Bishop William Shomali, the auxiliary bishop for the Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem, said this week the community has been “very distressed” following the bombing of Holy Family Church in Gaza, with the prelate calling for the protection of nearby Chirstian villages. 

On July 17, the Israeli military bombed the only Catholic parish in Gaza. The strike killed three and injured nine, including the parish priest, Father Gabriel Romanelli. 

The Israel Defense Forces subsequently apologized for the strike, stating that “fragments from a shell fired during operational activity in the area hit the church mistakenly.” Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa later seemed to imply that the strike was intentional, telling an Italian newspaper that “everybody [in Gaza] believes it wasn’t” a mistake. 

The day after the strike, Cardinal Pizzaballa and Greek Orthodox Patriarch Theophilos III visited Gaza, providing “spiritual comfort, moral comfort, and also material comfort which is much needed.” 

In an interview with EWTN News In Depth on Friday, Bishop Shomali — who serves as general vicar and patriarchal vicar for Jerusalem and Palestine — said that the patriarch and his colleagues were able to bring one of the wounded back to Jerusalem, where he is now “under treatment.”

As the Vatican is now urging a ceasefire, Bishop Shomali said it is “great in itself” that Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu spoke on the phone with Pope Leo XIV, following a written message from the Holy Father offering prayers. 

Bishop Shomali said that the Holy See has asked “frequently” for a ceasefire “during the time of Pope Francis and even now with Leo XIV.” He reflected on Pope Francis’ “very close” relationship with Father Gabriel Romanelli and the people in Gaza.

Pope Francis “knew every detail about the life of the Christian community in Gaza,” he said. It was “unique, to say the truth. Every pope has his own style. The style of our Holy Father is different, but we know that he asks a lot about Gaza, and the telegram he sent yesterday showed his closeness to Father Gabriel and to the community.”

During the interview, Bishop Shomali said the situation in the West Bank continues to be “critical” for a number of reasons. He highlighted the “daily confrontation between Palestinians and the settlers."

“We are suffering now because in two of our Christian villages, Tayibe and Abu, settlers enter almost every day to conquer more land and to enlarge the settlements,” Bishop Shomali said.

He explained that they have asked Israel Defense Forces “to prevent settlers from coming to the Christian village of Tayibe” and now are “waiting [for] the answer.”

“We hope they can do something,” Bishop Shomali said. “But … the settlers have weapons, and I don’t believe that the army would like to be in confrontation with the settlers, who are more than 700 people in the West Bank.” 

“It is really difficult to convince them to change their mentality, which is very … ideological because they consider all the land in the West Bank theirs, and it’s a matter of time for them to take it without any sense of guilt,” the prelate said. 

He added: “So really we are in front of an ideological conflict with two narratives where a negotiation for peace [is] very difficult.”