Religious leaders enter Gaza in rare solidarity visit after deadly church strike
The Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem, Pierbattista Pizzaballa, and Greek Orthodox Patriarch Theophilos III entered Gaza on Friday morning to express the 'shared pastoral solicitude of the churches of the Holy Land', according to a statement released by the Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem.
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The patriarchs and their delegation arrived at the Holy Family Catholic Church in Gaza in the afternoon. As well as the three people killed in the strike, 10 were wounded, including the resident priest. The church compound was damaged.
The delegation was also planning on sending hundreds of tons of food aid, medical supplies and equipment to families inside Gaza, the patriarchate said, adding they also had 'ensured evacuation' of individuals injured in the attack to hospitals outside Gaza.
Benjamin Netanyahu released a statement saying Israel 'deeply regrets that a stray ammunition hit Gaza's Holy Family Church' (Manuel Balce Ceneta/AP)
The attack drew condemnation from world leaders and religious figures. Pope Leo XIV on Thursday renewed his call for an immediate ceasefire in response to the attack and US President Donald Trump called Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to express his frustration.
Israel on Thursday expressed regret over what it described as an accident and said it was investigating.
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The visit by religious leaders on Friday marked a rare entrance to the territory by a delegation of outsiders. With the exception of a trickle of aid workers and a small number of Palestinians needing medical care outside the territory, very few have been able to enter or exit Gaza since the start of Israel's latest offensive in May.
At the time of the strike, the church compound was sheltering both Christians and Muslims, including a number of children with disabilities, according to Fadel Naem, acting director of the Al-Ahli Hospital, which received the casualties.
The Catholic charity Caritas Jerusalem said the parish's 60-year-old janitor and an 84-year-old woman receiving psychosocial support inside a Caritas tent in the church compound were killed in the attack. Parish priest Gabriel Romanelli was lightly wounded.
'The Latin Patriarchate remains steadfast in its commitment to the Christian community and the entire population of Gaza. They will not be forgotten, nor will they be abandoned,' read the statement from Caritas.
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Palestinians say nowhere has felt safe since Israel launched its offensive in response to Hamas's attack in 2023 (Ohad Zwigenberg/AP)
Mr Netanyahu released a statement saying Israel 'deeply regrets that a stray ammunition hit Gaza's Holy Family Church'.
The Israeli military said an initial assessment indicated that 'fragments from a shell fired during operational activity in the area hit the church mistakenly'. It said it was still investigating.
Israel has repeatedly struck schools, shelters, hospitals and other civilian buildings, accusing Hamas militants of sheltering inside and blaming them for civilian deaths. Palestinians say nowhere has felt safe since Israel launched its offensive in response to Hamas's attack on October 7 2023.
Hamas-led militants killed some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, in the October 7 attack and abducted 251 people, most of whom have since been released in ceasefire agreements or other deals. Fifty hostages are still being held, less than half of them believed to be alive.
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Israel's retaliatory offensive has killed more than 58,600 Palestinians, according to Gaza's Health Ministry, which has said women and children make up more than half of the dead. It does not distinguish between civilians and militants in its tally.
The ministry is part of the Hamas-run government but is led by medical professionals. The United Nations and other international organisations consider its figures to be the most reliable count of war casualties.
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Updated at 12.47pm BST 12.17pm BST 12:17 Peter Beaumont Peter Beaumont is a senior international reporter who has reported extensively from conflict zones including Africa, the Balkans, the Middle East and Ukraine Israel has launched substantial air raids and a ground operation in Gaza, targeting Deir al-Balah, the key hub for humanitarian efforts in the devastated Palestinian territory amid mounting warnings of widening starvation in the coastal strip. The latest assault comes a day after the highest death toll in 21 months inflicted by the Israeli military on desperate Palestinians seeking food aid, with at least 85 killed on Sunday in what has become a grim and almost daily slaughter. The UN food agency, the World Food Programme, said the majority of those killed on Sunday had gathered near the border fence with Israel in the hope of getting flour from a UN aid convoy when they were fired on by Israeli tanks and snipers. Witnesses described massive airstrikes overnight in Deir al-Balah – the last remaining area of Gaza that has not suffered significant war damage. Israeli sources have said the reason the army has so far stayed out is that they suspect Hamas might be holding hostages there. At least 20 of the remaining 50 hostages in captivity in Gaza are believed to be still alive. Israel launched its renewed assault despite reports in the Hebrew media that Israeli officials believed Hamas was close to agreeing to a ceasefire. The latest Israeli assault followed forced evacuation orders for between 50–80,000 people in Deir al-Balah, in the centre of the Gaza Strip, leaving almost 87% of the territory under such orders. 'With this latest order, the area of Gaza under displacement orders or within Israeli-militarised zones has risen to 87.8%, leaving 2.1 million civilians squeezed into a fragmented 12% of the strip, where essential services have collapsed,' the UN said in a statement released by its Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affair. 11.59am BST 11:59 Israeli tanks pushed into southern and eastern areas of the Gazan city of Deir al-Balah for the first time on Monday, an area where Israeli sources said the military believes some of the remaining hostages may be being held by Hamas. Gaza medics said at least three Palestinians were killed and several were wounded in tank shelling that hit eight houses and three mosques in the area, and which came a day after the military ordered residents to leave, saying it planned to fight Hamas militants. Gaza health officials said on Monday at least 13 people, including two women and five children, were killed in Israeli strikes since the previous night. The Israeli military had no immediate comment on the strikes. It blames Hamas for civilian casualties because the group operates from populated areas. Gaza's civil defence agency said at least 93 Palestinians had been killed queueing for food on Sunday, while Israel issued fresh evacuation orders for areas packed with displaced people. The territory's health ministry said scores were killed by Israeli fire while waiting for UN aid trucks entering through the northern Zikim crossing with Israel. It was one of the highest reported death tolls among repeated recent cases in which aid seekers have been killed by Israeli fire. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitor said on Monday that the ceasefire in the southern province of Sweida was holding, despite isolated gunfire in areas north of Sweida city with no reports of casualties. The agreement announced on Saturday put an end to the sectarian violence that has left more than 1,100 dead, most of them Druze fighters and civilians, according to the monitor. The Syrian government on Monday started evacuating Bedouin families trapped inside the city of Sweida, where Druze militiamen and Bedouin fighters have clashed for over a week. The UN International Organization for Migration said about 128,571 people were displaced in the hostilities that started with a series of tit-for-tat kidnappings and attacks a week ago. A US envoy doubled down on Washington's support for the new government in Syria, saying on Monday there is 'no Plan B' to working with the current authorities to unite the country still reeling from a nearly 14-year civil war and now wrecked by a new outbreak of sectarian violence. Tom Barrack, who is ambassador to Turkey and special envoy to Syria and also has a short-term mandate in Lebanon, took a critical tone toward Israel's recent intervention in Syria, calling it poorly timed and saying that it complicated efforts to stabilise the region. A trilateral meeting between Iran, Russia and China will take place on Tuesday regarding Tehran's nuclear programme and the UN snapback mechanism, Iranian foreign ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baghaei said on Monday. The UN snapback mechanism refers to efforts to reimpose international sanctions on Iran. Tehran on Monday accused the UK, France and Germany of failing to respect the 2015 Iran nuclear deal, after they threatened to reimpose sanctions over its atomic programme. The 2015 deal, reached between Iran and the UN security council's permanent members – Britain, China, France, Russia and the US – plus Germany imposed curbs on Iran's nuclear programme in exchange for sanctions relief. Updated at 12.11pm BST
Reuters
an hour ago
- Reuters
UK, France and other nations call for an immediate end to war in Gaza
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