https://www.nytimes.com/2025/07/17/world/middleeast/gaza-church-strike-israel.html
Israeli Strike on a Gaza Church Kills Three
As cease-fire talks stalled, a deadly strike on a Catholic church in Gaza City prompted Pope Leo XIV to call for an immediate end to the fighting.
July 17, 2025
According to church officials, at least three people were killed and six others were injured when an Israeli strike hit the Holy Family Catholic Church compound in Gaza City on Thursday. The Israeli military is examining the incident.Omar Al-Qattaa/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images
An Israeli strike hit a Catholic church in Gaza City on Thursday, killing three people and injuring at least six others, including the parish priest, according to church officials.
Several hundred Palestinians were sheltering at the Holy Family Catholic Church compound when the church roof was hit around 10:10 a.m., sending shrapnel and debris flying. Farid Jubran, a spokesman for the Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem, said it was unclear whether the munition that struck was dropped from an airplane or fired by a tank.
President Trump called Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel to express “not a positive reaction” to the attack on the church, Karoline Leavitt, the White House press secretary, said at a news briefing.
Shortly afterward, Mr. Netanyahu’s office issued a statement saying: “Israel deeply regrets that a stray ammunition hit Gaza’s Holy Family Church. Every innocent life lost is a tragedy. We share the grief of the families and the faithful.”
“Israel is investigating the incident,” it added.
The church’s roof was hit on Thursday morning.Omar Al-Qattaa/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images
After the attack, Pope Leo XIV called for “an immediate cease-fire” in Gaza in a statement.
There has been no significant progress this week in the Israel-Hamas negotiations over a new U.S.-backed cease-fire proposal. Israel has continued its relentless assault on the Gaza Strip, which it says is aimed at incapacitating Hamas, the Palestinian militant group that has long ruled the enclave.
More than 7,750 Palestinians have been killed since the previous cease-fire collapsed in March, with around 100 confirmed dead in hospitals across the territory in just the past few days, according to the Gaza Health Ministry, which does not distinguish between combatants and civilians in its casualty counts. Some were killed while searching for food at distribution sites.
In total,
more than 55,000 Palestinians have been killed in the war that began
with a Hamas-led assault on Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, which killed about
1,200 people. The fighting has created a dire humanitarian crisis in
Gaza, where hunger is widespread and many residents are struggling to
find food, water and shelter.
After the strike on the church in Gaza
City, Italy’s prime minister, Giorgia Meloni, called the Israeli attacks
on civilians in the strip “unacceptable,” adding that “no military
action can justify such conduct.”
Among those injured in the strike
was the church’s parish priest, Gabriel Romanelli, who regularly updated
Pope Francis on events in Gaza — almost every evening during the
pontiff’s final year, according to Mr. Jubran.
Saad Salameh, 60, the church’s janitor, was said to be in the yard when the strike hit, and Fumayya Ayyad was in a tent within the compound, according to Caritas Jerusalem, a Catholic aid organization operating at the church. Both died within hours.
The other person killed was identified as Najwa Abu Daoud, 71.
Ameera Harouda and Rawan Sheikh Ahmad contributed reporting.
Natan Odenheimer is a Times reporter in Jerusalem, covering Israeli and Palestinian affairs.