Mobile Clinic, Health Center Suspend Operations
ROME, NOV. 19, 2012 (Zenit.org).-
As the violence in Gaza continues to escalate, Caritas Jerusalem says
the area is too dangerous for its mobile clinic and health center to
operate fully.
The regional Caritas group operated health
facilities in Gaza, including a mobile clinic that had to stop
operations a few days ago when the situation there worsened, and a
medical center, now also partially suspending operations, due to the
life threatening situation for medical staff.
Caritas is intent on continuing to serve the people of Gaza while the
health facility operations are suspended. Besides food and water, the
Caritas agency is planning to provide medical kits to 180 community
agents who have been trained in first aid in emergencies.
But an emergency response in Gaza will only be possible once major
hostilities have ceased and the border is reopened. In the event of a
ground invasion, that could be a matter of several weeks.
“What we can do now is pray, and also condemn the violence because it
will not bring a solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict,” said
Auxiliary Bishop William Shomali of Jerusalem.
Pray as Jesus did
Neville Kyrke-Smith, UK director of the charity Aid to the Church in Need, echoed the bishop's evaluation.
Kyrke-Smith was leading a Holy Land pilgrimage on the day Gaza's top
military commander was killed (Nov. 14), an event which escalated the
conflict.
Calling on people to pray for peace this Sunday, the Feast of Christ
the King, Kyrke-Smith said: "The current conflict could be the taper
that lights the fuse-wire of an even more widespread conflict in the
Middle East.
"The Christian community must not stand back hoping that conflicts
like this will burn themselves out. We have to act now for the people of
the Middle East and encourage our politicians to do the same.
"Our Lord prayed for the peace of Jerusalem. We must pray too, for the peace of Jerusalem and the wider Middle East."
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