Father Gabriel Romanelli, 54 years old, Argentinian, has been pastor of the only Catholic church in Gaza for four years: under his care are 135 souls of the thousand Christians in the Gaza Strip. A minority within the minority of the total 2.3 million inhabitants. The Israeli bombings surprised him in Bethlehem: he was scheduled to return to Gaza on Sunday, October 8th. A world ago. He has asked the Israeli authorities for his return several times, but the entire area is currently sealed: he is in constant contact with Gaza, as he tells us from within the walls of the Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem.
What is the situation of the community?
“It’s dramatic. Everyone I talk to tells me that no place in Gaza is safe today and that many people don’t even want to leave their homes for this reason: the bombings continue and many people have died trying to leave Gaza after the Israel had issued eviction orders. That’s why they think it’s better to die at home than to go south: also because there is nothing in the south. No blanket, no sack of flour, no tent. And then they stay. Many came to us because they thought the church was a safe place. But after the bombing of San Porfirio there are no more certainties.”
How many people do you accommodate?
“The Catholic Church has five structures: There are refugees in all of them. Our parishioners, the 54 disabled children cared for by Mother Teresa’s nuns, some elderly and sick people, some of the poor we have been helping for years, and then there are many people who also come from other churches: before the bombing of the Orthodox church in the community there were 500, now we are at 700. In the evenings they sleep on the floor of the church because they are afraid to stay in the buildings closest to the street. The fear is that a building or the street will be hit and everything will collapse, like in San Porfirio. The Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem alerted the Israeli authorities to the location of our facilities, that there were civilian refugees there and that many of them were unable to move: the response was that we were not a target. But it wasn’t the holy porphyry either. People feel more protected by our presence, but everyone knows that the danger is real here too.”
Did you know the victims of San Porfirio?
“Certainly. I have been in Gaza since 2005, first as a priest and then as a pastor: the Christian community is a small, very interconnected community. We meet in the same groups, we marry between people of different rites. I knew all the people who died, I had seen many of them grow up, I had seen the children being born. They were good people.”
What is needed in Gaza today?
“Electricity. Waterfall. Medicine: In hospitals, operations are carried out without anesthesia, there are 18,000 injured. The generators, the solar panels, everything that was used to cover the chronic lack of energy no longer works. Including pumps, at least for washing the water to get what you need. Refrigerators are of no use: we only eat dry food as long as we have it.”
The Pope called her.
“The Pope calls almost every day: me or when he gets through, he also calls Abuna Yusuf, my priest. Abuna Yusuf told me that sometimes they set up a speakerphone in the community and let everyone present listen to his words. He asks to protect the children because he knows that they are disabled and need more help than others. It’s important to feel his closeness.”
What would you like to tell the world about your community members in Gaza?
“I ask those who have faith to pray, because the Lord is listening. And to everyone who speaks, I ask for peace and an end to the bombings. I know that this is a controversial position and that many do not want to hear it. But more bombs mean more deaths and more injuries. And it means that evil will continue to increase. I would also like to say that the humanitarian corridors are urgent: it is an area that has been blocked for fifteen years. Before the war, hundreds of trucks arrived every day; today there are around twenty. It’s a drop in the desert. My message is that of the Pope: peace. “Peace be with everyone, with Israel, with the Palestinians, with the people who were taken to Gaza against their will.”