The head of Iran’s Islamic seminaries has called on religious leaders worldwide to demand urgent action to end the Israeli siege on Gaza, as forced starvation is killing Palestinians and humanitarian access remains blocked.
In a Wednesday letter addressed to 26 leading religious figures across the Muslim world and the Vatican, Ayatollah Alireza A’rafi condemned Israeli “war crimes” in Gaza and said the humanitarian crisis there was a test of conscience for the international community.
“I offer this letter with a heart heavy from the Zionists’ war crimes and a soul filled with Islamic brotherhood,” he wrote.
Ayatollah A’rafi urged Islamic leaders to speak out against the systematic oppression in Gaza. “The ongoing oppression in Gaza is not just a political crisis — it is also a test of the sincerity behind proclaimed unity and the integrity of awakened consciences,” he wrote.
“In the midst of fire and hunger, the eyes of our brothers and sisters in Gaza are turned to the Islamic Ummah,” A’rafi added. “The hunger of a Muslim child not only brings tears but leaves no excuse before God.”
Among the recipients of the letter were Pope Leo XIV, Sheikh Ahmed El-Tayyeb, the Grand Imam of Al-Azhar, senior Saudi cleric Salih bin Abdullah al-Humaid, who is the Imam of Masjid al-Haram (the Grand Mosque of Mecca), and Sheikh Ali al-Qaradaghi of the International Union of Muslim Scholars (IUMS). Religious scholars from Pakistan, Indonesia, and India were also addressed.
The letter was sent as health officials in Gaza confirmed that at least 10 more Palestinians died of starvation on Wednesday, pushing the number of malnutrition-related deaths since Israel’s war began in October 2023 to 111—most in recent weeks. Among them were 21 children under the age of five, according to the World Health Organization.
Ayatollah A’rafi called on scholars and clerics to denounce the tyrants and “cry out for the hunger of the oppressed.” He urged Islamic governments and international bodies to act immediately to break the siege to help deliver life-saving aid.
At least 100 more Palestinians, including 34 waiting for aid, were killed in Israeli strikes in the past 24 hours alone. The United Nations reports that Israeli forces have shot dead more than 1,000 aid seekers at food distribution points in recent months.
Despite aid piling up outside Gaza’s borders, access remains tightly controlled.
“Mass starvation” is spreading, warned a coalition of 111 NGOs, including Mercy Corps and Refugees International, blaming Israeli restrictions.
“Tonnes of food, clean water, and medical supplies sit untouched just outside Gaza,” their statement read, “while aid groups are blocked from accessing them.”
UN officials said Israel completely halted the delivery of goods into Gaza in March and has only allowed a trickle of aid since May, mainly distributed by the controversial US-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF).
“We need to have no armed actors near our distribution points,” said Ross Smith, UN World Food Programme’s emergency director. “That is a minimum requirement to operate.”
Since October 7, 2023, Israeli attacks have killed at least 59,219 Palestinians, the majority of them women and children. The ongoing aggression has leveled large swaths of Gaza, internally displacing almost all of the 2.2 million population.
