US Muslim group urges Washington to end ‘complicity with Israel’s slaughter’
The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) has said “people of all faiths” must speak out against Israel’s genocide in Gaza following today’s deadly attack on the Holy Family Church.
“This attack on a church – and all the other deadly attacks on Gaza mosques, schools, universities, historic and cultural sites, cemeteries, medical facilities and personnel, civilian infrastructure, journalists, first responders, women, children, the elderly, and the disabled – once again demonstrates Israel’s brutal disregard for religious sites and the indiscriminate nature of its genocide,” CAIR Executive Director Nihad Awad said in a statement.
“Our government must end its complicity with Israel’s slaughter, mass destruction, forced starvation, and ethnic cleansing.”
The US gives Israel at least $3.8bn in military assistance annually and has provided billions more since the Gaza war began.
US asked Israel to investigate Gaza church attack: State Department
A US State Department spokesperson says the Trump administration has asked Israel to investigate the strike on the Gaza City church that killed at least three people and injured 10 others.
“In this case, of course it was an accident,” Tammy Bruce told reporters during a briefing in Washington, DC. “I think the response from Netanyahu is an appropriate start.”
As we just reported, the Israeli prime minister’s office said Israel deeply regrets the strike on the church, which it said was caused by “stray ammunition”.
“We have asked that Israel investigate the strike still, of course, and ensure that all civilians – including Christian civilians, remain safe,” said Bruce, who also read out a statement by the Israeli Foreign Ministry expressing “deep sorrow” over the incident.
Israel has routinely targeted religious sites across Gaza since it began bombarding the territory in October 2023.
Israeli army says shell fragments ‘mistakenly’ hit Gaza church
The military says an initial investigation into the deadly attack on the Holy Family Church in Gaza City “suggests that fragments from a shell fired during operational activity in the area hit the church mistakenly”.
“The cause of the incident is under review,” it said in a post on X.
Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa, the Latin patriarch of Jerusalem, earlier told Vatican News that an Israeli tank hit the church “directly”.
‘Hard to believe’ Israeli probe into church attack will yield accountability
The brief statement from the Israeli prime minister [came] after pressure from US President Donald Trump for him to address the situation at hand.
Whenever there is pressure on the Israelis – whenever there is international pressure on Netanyahu specifically, that’s when the Israelis release some sort of statement about wrongdoing.
Just last week, when there were at least 10 Palestinians – mostly children – who were killed waiting in a queue at a water distribution site, after the international outcry, that’s when the Israelis said there was a malfunction with their munition.
What Netanyahu is saying here [about the church strike], he didn’t really admit that it was a mistake. He said Israel expresses sorrow and is investigating the situation, saying that it was “stray ammunition”.
But it’s a little bit hard to believe any sort of Israeli investigation that happens after 21 months of war because the military oftentimes absolves itself of any sort of wrongdoing, and there is no one held accountable.
