JERUSALEM OSV News — Parishioners of Gaza’s Holy Family Church are feeling “horror” and almost a sense of “desperation” after an Israeli tank shell struck the church, killing three elderly people sheltering there and injuring 10, said regional director of the Jerusalem office of Catholic Near East Welfare Association, or CNEWA, Joseph Hazboun.
Hazboun has been in regular contact with the parish since the July 17 shelling of the only Catholic Church in the Gaza Strip.
“The people have nowhere to go, and even if they had a place to go, they don’t want to leave,” Hazboun told OSV News. “They want the war to end and they want to go back to their life. To find food and to put food on the table for the children and for the elderly — and it doesn’t seem to be happening. … They want peace.”
They have a few more wishes, he said: for the incessant buzzing of drones to stop, for the bombing and shelling to end, for a moment of quiet so they can appreciate the silence once again. But at the moment, he said, all this seems impossible.
The weekend visit of Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa beginning on July 18, who with Greek Orthodox Patriarch Theophilos III entered Gaza that morning, was “very comforting and encouraging” for some 600 people who are sheltering in the parish compound, Hazboun said. Another 260 people are staying at the Greek Orthodox St. Porphyrios Church compound, also in Gaza City.
“At least seeing the leader of the church coming to visit with them in these very difficult and challenging times gives them comfort and support,” Hazboun said.
Having the two patriarchs visit the church immediately after the attack has renewed the world’s attention on the situation in Gaza, he noted.
“Although Gaza has been on the screen of millions of people around the world, including the world leaders, now again, it’s more pressure,” he said.
Gaza residents are encouraged that “so many entities and parties and people” are now talking about what is happening in their region, he said.
“They know that the world is watching and following up, but they’re disappointed that not so much is happening regardless of this, the severe attack and the brutality of what is happening, and especially using food and water, starvation as a weapon,” he said.
Hazboun told OSV News that Cardinal Pizzaballa celebrated Mass in the parish every day of his visit, and toured the area to personally assess the situation. The patriarchate has said that the patriarchs also brought in extra provisions — for the parishes, but also for the other families in the neighborhood.
The Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem said in a statement following the June 18-20 visit by Cardinal Pizzaballa that the patriarch “has long been committed to visiting the Holy Family Parish in Gaza twice a year. Yet this most recent visit became, in itself, a miracle and a door of hope amid the ongoing conflict.”
The July 21 statement said that “Amid the ruins of war and the pain of long days, the Holy Family Latin Parish in Gaza continues to stand firm — offering a living witness to faith and Christian resilience.”
In his July 20 homily during morning Sunday Mass, Cardinal Pizzaballa assured Gaza Christians that “the unity of the Church and the solidarity of all the Churches in the world” are with them. He emphasized that the church’s concern is not limited to Christians, but also extends to every person suffering in the Gaza Strip.
Hazboun told OSV News that Palestine Archbishop William Shomali, general vicar and patriarchal vicar for Jerusalem, who accompanied Cardinal Pizzaballa to Gaza, said previously that the parish had received a number of alerts by the Israel Defense Forces to leave and to go to what they self-described “safe zones.”
But having seen the forced wanderings of Palestinians who left their homes, the people decided not to go.
“There is no safe place,” he said. “Shelters have been bombed, schools have been bombed, tents are being bombed, and people are being shifted from one place to the other. So the same will happen to them, and so at least they will remain where they are. They don’t have to worry about where to go and what to carry with them. And it seems that here or there, they will be bombed.”
Suhail Abo Dawood, a young postulant who was meant to be in seminary for the past two years and was seriously injured in the attack, was transferred to Israel, where he is being treated for his wounds in an Ashdod hospital, south of Tel Aviv, as the remaining hospitals in Gaza were not equipped to give him the medical treatment he needed.
One other critically injured person is awaiting coordination for transfer into Israel, while the others suffered mild injuries and have been released from hospital, Hazboun said.
In a video interview with L’Osservatore Romano, the Vatican’s daily newspaper where the young injured postulant has been writing a column, the young man said “love is stronger than war.” He thanked everyone for their prayers and messages.
“I hope I can start my life again and to continue my vocation in Italy,” he said in a video from his hospital bed. The video showed monitors on his shoulder and a tube attached in his nose following an operation to remove shrapnel which had pierced some of his internal organs.
The war in Gaza broke out after the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas attack on Southern Israeli communities in which 1,200 people were killed and 250 people taken hostage. Fifty people remain in captivity, with 20 people believed to still be alive — some reportedly chained in underground tunnels, according to other hostages who have been released in previous ceasefire agreements.
The Gaza Health Ministry confirmed July 20 that 58,800 people have been killed since October 2023, with scores of Palestinian civilians killed daily, including at points of humanitarian aid distribution.
On July 21, Pope Leo XIV received a phone call from Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.
“During the telephone call, the Holy Father repeated his appeal for international humanitarian law to be fully respected, emphasizing in particular the obligation to protect civilians and sacred places, the prohibition of the indiscriminate use of force and of the forced transfer of the population,” said a Vatican statement issued after the call.
“Given the tragic humanitarian situation, emphasis was placed on the urgent need to provide assistance to those most vulnerable to the consequences of the conflict and to allow the adequate entry of humanitarian aid,” it continued.
During a July 18 call from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Pope Leo urged Israel’s leader to revive negotiations and enact a ceasefire.
That morning’s call to the Pope’s summer residence at Castel Gandolfo came the day after the Israeli army struck Holy Family Church, which Pope Francis had called daily beginning in October 2023.
Pope Leo further expressed his solidarity with Gaza Christians praying by name for those that died in the attack during his July 20 Sunday Angelus.
That same day, Cardinal Pizzaballa said Gaza cannot be emptied of Christians. “In this sea of hatred and violence, which is a clear sign of the power of the devil … albeit so powerful, cannot extinguish life in us,” he said. “So, we must be strong and continue being a living presence here.”
Judith Sudilovsky writes for OSV News from Jerusalem.
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