Israeli strike on Catholic parish in Gaza
According to doctors at al-Ahli Arab Hospital, two women have been killed and several injured in an Israeli strike on the Catholic parish in Gaza City, which damaged the Holy Family Church.
They have been identified as the parish’s 60-year-old janitor and an 84-year-old woman who was receiving psychosocial support inside a Caritas tent in the church compound, according to the Catholic charity Caritas Jerusalem.
Italy’s ANSA news agency said six people were seriously injured while the parish priest, Father Gabriele Romanelli, who used to regularly update the late Pope Francis about the war, suffered minor leg injuries.
Giorgia Meloni, prime minister of Italy, has issued a harsh – and rare – condemnation of Israel’s air raids on Palestinians in Gaza after Israeli forces bombed a Catholic church in Gaza City.
“Israeli raids on Gaza also hit the Church of the Holy Family,” Meloni said on X. “The attacks against the civilian population that Israel has been carrying out for months are unacceptable. No military action can justify such an attitude.”
A wounded woman is brought into at al-Ahli Hospital following the Israeli attack on The Church of the Holy Family
‘We know for sure tank hit Gaza church directly’: Cardinal
Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa, the Latin patriarch of Jerusalem, says in comments to Vatican News that two of the people wounded in the Israeli attack on the Catholic church in Gaza are at risk of death.
“There are four people seriously wounded. Among these four, two are in very dramatic conditions, and their lives are in serious danger,” Pizzaballa was quoted as saying.
“What we know for sure is that a tank – the [Israeli army] says by mistake, but we are not sure about this – they hit the church directly, the Church of the Holy Family, the Latin church,” he added.
Death toll in Gaza church attack rises to 3
At least three people have been confirmed killed in Israel’s attack on the Church of the Holy Family in Gaza City, the Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem has said. Ten others were wounded, including one in critical condition and two in serious condition.
The patriarchate urged world leaders to act to stop the war on Gaza.
“The time has come for leaders to raise their voices and to do all what is necessary in order to stop this tragedy which is humanly and morally, unjustified,” it said in a statement.
