- Feb 5, 2002
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Father Yusuf Asad, 49, who has been the assistant parochial vicar at Holy Family Church in Gaza for six years, had just celebrated morning Mass when a loud bang sounded. At around 10:20 a.m. local time, a projectile hit the building.
“It fell directly on the roof. The explosion occurred next to the cross atop the church and soon scattered shrapnel throughout the courtyard,” Anton Asfar, director of Caritas Jerusalem, told ACI Prensa, CNA’s Spanish-language news partner. He received a call from Gaza shortly after the attack alerting him to the incident.
“It was later clarified to us that at the time of the explosion, there were some people in the courtyard outside, even though Father Gabriel Romanelli, the pastor, had warned everyone to stay inside,” he explained.
Still shaken, he added: “Without Father Romanelli's warnings to stay inside, we could have lost 50 or 60 people. It would have been a massacre.”
Continued below.
www.catholicnewsagency.com
“It fell directly on the roof. The explosion occurred next to the cross atop the church and soon scattered shrapnel throughout the courtyard,” Anton Asfar, director of Caritas Jerusalem, told ACI Prensa, CNA’s Spanish-language news partner. He received a call from Gaza shortly after the attack alerting him to the incident.
“It was later clarified to us that at the time of the explosion, there were some people in the courtyard outside, even though Father Gabriel Romanelli, the pastor, had warned everyone to stay inside,” he explained.
Still shaken, he added: “Without Father Romanelli's warnings to stay inside, we could have lost 50 or 60 people. It would have been a massacre.”
Continued below.
Gaza church attack: Without warnings by priest ‘it would have been a massacre’
Father Yusuf Asad, 49, assistant parochial vicar at Holy Family Church in Gaza, had just celebrated morning Mass when a loud bang sounded. At around 10:20 a.m. local time, a projectile hit the building.
www.catholicnewsagency.com
