GAZA, (PIC)
The Gaza Center for Human Rights has issued a humanitarian and moral appeal to Pope Leo XIV, urging him to visit the Gaza Strip at the earliest possible opportunity and to witness firsthand the ongoing humanitarian catastrophe affecting more than two million people, including members of the Christian community who have shared fully in the suffering caused by what the center describes as genocide carried out by Israel.
In its statement released Tuesday, the center said that a papal visit to Gaza would send a powerful message of global solidarity with unarmed civilians and help refocus attention on a worsening humanitarian reality, despite the announcement of a ceasefire six months ago. It would also represent an important symbolic step in supporting the historic Christian presence in the occupied Palestinian territories and reinforcing the values of justice and peace advocated by the Catholic Church.
The center recalled that Christian places of worship in Gaza have been targeted and damaged in Israeli airstrikes, including the Church of Saint Porphyrius in Gaza City, as well as significant damage to the Holy Family Church and its surroundings.
It also noted that a number of Palestinian Christians have been killed or injured while sheltering inside churches or in their homes, reflecting the shared fate of Palestinians across different religious backgrounds.
The center stressed the importance of such a visit at this time, marking six months since the ceasefire took effect on October 10, 2025. It reported documenting 2,400 serious violations of the agreement, including 921 shooting incidents, 97 military incursions into residential neighborhoods, 1,109 airstrikes and attacks, and 273 demolitions of homes and civilian buildings, according to field data.
These violations have resulted in the killing of 757 Palestinians, 99 percent of them civilians, including 312 children, women, and elderly people, in addition to 2,100 injured civilians, more than half of whom belong to particularly vulnerable groups.
This brings the cumulative toll since the start of the genocidal war on October 7, 2023, to 72,336 killed and 172,213 injured.
The center emphasized that hundreds of thousands of displaced people are living in harsh conditions in damaged schools or makeshift tents lacking basic necessities after Israel destroyed 90 percent of homes and buildings in Gaza. It added that more than 54 percent of the territory has been left under direct Israeli occupation or rendered unusable due to widespread destruction of entire neighborhoods and civilian infrastructure, making large areas unfit for safe and dignified living.
The center expressed appreciation for Pope Leo XIV’s moral positions, which have emphasized solidarity with victims, rejection of attacks on civilians, and the importance of respecting international humanitarian law. It noted that such positions, which uphold human dignity and reject the logic of war and genocide, represent an important moral voice in a world where silence is increasingly widespread.
It added that while it values this clear humanitarian stance, it hopes it will be reinforced by a concrete step, namely, a visit to the Gaza Strip, carrying a message of justice and peace to both victims and the international community.
The Gaza Center for Human Rights described the proposed visit as a deeply meaningful moral gesture that would restore dignity and send a clear message to the international community about the need to uphold international humanitarian law and ensure the protection of civilians and places of worship without discrimination.
The statement concluded by affirming that the people of Gaza, Muslims and Christians alike, are looking for a courageous humanitarian stance that translates spiritual values into a real presence among victims and places the world before its legal and moral responsibilities.