For years, Gaza’s only Catholic church had been a sanctuary of prayer for its congregation, so little wonder it was where hundreds would flee after the destruction of homes in the territory’s largest city, the focal point of Israel’s ferocious aerial bombardment.
The parishioners turned nursery playrooms and even pews in the nave of the sprawling complex of the Holy Family Church into makeshift homes. They held Mass by torchlight, praying for survival as Israel’s bombing campaign levelled buildings in the area around them.
