The situation in Gaza remains desperate and catastrophic. Despite continuous and mounting calls for a ceasefire, military operations have expanded, and the war rages on. There are reports of fierce gunfire, shelling, approaching tanks, and a report by Gaza’s civil
defence agency that Israeli forces killed many people on Tuesday. Innocent lives are lost in the attempts to destroy Hamas, the Palestinian militant group.
The anti-Palestinian crimes are heinous. Innocent people are being killed and wounded. Homes are destroyed and families are displaced. All Palestinians are starving. According to the
UN, “Gaza is the hungriest place on Earth,” and all its people are at risk of famine. Many of those brave enough to run the gauntlet or “play Russian Roulette”, as Amy Low of Médecins sans Frontières calls it, to get food from the food distribution sites are being shot at, wounded and killed. On 29 June 2025, Al Jazeera reported that the Gaza Strip’s Ministry of Health had stated that at least 583 Palestinians have been killed and 4186 injured while waiting for food at aid distribution sites
since 27 May 2025.
The 400 previously UN-run aid distribution sites have been taken over and reduced to four sites and are operated by the Israeli- and United States-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation(GHF). These four sites(three in the south and one in central Gaza) are in the red zones, which are evacuation areas heavily guarded and patrolled
by Israeli forces. Aid seekers are forced to walk for hours through dangerous terrain and conflict zones, to face indiscriminate violence while trying to get food for their families. Amy Low said that on days that the aid distribution sites are open, more medical staff are required to deal with the casualties: injured and dead aid seekers.
What
is happening in Gaza can only be termed as genocide. Since the October 7, 2023, attack (when an estimated 1,139 people were killed and more than 200 taken hostage in Israel), more than 56,647 people have been killed and 134,105 people injured in Gaza, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry. A glaring discrepancy!
In a recent interview with Ngala Killian Chimtom, Africa correspondent for Crux, my Jerusalem-based colleague, Fr David Neuhaus SJ, said, “Israel’s actions in Gaza count as a 'genocide’.” While citing his history and that of the Israel-Palestine conflict,
Fr Neuhaus said, “The consequences are a war on the Palestinians, killing men, women and children, militants and non-militants and destroying their homes, resulting in what is now being termed genocide.”
And while all this is happening, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is preparing to travel to Washington to meet with US President Donald
Trump. Interestingly enough, Trump is among those urging Israel to focus on ending the war and securing the release of the hostages still held in Gaza.
A Hamas official, Taher al-Nunu, is said to have told AFP that Hamas is "ready to agree to any proposal if it will lead to an end to the war and a permanent ceasefire and a complete withdrawal of occupation forces". Yet the madness continues.
May we continue to pray for those innocent
people of Palestine and Israel, and other war-torn areas, that are caught in the crossfire. May we remember those starving, homeless and orphaned children while we enjoy a nutritious meal and restful sleep. God, bless all your people.
