A school attached to Gaza's only Roman Catholic church has reopened for the first time since the October 7th attacks in 2023.
Fr Gabriel Romanelli from Holy Family Catholic Church said seeing the school open its doors to a thousand pupils was “like a light in the darkness for the local community that has experienced so much suffering.”
He told a delegation from Catholic charity Aid to the Church in Need (ACN): “For the students and the families, re-opening the school will bring some sense of normality. We have worked hard to ensure that it is a safe environment. There is almost nowhere in Gaza that has not been destroyed, destruction is all around – but we have worked hard to make the school a clean environment, where the children – who have been through so much – can feel safe”.
The school programme has been designed to take into account the suffering and trauma pupils and staff have experienced during nearly three years of war.
Dr John Newton from ACN told Premier Christian News there would be specially trained trauma counsellors supporting the children, many of whom will have lost family members and seen their homes destroyed. He said he was hopeful that “with the trauma counselling in place, with familiar faces in terms of teachers that they've known before, with familiar faces from the sisters and from the various churches, that there are the firm foundations for the children to have a good future, and hopefully everything they need will be provided, and they can face not only schooling, but the future with hope”.
The school is able to reopen now because many of the 450 internally displaced people who were sheltering in its compound have returned home.
Before the war, five Christian schools operated in Gaza: three Catholic, one Orthodox and one Evangelical. Christian pupils were spread among these schools. Now, for the first time, all Christian students will attend the Holy Family School. The school will serve not only the local parish, but also the wider community with the majority of the students being Muslim.
George Akroush, Director of the Project Development Office of the Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem, told ACN that around 130 Christian pupils will study at the school, making up approximately 13% of students.
Mr Akroush said: “For the first time, all Christian students in Gaza will be studying together in one Christian school.
“This creates a strong sense of community and shows that the Church remains close to them, accompanying them in the midst of all they are going through.”