Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Jul 19, 2025 / 09:00 am (CNA).
In the wake of an Israeli missile strike on Gaza’s only Catholic church this week that left three dead, the regional director of the Jerusalem field office for the Pontifical Mission, Joseph Hazboun, spoke with “EWTN News Nightly” on July 18 about the situation facing the people there.
Citing Pope Leo XIV’s phone call Friday with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Hazboun told “EWTN News Nightly” Anchor Tara Mergener that he hopes “more pressure will be put to end this tragic and meaningless war that has taken so many lives.”
Pope Leo in a telegram as well as on social media also issued a call for an immediate ceasefire after the deadly attack.
The director for the Pontifical Mission, a Vatican-sponsored charity, noted that the attack on Holy Family Church in Gaza has sparked “a lot of solidarity internationally,” which he called “very good.”
Israel said the church was “mistakenly” hit and that it “regrets” the damage caused to the city’s only Catholic parish. Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said in a statement on X that the parish had been hit by “fragments from a shell.” The church has been sheltering more than 600 people since the war broke out, including Catholics, Orthodox Christians, and Muslims.
“The cause of the incident is under review,” the statement read. “The IDF directs its strikes solely at military targets and makes every feasible effort to mitigate harm to civilians and religious structures, and regrets any unintentional damage caused to them.”
The Pontifical Mission has been operating in Gaza for “decades,” according to Hazboun. In recent years, the charity has provided critical aid such as water, food, and psychosocial support for mothers and children through various local partners.
Most recently, the organization was able to purchase fresh vegetables from a local market in Gaza — which Hazboun said due to widespread food scarcity was “surprising to us” — and distribute them in cooperation with the Near East Council of Churches to over 500 families. The Pontifical Mission was also able to buy and distribute five and a half tons of flour, which it also gave to over 500 families. Hazboun noted “the tragic news of people going to the distribution centers and getting killed just for some kilos of flour.”
According to Hazboun, the Christian community in Gaza was very active prior to the war that started in the wake of the Oct. 7, 2023, attacks. “There were once around 17 centers providing services,” he said, including several hospitals, schools, cultural centers, and various scouting troops.
“It was a very vibrant community,” he said. “Unfortunately, during the war many of the institutions were targeted and now they are inoperational.”
“The YMCA is dysfunctional,” he continued. “The Arab Orthodox Cultural center is destroyed — and so unfortunately we are not sure how things will look after the war. It all depends on how many will remain in Gaza.”
Nevertheless, Hazboun said he is “confident” that many Christians will remain in Gaza.
He stressed that the Pontifical Mission’s message to Gazans, especially to youths, has been that “as long as you see Gaza as a homeland, we will support you and we will provide everything that we can so that you can have a dignified life and see a future for yourself in Gaza.”
“If you decide that you no longer have a future in Gaza,” he said, “that’s your decision; we respect it and we ask for God’s blessing wherever you decide to go.”
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