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Photo credit: Latin Parish of Gaza<\/p>\nAlthough the media attention has died down since the ceasefire, the Gaza Strip continues to sink into an unprecedented humanitarian and health crisis. Speaking to Aid to the Church in Need (ACN), Gaza\u2019s Catholic priest, Fr. Gabriel Romanelli, described the \u201cvery serious\u201d conditions marked by the daily suffering of the population.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe situation continues to be very serious in the whole of the Gaza Strip,\u201d says the Catholic parish priest of Gaza, Fr. Gabriel Romanelli, while also issuing an urgent appeal. \u201cContinue to pray, promote justice and peace, and provide material support to the suffering population.\u201d While large-scale bombing has halted, the violence has not yet ceased. \u201cSome bombing continues,\u201d says the priest, \u201cnotably behind the Yellow Line. Houses have been destroyed; deaths and injuries continue to be recorded.\u201d The Yellow Line designates the military frontier established at the time of the ceasefire of October 10, 2025. It separates the zones controlled by Israel, in the east and the south, from the zone controlled by Hamas in the west, where the Holy Family Parish of Gaza City, part of the Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem, is situated.<\/p>\n
Photo credit: Latin Parish of Gaza<\/p>\n
\u201cThe war is not over, even if the media makes it look like it is,\u201d insists Fr. Gabriel. As thousands of people continue to suffer, Fr. Gabriel sees few signs of hope: the borders are closed; the electricity and water infrastructure is destroyed; and the water is often poorly treated, badly stored, or contaminated during transport or distribution, encouraging the spread of disease. Fr. Gabriel speaks directly in his message: \u201cIt is absolutely essential that the war stops. It seems that no one in the world is really involving themselves in an effective way. The 2.3 million inhabitants of Gaza need, at the very least, to have the minimum human conditions to rebuild their lives. There are very many sick and wounded people without access to suitable medical care or who are waiting to be able to leave the enclave for treatment because the hospital system has become a phantom.\u201d<\/p>\n
The situation for the children is particularly alarming. According to information from UNICEF, passed on by Fr. Gabriel, 100 children in the strip have died since the beginning of the ceasefire, almost one child per day. \u201cThey did not die of natural causes,\u201d he says, alluding to the direct consequences of the bombing, but also the cold and the unsanitary conditions. Most of the population today lives in tents, exposed to the damp and a particularly harsh and rainy winter. \u201cRespiratory and digestive diseases are multiplying. We have all fallen ill more than once,\u201d says the priest, who originally comes from Argentina and has recently recovered from a virulent bout of flu. \u201cThe epidemics are taking a turn for the worse because of the lack of heating, proper shelter, and medicine.\u201d<\/p>\n
The torrential rain has also aggravated the situation, causing buildings to collapse. \u201cMost of the buildings have been demolished, and those that are still standing are very fragile,\u201d says Fr. Gabriel. \u201cOne of our schoolteachers lost five members of his family in such a collapse,\u201d he adds.<\/p>\n
In this overall context, humanitarian aid is vital. Most of the inhabitants have lost their work, homes, and resources. \u201cSince the ceasefire, goods are managing to come in, but they remain inaccessible to a population without financial means,\u201d emphasizes Fr. Gabriel. \u201cAid is therefore indispensable and must be ramped up. Food, blankets, essential products, medicine: the needs are immense,\u201d he warns, while rejoicing that, because of the Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem, aid has been able to enter. \u201cThe Patriarchate continues to do an enormous amount of good for thousands of families in Gaza,\u201d he says, thanking friends and international partners such as ACN.<\/p>\n
Education has also been seriously affected. Before the war, the three Catholic establishments belonging to the Latin Patriarchate and that of the Rosary Sisters welcomed around 2,250 pupils, but only 162 children have been able to take up school again. \u201cThe main problem is space,\u201d explains the priest, \u201cbecause refugees are staying in the school buildings.\u201d Currently around 450 people are still taking refuge in the parish complex, and 100 have decided to return home. Because education remains an act of hope, the parish has reached out to two large independent private schools (non-confessional and non-governmental) in its neighborhood of Zeitoun and have distributed exercise books, pens, and basic material, as these resources remain scarce. Before the war, one of these schools had 1,400 pupils, and the other 1,500.<\/p>\n
Amid the difficulties, however, spiritual life remains a pillar for the parish. \u201cThe heart of our life is always our Lord in the Eucharist,\u201d confides Fr. Gabriel. <\/p>\n
\u2013 Christophe Lafontaine<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Although the media attention has died down since the ceasefire, the Gaza Strip continues to sink into an…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":276465,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[142820,42,77675,47,43,40,38,41,39],"class_list":{"0":"post-276464","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-headlines","8":"tag-church-around-the-world","9":"tag-headlines","10":"tag-holy-land","11":"tag-middle-east","12":"tag-news","13":"tag-top-news","14":"tag-top-stories","15":"tag-topnews","16":"tag-topstories"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/276464","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=276464"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/276464\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/276465"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=276464"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=276464"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=276464"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}