ISRAELI forces have bombed Gaza’s only Catholic church, killing three people and wounding at least 10 others, the Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem said, as the military continues its assault across the besieged enclave.
At least one person is in critical condition as a result of Thursday’s strike on the Holy Family Church in Gaza City, the Patriarchate said in a statement. The church’s priest was also lightly wounded, it added.
Among those killed were the parish’s 60-year-old janitor and an 84-year-old woman who was receiving psychosocial support inside a Caritas tent in the church compound, according to the Catholic charity Caritas Jerusalem.
Israeli attacks across Gaza on Thursday killed at least 32 Palestinians, including 25 in Gaza City alone, medical sources told Al Jazeera.
Footage of the Holy Family Church attack published by a Palestinian activist and verified by Al Jazeera shows Father Gabriel Romanelli, the church’s pastor, following the Israeli attack. The video shows the priest with his right leg bandaged but otherwise in good condition.
“The people in the Holy Family Compound are people who found in the Church a sanctuary – hoping that the horrors of war might at least spare their lives, after their homes, possessions, and dignity had already been stripped away,” the Patriarchate said in its statement after condemning the deadly attack.
Shadi Abu Dawoud, a 47-year-old Palestinian Christian, said the church’s main hall was housing dozens of displaced citizens, mainly children and elderly people, and that all were “peaceful civilians”.
“My mother suffered serious injuries in the head; she was wandering in the church’s yard with other elderly women [when Israeli forces attacked],” he told Al Jazeera. “We were taken by surprise by this Israeli air strike. This is a barbaric and unjustifiable act.”
Mohammed Abu Hashem, a 69-year-old man who lives beside the church, said he was in the ruins of his home when there was a huge explosion that covered the area in black smoke, adding that he never thought the Israelis would attack the church.
“The Israeli air strike was massive, totally horrifying,” he said. “The horror we are living in is beyond description. No words could describe what we are living through. It is not even close to what you watch [on TV] or hear.”
Father Bashar Fawadleh, the parish priest of Christ The Redeemer church in Taybeh, nearly Ramallah in the occupied West Bank, said he spoke about the attack with the assistant parish priest of the Holy Family Church in Gaza City.
“He told me that the bombing was very hard. They bombed the church itself,” Fawadleh told Al Jazeera. “Our feeling is between hope and sorrow, between life and death.”
Fawadleh reiterated calls for a ceasefire to stop the “horrible war in Gaza”.