Christian Palestinian mourners take the body of a loved one for burial from the city's Arab Ahli, also known as Baptist Hospital, following an earlier Israeli strike on the Holy Family Church, in Gaza City on July 17, 2025. AFP or licensorsGaza City (AFP)OMAR AL-QATTAApalestinian-israel-conflict-christianity-church
Two people were killed in an apparent Israeli attack on the Roman Catholic parish in the Gaza Strip, the Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem said on Thursday.
"We pray that their souls rest [in peace] and for an end to this barbaric war. Nothing can justify the targeting of innocent civilians," said the Patriarchate, which oversees the Holy Family Church in Gaza.
Al Jazeera published further details about the two victims killed in today’s Israeli airstrike on the Catholic Church in Gaza City. 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 on the church grounds, according to Caritas Jerusalem.
In statements reported by Vatican News, Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa, Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem, confirmed that "four people are critically injured" following the attack on the Catholic church in Gaza City, in addition to the two confirmed fatalities.
Two of the wounded are in "serious condition," he added.
"What we know for certain is that a tank — the Israeli army claims it was by mistake, but we are not sure — directly hit the church," said Cardinal Pizzaballa.
Among the six injured is Father Gabriel Romanelli, the priest of the Catholic community in Gaza City, who was lightly wounded in the leg. Father Romanelli was close to the late Pope Francis, who had regularly called on the parishioners in Gaza since the beginning of the war.
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