A young man who was seriously wounded by Israel’s July 17 strike on Gaza’s only Catholic parish has spoken out from his hospital bed, expressing gratitude to Catholics around the world for their support.
“Thank you all for your prayers, for your messages,” Suhail Shadi Abu Dawoud said weakly in a brief video message filmed at his bedside in the hospital. “I really appreciate all of you.”
He also shared the hopes that inspire him during his days-long recovery. “I hope I can start my life again and to continue my vocation in Italy,” he said, concluding: “And as always, love is stronger than war.”
Suhail is a young Catholic student from Gaza, seriously wounded in the Israeli attack on the Holy Family parish on Thursday.
— Vatican News (@VaticanNews) July 19, 2025
He writes a column for L’Osservatore Romano, the Holy See’s newspaper.
Although Suhail sustained shrapnel wounds to his internal organs during… pic.twitter.com/f8fvVMCRXt
A Holy Family Church employee informed CatholicVote after the strike that Dawoud was “seriously injured” in “the church shelling.”
Pope Leo and Patriarch of Jerusalem Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa have spoken out strongly against the attack, which killed three and left about a dozen wounded, including the church’s pastor, Father Gabriel Romanelli.