In the midst of a renewed assault on Gaza City, an Israeli airstrike damaged a Catholic school that was sheltering civilians, killing at least four people.
“The Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem is monitoring, with grave concern, the news of the raids, apparently launched by the Israeli army against the Holy Family School in Gaza this morning,” said a July 7 statement from the patriarchate. “Footage and media reports from the place include scenes of civilian casualties and of destruction in the compound.”
The school, which is the property of the Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem, has been a place of refuge for hundreds of civilians since the beginning of Israel’s war against Hamas, which has entered its 10th month.
“No religious personnel reside in the school,” said the patriarchate.
“The Latin Patriarchate condemns in the strongest terms the targeting of civilians or any belligerent actions that fall short of ensuring that civilians remain outside the combat scene,” the statement said. “We continue to pray for the Lord’s mercy and hope that the Parties will reach an agreement that would put an immediate end to the horrifying bloodbath and humanitarian catastrophe in the region.”
Vatican News reporter Lisa Zengarini said that the air strike hit two classrooms on the ground floor of the school sheltering a large number of displaced Palestinian families.
“Among those killed was a senior Hamas administration official, Ihab al-Ghusain, the group’s deputy labor minister,” Vatican News said.
The BBC reported an Israeli army claim that it carried out a strike on the area of the school building from which it said “terrorists were operating and hiding.”
On July 10, after this article was first published, Farid Jubran, Public & Governmental Affairs Advisor for the Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem, told Aleteia, “So far we do not have sufficient information in order to provide exact data. We know the place was attacked. We also know that there was destruction and casualties. We do not know exactly how the attack was perpetrated.”
Just a day before the incident, 16 people were killed and dozens wounded when Israeli aircraft struck in the area of a United Nations school in Nuseirat in central Gaza. The Israeli military said Palestinian militants had been operating out of a number of structures there, The New York Times said.
The Gaza ministry of health said that the school had become a shelter for displaced people seeking safety.
“The Israeli military said it had taken measures to avoid civilian casualties in the strike and blamed Hamas for operating from areas crowded with Gazan civilians,” The Times said.
Site of patriarch’s visit
On Monday, the BBC reported Gaza City residents saying the Israeli bombardments over the weekend have been the most intense they have experienced since Israel launched its war on Hamas last October, following the militant group’s attack on Israel.
Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa, the Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem, visited Holy Family in May.
In its statement, the Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem condemned “in the strongest terms” the targeting of non-combatants, “or any belligerent actions that fall short of ensuring that civilians remain outside the combat scene.”
It said it continues to pray and hope “that the Parties will reach an agreement that would put an immediate end to the horrifying bloodbath and humanitarian catastrophe in the region.”
Other attacks
The Holy Family Catholic parish compound in Gaza City, sheltering some 600 displaced Christians, is not new to attacks by Israeli forces in their fight against Hamas. In December last year, an Israeli sniper killed two Christian women, a mother and her daughter, inside the compound.
That incident came nearly two months after an airstrike on a building adjacent to St. Porphyrios Greek Orthodox Church in which several people sheltered there lost their lives.
Pope Francis and the Holy See, along with the United Nations, have repeatedly urged for the effective protection of civilians in the conflict.
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