Attack on the church of Gaza: without the alerts of Fr. Romanelli would have been a massacre

Fr. Yusuf Asad, 49, who for six years is the Vice Pastor of the Church of the Sagrada Familia, in Gaza, had just celebrated the morning mass when a rumble occurred. Around 10:20 (local time) a projectile hit the building.

“It fell directly on the roof. The explosion occurred next to the cross of the church and soon spread shrapnel by the patio,” the director of Cáritas Jerusalem, Antón Asfar, who shortly after the attack received a call from Gaza in which he was alerted to what happened.

“We were clarified later that at the time of the outbreak there were some people in the outer courtyard despite the fact that Fr. Gabriele Romanelli, the pastor, had warned everyone to remain inside,” he says.

And he still shocked: “Without Fr. Romanelli’s alerts to remain inside, We could have lost 50 or 60 people. It would have been a massacre”.

The parish building, the only Catholic temple of the Gaza Strip, includes the temple, a school, a convent, a multifunctional center and a building of the missionary of charity. At the beginning of the war between Israel and Hamas, in October 2023, it became an impromptu shelter for more than 500 displaced.

Most are orthodox, Protestant and Catholic Christians, but there are also more than 50 Muslim children with disabilities who live there with their families.

“We are evaluating the situation together with the Latin patriarchy of Jerusalem to understand what has happened. People are shocked,” he says.

As explained, every day the Israel army sends an evacuation or displacement order. “There is a constant threat. Already for two Sundays there was an evacuation order for the residential neighborhood of Al-Zaytun,” where the parish is within the city of Gaza, he details.

In fact, the attacks have intensified in recent weeks and the bombs have not stopped falling around this parish, which before the attacks of October 7, 2023 had 1,017 parishioners.

“There are no safe areas in Gaza”

“It is very difficult to transfer people. Everyone is determined to remain in the churches and continue to take refuge in them. But the truth is that there are no longer safe areas in Gaza,” he laments.

At the moment, the Latin patriarchy of Jerusalem He has confirmed three deaths. This is Saad Issa Kostandi Salameh, 60, who was in charge of maintenance of the parish and was in the courtyard at the time of the explosion.

The other two fatalities are Fouumia Issa Latif Ayyad an 84 -year -old old woman and Najwa Abu Daud, 70, who were receiving receiving psychological care at that precise moment within the tent of the Cáritas psychosocial support project.

“People were terrified when the evacuation began to the Hospital de los Hasidos. Fr. Gabriele (Romanelli) was also transferred since he had a slight wound in one leg, but is out of danger,” says Asfar.

In addition to the Argentine priest of the Institute of the Incarnate Word, eight other people were injured And they were urgently transferred to the hospital To the mamadami, Just a kilometer from the church. But bombings have also put the capacity of health centers, without electricity and without medical material. “There are no medicines, or drinking water. There is a great shortage of fuel, which is essential for hospitals and medical centers,” he says.

The Gaza Interim Foundation It is not enough to distribute humanitarian aid

The last significant entry of humanitarian aid to Gaza occurred more than four months ago: “After March 2, nothing has entered. Only small amounts of help. The only active operation is the Gaza Interim Foundation, But it is not enough. Four centers cannot replace the 400 distribution points during the truce, ”says Asfar.

In addition, the management of this organization also known as Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), – created in February 2025 and backed by the United States and Israel – has generated growing suspicions that it has turned the distribution of food into a gun of war. According to the figures that the Himthere are already more than 400 Gazaties dead at the GHF help distribution points.

The humanitarian situation is extreme. Cáritas currently has more than 120 workers operating in Gaza, distributed in ten medical centers, but the resources are exhausted. The borders are still closed, which has led the population to a desperate situation. “People are starving. All children suffer from malnutrition,” he concludes.