As Catholics, we are called to be witnesses to truth, defenders of life, and servants to the suffering. In Gaza, the truth is devastating, life is slipping away, and the suffering—especially of children—is unbearable. The humanitarian crisis unfolding there is no longer just a political issue—it is a moral emergency that cries out to heaven.
“We have seen men holding out in the sun for hours in the hope of a simple meal,” said Latin Patriarch Pierbattista Pizzaballa, following his visit to Gaza. “It’s morally unacceptable and unjustified,” he told reporters, according to AFP. The images he described are not abstractions. They are real people—our brothers and sisters—struggling to survive under the crushing weight of war, blockade, and starvation.
Innocent children are dying of hunger.
According to Dr. Mohammed Abu Salmiya, head of Al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City, “21 children had died across the Palestinian territory in the past three days due to malnutrition and starvation.” These deaths occurred at multiple hospitals: Al-Shifa in Gaza City, Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in Deir el-Balah, and Nasser Hospital in Khan Yunis.
The suffering is relentless. “New cases of malnutrition and starvation are arriving at Gaza’s remaining functioning hospitals every moment,” Abu Salmiya reported. The words “every moment” should haunt us. Each tick of the clock means another fragile body grows weaker, another child slips closer to death.
Pope Francis, before his passing, often said that “a Church that is not poor and for the poor is not the Church of Jesus.” Today, we must ask: are we that Church, or have we grown numb to the cries of the starving?
The blockade on Gaza, imposed after ceasefire talks broke down on March 2, halted nearly all aid until a trickle resumed in late May. But the food stocks accumulated during the temporary lull have since vanished. Now, more than two million people are living through what UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres calls the “collapse of the last lifelines keeping people alive.”
According to Gaza’s civil defence agency, at least three infants died from “severe hunger and malnutrition” last week alone. These are babies. The most helpless among us. And they are dying while the world debates and delays.
Carl Skau of the World Food Programme visited Gaza City in early July and called the situation “the worst” he had ever seen.
And yet, our faith teaches us that every life is sacred. Every child—Palestinian or Israeli—is made in the image of God. When we ignore their suffering, we disfigure that image. When we justify inaction, we deny the Gospel.
More than two dozen nations, including traditional allies of Israel such as Britain, France, Australia, and Canada, have called for an immediate end to the war, the release of hostages, and the free flow of humanitarian aid. Catholics must join this global cry—not out of politics, but out of love. Not out of ideology, but out of justice.
Christ warned that we will be judged by how we treated the least among us. In Gaza, the least among us are perishing. If we do nothing, what will we say to Christ when He asks, “Where were you when my children were starving?”
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