Bishops in South Africa Decry Attack on “tiny Christian population” in Gaza after Israeli Strike on Catholic Parish

“We condemned the massacre by Hamas then but have been horrified that the response to the October 2023 massacres has been exceedingly disproportionate, contrary to the Human Rights Convention and Protocol for Peace and the Conduct of War,” they said in their statement following the attack on the Catholic Church that had been used as a shelter for more than 600 people since the beginning of the war.

Describing the response to the Hamas Massacre as “genocide and ethnic cleansing”, SACBC members said, “We share that assessment and so have given our support to the South African government's case at the ICJ in The Hague accusing Israel of perpetrating acts of genocide.”

“We had hoped that this would be one peaceful way of bringing pressure to bear on the warring parties to bring an end to this spiral of violence. It has not,” the Catholic Bishops in South Africa said.

They further warned the “many countries” which continue to supply weapons and sustain the rhetoric of war in the Middle East, saying that they have made themselves complicit in what “history will surely record as a 'crime against humanity'”.

The SACBC members called for an end to the manufacture of weapons and also for a speedy end to the “export of weapons to theatres of war.”

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“In keeping with the teaching of Jesus in the parable of the Good Samaritan (Luke 10:25-37), we deplore the Priest and Levite who avoided the reality of violence, pain, and suffering and who turned their backs on the victim of theft and dispossession,” they said.

They added, “If we remain silent now in the face of this ongoing violence, amidst the reality of the theft of land and houses and olive groves, then we will be no better than those who crossed over to the other side.”

In the statement, the Catholic Bishops in South Africa expressed solidarity with Pope Leo XIV in calling for “a lasting ceasefire and for the release of hostages - including those in administrative detention.”

“We realize only too well that our prayers and solidarity have to be matched by actions. We call for nonviolent action, for boycotts in several spheres, protest action, and denunciation of the spread of war across the Middle East,” the Bishops in South Africa said in their July 18 statement.

They added, “It has become one of the last acts of solidarity open to us and so we offer our condemnation of the hostilities in that spirit, with the hope that all people of goodwill will respond.”

The attack on the Catholic Church in Gaza has been widely condemned. Bishop William Shomali, the Auxiliary Bishop for the Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem, reportedly said that the community has been “very distressed” following the bombing and called for the protection of nearby Christian villages.

The Israel Defense Forces subsequently apologized for the strike, stating that “fragments from a shell fired during operational activity in the area hit the church mistakenly.” Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa later seemed to imply that the strike was intentional, telling an Italian newspaper that “everybody (in Gaza) believes it wasn’t” a mistake. 

The day after the strike, Pizzaballa and Greek Orthodox Patriarch Theophilos III visited Gaza, providing “spiritual comfort, moral comfort, and also material comfort which is much needed.” 

Pope Leo XIV reportedly received a phone call from Benjamin Netanyahu, the prime minister of Israel, following the July 17 Israeli army attack on Holy Family Church in Gaza.

During the conversation, the Holy Father is said to have renewed his call for the urgent reactivation of the negotiation process between the warrying parties in order to establish a ceasefire and end the war.

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Silas Mwale Isenjia is a Kenyan journalist with a great zeal and interest for Catholic Church related communication. He holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Linguistics, Media and Communication from Moi University in Kenya. Silas has vast experience in the Media production industry. He currently works as a Journalist for ACI Africa.