The Israeli military will investigate reports that a tank strike on the sole Catholic Church in Gaza killed three people and injured several others amid the war with Hamas, vowing to publish the results of the probe amid criticism from Catholic leaders.
In a statement Thursday, the Latin Patriarchate in Jerusalem decried the strike at the Holy Family Church in Gaza City, which has sheltered hundreds of people since the war began.
Father Gabriel Romanelli, the parish priest and confidant of the late Pope Francis, is among those who have been injured. Video shared online shows the priest sitting with his leg bandaged, while photos show damage to the church’s roof, with a large chunk missing near a stone cross.
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Those killed have been named: Najwa Abu Daoud, Saad Issa Kostandi Salameh and Foumia Issa Latif Ayyad.
“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, the Church of the Holy Family, the Latin Church”, Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa told Vatican News. “There are four people seriously wounded, among these four, two are in very dramatic conditions and their lives are in serious danger.”
“We don’t have complete information about what has happened in Gaza today because the communication in Gaza is not that simple,” he added.
Israel’s Foreign Ministry expressed “deep sorrow over the damage [to the church] and over any civilian casualty.”
“The IDF is examining this incident, the circumstances of which are still unclear, and the results of the investigation will be published transparently,” the ministry said in a statement. “Israel never targets churches or religious sites and regrets any harm to a religious site or to uninvolved civilians.”
In a statement Thursday, the Israel Defense Forces said it “makes every feasible effort to mitigate harm to civilians and civilian structures, including religious sites, and regrets any damage caused to them.”
In a social media post, Pope Leo XIV said he was “deeply saddened to learn of the loss of life and injury caused by the military attack” on the church.
“I assure the parish community of my spiritual closeness,” the United States-born pontiff wrote. “I commend the souls of the deceased to the loving mercy of Almighty God, and pray for their families and the injured. I renew my call for an immediate ceasefire. Only dialogue and reconciliation can ensure enduring peace!”
Italian Prime Minister Georgia Meloni, who has been a supporter of Israel but has recently been critical of the Israeli military offensive in Gaza, called the strike on the church “unacceptable.”
“No military action can justify such behavior,” Meloni wrote.
Israel’s military offensive in Gaza began in October 2023 after Hamas, the terror group that has controlled the Gaza Strip since 2007, killed over 1,200 people (mostly civilians) during an attack in southern Israel on Oct. 7 of that year.
Israel’s stated goal for the offensive is to eradicate Hamas from the territory and to secure the release of around 250 people taken hostage during the Oct. 7 attack. Israel has long accused Hamas of hiding behind Gaza’s civilian population, forcing fighting in urban centers.
The Hamas-run Gaza health authorities report that around 58,000 people have died in Gaza since the conflict began. Those numbers don’t differentiate between civilians and combatants. Questions have been raised about the methodology behind the death toll in Gaza, as researchers have found that thousands of deaths have quietly been removed from lists that have been released since the start of the war.
Observers have also questioned the claim that 70% of casualties in Gaza are women and children. In April, the think tank Henry Jackson Society published a report accusing the Hamas Government Media Office of distorting data presented by the Gaza Ministry of Health.
This is not the first time the Holy Family Church has sustained damage in the war.
In December 2023, shrapnel from an Israeli army strike damaged Holy Family Church and its parish buildings in Gaza City. The shrapnel damaged its solar panels and destroyed water tanks, according to the Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem.
Weeks after the war began in October 2023, the Orthodox Patriarchate of Jerusalem claimed that a fatal Israeli strike that killed over a dozen people hit a building on the compound of the Greek Orthodox Church of Saint Porphyrios, the oldest church in Gaza. Hundreds of people were taking shelter in the church at the time.
The IDF initially confirmed that the church was damaged by an airstrike targeting Hamas military compounds and that the church was not the intended target.
Hamas also blamed Israel for an October 2023 explosion at an Anglican hospital in Gaza, which many mainstream media outlets picked up on. U.S. intelligence sources refuted the claim that Israel was responsible for the attack, with then-President Joe Biden echoing statements from the IDF that the airstrike was linked to an “errant rocket fired by a terrorist group in Gaza.”
