Amid a fragile respite, an urgent plea from Gaza before Christmas
The Catholic parish in Gaza prepares for Advent during an unstable ceasefire. From the heart of the devastated city, Fr Gabriel Romanelli of the Holy Family parish describes a disastrous sanitary situation and a day-to-day marked by a scarcity of means for rebuilding. The parish priest calls on the international community to pray for peace in the Holy Land.
Christmas is drawing near, but preparations are taking place in an atmosphere of disquiet. “The world should know that there are over two million people here who have nothing and need everything,” warns Fr Gabriel Romanelli in an interview with Aid to the Church in Need International (ACN), almost one-and-a-half months after the beginning of the ceasefire between Israel and Hamas. “The international community should make it clear that according to International law, people have the right to live in their own land,” says the priest of the only Catholic parish in Gaza. “We should pray. We should pray a lot. For peace, and for all the inhabitants of this Holy Land, be it Gaza, Palestine or Israel,” he adds.
People are still trying to recover since the fragile truce began on 10 October. “Some have tried to clean their houses or what is left of them,” the priest tells ACN. But there is a lack of machinery required to clear out streets and land, and most vital infrastructure – running water, sewage systems, electricity – is damaged. “There is no sign of reconstruction, the lack of means causes suffering and the lack of prospects leaves people agitated.” Fr Romanelli makes a request for material, spiritual and moral support for everybody, both Christians and Muslims, because “everyone is human, they suffer in the flesh, in the soul and in the heart”.
Nonetheless, and despite airstrikes that took place on 19 and 22 November, the ceasefire has allowed for a timid but real respite in the fighting. Humanitarian aid has been arriving more regularly. “Since the fighting stopped, the Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem [on which the parish in Gaza depends] has managed to send us important aid with which we have been able to help over 12,000families,” says the parish priest of the Holy Family. Other organisations have provided fruit, vegetables and basic products. Nonetheless, the needs largely outweigh the provisions, and even though prices have decreased, they are still too high for many people.
In one month, the parish will be celebrating Christmas, and despite the circumstances, preparations are under way. “We are deciding what to organise, and we have begun rehearsing choirs and dabkes (Palestinian group dances), and we may even hold a small show outside the walls of our compound, if conditions permit,” Fr Romanelli explains. He would also like to organise visits to the sick, both the ones who live in the compound and those who have managed to return to their houses, and take them small gifts. He has been trying to obtain chocolate “whatever the cost,” in the hope that “it will do everyone good”.
Over the past years, and even before the war, the Latin Patriarchs have always made sure to be close to the Catholic community in Gaza, celebrating Christmas with the Holy Family parish in the days preceding 25 December. Will this be possible this year in the context of the ceasefire? For now, the only thing they are sure of is that the option of exit permits that allowed some Gazan Christians to leave the territory to celebrate Christmas with their families is not even on the table.
As they wait for Christmas, spiritual life in the parish remains intense. Furthermore, since the ceasefire began there have been three excursions to the coast. The last, on 21 November, provided a rare moment of relaxation for 130 displaced people, among elderly, sick and families. “Children between the age of three and five, born just before the war, saw the ocean for the first time,” says the priest, smiling at the recollection.
School has also started up again, with classes for 150 displaced children and teenagers providing as good a start to the 2025-2026 academic year as possible, given the circumstances. Unfortunately, there is no room to welcome more students, since the three Catholic schools in Gaza, which suffered damage during the war, continue to shelter many displaced families.
The Catholic compound in Gaza is currently home to 450 displaced people, including 30 Muslims with disabilities and one Muslim family. Most Christians in Gaza, both Catholic and Orthodox, are also living there. Around 60 people have managed to move to other lodgings or even return to their homes, or what is left of them, but they continue to visit the compound regularly to obtain drinking water and charge their phones.
