Three days after the attack on the Latin parish of the Holy Family of Gaza, where the testimony of the parish priest was injured in one leg Father Gabriel Romanelli published by the Vatican media and which we publish in full. The Israeli raid caused three victims and several seriously injured among the Christians collected in the parish.
“Hello everyone, what happened is terrible, as you know two days ago exploded, the affected the pediment of our church, of the Holy Family, that cross that can be seen has almost 2 meters and therefore is great and the splinters – not only the splinters – of the rocks that fell on those two elderly who were under the church under a curtain and that were deceased, but the metal splinters have hurt many. There were fifteen wounded three of which died, also the concierge Saad died and two elderly, Foumia and Najwa. And then between the rest of the injured, I was wounded in one leg, a wound not serious and alongside, and then two yes, injured are serious, which are out of danger of life, however, however a very serious condition: Najoeb, which is still hospitalized in the Anglican hospital, has a pierced lung; And Suhail, our postulant, our religious, that many of you know. He is a very good guy, very apostolic; Since he was 15 he discovered his vocation and for two years he had to be in the seminary But the war began and it could not come out of here and travel to officially begin his novitiate and is very active here in the parish. He had a very large wound, he has undergone an intervention and now it is hospitalization will be long. So we pray for these two who are the most serious injuries. The rest of the injured, we are fine ».
“The situation,” continues Father Romanelli, “It continues to be very serious in the whole strip of Gaza, we have been reconvented by the proximity of the church, as always. He called us Pope Leone. The Latin patriarch came, once again, Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa And he was accompanied by the Greek-Orthodox patriarch. A very heartfelt visit, truly beautiful, among this tragedy the comfort, prayer, proximity of the shepherds, of all the faithful, of all the people of good will ».
«The situation continues to be very serious, as I say to you. We continue to pray for peace, to convince the world that this war will bring nothing good, so as soon as possible it will end it will be better, better for everyone: for Palestine, for Israel, for all citizens. That I can tell you … We have lost a lot, we suffered a lot and we are suffering so much, we offer it by name of the Lord. In the mass of that same day, in the Orthodox Church where we have already buried the dead, we said the prayer of the Lord Jesus: “Forgive Lord because they do not know what they do”. That the Lord really not only forgives those, forgive us to us, forgive the whole world. Since the forgiveness of the Lord is a source of grace, of peace of reconciliation “.
“So I still ask you for prayers and try to convince the whole world to finish this war in order to start reconstructing peace, justice, reconciliation both in Palestine and Israel. The Madonna bless you, thanks for your closeness and sorry if I have not answered many calls, it was impossible because for your goodness, many journalists, friends have called us and continue to call us, however, we have not had the opportunity to answer ».