The Catholic leader of the Holy Land has predicted that “humanly speaking,” it will be difficult for Gaza’s tiny Christian community to resist the temptation to leave.

There are an estimated 1,300 Christians on the Gaza Strip, amid an overall population of just over two million people.

“On a human level, I think the desire to leave will be very strong. Of course, we’ll have to see what the conditions are like … many houses have been destroyed, so in practical terms it won’t be easy,” said Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa, the Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem, in an interview with the Italian national broadcaster RAI.