Five-year-old Hind Rajab was killed by Israeli soldiers as she sat in the back of her family’s car in Gaza. Her relatives were trying to evacuate. The world listened in horror to the recordings of Hind’s final pleas for help as she watched each of her family members die before soldiers took her life, too.
Hind’s name became known across the world—her story pierced hearts in a way that statistics rarely can.
Hind Rajab. Five years old.
But behind the headlines are hundreds of thousands more Palestinian children struggling to survive and grow. There are more than 2 million children in Gaza and the West Bank — most of whose lives go unseen by the world.
The pain is not only in the violence that kills children but also in the displacement and despair that scatter them. Palestinian families know that the next generation’s survival is at stake. Yet in the midst of this grief, the church has the chance to hold up a different vision:
God sees every child. And so should we.
Throughout Scripture, God makes clear the preciousness of children. Jesus welcomes them: “Whoever welcomes one of these little children in my name welcomes me” (Mark 9:37). The psalmist calls them a heritage and gift from the Lord (127:3). Proverbs urges us to “speak up for those who cannot speak for themselves” (31:8).
In God’s kingdom, children are image-bearers. To follow Jesus is to resist any system that reduces them to numbers, collateral damage, or an afterthought. To be the church is to learn their names as God does—to bless them and to protect them.
Let Children Live
This conviction is at the heart of a new initiative from Churches for Middle East Peace (CMEP). The campaign, called Let Children Live, invites Christians and congregations to receive the names of living Palestinian children and commit to lifting them up in prayer and advocacy.
It is a simple but profound act: To speak a child’s name before God in worship, small groups, or personal devotion; to remember that each one is beloved of God; and to join voices together in saying these children deserve to live—and to hope for the future.
This CMEP campaign runs in parallel with the global Let Children Live effort by Amnesty International and Save the Children.
Since its launch, the campaign has begun to take root. More than 200 churches and individuals have already registered, with more joining every week. It has drawn a coalition of 20 organizational sponsors, including major denominational bodies, Catholic religious orders, and ecumenical networks.
The National Council of Churches, Presbyterian Church (USA), Mennonite Central Committee, Sisters of Mercy of the Americas, and the United Methodist Church’s General Board of Church and Society are among the endorsers — along with Theology in the Raw, Alliance of Baptists, and Christians for Social Action.
This breadth of support reflects something remarkable: the campaign’s ability to unite Christians across theological, denominational, and geographic lines.
Why It Matters Now
The urgency could not be greater.
More than 2 million Palestinian children live under daily oppression, instability, and the constant threat of violence. Parents fear that tomorrow could bring new traumas. Many watch as grown children emigrate, carrying away the fragile future of their people.
Hind Rajab’s story reminds us that one child’s life can break through the noise of the world’s conscience. But Hind was only one among thousands. Each child in Gaza and the West Bank has a name and a story—and is immeasurably precious. Every single one deserves to grow up free of fear.
Prayer and advocacy are not small gestures. They are acts of resistance against despair — ways of bearing witness and pressing for a future where Palestinian children are seen as fully human.
“Imagine thousands of congregations lifting up the names of Palestinian children in prayer,” said Destiny Magnett, programs and outreach manager for CMEP. “That chorus of prayer and advocacy would send a clear signal: the global church is paying attention and will not be silent.”
The hope of Let Children Live is not only to gather endorsements, but to weave a tapestry of prayer and solidarity that stretches across the global church. The immediate goal is to expand from hundreds of participants to thousands by year’s end — and beyond that, to create a chorus of intercession and advocacy that cannot be ignored.
How to Join
This is where you come in.
Pastors can share the campaign with their congregations.
Youth leaders can invite students to pray.
Individuals can sign up to receive the name of a child to hold before God.
Churches can become sponsors and spread the word through their networks and denominations.
Every act of participation enlarges the circle. Every voice raised in prayer and advocacy sends a signal to the children of Palestine: You are not forgotten.
When the global church prays for Palestinian children by name, we declare to the world that their lives matter—that their futures are not disposable, that their dignity is not negotiable, and that their right to live is sacred. Let Children Live is an invitation to see them all, one by one.
Learn more and join the campaign.
Ben Norquist is a writer, educator, and advocate whose work explores the intersections of faith, justice, and place. He serves as Director of Grants at Churches for Middle East Peace and has worked with the Network of Evangelicals for the Middle East. Ben holds a Ph.D. in higher education from Azusa Pacific University, where his research focused on Palestinian universities navigating life under Israeli military occupation. He is currently completing a book with InterVarsity Press—Every Somewhere Sacred: Rescuing a Theology of Place in the American Imagination—on Christian imagination, land, and belonging. As a long-distance runner, Ben brings his convictions to the road, most recently completing a 50-mile “Ultra for Peace” run to raise funds and awareness for peace in Israel and Palestine. For him, running is both a physical discipline and a form of embodied solidarity with the suffering.
