Bishops witness devastation in Gaza
Categories: Articles:Peacemaking |
Published: 19/01/2015 |
Views: 1877
An international group of bishops spent their first day in the Holy Land yesterday, in Gaza, where they saw at first hand the impact of last summer's conflict which claimed the lives of more than 2,100 Palestinians, including 504 children, and 70 Israelis. Much of the densely-populated territory, which is only 25 miles long and seven miles wide at its broadest point, was repeatedly bombed.
In her report for Vatican Radio Lydia O’Kane, who is travelling with the Holy Land Co-ordination group, said: "We had been briefed by Catholic aid agencies that the destruction wrought in the 51 day war in Gaza between July and August 2014 was on a level that even they had not witnessed before. They weren’t exaggerating. No picture can fully describe the full extent of what parts of Gaza have been reduced to. The Bishops for the Holy Land Co-ordination group was brought to the worst affected area of the strip called Shajaieh. We stopped at what used to be the Al Wafa rehabilitation hospital, it was reduced to rubble with a picture showing what it used to look like. Our guide warned us there was worse to come. Read more here
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