Catholic Priest in Gaza Pleads for Peace after Bombs Fall Near the Church where Hundreds are Sheltering

According to CBC News, following some disagreement on the release of hostages; Israeli airstrikes hit Gaza, killing more than 400 people, Palestinian health authorities said on Tuesday, March 18, suspending a two-month ceasefire with Hamas as Israel vowed to use force. Vatican News released that the parish priest of the Holy Family Catholic Church in Gaza recounted that the Israeli raids of the night struck a few meters from the church. Of the 500 refugees who are welcomed, those who left to find a normal life are returning, "because they feel safer 'with Jesus'"

“The bombings woke us up, they were here nearby, 300-400 meters away, fortunately no shrapnel arrived, we are fine, but in the whole Strip there is already talk of over 350 dead and more than a thousand wounded”. Father Gabriel Romanelli , from the parish of the Holy Family, in Gaza, tells the Vatican media about the night hours in which Israel launched its raids, interrupting the two-month truce. “We hope that what happened tonight does not put an end to the ceasefire, that the war does not start again, in this period we have seen that more humanitarian aid has arrived, especially food”, explains Romanelli who describes the continued anxiety of civilians, demonstrated by the return to the parish of about ten of the approximately twenty families who had tried, in these two months, to “settle in what was left of their homes or in those of relatives”, in search of “a more serene, more normal life”. Now, all those who had not yet returned "are evaluating, because the news is not good and therefore for them it is safer 'with Jesus', even though there is no safe part in the whole Strip".
Listen to the audio of Father Gabriel Romanelli
In Father Romanelli's parish, today, there are about 500 refugees, more or less the same number as at the beginning of the war, except for one moment when there were 700, between Catholics and Orthodox. "And we are here, there are the sisters of Mother Teresa, the religious of my congregation of the Incarnate Word, the sisters of the same congregation, the Servants of the Lord and of the Virgin of Matarà, and we all try to do good, to serve, we pray, we assist the elderly, the children, we also have children with special needs, and we try to make sure they don't suffer, because children are sponges, they realize if the adults are anxious".
It is thanks to the support of the Church that it has been possible to help thousands of civilians, families, who have lost everything and who need everything. Romanelli thanks the Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem and the Patriarch, Cardinal Pizzaballa, for this help for the “great support” received. In the parish of the Holy Family, they continue to pray, as they have always done, so that they can succeed, it is the hope, “in convincing everyone that peace is possible, that we must work for peace, for works of justice, and so that the Lord gives this part of the Holy Land a period of peace, for everyone, for Palestinians and Israelis”.

Source: Vatican News - Image of the Parish in Gaza during Holy Mass from their FB Page
https://www.vaticannews.va/it/chiesa/news/2025-03/gaza-padre-romanelli-raid-israele-parrocchia-cristiani-guerra.html

https://www.cbc.ca/news/world/israel-gaza-airstrikes-hamas-1.7486249