It's extremely serious says the Palestinian city's only Catholic priest, Father Gabriel Romanelli (pictured).

Aid to the Church in Need (ACN) reports agree.

"Our people are constantly suffering. Every time both sides talk about a truce, the intensity of military operations increases" reports an ACN partner (who has aked for anonymity).

Refuge under fire

For the past fortnight Gaza's Holy Family parish has suffered intense military clashes and shelling.

The displaced Christian community has been living within the parish compound since the conflict began.

The 512-strong mainly Catholic and Orthodox group has "been living a Calvary without respite for months" Romanelli says.

"The other day my vicar, who is inside Gaza, told me "You can't imagine the pain we are feeling and the desperation of the people".

Yet they "still have faith and hope in the essential - in Jesus Christ".

Praying and caring for one another are two constants in the besieged Christian community.

There's daily Mass, catechesis sessions and the rosary. There are activities for children and meetings for trauma healing through prayer.

Basics lacking

Clean water and food are at a premium, ACN's partner says.

Dirty water is used for toilets and sanitary units, and water is being purified using traditional methods.

Food is "very, very limited" and the problem has nothing to do with the availability of cash.

"It is simply that food is scarce, and it is difficult to find anywhere to buy it."

Internationally-provided humanitarian aid didn't arrive in the parish.

"However, some faithful managed to find flour and the bakery started producing bread again ... a great blessing for our displaced people" Romanelli says.

Many charities are trying to help.

The Latin Patriarchate is able to provide everyone with two meals a week and a loaf of bread every two days.

On other days, Gaza's Christian community has to eke out their supplies or forage for themselves.

People walk for long hours to get a small box of food, which in the end is not enough for three people.

"Sharing is part of daily life and their new Christian identity" ACN's project partner says.

Disease

Poor sanitation is another concern.

Children have a virus causing nausea and diarrhoea. Four elderly people are seriously ill and need hospitalisation - an impossibility at present.

The war has created an "objectively intolerable situation" says Jerusalem's Latin Patriarch.

"We have always had many problems of all kinds, even the economic-financial situation has always been very fragile, but the famine has never been there.

"Everyone - religious, political and social communities - they must do everything possible to break this situation."

Easter

Faith is something that encourages Gaza's Christian community, says ACN's project partner.

"With God's grace, our children are now even closer to their faith than ever before. It is a very special Easter, we are closer than ever to the crucified Saviour.

"Pray for us, pray for the whole population, that this war might end."

Source

• ACN International
• Crux

"It is very terrible; from (today) 5 a.m. in the morning (there has been bombing) behind our school and in our school," Sister Nabila Saleh, principal of the school, told Catholic News Service in a WhatsApp call May 12.

Bombs could be heard exploding in the background and, audibly distraught, Sister Saleh was unable to continue with the interview.

Because of COVID-19 and Ramadan, the school has been closed since mid-April, and only in early May was the COVID-19 lockdown lifted in Gaza.

Father Gabriel Romanelli of Holy Family Parish in Gaza told CNS May 12 that, in two days, 45 people, including 14 children and three women, had been killed in Gaza.

Three hundred people have been wounded, he said.

Father Romanelli said he had left the parish compound early in the morning to make the 10-minute drive to the Rosary Sisters to assess the damage and celebrate Mass with them but was unable to leave for eight hours because of the incessant bombing around the area, where many government buildings are located.

As soon as he returned to the parish, the sisters told him the bombing had begun again.

The tiny Catholic community in Gaza consists of 133 people — including a baby born in early May.

Fewer than 1,100 Christians live in Gaza among the 2 million Muslim Palestinians. Many of the students at the Rosary Sisters school are Muslim.

Father Romanelli said the priests and religious have been staying in close contact with their parishioners through phone calls, the internet and WhatsApp.

Unfortunately, he said, they "are very used to war."

"The situation is very bad. We try to give our parishioners encouragement and ask them to keep serene and in peace, to find joy in the sorrow.

"We send them uplifting messages to live with patience and charity in life," the priest said.

"There are moments of anxiety … people are closed in, night and day, with the bombings. The bombings affect everything — breathing, nerves, violence. There is a feeling of impotence and sometimes that brings on violence. But the people here are good and patient."

The apartment of one parish family was damaged; windows were blown out, debris was scattered throughout the apartment and a huge crater was in front of their building, Father Romanelli said.

He said the parish was organizing to see how it could help the family — a couple and their son — with any spiritual and material needs they might have.

He said the priests offered to let the family sleep at the parish, but the family decided to stay in their home and cover their windows with plastic until they can be repaired.

Children are developing behavioural problems, Father Romanelli said.

"War is trauma, and if only one explosion can change a life, you can imagine this morning we had dozens of explosions. It is something that can break a wall; think of a child and how fragile they are," he said. "It will affect their hearts, their nerves, their eyes. It affects human beings. It is not just the moment of the attack, but it is the consequences that remain."

While prayer is important, Father Romanelli said there must be work toward justice for there to be real peace. Continue reading

• Judith Sudilovsky