By Shireen Awwad Hilal
I will always appreciate meeting His Holiness Pope Francis at the Vatican on November 22, 2023, together with ten other Palestinians affected by the ongoing war on Gaza. The visit was coordinated by The Higher Presidential Committee for Church Affairs in Palestine and the Palestinian Embassy to the Vatican. The pope wanted to hear an update on the humanitarian situation in Gaza from us directly.
I joined the delegation on behalf of my mother, who has lost a sister and a brother in the war. While she is unable to travel, I have a Palestinian passport with a valid single visa and felt obliged to go and share in this experience for many reasons: I want the pain of my people and their cry for justice to be heard, especially by the pope as one of the most influential figures in this world. He is someone whom many people listen to; maybe he will use his influence to bring about an end to the atrocities.
Our visit was short, and intense. Two days were filled with a very busy schedule that focused on our visit to Pope Francis. Each member of the delegation has a painful story of loss. Allow me to share some of these, starting with my own.
My mother, Nuha, comes from a well-known Christian family in Gaza, the Tarazi family. The Christian community has lived in that area for hundreds of years. One of the churches there is believed to be 1,300 years old. My mother’s family is indigenous to Gaza – they are not refugees from other areas who came after the 1948 war. She has twelve siblings, half of whom live in Gaza, whereas the others are scattered around the world. Those who stayed in Gaza have held leadership positions: Four were leaders in schools, one was a UN director, another one an accountant, two are doctors. My aunt Elaine, who is in her seventies, and her family went to seek refuge at the Greek Orthodox Church when the war started on October 7. On October 19, it was hit by a missile that killed 17 people. My aunt Elaine came out alive and was sent to the hospital, but the hospital lacked the facilities to properly examine her and did not realize that she had internal bleeding. Elaine died within a few hours. My other aunt suffered a severe injury to her hip. She needed surgery, but the hospital had no anesthetics. After 24 hours of discussion, it was decided that her hip had to be replaced without anesthesia. She is alive but lacks basic medications and care and is still in deep pain and unable to walk. Her spirits are very low, and she feels hopeless. When people are psychologically very low, they also become unwell physically. This is the case for most people in Gaza. My uncle, Freij, took refuge in the Latin church. Families are separating so that, in the event of a strike, not everyone will be killed at the same time. He died, not because of the bombing but because he lacked access to health facilities. His appendix burst. No surgery is done in the area due to the collapse of the health system.
Mohammad and his wife Manar now live in Europe. Mohammad left Gaza during one of the earlier wars, only returning for visits. His family in Gaza comprises his mother, father, brother, and sister and their children and grandchildren. Mohammad was constantly in touch with his family when there was a phone connection. But then he lost contact for two days. When he was able to contact his cousin, he received the worst news, a nightmare come true. Mohammad’s entire family of 25 had been killed by a missile strike. Nobody survived. Can you imagine losing mother, father, sister, brother, nieces, and nephews on the same day? Such a catastrophe many of the families in Gaza have experienced, and they fear this all the time.
Another young girl, Farah Erekat, had lost her 26-year-old brother, Ahmed, three years ago at a checkpoint. His car had veered off the road while he was trying to reach the neighboring city in order to decorate his sister’s wedding car. “Imagine losing a brother on your sister’s wedding day,” said Farah. “My brother’s body is imprisoned even when dead. It has been three years now. In Islam, our loved ones must be buried, out of respect.” She added that they know that his body is now at a laboratory at Tel Aviv University. It is suspected that most of those killed and abducted by Israel have their organs stolen, she says. “There is no doubt that my brother is one of these.” Again, this is the story of many families who live under occupation.
Khadija grew up in Gaza but now lives with her husband, Naji, in Europe. Naji left Gaza during the last war and became a refugee. He returned to Gaza to marry Khadija only last year, and they are expecting their first baby, a girl, on December 21. Khadija joined the delegation because she has lost many cousins. While visiting the Vatican, Khadija constantly kept trying to call her family in Gaza, to make sure they were OK. We shared precious moments when Khadija and Naji were trying to think of a name for their daughter and could not decide between Ward or Mia. During her visit with Pope Francis, Khadija asked him to pray for her child and for all the children of Gaza. On December 5, Khadija received the most awful news: her entire family was killed in Gaza. We are lost for words. What do we say to a young mother-to-be, who, despite the awful war, was looking forward to a better future, to her mother being there for her during the birth of her child? Instead of celebrating a birth, the house is in mourning, and Khadija’s joy over her first child is tainted by deep sorrow for her parents, siblings, uncles, aunts, nieces, and nephews.
Saja is a 13-year-old Bedouin girl who currently lives in Belgium. The last time she visited her friends and family in Gaza was last year. The bombardment and devastation have changed her entire life. Saja has lost around 60 members of her community in Gaza – close friends (those she went to school with) and cousins.
These are only some of the stories of loved ones lost that were shared with Pope Francis after Vatican officials welcomed us and gave us half an hour to be with the pope. Pope Francis met every single person in the delegation and expressed his welcome. He told us that he is in direct contact with the priest of Gaza’s Latin church, who updates him with the news of the parish and that of Gaza in general. He stressed that violence can only bring violence and that terrorism cannot be countered with more terrorism. He wept as he listened to those who were sharing their stories and at the fact that thousands of innocent children have been killed.
Pope Francis made it clear that he considers the ongoing atrocities a genocide. He spoke to us in Italian, but he said the word genocide in English, repeating it more than once. Toward the end of our visit, I highlighted that we must make sure that our churches will not be turned into museums, and that we must support the local Christians who form part of the diverse fabric of our Gazan society. Dr. Joseph Al Khoury, pleaded with the pope to visit Gaza to pray for the war to stop.
Of course, what the pope shared with us was not welcomed by the supporters of Israel. We were attacked in many articles, but we all can assert that the pope had, in fact, made this statement.
As no one has been able to stop the bombing of Gaza and its civilians, a catastrophe is taking place while most international leaders and governments are turning a blind eye. So we are grateful to the Palestinian Embassy at the Vatican, who organized the visit and enabled this advocacy.
We must pressure decision-makers and continue to tell our story, making sure that the world knows what is going on. And we must continue to pray to our Lord to stop the genocide against Gaza.
God, have mercy on Gaza!
