An Israeli shell slammed into the compound of the only Catholic church in the Gaza Strip on Thursday, killing three people and wounding 10 others, including the parish priest, church officials said. The late Pope Francis, who died in April, had regularly spoken to the priest about the war’s toll on civilians.
The shelling of the Holy Family Catholic Church in Gaza also damaged the church compound, where hundreds of Palestinians have been sheltering from the 21-month Israel-Hamas war. Israel expressed regret over what it described as an accident and said it was investigating.
Pope Leo XIV on Thursday renewed his call for an immediate ceasefire in response to the attack.
Photo: AFP
In a telegram of condolences for the victims, Leo expressed “his profound hope for dialogue, reconciliation and enduring peace in the region.” The pope said he was “deeply saddened to learn of the loss of life and injury caused by the military attack,” and expressed his closeness to the wounded priest, Reverend Gabriel Romanelli, and the entire parish.
US President Donald Trump called Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to express his frustration over the strike on the church, the White House said. Netanyahu later released a statement saying Israel “deeply regrets that a stray ammunition hit Gaza’s Holy Family Church.”
The church compound was sheltering Christians and Muslims, including a number of children with disabilities, said Fadel Naem, acting director of Al-Ahli Hospital, which received the casualties.
The Catholic charity Caritas Jerusalem said the parish’s 60-year-old janitor and an 84-year-old woman receiving psychosocial support inside a Caritas tent in the church compound were killed in the attack. Parish priest Romanelli was lightly wounded.
“We were struck in the church while all the people there were elders, innocent people and children,” said Shady Abu Dawood, whose mother was wounded by shrapnel to her head. “We love peace and call for it, and this is a brutal, unjustified action by the Israeli occupation.”
The Israeli military said an initial assessment indicated that “fragments from a shell fired during operational activity in the area hit the church mistakenly.” It said it was still investigating.
Israel has repeatedly struck schools, shelters, hospitals and other civilian buildings, accusing Hamas militants of sheltering inside and blaming them for civilian deaths. Palestinians say nowhere has felt safe since Israel launched its offensive in response to Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, attack.
Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni blamed Israel for the strike on the church. “The attacks on the civilian population that Israel has been demonstrating for months are unacceptable,” she said.
The church is just a stone’s throw from Al-Ahli Hospital, Naem said, adding that the area around the church and the hospital has been repeatedly struck for more than a week.
The Greek Orthodox Patriarchate of Jerusalem, which also has a church in Gaza that previously sustained damage from Israeli strikes, said the Holy Family Church was sheltering 600 displaced people, including many children and 54 people with disabilities. It said the building was significantly damaged.
Targeting a holy site “is a blatant affront to human dignity and a grave violation of the sanctity of life and the inviolability of religious sites, which are meant to serve as safe havens during times of war,” the church said in a statement.
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