Jerusalem: An American bishop of the Catholic Church has described civilian deaths in Gaza as 'a holocaust of our time' while defending Carrie Prejean Boller following her removal from US President Donald Trump's Religious Liberty Commission.

According to Anadolu Agency, Bishop Joseph Strickland expressed his views during an interview published on Monday. He asserted that Boller was removed from the commission because her statements about Gaza were uncomfortable for many. 'As you said, I think Carrie was removed because they didn't like the truth she was speaking. The truth about Gaza, which is verboten by many. The innocents that have devastatingly died there is just horrible,' Strickland stated.

Boller, a former member of the US Religious Liberty Commission, was removed earlier this month after she criticized Zionism and challenged panelists to condemn Israel's conduct in the war against Hamas in Gaza. Strickland argued that her dismissal was due to the substance of her remarks rather than her tone.

Bishop Strickland revealed that he contacted Boller to offer his support following her removal and subsequently chose to publicly back her position. 'I knew that if I was going to be the man I wanted to be, if I was going to be the Christian that I want to be, I had to speak up . basically say Carrie was removed from that committee because she was speaking truth,' he explained.

The interview also touched on the issue of Israel's police-enforced closure of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. Strickland criticized the authority to shut religious sites, noting that clergy were barred from entering to livestream Mass. He described the closures as 'basically totalitarian' and suggested that authorities felt threatened by religious truth. 'What it tells me is that truth is threatening,' he commented, adding that 'closure of holy sites and the attack of innocent people' reflected fear of that truth.