Why people in Gaza must have the most basic right of all – the chance to survive

Pope Leo XlV made a video call to the Holy Family parish in Gaza last week, following the news on 9 September of Israel’s order for residents to evacuate Gaza City in the north, where the parish is located.

Parish priest Fr Gabriel Romanelli, described the call as “a blessing”. He said: “We told him we are well, even if the situation remains difficult. The Pope gave us his blessing and prayed for us and for peace. He follows everything closely and is committed to ending the war.”  Pope Francis, who died in April, used to make daily evening calls to the parish, which, Fr Romanelli said, gave them the encouragement to persevere.

Despite the suffering, Holy Family Parish recently celebrated a wedding and welcomed the birth of a baby boy. “In the midst of so much pain, God blesses us with signs of life and joy,” Fr Romanelli said. Yet the parish struggles to shelter and feed around 450 displaced people, including the elderly, the sick, and children. Fr Romanelli has said, “Everywhere there is danger, but many want to remain in the city; we try to accompany them and help as we can.”

Cafod said last week that many in the compound are weakened and malnourished due to months of hardships. “Leaving Gaza City and trying to flee to the south would be nothing less than a death sentence. For this reason, the clergy and nuns have decided to remain and continue to care for all those in the compound.” Cafod supports the plea of Caritas Jerusalem, calling on the international community to act urgently to protect civilians, places of worship, and humanitarian spaces, and to ensure that people in Gaza have access to the most basic right: the chance to survive.

A Unicef official warned last week that Gaza City, the last refuge for families in northern Gaza, is a city of “fear, flight and funerals”. Tess Ingram Unicef’s communications manager for the Middle East and North Africa, warned that an intensified military offensive could trigger an “unthinkable tragedy” for the nearly one million people there. Olga Cherevko, spokesperson in Gaza for the UN aid coordination office OCHA, warned that, with the evacuation order, Gaza City “was handed a death sentence”, with hundreds of thousands of battered civilians ordered to flee to an already overcrowded area where even small animals have to search for spaces to squeeze between to move around. Caritas Internationalis has described the situation in Gaza as, “a population stripped of shelter, sustenance, and safety has been left to perish in full view of the world”.

Many families cannot move, due to the cost of transportation and housing, while others have been displaced too many times and don’t want to move again, not trusting that anywhere in the Gaza Strip is safe. Yet, tens of thousands are on the move since Israel intensified air strikes across Gaza City, destroying multiple high-rise buildings. Residents have been instructed to move to a designated “humanitarian zone” in the already overcrowded Al-Mawasi area along the coast in the south, where thousands of Palestinians have already been sheltering in tents amid continuing bombing. Reports suggest there is no safe place to go to escape bombardment. And hundreds of thousands of Israelis have taken to the streets to protest the planned takeover of Gaza City, fearing that it would endanger the remaining hostages there and put the lives of soldiers at risk.

Christian Aid reported on 5 September that it’s the “law of the jungle” in Gaza after the US government-imposed sanctions against Christian Aid’s partner, the Gaza-based Palestinian Center for Human Rights. The centre had provided evidence to the International Criminal Court of potential Israeli violations of international law. Christian Aid’s head of Middle East Policy and Advocacy, William Bell, said, “This latest move is an attack on human rights, accountability and the very idea of international law.”

Dr Swee Ang, Catholic orthopaedic surgeon and co-founder of Medical Aid for Palestine, has joined with other medics who have worked in Middle East in an Open Letter to US President Donald Trump, appealing for him to use his power and position to stop the “catastrophe” taking place in Gaza. Dr Ang plans to deliver the letter to the US Embassy in Beirut this week.  

Internationally, the World Week for Peace in Palestine and Israel will be marked between 20-26 September 2025. Organised by the World Council of Churches, the week aims to encourage people of faith to pray for, and work towards allowing both Palestinians and Israelis to live in peace.

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