The Roman Catholic Church of the Holy Family in Gaza City pictured just before Christmas 2020. Two people taking refuge from the war inside the church were killed and several injured Thursday when it was shelled, apparently by an Israeli tank. File Photo by Ismael Mohamad/UPI | License Photo
Two people were killed Thursday and a priest was among several people injured, four of them seriously, in what appeared to be an Israeli attack on Gaza’s only Catholic church where displaced Christian families were taking refuge from the fighting.
Local priest, Father Gabriel Romanelli, who is from Argentina, was hurt in what the parish and the Vatican said was “an apparent strike by the Israeli army” on the Holy Family Church in Gaza City. His injuries are not thought to be serious.
Pope Leo XIV issued a statement expressing shock and sorrow at the loss of life and injury caused by the “military” attack and reiterated his calls for an immediate cease-fire, while Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni pointed the finger squarely at Israel, calling it “unacceptable.”
The Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem, the diocese the church comes under, condemned the strike.
“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. We pray for the rest of their souls and for the end of this barbaric war. Nothing can justify the targeting of innocent civilians,” it said.
Latin Patriarch Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa told Vatican News that the church had been fired on by an Israeli tank.
“What we know for sure is that a tank, the IDF says by mistake, but we are not sure about this, they hit the Church directly. Four people are seriously wounded, among these four, two are in very serious condition and their lives are in grave danger,” he said.
“There are also other injured but less problematic, among them also the Parish Priest, because they were all in the Church.”
The BBC said it had seen footage and photos showing damage to the roof and shattered windows.
The Holy Family Church was temporarily housing an estimated 600 displaced people, mostly children, as well as 54 people with special needs, when it was struck. Many local Christian families had been there for 21 months since the conflict erupted in October 2023.
Churches and other places of worship are traditionally places of refuge that are not targeted by combatants in military conflict; however, the Holy Family is located in the north of the Palestinian enclave in an area where the Israeli military ordered people to leave some time back.
The Israel Defense Forces said it was aware of reports that the church had been damaged and people injured and that it was reviewing the circumstances surrounding the incident.
The incident comes amid a rising toll of collateral deaths from Israeli military action, including six children killed in an airstrike on Sunday as they waited in line to get water, blamed by the IDF on a “technical error,” and 15 Palestinians killed, including 10 children and two women, as they waited outside the clinic of a U.S.-health non-profit on Friday.
