Editors’ note: This story originally appeared in OSV News. It has been edited for style, with hyperlinks added.
JERUSALEM — Parishioners of Gaza’s Holy Family Catholic 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-Pontifical Mission, Joseph Hazboun.
Mr. Hazboun has been in regular contact with the parish, especially since the 17 July 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,” Mr. 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 now, he said, all this seems impossible.
The weekend visit of Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa, beginning on 18 July, 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, Mr. 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 them in these very difficult and challenging times gives them comfort and support,” Mr. 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.
Mr. Hazboun told OSV News that Cardinal Pizzaballa celebrated Mass in the parish every day of his visit and toured the area to assess the situation. The patriarchate has said that the two patriarchs also took 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 18-20 June visit that Cardinal Pizzaballa “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 21 July 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 20 July homily during 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.
Mr. Hazboun told OSV News that Auxiliary Bishop 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 the 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, Mr. Hazboun said.
In a video interview with L’Osservatore Romano, the daily newspaper of the Holy See 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 in his nose following an operation to remove shrapnel that had pierced some of his internal organs.
The Gaza Health Ministry confirmed 20 July 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 21 July, 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,” reported the Holy See 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 an 18 July call from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Pope Leo urged Israel’s leader to revive negotiations and enact a cease-fire.
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 20 July 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.”
Read more from Mr. Hazboun on the situation.