No fewer than 16 people have been killed and many others injured after Israeli forces bombed a Greek Orthodox church in the Gaza Strip which was sheltering hundreds of displaced Palestinians.
The church was attacked by the Israeli air strike on Thursday night, October 19, 2023.
This was confirmed by the Orthodox Patriarchate of Jerusalem and Palestinian health officials.
The strike left a “large number of martyrs and injured” at the compound of the Greek Orthodox Saint Porphyrius Church in Gaza City, the ministry said on Thursday night.
Gaza’s Hamas-run government media office reported on Friday that 16 Christian Palestinians were among the dead.
The Israeli military said a part of the church was damaged in a strike on a militant command centre and it was reviewing the incident.
Palestinian officials said at least 500 Muslims and Christians had taken shelter in the Greek Orthodox Church of St Porphyrius from Israeli bombardments.
The Orthodox Church said in a statement: “The Orthodox Patriarchate of Jerusalem expresses its strongest condemnation of the Israeli air strike that has struck its church compound in the city of Gaza.”
Saint Porphyrius, built in about 1150, is the oldest church still in use in Gaza. Located in an historic neighbourhood of Gaza City, the church offered sanctuary to people of various faiths over generations.
Gaza has been hit by a relentless barrage of Israeli fire following an attack by Hamas fighters on October 7, which Israel says killed at least 1,400 people, most of them civilians.
Israel’s campaign since has killed at least 3,785 Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, most of them civilians, according to the Hamas health ministry.
