Christians in Gaza fear they won’t survive war

In the past month, there has been a lot of fighting in Gaza City. Pope Francis has been calling the priest and people who go to Holy Family Church to make sure they are okay.

He prays and feels very sorry for the person.

George Anton is staying in the church with his wife and three daughters. They feel a bit better when they hear from someone, but they don’t think it will help them stay safe.

“We have faith in Pope Francis, but we feel discouraged because we doubt that other people will listen to the message of peace,” he says sadly. I can’t explain how I feel. It is extremely frightening. You feel like you are just sitting and waiting for it to be your turn to die. You don’t know the time, the way, or the reason.

George, who works for the Roman Catholic charity Caritas, has had difficult discussions with his young daughters who are 8, 10, and 12 years old.

I am explaining everything honestly to them. I tell people that we support Jesus, but I also inform them that they are in a fight. Sometimes, I leave to go buy bread, bring medicine or clothes. I always say “Goodbye” when I go. If I come back, everything is okay. If not, then that’s the end.

He says that his girls cannot avoid or escape the terrible experiences of death and destruction.

This is what 600 people in the church and on the internet are listening to. This is what they can see from the constant bombing in the area. They are too scared to sleep at night. The noise from the rockets is very loud and scary.
When Israeli soldiers told over a million people living in the top part of the Gaza Strip to go to the bottom part, hundreds of thousands of them did not listen.

A lot of people from the small group of Christians, around 1,000 people, decided to bring their families and stay in their churches. They believed that staying there would keep them safe, as they have been during previous conflicts between Israel and the Palestinian armed groups.

After the church building was hit by a powerful Israeli air strike, the feeling of safety was completely gone.

The Greek Orthodox Patriarchate of Jerusalem said the attack was a very serious crime like a war. Israel’s military said it attacked a Hamas base that was close by and used to launch rockets.

In a sad setting, the bodies of people who were crushed to death were placed in white sheets in the church courtyard for a funeral on October 20th. 18 Christian women, men, and children were murdered.

In the West Bank, churches have held special prayers to support and stand with the people in Gaza who are going through difficult times. They also remember those who have lost their lives. Many Christian people from Gaza have family here, but it has been difficult for them to see each other because of the permit system in Israel.

At a church in Beit Sahour, Shireen Awwad lights a candle for her aunt who died in St Porphyrius.

I feel extremely sad and upset. “I can’t think, I can’t move,” she says.
Shireen has relatives in Gaza City, including cousins, uncles, and an aunt. Sadly, her aunt got injured in a church explosion and had to undergo hip replacement surgery without anesthesia at Shifa Hospital. This was because there weren’t enough medical supplies available.

She says her family members are proud people from Gaza who have lived there even during multiple wars.

Every time we asked them if they wanted to leave, they would say no because these are our roots. “This is the place we were born,” Shireen says. However, this time is different because, for the first time, they are uncertain about whether they want to continue staying or if they will even survive.

The small coastal strip has had a Christian population for a very long time. Porphyrius was a bishop in the fifth century. He is buried under the church.

A lot of Christians have left, especially after Hamas took over Gaza in 2007. Israel, just like many other countries, considers the Islamist movement to be a terrorist group. Egypt and another country put a very severe restriction on what can go in and out of Gaza after the takeover.

Reverend Munther Isaac, who is a pastor in Bethlehem, feels very shocked and emotionally hurt after witnessing events in Gaza.

He is also worried about what will happen to one of the oldest Christian communities in the world.

“He says that there were people from the Church in Gaza in the first council of Churches. ” We care about everyone’s life, but our biggest worry is that the long-standing Christian tradition in Gaza might stop.

Pope Francis wants the fighting to stop, but Palestinian Christians are upset with what other Church leaders, like Justin Welby, have said about the war. Justin Welby is the leader of the Church of England and the spiritual leader of millions of Anglicans.

In Gaza City, there was a building called the Greek Orthodox Cultural Centre. It was destroyed by Israeli shelling last week. A person named George Anton is very sad and feels hopeless as he watches the destruction.

We are good people who have done nothing wrong. We don’t have anything to do with politics or military actions at all. We are regular people. “Why would anyone want to target us. What are they targeting us for. ” He wonders

We have had many friends who are not our friends anymore. Some people moved to Khan Younis to live with their family members, but unfortunately, they all died. They were hit by a rocket and all the buildings fell down on top of them. They are all gone, but we don’t have time to be upset.

Every day, you hear that someone died, a family and a home were destroyed, and an institution was eliminated. We cannot take all of this.

Finally, he promises to remain in the church with his loved ones.

“He said we’ve been getting many calls to leave, but we won’t go. ” This is our rightful place. This is where we live.