Eyewitness report on catastrophic situation in Gaza and West Bank

Source: CNEWA-Pontifical Mission

Joseph Hazboun, Regional Director, Pontifical Mission, Jerusalem writes:

Following the tragic and unjustified resumption of airstrikes on the civilian population in Gaza by the Israeli air force, it has been reported by the UN that over 404 people were killed among whom some 170 children, and 562 injured, as the strikes targeted displaced people.

The night before the attack, I was speaking to our partners in Gaza asking what can be done and how we can help. Humanitarian aid is paused as the fighting resumed.

People are desperate to go back to their homes, while others have tried to find their homes amongst the debris and rubble. People need water and electricity. However, water tanks that could be put on the rooftop and filled with desalinated water, are unavailable in Gaza. Electricity generators are unavailable, even if the prices are really high. If there were generators available, fuel to run them is scarce.

Transportation costs are expensive, and the amount of fuel is inadequate. For over three weeks now, Israel shut all crossings, including Rafah on the Egyptian side, preventing any humanitarian supplies from reaching Gaza. With the crossings shut, there is no food, water, fuel, or medicine or medical supplies. Again, in the 21st century, five years away from the deadline for achieving the SDGs to eradicate poverty and hunger, among other 15 development goals; we find ourselves facing hunger, poverty, lack of electric supply, and unemployment - a direct result of political games and the human unwillingness to live and to let others live.

Israeli society is convinced that Netanyahu's decision to resume attacks on Gaza has nothing to do with releasing the Israeli captives, but rather to protect himself from court cases brought against him. For instance, a session that was due on Wednesday was cancelled because of the attack on Gaza. To further strengthen his coalition, Ben Gvir and his party 'Otsmah Yehudit' rejoined the government as soon as the attacks on Gaza resumed, and Ben Gvir resumed his position as Minister for Internal Security.

In the northern districts of the West Bank, military attacks on Palestinian refugee camps and arresting people without trial is taking place on a daily basis. However, after October 7, 2023, and in recent months, Israeli military forces have been demolishing infrastructure throughout the West Bank including roads, homes and buildings, which displaced tens of thousands of people from Jenin, Tulkarem and Ein Shams refugee camps.

Moreover, settler violence has reached unprecedented levels in Area C of the West Bank. Many Palestinians remain unprotected and helpless. According to a recent UN OCHA report published in March 2025, since the beginning of the month, Israeli settler attacks resulted in the injury of two Palestinians and more than 1,400 sheep and goats stolen or killed, and over 380 olive trees and fruit trees have been vandalized. The Israeli Forces protect the settlers in case a Palestinian thinks of fighting back or stepping up in the face of the settlers.Is this the war of expulsion and eradication against the Palestinian people?!

According to some extreme-right wing Israeli settlers, the State of Israel has endured the Palestinians for too long. All the current policies have all but shut down the tourism sector that is strangling the Palestinian economy, especially in Bethlehem, in addition to the cancellation of work permits for Palestinian labourers. Moreover, the demolition of Palestinian infrastructure, the construction of more Israeli settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem, and new, serious talks about Israel's re- annexation of the West Bank shows that these combined measures are the government's policy of elimination of the other.

However, one and half year of a savage war against the Palestinians in Gaza, made the Palestinians more determent to stay afoot and resist the transfer. The question is: when will the Israelis come to realize that the only solution lies in "convivencia", a peaceful coexistence between the two peoples?!

As His Excellency, William Hanna Shomali, auxiliary bishop of the Latin Patriarchate in Jerusalem said during an annual interfaith iftar at Al Husseiniya Palace in Amman, Jordan, March 11, 2025: "The people of Palestine will not accept a homeland other than Palestine, even if they are blessed in the paradises of the East and the West."

Joseph Hazboun

Regional Director,

Pontifical Mission, Jerusalem