Gaza – The situation is terrible. The raids, according to the latest news, have caused at least 17 deaths, and more than twenty injuries, in addition to those who were the targets of the attacks. Most of the victims are women and children”. Father Gabriel Romanelli, parish priest of the Catholic church of the Holy Family, told Fides the heartbreaking pain and shock caused by a new massacre caused by the bombing of Gaza. In the early hours of Tuesday, May 9, dozens of Israeli fighters bombed houses and buildings where three leaders of Islamic Jihad reside. Another raid was carried out on Tuesday afternoon, causing more deaths. At least four women and four children died under the bombs. “In one of the buildings attacked”, reports Father Gabriel, “lived a Muslim girl who attends our Christian school. She is fine, but the attack has killed her father, who was a good doctor, dentist, and was not involved in political activism. His mother and a brother, who was also a doctor, have also died.”
Faced with the blood shed in the umpteenth tragic days in Gaza, Father Gabriel repeated that “prayer is something real, not abstract, and it is up to us to pray more insistently for peace. Let us pray to the Holy Family, who passed through Gaza while fleeing to Egypt, so that they may give us a stable peace, founded on justice, because without justice, peace has no foundation”. In Gaza – recalls the priest, a missionary from the Institute of the Incarnate Word (IVE), two million and 300 thousand people live locked up in 350 square kilometers. The Palestinian people, scattered across the Gaza Strip, the West Bank and East Jerusalem, gather six million people. “A solution” repeats Father Gabriel “must be found. It is impossible that a solution cannot be found for six million people who have no status. The Holy See has recognized the State of Palestine, but the entire world must recognize this State and its rights. We pray for the good of all, and for the abandonment of this appalling culture of eliminating what is different, so often deplored by Pope Francis as well”. The news that continues to arrive regarding current regional politics – acknowledges the priest – “is discouraging, the logic of violence for violence’s sake seems to prevail everywhere. May the Lord change everyone’s hearts”.
By Agenzia Fides
