Il Nuovo Postiglione - Strike on Gaza's only Catholic church injures several people

The raid came as Gaza's civil defence agency reported that Israeli strikes killed 18 people across the Palestinian territory on Thursday.

"The Holy Family Church in Gaza has been struck by a raid this morning. There are several injuries in the place including the Parish Priest, Fr. Gabriel Romanelli," Jerusalem's Latin Patriarchate said in a statement.

It added that no fatalities had been confirmed but that the church had sustained damage.

Gaza's civil defence spokesman Mahmud Bassal told AFP that a strike on the Catholic church resulted in injuries, including the priest.

The Israeli military said it was "looking into it" when contacted by AFP.

- 'Serious act' -

Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni said that "Israeli strikes on Gaza have also hit the Holy Family Church", a parish in Gaza City with which the late Pope Francis had regular contact throughout the war.

"The attacks against the civilian population carried out by Israel for months are unacceptable," Meloni said in a post on X.

"No military action can justify such behaviour."

Out of the Gaza Strip's population of more than two million, about 1,000 are Christians. Most of them are Orthodox but according to the Latin Patriarchate, there are about 135 Catholics in the territory.

Since the early days of the war which erupted in October 2023, members of the Catholic community have been sheltering at the Holy Family Church compound in Gaza City, and some Orthodox Christians have also found refuge there.

Pope Francis repeatedly called for an end to the war. In his final Easter message, a day before his death on April 21, he condemned the "deplorable humanitarian situation" in the Palestinian territory.

Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani on Thursday denounced "a serious act against a Christian place of worship".

"I offer my sincere condolences to Father Romanelli, who was wounded in the raid," he posted on X.

- 'Totally unacceptable' -

Monsignor Pascal Gollnisch, the head of Catholic charity l'Oeuvre d'Orient, told AFP the raid was "totally unacceptable".

"It is a place of worship. It is a Catholic church known for its peaceful attitude, for being a peacemaker. These are people who are at the service of the population," he said.

"There was no strategic objective, there were no jihadists in this church. There were families, there were civilians. This is totally unacceptable and we condemn in the strongest possible terms this attitude on the part of Israel."

More than 21 months of war have created dire humanitarian conditions for Gaza's population, displacing most residents at least once and triggering severe shortages of food and other essentials.

The war was triggered by a Hamas attack on Israel, which resulted in the deaths of 1,219 people, most of them civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official figures.

Israel's retaliatory military offensive has killed at least 58,573 Palestinians, mostly civilians, according to the health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza.

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Q.Bernardi--INP