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Israeli strikes have hit the only Catholic church in Gaza, injuring several people including the parish priest – who used to receive daily calls from the late Pope Francis – and drawing condemnation from the Italian prime minister, Giorgia Meloni.
“The Holy Family church in Gaza has been struck by a raid this morning,” the Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem said in a statement. “There are several injuries in the place, including the parish priest, Father Gabriel Romanelli. Currently there are no fatalities confirmed. The church sustained damage.”
Before his death in April, the former pope would call Romanelli, an Argentinian, every evening to discuss the war in Gaza. He began the routine on 9 October 2023, two days after the attacks on Israel by Hamas, as a way to express solidarity during the conflict.
Witnesses said the church appeared have been hit by Israeli tank shelling. The Vatican did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The Israel Defense Forces said they were looking into the matter.
In a statement, Meloni said: “The Israeli raids on Gaza have also hit the Holy Family church. The attacks against the civilian population that Israel has been carrying out for months are unacceptable. No military action can justify such an attitude.”
The church was sheltering Christians and Muslims, including a number of children with disabilities, according to Fadel Naem, acting director of al-Ahli Arab hospital, which received the wounded. At least two people were left in a critical condition, Naem said, and among the others injured were a child with disabilities, two women and an elderly person.
Dozens of Palestinians were killed and wounded during Israeli airstrikes on several areas of the Gaza Strip on Thursday, including four who were killed in an attack on a home close to the Imam al’Shafi’i school in al-Zeitoun, a district south-east of Gaza City.
After Francis’s death, Romanelli, who has served as the parish priest since 2019, told the Guardian: “Even after he was hospitalised, he continued calling to check on us. Our grief is deep because we lost someone we felt had become a member of our church.”
Francis was a strong advocate of bringing the war to an end. In his last public address on Easter Sunday, he condemned the “deplorable humanitarian situation” in Gaza and implored Israel and Hamas to “call for a ceasefire, release the hostages and come to the aid of a starving people, that aspires to a future of peace”.
