Cardinal Pizzaballa: Gaza razed to the ground, children bitten by rats; MEP Ricci demands Netanyahu's arrest

Cardinal Pizzaballa's testimony

Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa, the Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem, received the Limes Peace Prize in Bergamo on June 29, 2026. In a conversation with Limes director Lucio Caracciolo, he recounted his visit to Gaza on June 22-23, describing the devastation.

“Gaza is a disaster. The cities are razed to the ground, levelled, wiped out. Rafah no longer exists.”

Life amid the ruins

Pizzaballa said he was struck by makeshift roads running among tents and open sewage. People live among the sewers, and an aspect photos cannot capture is the smell.

“One of the worst plagues at the moment are the rats, which bite. They bite especially children. Gaza is full of children; they are everywhere, but instead of going to school, they play, dirty, next to the sewers.”

Ceasefire without relief

Even after the ceasefire, he noted, the blockade persists. While some food enters, almost everything else is prohibited as "dual-use", including school desks, pencils, notebooks, and window glass. Health workers told him the most urgent need is personnel trained to handle psychological trauma among children and mothers.

“We want to reopen the schools, but we lack almost everything. People try to get by recycling scraps here and there.”

West Bank violence

The Patriarch also condemned the situation in the West Bank, where he said the law is not applied to Palestinians. Israeli settlers, he claimed, set up checkpoints, cut down trees, and carry out daily assaults and thefts with impunity. When the Israeli army is called, settlers often leave before soldiers arrive, and the soldiers end up targeting Palestinians.

“I will say it undiplomatically: I feel great sorrow, I cannot comprehend it.”

Political reaction

Italian MEP Matteo Ricci of the Democratic Party reacted sharply, calling the war "mad" and demanding Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu be stopped and condemned. He accused the international community of complicity through silence.

“Faced with a humanitarian catastrophe of this magnitude, those who remain silent are complicit. Netanyahu must be stopped and condemned.”

A remembered catastrophe?

The testimony comes as the conflict's toll mounts. According to authorities in Gaza, over 70,000 civilians have been killed since the war began on October 7, 2023, with thousands of bodies still under rubble. A UN Security Council resolution (2803) endorsed a 20-point peace plan creating a "Board of Peace" for Gaza, but its limited mandate until 2027 has raised concerns among diplomats.