updates(co-hosted with Mennonite Action)
Friday, July 11 at 2:30 pmGrandover West classroomSeminar: Harmful Effects of Christian Zionism on the Church with Rev. Dr. Alex Awad
Friday, July 11 at 3:30 pmPebble Beach theatreSeminar: A Faithful Response to Palestine and Israel with Jonathan Kuttab
Register for Trees, the Land, and Jesus: A Working and Learning Trip to Palestine and Israel
Join Mennonite Palestine Israel Network (MennoPIN) and Mennonite Men as we travel to Palestine and Israel from February 4-19, 2026, to plant olive trees, meet Palestinian peacemakers, and connect the land to Jesus’ way of peace.
Our two-week sojourn in Palestine and Israel will bring us into multifold contact with this land. Tree-planting days in the West Bank will give us intimate, hand-to-soil contact with the land itself as we work with Palestinian farmers. We will learn about the occupation of Palestine through relationship building and experiential
learning. We will discover the critical place of trees in the culture, economy, and ecology of the region. And we will see that the olive branch is not simply a symbol, but that olive trees are essential for God’s peace in this land.
Mennonite Palestine Israel Network
MennoPIN keeps you informed about Palestine/Israel through our monthly update, special alerts, calls to action, important resources and tour possibilities, all from an Anabaptist perspective. To find out more, please visit our website at www.mennopin.org
Feedback, responses, and suggestions for future updates can be submitted to info@mennopin.org
Steering Committee
Bob Atchison (Manhattan Mennonite Church, Manhattan, KS)
Lydia Brenneman (Lima Mennonite Church, Lima, OH)
Dave Janzen (Fellowship of Hope, Elkhart, IN)
Michael George (Landisville Mennonite Church, PA)
Jonathan Kuttab (Palestinian lawyer and human rights activist, Manheim, PA)
Dorothy Jean Weaver (Community Mennonite Church, Harrisonburg, VA)
Zachary Murray (Mennonite Central Committee, Washington, DC)
Adam Ramer (Co-coordinator of Mennonite Action, New York, NY)
David Bluford (Rainbow Mennonite Church, Kansas City, KS)
Gretchen Merlot (Philadelphia, PA)
MennoPIN 