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Editor’s note: This is the first of a two-part series offering direct testimony from members of the Pontifical Mission in Israel and Lebanon regarding the impact of escalating hostilities on Christians in the war-torn areas.
CV NEWS FEED // The Pontifical Mission regional director for Israel and Palestine recently testified to the plight of Christians in Gaza, who face continual destruction of homes, hospitals, churches, and cities as war rages on between Israel and Palestine.
The Pontifical Mission for Palestine, which Pope Pius XII founded in 1949, operates under the Catholic Near East Welfare Association (CNEWA), which Pope Pius XI began in 1926 to help those in need throughout the historic but unstable lands of the ancient Eastern churches in the Middle East, Northeast Africa, India, and Eastern Europe.
In a November 4 Pontifical Mission-CNEWA webinar, Joseph Hazboun, the organization’s regional director for Israel and Palestine, testified to the escalating destruction of homes and lives that Palestinian Christians are suffering due to Israeli aggression. Hazboun lives in Jerusalem and has held multiple administrative roles in the Pontifical Mission Jerusalem office. A selection of his testimony follows.
November 4 testimony from Joseph Hazboun of the Pontifical Mission in Jerusalem
These are indeed very challenging and difficult times …
It’s now almost 13 months, going into the 14th month of the war in Gaza, which has left 90% of the population displaced. Women, children, families had to move from their own homes and apartments seeking what was announced as safe areas, which were not safe at all. Already in October last year, we have witnessed a church being bombed, leaving 21 Christians dead.
Hospitals, schools, and homes destroyed
We have witnessed the Anglican Hospital, the only Christian hospital in Gaza, bombed, leaving 400 dead. We have seen schools destroyed, including the Latin Patriarchate Holy Family School and the Rosary Sisters School.
All of the universities in Gaza City, where our Christian youth used to go, were destroyed. So this war is really something that we have never seen. The worst war that we witnessed before this one was the 51-day war in 2014, which left the Shijia neighborhood totally destroyed.
Unfortunately, this is way beyond any imagination. So from what I just stated, it gives a clear idea that there was a systematic destruction of the infrastructure and [of] what makes life possible in Gaza. Of course, what we said about the Christian institutions applies to all of the institutions in Gaza.
Around 470 schools out of 564 were damaged or destroyed. So that’s 85%. Seventeen hospitals out of 36, almost 50% of the hospitals were damaged or destroyed.
The number is increasing as the Kamal Adwan Hospital in Gaza City was under attack for the past two weeks. Our Christian community members took refuge almost from the first days of the attack in the two church compounds, the Holy Family Latin Church compound and the St. Porphyrios Orthodox Church compound. And they continued to remain there until today.
They left their homes. They thought that they were safe. But almost three days into the war, they realized that nowhere was safe, and so they went into the convent.
Except for the destruction of the building that left 21 Christians dead and minor attacks at the Latin Convent, which also left part of the building of the handicapped children under the care of the Sisters of Charity in Gaza — minor damages suffered — thank God, so far, they are safe. We are doing what we can to help them.
But I believe that 70% of the apartments of the Christian communities are destroyed. The others received some damages. We kept track until I think the fifth month into the war.
After that, it became impossible to keep track. It was too dangerous to go out. And now almost 300 people are at St. Porphyrios taking rounds: taking a shower, going to the bathroom, receiving portions of food and water, medicines.
The same at the Holy Family Latin compound. It’s not easy, but they had to make it work out, because this is the only place where they feel safe.
Around them, unfortunately, the violence has started all over again for almost a month now, targeting Jabalia, Jabalia refugee camp, Beit Lahia, all areas north of Gaza, very close to where our communities are. Severe confrontations.
Death toll approaches 50,000, half are women and children
The number of deaths have surpassed 42,000. Half of them are women and children. And the injured are over 120,000. Not to mention those that are under the rubble, with no way of being saved.
Ambulances, medical teams, rescue teams were all a target. The number of doctors killed, reporters killed is beyond imagination. In the West Bank, unfortunately, the situation is also very severe, especially in the Bethlehem area, Beit Jala, Bethlehem, Beit Sahour.
The reason is because the tourism sector came to a complete shutdown in October last year. So that’s 13 months now. So around 4,000 families are without income since.
In addition to the strict closure that was imposed on the West Bank, the Israeli authorities revoked all the working permits. So tens of thousands of workers who used to go to work in Israel and earn their living, lost their work in Israel.
Agriculture and food industries destroyed
I was visiting the mayor of Taibe two weeks ago, and I asked about the possibility of doing some agricultural development intervention to help the people there. And they said most of the agricultural land is beyond their reach now because of the growing settler attacks.
And they were really worried about the olive season, because for the past few years, the settlers prevented the villagers from gathering or collecting the olive. And for those who don’t know, for many families, the olive season is almost the only income for the family for the year long.
They used to press the olives into olive oil and sell it for a good price, which would help a family survive for one year. And they have been deprived of this right and this income because of the settler attack.
Only last night, the settlers attacked al-Bireh near Ramallah, and they burned 20 vehicles, 20 cars. No one was apprehended, and they do all of this under the protection of the Israeli military forces.
In a meeting with the Beth Sahour mayor, he shared with me the need for cash for work projects, because a lot of these workers’ households who lost their work in Israel, they are unable to provide electricity for their homes, so they’re without electricity, and they begged the municipality for help to buy bread. At least in Bethlehem, bread is available, while in Gaza, it takes around six hours for the people to reach the bakery and purchase bread, which is not enough for the needs of the family for one day.
Even bakeries were destroyed in the Gaza Strip, including the Christian-run bakery, which was helped by the Latin Patriarchate to reopen again and to re-bake bread for the people of Gaza, including the Christian community.
So the situation is really severe. One of our parish members called me to put pressure on me to help him get a permit, and he said, I have a wife, I have a child, I haven’t had any income for 10 months, the little that I had saved was spent in the first two months into the war, and I need to work, I want to work, and you could feel that there is tension at home, because the breadwinner of the house is unable to put food on the table, unable to earn a living.
And this is the case with thousands of families.
