During his Sunday Angelus at Castel Gandolfo, Pope Leo renewed his call for international humanitarian law to be respected. In an interview with Vatican News, Alistair Dutton, Secretary General of Caritas Internationalis, echoed the Pope’s petition.
We all suffer
“As Saint Paul says, when one part of the body suffers, we all suffer,” Dutton stressed, reflecting on the attack on the only Catholic parish in Gaza last week. He pointed out that two of the three Christians killed were in Caritas Jerusalem’s counselling tent, which offers “counselling and psychological support to people who are living in those unbearable conditions.”
On behalf of Caritas, the Secretary General expressed his deep sorrow and anger over the situation. He stressed the importance and urgent need for “the international community to put pressure on the Israeli government to stop these attacks that are hurting civilian people day in and day out.”
Nowhere is safe
As the 2.1 million people in Gaza face acute hunger as well as lack of food and shelter, Dutton reiterated their serious need for “humanitarian access at scale and in ways that are recognizably humanitarian and done properly.”
Even though the Israeli government announced it would allow aid to enter the enclave in May, restrictions have made the amount of food, medicine, and other necessities getting through very minimal. And even when aid arrives, hundreds of people have been killed waiting in line for supplies.
“Every day, twenty or thirty people are being shot just trying to get the food that they need and has been provided for their families,” Dutton explained. Echoing Pope Leo’s words, Dutton highlighted the need for the recognition and protection of places of refuge and sanctuary, such as churches, schools, and health centers.
Against international law
At the beginning of July, Israel’s defence minister proposed plans to force Palestinians in Gaza into a camp in Rafah, calling it a “humanitarian city”. Soon after, the country’s former prime minister, Ehud Olmert, spoke up and called the planned city a “concentration camp” and that forcing the Palestinians inside would be “ethnic cleansing.”
Dutton described the area in Rafah as having no facilities, no accommodations, no sanitation areas or showers. “There’s nothing in that place at the moment, and yet people have been ordered to leave,” he said. Moreover, he argued that no one should ever be forced to migrate.
Read more: https://www.vaticannews.va/en/world/news/2025-07/caritas-internationalis-head-the-atrocities-in-gaza-must-end.html
By Kielce Gussie | VaticanNews
