Gaza: one year after the bombing, the Holy Family weeps and prays

On Sunday, July 19, 2026, the Catholic parish of Gaza will commemorate the attack that, one year earlier, killed three of its faithful within its premises. Nothing has been judged, the community has remained.

The fact

The Catholic parish of the Holy Family in Gaza will commemorate the first anniversary of the Israeli bombing on July 17, 2025, which killed three people within the parish complex itself, on Sunday, July 19, 2026 (Infovaticana, July 18, 2026). One year later, the reduced Christian community continues to shelter dozens of families, including several disabled people, within the sanctuary walls. A mass will be celebrated in memory of the victims, for the injured, and for peace, while the Gaza Strip remains marked by bombings.

Our reading

Two truths intersect. The sanctuary has remained open, mass is celebrated there, and the community has not dispersed. However, no independent investigation has rendered its conclusions, and the pressure on the Christians of Gaza has remained continuous. Reports from AED and Open Doors document an accelerated demographic erosion of the Christian presence in the Levant. Leo XIV, in line with his predecessor, continues direct ties with the parish. Consolation cannot make us forget that the Christian population of the Holy Land, which was 20% in 1948 and is now less than 2%, is threatened with demographic disappearance. We had recalled, in our successive analyses, that no clause of Christian protection had been included in the USA-Iran protocol of June 19, 2026.

To ponder

We pray for the faithful of the Holy Family of Gaza and for all the Christians of the East. The suffering Church is not an abstraction: it has a name, a parish, a pastor. The silence of the chancelleries does not excuse it.