Strike Reportedly Hits Holy Family Church in Gaza City, Palestinian Territories, Killing Three

Israel bombed Holy Family Church, Gaza’s only Catholic church, in the late morning of Thursday, July 17, killing three people and wounding at least 10 others, including Parish Priest Gabriel Romanelli, who suffered leg injuries. Around 500 to 600 displaced Palestinians were sheltering in the church when it was struck, and most of the Catholics there were praying at the time.

Among the dead was Saad Salameh, 60, the parish janitor, who was killed in the Holy Family courtyard at the moment of the explosion. Fumayya Ayyad, 84, was receiving support in a Caritas psychosocial tent when she was killed, and Najwa Abu Daoud, 69, who was sitting close to her, was also killed as shrapnel and debris tore through the area, according to Caritas Internationalis. Staff of Caritas Jerusalem working in Gaza said that “if Father Gabriel hadn’t warned us to stay indoors, we could have lost 50 to 60 people today. It would have been a massacre.” Two of the three people killed at Holy Family that Thursday were Orthodox Christians and were buried at St. Porphyrios.

Unicorn Riot describes the strike as part of a pattern of attacks on Gaza’s only Catholic parish. In December 2023, a 49-year-old church worker and her mother were shot to death by an Israeli sniper as they tried to cross the Holy Family courtyard, and seven others were shot while protecting others. A short distance away, Saint Porphyrius Greek Orthodox Church has been bombed several times over the past couple of years, including on October 19, 2023, when at least 17 Christians were killed in an Israeli airstrike. The outlet states that Israel has killed at least 23 Christians sheltering at two of the world’s oldest churches in Gaza City in the last 21 months.

The report also describes attacks in the occupied West Bank. It says that illegal Israeli settlers, backed by Israeli forces, have waged “systemic and targeted” attacks on Christians over recent years, and that settlers attempted to burn a church last week.

Pope Leo XIV, leader of the world’s 1.4 billion Catholics, succeeded Pope Francis on May 8, 2025, after Pope Francis’s transition in April. According to the Holy See Press Office, the Pope spoke by phone with Israel’s Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, after the attack and “repeated his appeal for a renewed push for negotiations, a ceasefire and an end to the war.” The Press Office said the Pope “again expressed his concern about the tragic humanitarian situation of the population in Gaza” and “reiterated the urgent need to protect places of worship and, especially, the faithful and all people in Palestine and Israel.” The Latin Patriarchate in Jerusalem also issued a statement appealing to leaders “calling for justice, peace and the suffering that has descended upon the people of Gaza.”

In a joint statement, the Patriarchs and Heads of Churches in Jerusalem said, “In unyielding unity, we strongly denounce this crime. Houses of worship are sacred spaces that should be kept safe. They are also protected under international law.” They described the strike as targeting a church that houses approximately 600 refugees, including children with special needs, and called it “a violation of these laws.” The leaders called on world leaders and United Nations agencies to work toward an immediate ceasefire, to guarantee the protection of religious and humanitarian sites, and to provide relief for the starving population across the Gaza Strip.

The official death toll in Gaza is over 60,000 Palestinians killed by Israel since October 2023, according to the figures cited in the report. A first independent survey of deaths in Gaza, released in late June, found more than 84,000 killed as of January 2025. The report also cites a Lancet study that estimates at least 186,000 people were killed by Israel from October 2023 to July 2024, which it says is 41% above official numbers.

Source: Read the original report