Gaza parish prepares to welcome back students for first time since October

Since his return to Gaza City’s Holy Family Parish in May, Fr Gabriel Romanelli has been working to organise educational and pastoral activities for the parish youth, who have been out of their classrooms since the Hamas attacks on southern Israeli communities on 7 October and the subsequent war over the past nine months.

The St Joseph educational project—named after St Joseph for the protection he gave the Holy Family—is for the 150 Christian youth sheltering at the parish compound and at the nearby Greek Orthodox Church compound. The project initially began two months ago but was suspended following early July Israeli bombardments of the school compound.

Israeli airstrikes took place overnight on 6–7 July in Gaza City, killing 13 Palestinians. The strike against Holy Family School, which was operating as a shelter, claimed the lives of four people, including Ihab al-Ghussein, Hamas’ Undersecretary of Labour.

Since the attack, OSV News has tried to contact the parish to ask about the living conditions for 500 people still sheltering on the premises of Holy Family Church. Another 200 Christians are living in the Greek Orthodox Church.

Classes resumed on 22 July, Fr Romanelli confirmed, with parish teachers who are also sheltering in the compound leading classes in various settings, including inside a gazebo, on a veranda and in the chapel of the Sisters of the Incarnate Word.

‘A few weeks ago, we had to suspend [the project] because the situation in our neighbourhood was very dangerous, with bombings very close and many shrapnel falling within the property,’ Fr Romanelli told OSV News in a WhatsApp message. ‘Today, we start again.’

Fr Romanelli, originally from Argentina, was outside of Gaza when the war broke out, and was joined on his return by Fr Carlos Fererro, Provincial Superior of the Religious Family of the Incarnate Word. Until their arrival, assistant priest Fr Yusuf Assad ministered to the parish as the sole priest, together with Rosary Sr Nabila Saleh and Incarnate Word Sisters María del Pilar and María del Perpetuo Socorro Llerena Vargas, twin sisters from Peru who declined to be evacuated at the start of the war.

While this war lasts ... it is going to be very difficult, but we want to offer a little hope and opportunities to our children.

The project is temporary, the priest said, in the hopes that they will be able to begin a more formal 2024–2025 school year in August. They are searching for ways to create proper classrooms as all the school classrooms are now used as living quarters by the sheltering families, possibly by renting a nearby lot and placing large shipping containers there.

‘We are preparing everything to be able to restart in a few weeks with the school of the Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem in a more systematic way, and teaching Christian and Muslim children and adolescents as usual,’ Fr Romanelli said. ‘While this war lasts ... it is going to be very difficult, but we want to offer a little hope and opportunities to our children.’

The parish has not able to assess the damages sustained by its Holy Family School in Gaza City’s Rimal neighbourhood after it was hit in two airstrikes by Israeli forces in early July, said Latin Patriarchate CEO Sami El-Yousef, who is in sporadic contact with Fr Romanelli, as much as the communication networks allow.

Hundreds of people were sheltering at the school at the time, he said—mostly Muslim neighbours in what was once Gaza’s most prestigious neighbourhood.

Israel accuses Hamas of embedding itself among civilians and claimed that the school complex had been used as a militant hideout and Hamas weapons-manufacturing facility.

The school is a 10-minute drive from the main parish compound, which includes the Latin Patriarchate school and church, where most of the Christian community has been sheltering almost since the start of the war.

‘We don’t have any of our people there (at the Holy Family School), so we honestly don’t know what is going on there all the time. To my knowledge, they have not been able to get to the site to survey the damage themselves,’ said El-Yousef. He noted that photos sent to them indicate that there has been considerable damage to the structure, including to the kindergarten building, the third floor and solar panels, and the school will most likely have to be demolished and rebuilt.

He said F Romanelli has expressed shock at what he saw in his parish, but his return injected a spirit of energy and faith into the parish, which is experiencing fatigue and trauma after nine months of war.

The priest has been organising pastoral activities, including regular Masses, birthday parties, anniversary parties and even one engagement party as he endeavours to maintain a sense of normalcy in difficult times, said El-Yousef.

What is holding them together is their focus on faith and hope.

Fuel, necessary to run the water pump, is in short supply and very expensive, he noted. While they have been able to purchase enough staples, such as oil, flour and rice, he said, the parish has not had any meat, chicken, fruit or vegetables for several months. Procuring medicines has also been a challenge, he added. They have been cooking communally, including making a traditional soup from local wild greens foraged nearby, El-Yousef said.

The Latin Patriarchate CEO said Pope Francis continues to call the parish every evening at 8 pm, as he has done throughout the war.

‘I think what is holding them together is their focus on faith and hope. The communal pastoral activities and gatherings for various age groups organised by Fr Gabriel help take their minds off of the daily misery,’ said El-Yousef. ‘When you see their pictures on [social media], you see a happy community, but inside they are highly traumatised. The activities focusing on faith have helped the community for the time being.’

Meanwhile, the Chaldean bishops of Iraq have joined in a call for a two-state solution in which Israel and Palestine can both live in ‘peace’ and ‘security’.

At the end of the annual synod held from 15 to 19 July in Baghdad’s Al-Mansour district, Iraqi bishops expressed deep concern for the many conflicts raging in the Middle East, ‘especially in the Holy Land’.

In a statement issued on 19 July, the bishops condemned ‘all forms of violence’ and urged the international community to always uphold peace and actively engage to put an immediate end to the war.

A two-state solution is the option the Iraqi bishops believe would bring peace to the Holy Land.

They said they ‘believe that the best solution for the Palestinian–Israeli conflict is to establish two neighbouring states that live in peace, security, stability and mutual trust’.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu arrived in Washington on 22 July for a long-planned visit to the United States. He faces a backlash at home as dozens of Israelis are still held hostage by Hamas after the 7 October attack, with two hostages confirmed dead on 22 July.

The Israeli Defense Forces confirmed that hostages Alexander Dancyg and Yagev Buchshtab are dead and, according to The Jerusalem Post, were probably mistakenly killed by IDF forces during battles in Khan Yunis ‘months ago’.

The Associated Press reported that on 22 July, the Israeli military ordered the evacuation of part of a crowded area in the Gaza Strip it had designated a humanitarian zone and is planning an operation against Hamas militants there as the Palestinian death toll reached 39,000, according to Gaza Strip officials.