A vehicle used by the late Pope Francis during a visit to Bethlehem more than a decade ago has been transformed into a mobile health clinic that Christian leaders hope will soon be used to provide care to Palestinian children in Gaza.
The initiative was blessed by Francis before he died in April and was entrusted to the Catholic organization Caritas, which oversaw the project to convert the vehicle unveiled on Tuesday.
“We’re pleased that we have here a serious contribution towards the health care of children in Gaza,” Caritas Secretary-General Alistair Dutton told a news conference in Bethlehem.
Francis had used the vehicle, a converted Mitsubishi pick-up that was donated by Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, during his visit to Bethlehem in 2014.
The open platform at the back of the vehicle, where the pope once stood as he travelled through Bethlehem, has now been enclosed and converted into the children’s treatment area.
“This vehicle stands as a testimony that the world has not forgotten the children of Gaza,” said Cardinal Anders Arborelius of Stockholm, who had approached Francis before his death about Caritas’ idea of converting the former popemobile into a mobile paediatric clinic.
Caritas Sweden Secretary-General Peter Brune said that the mobile clinic was capable of treating around 200 children a day.
But it was unclear when the vehicle would enter Gaza, where a ceasefire still formally holds despite frequent Israeli airstrikes on the territory battered by two years of war.
“As soon as we possibly can,” Dutton said, declining to comment further. COGAT, the Israeli government agency responsible for coordinating the entry of aid into the enclave, declined to comment when asked about the request.
Father Ibrahim Faltas said he hoped the vehicle would be moved to Gaza in the “near future”, telling Reuters the popemobile-turned-clinic was ready to help children in Gaza.
At least 67 children killed since ceasefire
The United Nations children’s agency UNICEF said on Friday that at least 67 children have been killed in what it called conflict-related incidents since the ceasefire went into effect.
The Israeli military has said that it was targeting militants who have posed a threat to its soldiers occupying half of Gaza.
Francis frequently spoke out about the war in Gaza and in January called the humanitarian situation there “shameful”. He also called for the release of the hostages taken captive by Palestinian militants, met their relatives and condemned the Hamas attack on Israel that ignited the war.
He was also known to speak by phone with Gaza’s small Christian community every evening during the war.
“We know how much Pope Francis loved the people of the Holy Land, the people of Bethlehem and especially the people of Gaza,” said Father Faltas, representative of the Franciscan Friars to the State of Palestine.
