Israeli attack on church in Gaza injures priest Pope Francis called daily

[muriel_volestrangler]

Source: The Guardian

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.
...
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.

Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/jul/17/israeli-attack-on-church-in-gaza-injures-priest-pope-francis-called-daily

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Some reports say 2 killed: https://kdhnews.com/news/nation/2-killed-and-several-injured-in-israeli-strike-on-gazas-only-catholic-church/article_08a9b7cb-4ae1-5da4-bc7f-e9541011e6cc.html

[atreides1]

1. This will be immediately investigated by the IDF

The IDF will discover a secret tunnel under the church where Hamas has been storing whatever the fuck bullshit that the IDF can come up with!

The IDF is proving to be better at killing people then the Einsatzgruppen...and the United States is supporting them!!!

[democrank]

2. Maybe this, Netanyahu's latest killing spree, will change some minds

Oh, wait…..

[muriel_volestrangler]

3. 3 killed, another in a critical condition

Pope Leo XIV has renewed his call for a Gaza ceasefire after three people sheltering in the Catholic church in Gaza City were killed in an Israeli strike.
...
The Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem, which oversees the church, said it was "struck by the Israeli army". Nine other people were wounded, one of whom is in a critical condition in hospital. The parish priest was lightly injured.
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The Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem, Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa, told the Vatican News website that the Holy Family Church was hit by a tank shell.

"What we know for sure is that a tank, the IDF [Israel Defense Forces] says by mistake, but we are not sure about this. They hit the church directly," he said.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c8xvnlpx2dxo

[iemanja]

4. I'm so glad that Israel doesn't target civilians.

[cliffside]

5. I wondered about the "indirect deaths" and found this ...

FWIW.

THE HUMAN TOLL: INDIRECT DEATHS FROM WAR IN GAZA AND THE WEST BANK, OCTOBER 7, 2023 FORWARD

https://watson.brown.edu/costsofwar/papers/2024/IndirectDeathsGaza

"This report gathers previously published data to provide an overview of the human costs that have resulted, and will continue to result, from the Hamas attack and Israeli military operations in one year of war since October 7, 2023. It includes United Nations estimates of Israeli and Palestinian direct deaths in Israel, Gaza, and the West Bank.

Most expansively, this report also describes the chains of impact leading towards indirect deaths, caused by Israeli military operations in Gaza and the West Bank. It examines the impact on population health of the destruction of public infrastructure, livelihood sources, reduced access to healthcare, water, and sanitation, and environmental damage. For instance, 96 percent of Gaza’s population (2.15 million people) faces acute levels of food insecurity. According to an October 2, 2024 letter to President Biden from a group of U.S. physicians, 62,413 people in Gaza have died of starvation.

The report builds on a foundation of previous Costs of War research for its framework and methodology in describing the causal pathways towards indirect deaths. While it will take years to assess the full extent of these population-level health effects, they will inevitably lead to far higher numbers of deaths than direct war violence.

READ FULL PAPER >"