Gaza priest decries Israeli blockade
The Catholic priest in Hamas-controlled Gaza has described the situation in his parish as “almost as bad as hell” and condemned what he called “punishment until death”.
Mgr Manawel Musallam, speaking exclusively to The Universe on Wednesday, said: “Gaza is dying.
“This is not punishment for salvation. This is punishment for extermination. It is the punishment of a nation.”
The priest explained how thousands of people had escaped Palestine into Egypt when gunmen blew up part of the border wall at the Rafah crossing overnight on Tuesday. The exodus has taken place as a result of an ongoing Israeli blockade of the Gaza Strip to combat rocket attacks on its territory.
Mgr Musallam explained: “People have gone to find food and employment [in Egypt]. There is no food here, no employment here. We have a lack of water and electricity.
“The situation is critical. Streets are covered with sewerage. I see the sick crying and dying.
“Our hospitals need electricity and medication but out of 3,700 parcels of supplies only nine were allowed in.”
Mgr Musallam said children in the Holy Family Catholic School had to walk to school as there was no fuel for transport. Pupils and teachers arrive dirty because they cannot wash as water has to be pumped into buildings using electricity.
“In our school canteen, we have to feed 700 pupils but have only enough food for 30 or 40,” he added. “The cook cannot find anything to give them to eat. With no electricity and no water there is very little you can cook. You cannot even make a loaf of bread.
“I see children crying in huge distress all day long. Two pupils in the school, aged nine and six, were wounded in the bombings. They are afraid and traumatised because of the bombardments and of the darkness at night.
“They cannot even go to the toilet at night. They wet their beds but there is no water to wash afterwards. People come here to ask for water and electricity because we have a generator. They come to cook and they come for a shower.”
The heads of churches in Jerusalem and the Holy Land have issued a strongly- worded statement urging the Israeli authorities to end the current blockade.
They condemned the situation as “illegal collective punishment, an immoral act in violation of the basic human and natural laws as well as international law that cannot be tolerated anymore”.
“The siege over Gaza should end now,” they added. “One-and-a-half million people are imprisoned and without proper food or medicine, 800,000 are without electricity.
“In the name of God, we urge the international community, President Bush and the leaders of Israel, to put an end to this suffering and call upon Israel to activate Prime Minister Salam Fayyad’s initiative for Palestinian responsibility of the borders, thus ensuring sufficient normal flow of medicine, food, fuel and goods to Gaza.”