Gaza is in a state of ‘extreme poverty,’ but Christians still share what they have with others

GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip (OSV News) — As the only Catholic parish in the Gaza Strip celebrates the Holy Week under the Israeli bombardment of the enclave, its pastor, Father Gabriel Romanelli, said that, while living with 500 people in a closed compound is not easy for Gaza Christians, they still consider themselves fortunate to have survived thus far and to be able to help thousands of other families in the region.

More than 1,500 people have been killed in Israeli bombardment of the enclave since it renewed the Israel-Hamas war on March 18, the Hamas-run health ministry in Gaza said.

On Holy Thursday, April 17, several news agencies reported that an Israeli attack on Khan Younis killed over 20 people, following a series of overnight airstrikes on encampments for displaced civilians, according to Palestinian officials, who do not distinguish between civilians and combatants in death tolls. Among the victims of those attacks, an entire family sheltering in a makeshift tent camp was killed as the Israeli military struck what, according to Al Jazeera, was a designated humanitarian zone.

“More war won’t solve the situation, it only makes it worse,” Father Romanelli told Aid to the Church in Need, a pontifical charity.

The Holy Family Parish priest was caught in Jerusalem at the outbreak of war in October 2023 and unable to return to his parish for eight months. He returned to his flock with Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa, the Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem, in May 2024.

In a conversation with ACN, Father Romanelli made another desperate plea for peace in the war-torn region, stating that the rekindling of fighting between Israel and Hamas is just making the situation more miserable for the civilian population and increasing tension across the Holy Land.

The Argentinian priest, member of the Institute of the Incarnate Word has been in Gaza for several years and he expressed his deep sorrow over the children who have already died in this war.

“Recently, the number of children killed in this war surpassed 17,000. More than 17,000! It’s terrible, terrible. We have had over 50,000 people killed in this war, and over 110,000 wounded, many of them amputees,” he lamented in a video message sent to ACN for its Jubilee of Persecuted Christians, held by the charity in the Diocese of Porto, Portugal, on the last weekend of March 2025.

The priest asked all those present in the event to “pray, pray to Our Lady, to Our Lady of Fatima, to whom we have a great devotion, and at whose request we pray the rosary every day with the children and the adults, before the Blessed Sacrament” in the Holy Family parish compound.

Father Romanelli is also the one receiving regular phone calls from Pope Francis. “The Pope called, greeted us, asked how we were doing, how the people were,” the priest told Vatican News April 9. The children, he said, rejoiced over the Holy Father’s latest gesture of tenderness.

“When the call came, we were at the door of the rectory, inside the compound, and the children and young people started shouting ‘Viva il Papa!’ in Arabic and Italian.”

The pope continued to call the Gaza parish almost daily when he was hospitalized, as much as his health condition allowed him.

Around 500 people, mostly Catholics, with some Orthodox and Muslim families as well, have been residing in the compound since the war began.

“God grant that we have true peace soon, that this war should end”, the priest said, adding that his hope is that all the Jewish hostages and the Palestinian prisoners should be freed according to the ceasefire plan, as soon as possible.

Father Romanelli emphasized that life in Gaza at the moment is miserable. “We need humanitarian aid for over two million people who live here and who, for the most part, have lost everything. Their homes, their workplaces, their children’s schools, their belongings; many are desperate,” he said.

“For most of the population, it is a miserable life, and that tension is obviously felt all over the Holy Land,” he added.

“Gaza is a prison — it’s become a cage, a giant cage,” Father Romanelli said in his interview with Vatican News.

Although Christians are a very small minority in Gaza — and Catholics an even smaller minority within that community, which is mostly Orthodox — the Catholic Church has played a leading role in providing aid to the Gazan population.

“Thanks to the Church we have been able to help thousands of families, ensuring that aid reaches everyone in real need, because the situation in Gaza at the moment is of extreme poverty,” Father Romanelli said.

After more than a year of war, Israel and Hamas reached a ceasefire agreement, which allowed for the release of hostages in exchange for the release of Palestinian prisoners. But the ceasefire did not hold and, as of April 16, negotiations are underway to establish a new one.

Father Romanelli explained in his message to ACN that the Christian population, divided between the Holy Family Parish and the neighboring Orthodox compound, is well, though constantly at risk.

“Some, who had the opportunity to leave, have already done so,” he said. “Some want to leave, others don’t. Many want to remain because they were born here, this is their land, and they see themselves as the descendants of the first Christians, which is indeed the case, as are all the Christians in the Holy Land.”

The Christian compounds have not been left untouched by the war. Two women were shot by military snipers in the Holy Family compound, and 18 died when the Orthodox compound was hit during what Israel claimed to have been an airstrike on a nearby Hamas command center. A further 11 Christians, at least, have died due to lack of adequate medical care for chronic illness. Some schools have been destroyed.

With this atmosphere of fear, life in the Catholic compound can be unsettling, said Father Romanelli. “As you can imagine, living in close quarters with 500 people isn’t easy, but even so, we consider ourselves lucky. As we say, we live with Jesus, in His house, and despite everything, we manage not only to survive, but also to help thousands of other families with food, water and medication, though all of this is limited, as for the past few weeks the borders have been closed to humanitarian aid.”

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