The Italian office of the pontifical foundation Aid to the Church in Need (ACN) reported that it has allocated a package of 190,000 euros to support the Christian communities of Gaza. The East Jerusalem and the West Bank that are also suffering the consequences of the war between Israel and the terrorist group Hamas.
In a note published on its website, the office in Italy indicates that the aid is also for Christian migrants and asylum seekers in Israel.
On 7 October, a new war began in the Middle East after Hamas attacked southern Israel by air, sea and land, launching rockets and sending thousands of militiamen from the Gaza Strip. The terrorists caused more than 1,200 deaths and kidnapped more than 230 people.
Israel’s air counterattack and subsequent ground incursion to free the hostages and put an end to Hamas has also caused a humanitarian crisis in Gaza, with more than 1.6 million displaced and more than 15,000 dead.
In this region, ACN has recalled, there are about a thousand Christians, “most of whom are taking refuge in the Catholic parish of the Holy Family and in the Greek-Orthodox church of Saint Porphyry.”
“With hundreds of families accumulating in the church premises, food, medicine and water are in short supply,” he notes. For this reason, an initiative of the Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem is being supported to guarantee them a constant supply of essential goods.
Although the conflict is concentrated in the Gaza Strip, ACN reports that its effects are also felt in East Jerusalem, where 10,000 Christians live, and in the West Bank, the other Palestinian territory where some 37,000 Christians live.
The pontifical foundation remembers that Christians depend economically on tourism – Bethlehem is located in the West Bank – so the cessation of pilgrimages and the arrival of tourists also affects the Christian minority, which has lost its main source of income.
Likewise, he adds, the faithful who, due to the closures of entry points into Israel and other restrictions, cannot attend their workplaces are also being affected.
For this reason, we are collaborating with the Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem to bring “emergency assistance” to both populations, which consists mainly of medical support, food vouchers and subsistence aid for the payment of rent and expenses for domestic services. , such as water and electricity.