CNEWA-Pontifical Mission’s regional director in Jerusalem has issued an urgent appeal for donations to help provide flour to 500 families in Gaza.
Joseph A. Hazboun said the agency would work with the Near East Council of Churches to secure the flour, which will be distributed through the local churches in Gaza.
“The need could not be more dire,” Mr. Hazboun reported on 13 June. “Makeshift distribution centers have become perilous; tragically, some Gazans have paid for flour with their lives.”
A 16 June report from the World Food Program and the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization noted that, “in the Gaza Strip, the risk of famine is becoming increasingly likely due to the protracted and large-scale military operations and the fact that humanitarian agencies are unable to provide adequate assistance.”
Thomas Varghese, CNEWA’s director of programs, said food insecurity remains high: “There are no stores, no bakeries.”
However, meager meals are still being prepared and distributed from Gaza’s Holy Family Catholic and St. Porphyrios Greek Orthodox churches.
“Your support today will save lives,” Mr. Hazboun said in his appeal. “With starvation gripping Gaza, every loaf of bread, every sack of flour, becomes a lifeline. We beg you to stand with us in this critical moment.”
Mr. Hazboun said that, because of the generosity of CNEWA and the tireless efforts of the Near East Council of Churches in Gaza, “we recently delivered 10-kg parcels of fresh vegetables to 375 families in Gaza City — proof that solidarity can still pierce through despair.”
Mr. Hazboun issued his appeal as news broke of Israel’s attack on Iran. The situation has since escalated with the deaths of 15 Palestinians near a food distribution center on 14 June.
“As a papal agency dedicated to relief and development, our mission in these dark times is clear: While we pray unceasingly for peace, we must also act to help innocent civilians survive the unimaginable,” he said. “Today, that means ensuring families in Gaza can share something as basic as bread — a small but vital comfort amid relentless suffering.”