Achi news desk-
He has not been able to attend the Holy Family Parish in Gaza since October 7, when Hamas launched its attacks in Israel. He was in Bethlehem, on the West Bank which was occupied by Israel, at the time trying to find medicine for a nun and has been refused entry again until now.
However, he has been in regular contact with more than 700 displaced people who are taking refuge in his church.
The church was slightly damaged by shrapnel from strikes in the vicinity in December, and since Israel began its retaliation for Hamas attacks, Father Gabriel said 32 Palestinian Christians have died, while others have fled the country, meaning that the audience has shrunk by 25%.
Speaking to the PA news agency on Friday, he said: “I’m coming to Glasgow with just a simple message: I’m the parish priest of the only Catholic church in the Gaza Strip in Palestine – to ask everyone (to do) anything to stop. this war.”
He said a ceasefire was “necessary”, adding: “The ceasefire is not the answer but it is one necessary step to restart dialogue between the parties.
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“The situation is terrible. From the terrible attacks of October 7, and also before, but especially from October 7, the situation is terrible.
“Gaza is hell – almost hell – almost 34,000 are killed there despite the 1,200 people in Israel.
“The number of wounded in Israel is more than 4,500. In the Gaza Strip, since the beginning of the war there are 77,000 people there (injured) and the majority of victims are children and women.
“After more than six months, the consequences of this war are horrible, very, very bad, and not only for Palestinian society, but also for Israel.”
He went on to say that he was sending messages to his congregation to “try to find peace even in this hell”, adding: “Our church will always be an oasis for people. Unfortunately, this oasis has become an asylum, a hospital and a cemetery.”
The Argentine-born priest began his mission in Gaza in 2005 and has said that Pope Francis has sent his personal good wishes to those taking refuge.
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The church had around 1,017 members before the October 7 attacks but at least 240 have left the Gaza Strip for fear of the war.
Father Gabriel said: “The people inside our compound at the moment, there are around 500 people inside and they are very low.
“They don’t know when this war will end. Unfortunately, there is no safe place in all of the Gaza Strip, neither in the north nor in the south.”
He said Gaza was “never a land of peace” before the war, adding: “Before the war, for the last 16 years, Gaza was, according to many people, the biggest prison in the world, because one of the features of the war . a prison is that people are not allowed to go out.”
He said the people of Gaza continue to struggle with basic supplies of food and water, and he urged those who have been sending vital aid to continue.
