“There are more than a million people without a place to live, and especially along the seafront, there are long rows of tents, where people live in extremely precarious conditions, both hygienically and in every other respect,” Cardinal Pizzaballa said in the interview published by Vatican News.

“The other image is the hospital: the mutilated children, blinded by the effects of the bombing,” the priest said, referring to the tragic toll of Israel’s attacks on the Strip, which he described as unjustifiable, and which have already caused the deaths of some 60,000 Palestinians.

As part of his tour of Gaza, which began last Friday, the Patriarch visited the Parish of the Holy Family, which was the target of an Israeli bombardment on July 17, leaving three dead and about fifteen wounded. Anyhow, he held the Sunday mass in its semi-destroyed buildings.

Regarding Israel’s plans to expel Palestinians from Gaza Strip, Pizzaballa reaffirmed that despite the dramatic situation faced by the inhabitants of that area, Gazan people, he said, “have their roots there, their home there; or rather, they had their home there, and they want to rebuild it there,” the cardinal stated, remembering that Pope Leo XIV “has been very clear on this matter: there will be no transfer of people.”

In this regard, on Monday morning, the Supreme Pontiff received a phone call from Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, to whom he reaffirmed the Holy See’s position against Israel’s aggression against Gaza and called on the Israeli government to fully respect international humanitarian law.

In that conversation, Leo XIV emphasized Tel Aviv’s obligation to protect civilians and holy sites, as well as the prohibition of the indiscriminate use of force and the forcible transfer of populations. jdt/mem/ort