(OSV News) -- A ceasefire between Israel and Iran is bringing a measure of relief to the Holy Land, but Catholic humanitarians there told OSV News that real and lasting peace must ultimately be achieved.
Recent strikes exchanged by Israel and Iran, accompanied by June 21 U.S. attacks on three Iranian nuclear facilities, sparked fears of a wider regional war in the Middle East.
A fragile ceasefire between Israel and Iran, announced June 23 by U.S. President Donald Trump, was interrupted by additional bilateral attacks before resuming.
Amid the ongoing Israel-Hamas war -- launched after the latter's Oct. 7, 2023, attack on Israel -- that respite has been a welcome one.
"We had the first full night of sleep since the war started," said Sami El-Yousef, CEO of the Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem.
"At least, the children now can try to get back to normal and enjoy the time during the summer vacation," said Joseph Hazboun, regional director for the Catholic Near East Welfare Association-Pontifical Mission's Jerusalem office.
"Hearing the sirens go off every now and then, the tension among the family members, hearing the explosions that shake the windows and oftentimes, even the whole building, was an experience that no child should experience," said Hazboun.
He noted those stranded abroad by flight cancellations amid the Israel-Iran exchanges -- among them, his own daughter -- could "return safely home."
Ahead of the ceasefire, Hazboun had described the situation as "very dangerous," one in which "everything could go wrong."
Hazboun said the toll has been especially heavy on the region's children, who have been "afraid" and "terrorized."
"We've been receiving these emergency alerts on our phones," which "all the kids have," he said. "So their phones, at midnight or 4 a.m., give this very strange, very scary beep."
The sight of missiles "crossing through the skies of Jerusalem" had become "normal," said El-Yousef.
"You see them going by, especially the ones heading towards Tel Aviv. And then (you hear) the big bangs," he explained. "By now you can tell basically which missiles are being intercepted. And that's a different sound than a missile that hits the ground," discernible by "the severity of the noise, the severity of the shaking."
But despite the Israel-Iran ceasefire, said El-Yousef, "Gaza remains bleeding, and unless that war stops, we are only in a pause."
"We hope that President Trump will put an end to the crazy inhumane war in Gaza, where people are starving, unable to find food or clean water; and where tens of starving family members were shot dead simply because they seek a bit of flour or canned food from the newly established distribution points," said Hazboun, who in a previous call with OSV News had noted the second anniversary of the Israel-Hamas war is rapidly approaching.
According to the Hamas-run health ministry, the death toll has passed 56,000 in Gaza. Aid distribution has been limited to troubled efforts by a U.S.-based contractor, Gaza Humanitarian Fund, following a nearly three-month-long blockade by Israel, which said assistance to Gaza was being diverted to Hamas.
The GHF response has been criticized by the United Nations and other humanitarian agencies as disorganized and dangerous, with reports of several Palestinians killed by Israeli forces as they queued for food.
"Only four distribution points replaced the hundreds of UNRWA (the United Nations' Palestinian relief agency) run distribution centers," said Hazboun. "It is chaos and deadly."
El-Yousef agreed, saying he hoped Israel would allow international aid agencies to deliver food into Gaza, where residents are "so desperate."
Hazboun said his organization, which purchases available supplies in Gaza for distribution, expects in the coming days to hand out "flour to hundreds of families in Gaza, a small intervention that we hope at least will help these families survive another month."
El-Yousef said the patriarchate has "not been able to send anything to Gaza since March 2," when Israel suspended the entry of goods there.
Despite the GHF distributions, "nothing filters through" to Holy Family Parish in Gaza, where some 450 are sheltering, said El-Yousef.
Now, "what they use basically is the remains of the stock that they have, which is dwindling low," he said. "So they're in a very critical condition basically, and they're also running out of cash, because the banks are still non-operational. Whatever cash they have to be able to buy (supplies), even at incredible prices on the market, is depleted. So it's extremely, extremely difficult."
So far, the parish has sufficient sacramental wine and the ability to make Communion hosts for Mass, he said.
El-Yousef estimated those at Holy Family Parish could hold out “several weeks, maybe a month or so,” but warned that “it's getting low" and that the parish has to "ration" food.
He said the church in the Holy Land "has truly done heroic" work amid the Israel-Hamas war.
"We're not leaving the people behind," he said. "The church continues to bring hope to people. … The only sane voice that you hear in our region is that of the church, (which) calls for love, peace, understanding and mutual recognition at a time when others call to kill, seek revenge, bomb. We need that sane voice of the church to be the voice of reconciliation for our region. It's much needed today, more than any day in the past."
