The Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem said an Israeli strike on Gaza’s only Catholic church killed two people on Thursday, July 17, as Israel said it “never targets” religious sites and was investigating what happened.
“With deep sorrow the Latin Patriarchate can now confirm that two persons were killed as a result of an apparent strike by the Israeli army that hit the Holy Family Compound this morning,” the Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem said in a statement. “We pray for the rest of their souls and for the end of this barbaric war. Nothing can justify the targeting of innocent civilians.”
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 Gabriel Romanelli, who was close to the late Pope Francis, was also injured.
Pope Leo XIV said he was “deeply saddened” by the attack and renewed calls for a ceasefire. “His Holiness Pope Leo XIV was deeply saddened to learn of the loss of life and injury caused by the military attack on the Holy Family Church in Gaza” and “renews his calls for an immediate ceasefire,” read a statement sent by the Vatican’s Secretary of State in the pope’s name.
Israel said it expressed “deep sorrow over the damage to the Holy Family Church in Gaza City and over any civilian casualty,” adding that the military was investigating. “Israel never targets churches or religious sites and regrets any harm to a religious site or to uninvolved civilians,” the foreign ministry said on X.
The church was sheltering both Christians and Muslims, including a number of children with disabilities, according to Fadel Naem, acting director of Al-Ahli Hospital, which received the wounded. At least two people were in critical condition. Others injured included one child with disabilities, two women and an elderly person, Naem said.
About 1,000 people of the Gaza Strip’s two million residents are Christians. Most of them are Orthodox, but according to the Latin Patriarchate, there are about 135 Catholics in the territory. The deaths at the church compound come as Gaza’s civil defense agency reported at least 20 people dead in other Israeli strikes around the Palestinian territory.
