The Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem and the Italian Episcopal Conference will work together to establish a hospital in Gaza, Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa and Archbishop Giuseppe Baturi announced on Tuesday, September 30.
The Italian Episcopal Conference (CEI) is the episcopal conference for Italy's Catholic bishops. Archbishop Baturi is the current secretary general of the CEI and is the archbishop of Cagliari.
“There is a very serious health problem, and we want to address it with the Patriarchate: It is a concrete commitment that will mobilize a lot of energy,” said the archbishop.
Cardinal Pizzaballa, who has been the Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem since 2020, thanked the CEI for the commitment to establish a hospital in an area where one is very needed.
“Hope needs gestures, words, but above all a context in which bonds are forged, where unity and community are built," he said. "In situations of great pain and suffering, it is necessary to have someone by your side who supports and helps you. In this sense, all this becomes a sign of hope."
Healthcare in Gaza in crisis
Since the Gaza war began on October 7, the healthcare infrastructure of the Gaza Strip has largely been destroyed. The lack of healthcare obviously adds to the casualties of the war.
For example, in July, three people were killed after an Israeli tank fired a shell at Holy Family Parish, Gaza's only Catholic church. The Israeli government and Israeli army both said the church was not targeted and the damage was unintentional.
At that time, Alistair Dutton, Secretary General of Caritas Internationalis, the international aid organization of the Catholic Church, said that two of the three deaths were avoidable. They died, Dutton claimed, due to a lack of "very basic medical supplies" at a local hospital where the injured were taken.
Fr. Gabriel Romanelli, the pastor of Holy Family Parish, was injured in the July attack.
“The conditions in the hospital are deplorable,” said Fr. Romanelli in July, noting, “Most of the hospitals in the strip have been destroyed.”
