Latin Patriarchate slams attack on Gaza Catholic school that kills four
Yesterday's Israeli attack struck the Sacred Family school, which has sheltered displaced people for months. In a statement, the Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem expresses "grave concern" over the "scenes of civilian casualties and of destruction in the compound.” "We are well,” reports the parish priest, who urges the faithful to pray for peace". On Saturday, at least 16 people died at the UNRWA-run al-Jawni school in Nuseirat refugee camp.
Gaza (AsiaNews) – Two schools were hit by Israeli attacks on Hamas "targets" in Gaza, one run by the Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem, serving, according to a press release by the Patriarchate, as “place of refuge for hundreds of civilians” since the start of the war in Gaza.
The blood and violence of the past weekend have resulted in at least 20 dead, 16 in a strike on a UN-run school and four at the Catholic school, according to sources in Gaza. For months, such educational establishments have been taking in homeless families.
Right after the attack, Fr Gabriel Romanelli, parish priest at the Sacred Family parish church in Gaza, posted a message on social media stating that “We are fine" even if the situation remains "very negative" and for this reason he urged everyone to "pray for peace".
One of the people killed in the attack against Catholic school, which had been closed for some time and had been turned into a shelter for refugees, was Ihab al-Ghusain, Deputy Minister of Labour in the Hamas administration.
In a statement released yesterday a few hours after the attack, the Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem said that it was “monitoring, with grave concern, the news of the raids, apparently launched by the Israeli army against the Sacred Family school in Gaza in the morning.”
“Footage and media reports from the place include scenes of civilian casualties and of destruction in the compound,” the statement reads.
“While property of the Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem, the Sacred Family School has, since the beginning of the war, been a place of refuge for hundreds of civilians. No religious personnel reside in the school.
“The Latin Patriarchate condemns in the strongest terms the targeting of civilians or any belligerent actions that fall short of ensuring that civilians remain outside the combat scene.
“We continue to pray for the Lord’s mercy and hope that the Parties will reach an agreement that would put an immediate end to the horrifying bloodbath and humanitarian catastrophe in the region.”
The patriarchate opened the school in Gaza in 1974, expanding it in the following years; over time, more modern facilities were needed to meet demand for modern education.
The existing school was built in 2001 thanks to the work of Fr Manuel Musallam, parish priest of Sacred Family parish at the time, and from donations by outside donors.
That year, the new school was renamed Sacred Family, like the local parish, which commemorates the passage of Mary, Joseph and the Child Jesus through Gaza to Egypt.
Until the war forced it close, it was one of the most important establishment run by the Latin Patriarchate in Palestine and one of the best in the region. It provides a high level of education, supports cultural exchanges, and “offers a suitable and safe environment for exceptional education for all”. this according to the school’s website.
It “includes all educational stages: kindergarten, elementary, and secondary” with about 700 students.
Gaza’s Catholic school is not the only educational institution to be hit over the weekend.
Al-Jazeera reported that Israeli missiles hit the UNRWA-run al-Jawni school in Nuseirat refugee camp on Saturday that had been turned into a refuge for displaced Palestinians, killing at least 16 people.
The attack also threw into chaos the al-Aqsa Martyrs hospital in Deir el-Balah, which has a capacity to treat 200 people but was coping with over 600 patients.
Israeli military sources said that the UN school was targeted because of “terrorists” operating in the area.
Conversely, the Palestinian news agency WAFA, reported that the building was used as a shelter for hundreds of displaced people, mainly women and children, while Hamas denied that its fighters were present at the structure.
"Another day. Another month. Another school hit," wrote Philippe Lazzarini, UNRWA[*] Commissioner-General, on social media platform X on Sunday.
UNRWA spokesperson Juliette Touma told AFP that more than half, or 190, of UNRWA's facilities have been hit, “some more than once”, by Israel’s military response to the 7 October Hamas attacks. At least 196 UNRWA employees have been killed, including two on Saturday.
"When the war started we closed the schools and they became shelters," Touma explained. Since then, at least 450 "incidents" have involved UNRWA buildings. UN-protected facilities in the Gaza conflict have suffered damage that is “unprecedented in the history of the UN.”
Hamas called the attack on Al-Jawni school an "odious massacre", while the Israeli military said it targeted "a hideout and operational infrastructure from which attacks" were carried out against its troops.
Hamas killed 1,195 people, mostly civilians, in its attack in southern Israel, kidnapping 251 people, with 116 still held as hostage whose fate is unknown. The Israeli army has killed at least 38,153 people in Gaza, mostly civilians.
[*] United Nations Relief and Works Agency.
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15/06/2021 13:37
