Fr. Faltas: We cannot close our eyes to children dying in Gaza

By Vatican News

“We cannot close our eyes and our hearts to hungry and frightened children. We cannot remain indifferent knowing that 60,000 pregnant women in Gaza suffer from hunger and malnutrition in their delicate and important condition: that of giving life.

Father Ibrahim Faltas, Vicar of the Custody of the Holy Land, launched this new passionate plea on Saturday in an interview with the Italian Catholic news agency SIR.

The Franciscan friar of Egyptian origin is currently in Italy to coordinate the transfer of dozens of children from the Gaza Strip to several pediatric hospitals across the country, following a recent agreement with Italian authorities. The first group arrived on January 29.

In the interview, Fr. Faltas recalled that, as in any war, the first innocent victims of the ongoing armed conflict between Israel and Hamas are women and children.

Children have been orphaned and mothers have lost their children

More than 9,000 Palestinian women have been killed since the war began on October 7, 2023.

“Many children have become orphans and many mothers have lost their children,” he said, adding that children in Gaza without food risk starving to death and that every day, women risk their lives to give birth in the amidst the bombings.

Children risk dying of starvation

These children need immediate answers to survive, Father said. Faltas. “We cannot simply tell them that their hunger must wait until the powerful people of the world give permission to feed them” or simply let them starve.

“I listen to their stories; I read their stories and I try to understand how some adults do not feel the need to stop, to help, to stop committing injustices,” lamented the Franciscan friar.

“Let us pray,” concluded the Vicar, “so that the light of truth which defeats hypocrisy touches consciences. We defend those who suffer from the evils of war, we try to be the voice of those who no longer have a voice to demand truth, justice and peace. »