Israel’s strike on Gaza’s only Catholic church kills three
The Holy Family Church is the third church to be attacked by Israeli warplanes since October 2023, alongside dozens of mosques.
The Holy Family Church in Gaza.
At least three people were killed and 10 others injured in an airstrike launched by Israeli fighter jets on the Holy Family Church in Gaza City on Thursday, July 17.
According to Caritas Internationalis, the three people killed in the attack were identified as the parish janitor Saad Salameh (60), Fumayya Ayyad (84), and Najwa Abu Daoud (69).
The parish priest was also slightly injured in the assault on the church, which has been sheltering Palestinian Christian and Muslim families since Israel began its genocidal aggression on the Gaza Strip on October 7, 2023.
Israel’s systematic assault on places of worship across Gaza
The Holy Family Church is the only catholic church in Gaza and the third to be targeted by Israeli warplanes since the beginning of Israel’s ongoing genocide.
On October 17, 2023, Israel struck the courtyard of Al-Ahli Baptist Hospital, affiliated with the Anglican Church, killing 500 people, including patients and displaced civilians.
Two days later, Israel launched an aerial raid on the Greek Orthodox church in Gaza City, which was also sheltering hundreds of displaced people at the time. The attack left 18 dead.
In December 2023, the Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) stormed the compound of the Holy Family Church and started to shoot live ammunition at anyone leaving the sanctuary. An elderly woman and her daughter were shot dead in the offensive.
Moreover, the IOF has destroyed dozens of mosques across the besieged enclave throughout Israel’s 21-month genocidal aggression.
Grassroots groups say the IOF’s systematic attacks on places of worship in the Gaza Strip are part of a decades-long project of ethnic cleansing by the colonial Israeli regime against the people of Palestine.
