Gaza shortages ‘catastrophic’ warns papal charity

‘Vulnerable groups, including infants, the elderly and pregnant women, are facing heightened risks of disease, malnutrition and preventable deaths.’

Conditions in Gaza have reached “catastrophic levels”, according the regional director of a papal agency operating in the region.

Joseph Hazboun of the Catholic Near East Welfare Association (CNEWA), the Pontifical Mission in Palestine and Israel, said last week that nearly two million people, about 90 per cent of Gaza’s population, were “displaced and living in overcrowded, unsafe conditions”. He warned that “vulnerable groups, including infants, the elderly and pregnant women, are facing heightened risks of disease, malnutrition and preventable deaths”.

Continued bombardments by Israeli forces since October 2023 and blockades have forced the closure of more than 90 community kitchens due to a lack of fuel and supplies, with the remaining kitchens unable to provide sufficient meals to meet the nutritional needs of the population, Hazboun reported.

Around 400 people remain sheltering at the compound of Holy Family Church, the only Catholic church in Gaza. Hazboun said limited humanitarian aid is distributed just twice a month, and more than 100 people have chosen to return to their damaged homes because of overcrowding.

St Porphyrios Greek Orthodox Church houses 150 people, though some of these have returned to their partially damaged homes because of overcrowding. Despite these challenges, the church continues to provide critical support to vulnerable families in the surrounding area. Hazboun said that “for children, small-scale recreational activities offer a brief respite from the ongoing trauma, although these efforts are constrained by the severe shortage of resources”.

CENWA has continued to distribute fresh vegetables when available at the two churches as well as to people elsewhere, and provided support to the Al-Ahli Arab Hospital. “These services are vital as Gaza faces an alarming rise in injuries, trauma cases, burn victims, and widespread infectious diseases due to unsanitary conditions and unsafe water. The hospital … is overburdened, using every available space for patient care,” Hazboun said.

Caritas Jerusalem reported this week that the popemobile donated by Pope Francis before his death to be converted into a mobile clinic for Gaza had not been permitted to enter the territory due to the restrictions on aid access.

At the end of his general audience at the Vatican on 28 May, Pope Leo XIV pleaded for peace in Gaza.

“From the Gaza Strip there rises to heaven ever more intensely the cry of mothers and fathers who, clutching the lifeless bodies of their children, are continually forced to move in search of some food and safer shelter from the shelling,” the Pope said. “To the leaders, I renew my appeal: cease firing, free all the hostages, fully respect humanitarian law.”

Speaking to Vatican News a day earlier, Cardinal Pietro Parolin, the Holy See’s secretary of state, called on Israel to end the bombardments of Gaza and allow humanitarian aid into the territory, and on Hamas immediately to release all remaining hostages.

On 1 June more than 30 Palestinians were killed by Israeli fire as they went to receive food at an aid distribution point set up by an Israeli-backed foundation in Gaza, according to witnesses, and a hospital run by the Red Cross confirming it was treating many wounded. Israeli forces denied “firing at civilians”.

Around 500 people participated in an interfaith march for human rights and peace through Jerusalem last week. Rabbis for Human Rights reported that Jews, Muslims, Christians, Druze, Baha’i and secular groups walked together. “In the heart of Jerusalem, in the heart of reality that’s trying to turn darker year after year – we lit a light together,” said the rabbis.

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