AN Israeli attack on the only Catholic Church in the Gaza Strip on Thursday has left two people dead and several others injured.
Two women were killed and several people were injured following the strike on the Catholic parish in Gaza, doctors at the Al-Ahli Hospital in Gaza City said on Thursday.
According to the Latin Patriarchate of al-Quds (Jerusalem), the Holy Family Catholic Church in Gaza was struck on Thursday morning.
Father Gabriel Romanelli, the parish priest, and several others at the church sustained injuries in the attack, it said.
The church was also damaged in the Israeli forces’ attack, it added.
The Holy Family Church, the only Catholic Church inside the Palestinian territory, and Father Romanelli had used to regularly update the late Pope Francis about the Israeli war on Gaza.
According to reports by Italy’s ANSA news agency, the six people wounded had sustained serious injuries in the attack.
However, the priest reportedly suffered light leg injuries.
Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni on Thursday slammed the deadly attack by Israeli regime forces targeting Gaza’s Catholic Church.
Meloni said Israel’s months-long genocidal campaign against civilian targets is ‘unacceptable’.
Meloni wrote on social media: ‘Israeli raids on Gaza also hit the Holy Family Church.
‘The attacks against the civilian population that Israel has been carrying out for months are unacceptable.’
The Italian Prime Minister asserted that there can be no justification for Israeli attacks against civilians in Gaza.
In addition to daily attacks against Palestinians in Gaza since October 2023, the Israeli regime forces have slapped a tight siege on the territory, cutting food, fuel and water to the region.
Meanwhile, Israel has also slapped tight restrictions on relief efforts, putting a ban on the entry of international humanitarian aid to Gaza.
In Palestine, both Gaza and the West Bank host Christians from different denominations.
In Al-Quds, there are churches representing a variety of Christian denominations, including Catholic, Orthodox, Armenian, Coptic, and Protestant.
The Israeli occupation forces (IOF) detonated two homes belonging to the families of two martyrs during a raid on the town of Qabatiya, south of Jenin, on Thursday.
Local sources reported that a large Israeli military force, accompanied by a bulldozer, stormed the town, raided several homes, and ransacked their contents.
The sources added that the IOF evacuated a number of homes in the Zakarneh neighbourhood and the Al-Jalama area, turning them into military posts.
They also raided the home of Abdullah Al-Jazra, arresting him after searching and vandalising the property, and carried out a wide campaign of detentions targeting young men in the town.
Israeli soldiers stormed the homes of the two martyrs, Wael Idrees Lahlooh and Mohammed Nazzal, rigging them with explosives before detonating them.
The demolition came after prior demolition notices had been issued on 20th June.
The IOF had assassinated martyr Wael Idrees Lahlooh along with three others on December 1, 2024, by bombing a farming hut they were inside in the village of Sa’ir, south of Jenin.
As for martyr Mohammed As’ad Nazzal, the IOF assassinated him along with martyr Qutaiba Al-Shalabi after besieging them in a house in Burqin, west of Jenin, bombarding it with shoulder-fired missiles, and then demolishing it with bulldozers while they were still inside.
- The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) announced on Thursday that it continues to support refugee families who were forcibly displaced from camps in the northern West Bank, or whose homes were damaged during the Israeli occupation army’s aggression, through the cash assistance programme implemented by the Relief and Social Services Programme.
Roland Friedrich, Director of UNRWA Affairs in the West Bank, said: ‘Rental assistance cash assistance is a lifeline and a lifeline for Palestine refugees who have been forcibly displaced from their homes.
‘Access to safe shelter is a human right and a basic need in emergencies.
‘Our programme is not limited to rental subsidies alone, but also includes direct cash assistance to families whose homes were damaged as a result of the violence, enabling them to meet their basic needs and live in dignity.’
During the current month of July, 7,647 families from various governorates of the West Bank received cash assistance totalling approximately 23 million shekels (equivalent to 6.6 million US dollars, £ 5 million).
This assistance was provided under two main types of support: cash assistance for damages, which included families from all over the West Bank, and cash assistance for rent, which was allocated to families displaced from camps in the northern West Bank (Jenin camp, Nur Shams camp, and Tulkarm camp).
- Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro met with the Palestinian delegation participating in the 35th edition of the International Poetry Festival, currently taking place in the capital, Caracas.
For the first time in the festival’s history, Palestine was honoured as the guest of honour — a symbolic gesture met with a warm and exclusive meeting with President Maduro.
During the meeting, President Maduro reaffirmed the centrality of the Palestinian cause and emphasised the urgent need for an international peace conference for Palestine.
He revealed that he had sent an official message to the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, urging the international body to break its silence and take immediate action to stop what he described as a genocide in Gaza, and to halt the daily crimes committed by the Israeli occupation.
Maduro praised Francesca Albanese, the UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Palestinian territories, describing her as ‘courageous’.
He highlighted her reports as ‘backed by irrefutable evidence’ of the atrocities committed against the Palestinian people.
In recognition of his steadfast support, Palestinian officials — including Fadi Al-Zaben, Ambassador of the State of Palestine to Venezuela; Murad Al-Sudani, Secretary-General of the General Union of Palestinian Writers and Authors; and Naji Al-Naji, Cultural Advisor at the Palestinian Embassy in Egypt — presented President Maduro with a formal tribute.
