{"id":235544,"date":"2026-08-04T13:59:14","date_gmt":"2026-08-04T13:59:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/235544\/"},"modified":"2026-08-04T13:59:14","modified_gmt":"2026-08-04T13:59:14","slug":"u-s-bishops-ask-for-intense-prayers-for-hamas-israel-peace-amid-gazas-disastrous-conditions","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/235544\/","title":{"rendered":"U.S. bishops ask for \u2018intense prayers\u2019 for Hamas-Israel peace amid Gaza\u2019s \u2018disastrous\u2019 conditions"},"content":{"rendered":"

In response to President Donald Trump\u2019s announcement last week of a deal between the U.S.-led Board of Peace, Israel, and Hamas, the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) called for \u201cintense prayers\u201d for the deal\u2019s success as Gaza faces a worsening humanitarian crisis.<\/p>\n

In an Aug. 3 statement<\/a>, Bishop A. Elias Zaidan, chairman of the USCCB\u2019s Committee on International Justice and Peace, said he is \u201cheartened by news of an agreement which aims at the disarmament of Hamas and Israel\u2019s military withdrawal from the [Gaza] Strip,\u201d calling for \u201cintense prayers for the success of these negotiations.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAs I previously articulated<\/a>, as \u2018people of faith who deeply care for all our brothers and sisters who live in the land of Christ\u2019s life, death, and glorious resurrection, we cannot lose this opportunity for peace,\u2019\u201d Zaidan continued, calling on the U.S., Israel, and the international community \u201cto facilitate greater amounts of humanitarian and development assistance to the Strip.\u201d<\/p>\n

U.S. President Donald Trump announced on July 30<\/a> that his Board of Peace<\/a> had reached a deal for Hamas to fully disarm after nearly three years of war. <\/p>\n

\u201cThe agreement will be carried out in carefully structured phases,\u201d Trump indicated. \u201cAs disarmament is completed, Israeli forces will withdraw, and the International Stabilization Force will work with a new Palestinian police force to take responsibility for Gaza being safe for its residents and its neighbors.\u201d<\/p>\n

Though a Hamas official confirmed the disarmament pact the next day, according to<\/a> the Associated Press, significant hurdles remain, leaving the deal\u2019s implementation uncertain despite U.S. optimism. Israel has not publicly endorsed the agreement and has continued airstrikes, killing at least 17 people, including children, in Gaza Sunday night.<\/p>\n

\u2018People are living with nothing\u2019<\/p>\n

\u201cAlleviating the suffering of the Gazan people is not only a vital moral imperative but is also necessary for the consolidation of peace in the Holy Land and the entire region,\u201d Zaidan declared. \u201cThis should include restoring educational opportunities for children and youths, jobs, and clean water.\u201d<\/p>\n

In an interview last week with Vatican Media<\/a>, Father Gabriel Romanelli, pastor of Holy Family Church in Gaza, begged for humanitarian aid for the region, emphasizing that \u201cwhen people say the situation here is disastrous, believe me: It really is disastrous \u2014 if anything, it calls for an even stronger word.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cPeople are living with nothing,\u201d Romanelli said. \u201cReconstruction is certainly essential, but so too are all the basic necessities of everyday life.\u201d<\/p>\n

Former U.S. ambassador and EWTN contributor on Middle East issues Alberto Fernandez told EWTN News that while the deal is \u201cextraordinarily shaky from both sides,\u201d he is hopeful because \u201cthe situation of the civilian public in Gaza is so dire,\u201d Fernandez said. \u201cGaza is destroyed, people are traumatized, there\u2019s no economy.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2018Deeply conflicting agendas\u2019 <\/p>\n

\u201cThe agreement on paper is a positive, concrete step in the right direction,\u201d Fern\u00e1ndez said, pointing out that the issue of which side will act first \u201cis a small part of a bigger problem. There is no trust between the two sides, and deeply conflicting agendas.\u201d<\/p>\n

In Zaidan\u2019s statement, the bishop wrote that the \u201cagreement\u2019s successful implementation, as its principles statement says, has the potential of finally providing the Palestinian people with a \u2018credible political path that achieves self-determination and Statehood.\u2019 This would be a major milestone.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hamas said Friday that it would give up its heavy weapons, including rockets, contingent on Israel\u2019s withdrawal from Gaza and the creation of a Palestinian state, the latter condition one Netanyahu\u2019s government strongly rejects.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe two-state solution among the Israeli public is moribund,\u201d the ambassador continued. \u201cWe\u2019re not there at all in a situation where they will compromise. They\u2019ve become more intransigent. That\u2019s a reality.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s not time for celebration, but time to recognize there is small progress being made, and huge obstacles remain,\u201d Fernandez said.<\/p>\n

\u2018Serious security concerns\u2019<\/p>\n

Doron Spielman, a spokesperson for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, told the AP<\/a> on Aug. 2 that Israel has \u201cserious security concerns\u201d surrounding the deal. Spielman said Israel believes Hamas is still committed to building up its military, not demilitarizing, and said Israel would not withdraw from the Gaza Strip, where it controls more than half the territory, before Hamas disarms.<\/p>\n

\u201cDisarming means physically giving up the weapons. Nothing less,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur assessment is that if we redeploy before Hamas is truly disarmed, it will quickly expand its presence throughout Gaza, rebuild its terrorist infrastructure, once again threaten Israeli communities, and seek to carry out another Oct. 7-style attack,\u201d Spielman told the AP.<\/p>\n

Zaidan concluded his statement acknowledging the \u201cextreme challenges inherent in this ongoing peace process\u201d but called on all to \u201centrust the hearts and minds of the negotiators to the maternal care of Our Lady of Wisdom, that she may illumine and enliven their efforts to finally achieve peace in those sacred lands.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"In response to President Donald Trump\u2019s announcement last week of a deal between the U.S.-led Board of Peace,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":235545,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[33],"tags":[66308,1566,66309,37,5539,864,66310],"class_list":["post-235544","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-israel","tag-catholic-church-in-gaza","tag-catholic-news","tag-holy-family-parish-in-gaza","tag-israel","tag-israel-hamas-war","tag-president-donald-trump","tag-usccb"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@iran\/117037600780741909","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/235544","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=235544"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/235544\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/235545"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=235544"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=235544"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=235544"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}