The last appeal to His Beatitude the Pope from the heart of Golgotha

Hind Shareeda

His Beatitude Pope Leo XIV, the Most Reverend and Most Respected,
Peace of love that unites and does not separate.
I, journalist Hind Shraideh, write to you from occupied Palestine, from the land where Jesus Christ was born, died, and rose again, bringing you a cry for help from the heart of Golgotha, where an entire people is still being crucified.
For nearly two years, two million Palestinians in Gaza have been subjected to systematic genocide by the Israeli occupation, a genocide that has killed civilians and besieged all forms of life there, resulting in more than 60,000 martyrs and thousands more wounded. Nothing has been spared: no homes, no churches, no mosques, no schools, no universities, no hospitals, no cemeteries. Even embryo banks were not spared, heralding the death of every potential Palestinian life.
What is happening today is forced starvation, the product of an Israeli policy filled with blind hatred. It has become a crime that is worsening daily, constantly targeting men, women, children, and the elderly.
On the 660th day since the genocide began, the Gazans, the "wretched of the earth," are resisting with all their might, with their steadfastness on the ground. The Israeli killing machine is ready to track down and slaughter Palestinians based on their identity, and our identity—Muslims and Christians alike—is Palestinian. More than 4% of the Christian community in Gaza have been martyred, despite taking refuge in churches that have been transformed into shelters. The Israeli occupation is not content with killing bodies; it seeks to erase the Christian presence, which refuses displacement and bears the cross of steadfastness in Gaza. It is attempting to target it in order to empty it and uproot it spiritually by various means, thus excluding Gaza from the world, once an integral part of the Christian pilgrimage map.
It is a policy of isolating Gaza and continually practicing ethnic cleansing to empty it of Palestinian presence. Despite the sinister plans, the people of Gaza, including members of the church, have persevered, demonstrating that faith in Gaza is not a passing ritual, but a daily resurrection, lived out in their flesh as a way of life in the face of darkness.
And among those who were martyred, and those who were captured in secret detention camps, and were subjected to all kinds of torture at the hands of an army possessed by hatred and racism, there are those who survived the shells and missiles, but are starving amidst inhuman traps. The people of Gaza have become like ghosts, suffering from the transparency of their bones amidst starvation, wandering in the ruins of the destroyed city streets, searching for scraps of flour, falling one after the other from drought and hunger, in an artificial famine, created by a colonialist system that decided with complete determination and premeditation, and in full view of the entire world, in front of cameras and with official statements, to tighten the noose on Gaza.
The people of Gaza are suffering from betrayal, betrayal by everyone they once bet on. They have lost faith in everything they once believed in, such as international law, and in everything that has not yet been able to stop the bloodshed and establish justice for them. Some of them told me: Perhaps our prayers do not reach the sky, which is already distorted by the rockets and the drone that never leaves their hearts day and night. Others let out screams of pain that went beyond the logic of supplicating to God, as you could see Him gathering the torn remains of their children among the tents. A burning cry from the wound, and a deep sense of loneliness and abandonment, like Jesus wept in the Garden of Olives, crying out: "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?!"
Another friend, a lawyer, said he was forced to burn his law books for warmth last winter, due to the fuel crisis, wood scarcity, and the high cost of everything. My lawyer friend had come to the conclusion that the law would not save his life or the lives of his children. He had better use his mind amid the struggle for survival, choosing between his books stacked on the broken shelf in his shattered library and keeping his children warm. He decided to choose the latter, and survive until further notice.
Even the sea, the refuge of the western Gazans, is occupied by Israeli snipers, armed with quadcopters programmed with artificial intelligence to target any fisherman attempting to harvest their daily bread from the depths of the sea, God's free gift. But this, too, is now forbidden to them.
History will one day record that a genocide took place before the eyes of the world, which witnessed it and did not dare to condemn and hold the killer accountable. History will one day record that trucks piled up at the crossings, a stone's throw from Gaza, and were closed for fear of "Israel's" wrath. And that brave ships, such as the "Conscience" and "Madeleine" flotillas, attempted to break the blockade, but were surrounded, their crews arrested, and denied access to Gaza's shores.
There is nothing left but hope... only hope that keeps us Palestinians steadfast and clinging to life. And with this hope that surrounds me, I send you this letter.
His Beatitude the Pope,
From your previous service in Peru, you know what it means to be hungry and to have a rumbling sound of empty stomachs. You saw refugees, welcomed them into churches that opened shelters and community kitchens for them, and stood up against tyranny and political injustice, demanding an apology from Alberto Fujimori and siding with the people, the true source of legitimacy.
Despite the pain, destruction, and starvation, our hearts still cling to hope, the hope of the Risen One. Today, full of faith and hope, we call upon you to step out in a different way, away from the statements and calls from your balcony, and to devote yourself to carrying out prophetic action in a time of wickedness that no longer hears your calls and has decided to close its ears so as not to hear the voice of justice and peace. We call upon you to heed the command of Christ:
“For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, 36 naked and you clothed me, I was sick and you visited me, I was in prison and you came to me.” Matthew 25:35-36
We call upon you, as the head of the Church and the Holy See, from the stronghold of the papal cathedral, St. Peter's Basilica in the Vatican, built with the blood of the holy rock and martyr, St. Peter the Apostle, to set sail in the "Justice" flotilla with a group of cardinals and clerics of various faiths, and a group of human rights activists and people of conscience, and to break the siege on Gaza.
I won't promise you safety, as the occupying power doesn't allow anyone to provide relief to the Palestinians. But the equation is difficult: Either we exist or we don't exist, which requires exceptional courage and profound prophetic action, for which we count on you.
Come, try it. Invest in your international immunity and your American citizenship. Perhaps they will help us break the blockade, and perhaps your arrival will expose what the Israeli occupation has done to previous relief flotillas, and what it is trying to do today to the "Handala" ship.
Jesus Christ said it on the Mount of Beatitudes:
“Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God.”
We call upon you, in his name, and in the name of the Holy Family who passed through Gaza on their way to Egypt, to help the people of Gaza, to break this unjust siege, and to arrive in Gaza on a ship loaded with food, medicine, baby milk, and prosthetic limbs.
Please do not send us away disappointed. Perhaps the sinking of your ship will be the beginning of a miracle, and your coming will be a blessing after which convoys of mercy will be unleashed. Perhaps you will perform the miracle of the loaves and fishes once again, feeding the hungry in Gaza and supporting their legendary steadfastness.

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