Since his return to Gaza City’s Holy Family Parish in May, Father Gabriel Romanelli has been working to organise educational and pastoral activities for the parish youth who have been out of their classrooms since the 7 October Hamas onslaught against southern Israeli communities and a retaliatory war that has raged for over nine months.
The St Joseph educational project—named after St Joseph for the protection he gave the Holy Family—is for the 150 Christian youth sheltering at the parish compound and at the nearby Greek Orthodox Church compound.
The project initially began two months ago but was suspended following early July Israeli bombardments of the school compound. Israeli airstrikes took place overnight 6-7 July in Gaza City, killing 13 Palestinians.
The strike against Holy Family School, which was operating as a shelter, claimed the lives of four people, including Ihab al-Ghussein, Hamas’ undersecretary of labor.
Five hundred people are still sheltering on the premises of Holy Family Church. Another 200 Christians are living in the Greek Orthodox church.
The classes resumed 22 July, Father Romanelli confirmed, with parish teachers also sheltering in the compound leading classes in various settings including inside a gazebo, on a veranda and in the chapel of the Sisters of the Incarnate Word.
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