Inside Gaza’s 3 Surviving Churches, a Community Clings to Christmas
Ahmed Abd al-Salam reports that Gaza’s Christian community—once counted in the thousands—has been reduced to an estimated 600 people, scattered between just three officially active churches: the Greek Orthodox St. Porphyrios Church, the Roman Catholic Holy Family Church, and the Gaza Baptist Church. The story centers on Father Gabriel Romanelli, the Argentine parish priest of Holy Family, who has served Gaza’s Christians for more than two decades and has led the parish through the war.
Give the gift of hope
We practice what we preach:
accurate, fearless journalism. But we can't do it alone.
- On the ground in Gaza, Syria, Israel, Egypt, Pakistan, and more
- Our program trained more than 100 journalists
- Calling out fake news and reporting real facts
- On the ground in Gaza, Syria, Israel, Egypt, Pakistan, and more
- Our program trained more than 100 journalists
- Calling out fake news and reporting real facts
Join us.
Support The Media Line. Save democracy.
Romanelli told The Media Line that before Oct. 7, 2023, Gaza had 1,017 Christians out of about 2.3 million residents. When evacuations began, families ran to the church “because they feel more security around Jesus in the house of the Lord.” At the height of the fighting, Holy Family sheltered more than 700 people; about 450 were still there at the time of reporting, with other families staying at St. Porphyrios and the Baptist church. Churches, the report notes, became shelters and aid hubs—some of the last steady places for families with nowhere else to go—and at times even took in Muslim neighbors.
The piece captures a pared-down Christmas shaped by grief, displacement, and exhaustion, yet threaded with stubborn gratitude and a desire to keep children steady. One girl said, “We are happy because the war has ended, and we are happy because it is the birth of Jesus.” Romanelli described a deepening solidarity: “I think that now we are stronger because we live our faith in simplicity more than before,” he said. Read the full report by Ahmed Abd al-Salam and watch the video report for the names, numbers, voices, and on-the-ground texture behind Gaza’s quiet, surviving Christian presence.
