Palestinian, Israeli Child Victim Names Read at Marzabotto

Marzabotto: The names of over 12,000 Palestinian and 16 Israeli child victims killed since the Hamas attacks of October 7, 2023, were read out Thursday at the scene of Italy’s worst WWII atrocity, the village of Marzabotto south of Bologna, where 1,830 civilians were killed by the Waffen SS in 1944. According to Ansa News Agency, Italian Bishops Conference (CEI) chief and papal Ukraine envoy Cardinal Matteo Zuppi was leading a prayer vigil at the hours-long event, which will end Thursday night.

Reading the more than 12,000 names of children who died in the Holy Land serves “to remember, to show concern, from this place that is a place of suffering and that has always, intentionally, been a place of remembrance for all the victims,” Zuppi said. With the hope that “by dwelling on the suffering of children, we can begin something new and different,” Zuppi said as he arrived at Monte Sole di Marzabotto, where the prayer marathon began in the ruins of the Casaglia church, burned down by the Nazis in 1944.

“And then because they’re not numbers, they’re people. They’ll go on for many hours, becoming an insistent prayer for an end and for a ceasefire and peace to be chosen,” Zuppi added. “We hope this will lead to adequate responses: the suffering of children must be felt most. We’ll start with the children killed by Hamas on October 7th, then all those killed since then, and we hope this will inspire everyone to choose other paths and not endanger the lives of innocents.” The names and ages of the children who died from October 7th to July 15th are being read out: 469 pages, 12,211 Palestinians, 16 Israelis.