The war in Gaza shows no sign of stopping, and the Church in the Holy Land is increasing help to preserve the region’s Christian presence, supporting hundreds of families who have lost their livelihoods.

The Catholic charity Aid to the Church in Need (ACN) has stepped up its support for the Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem – which includes the Palestinian territories – providing emergency help, food, housing, school fees, and medical assistance to more than 600 Christian families. 

Most Christians in the Holy Land work in the tourism sector and have lost their source of income, because almost all pilgrimages to the region have been canceled since the war in Gaza began last October. 

ACN has also supported job creation programs and helped Christian-run organizations survive, according to Dima Khoury, head of the patriarchate’s Social Services Department. 

Khoury told ACN that Christians in the region “thought the war would stop after five months, but it continues. Many Christians have lost their jobs, or had their salaries reduced, or live with no income at all. But life continues: they need to feed their families and pay tuition and rent. Life for them is terrible.”  

“The middle class became poor, and the poor became poorer,” she added. “Many of the wealthy families, who owned their own businesses, left the country.” 

She estimated that no more than 10,000 Christians in the West Bank receive permits to enter Israel for work, whereas authorities used to issue as many as 160,000. 

“As the war continues, we begin to worry that the Holy Land will become the next Syria, a never-ending war,” she said. “The Church continues to serve here, to provide help for these families.”

Khoury went on to say that a significant portion of the aid is for medical support, especially for Palestinian Christians in the West Bank, who cannot access state health programs because they are not Israeli citizens.  

Sami El-Yousef, chief executive officer for the Patriarchate, told ACN that even though the situation is more serious than was first expected, the Christian community has proven resilient and able to withstand enormous challenges.

“If we focus too much on the political horizon, we will just pack up and leave,” he said. “However, this land has seen lots of crises before, and the Church has always found a way to be the means of support for the community. There is no reason to believe that this will be different.”

He concluded that “the Christian presence will survive,” and that the Church will continue “to be present with its institutions.”

By:Amy Balog  / churchinneed