Patriarchate of Jerusalem decries raid on Catholic school in Gaza

By Lisa Zengarini

The Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem has strongly condemned a raid by Israeli forces on its Holy Family school in Gaza on Sunday morning, which reportedly left at least four people dead.

Four victims reported

The attack targeted two classrooms on the ground floor of the school, which housed a large number of displaced Palestinian families. Among the victims was a senior Hamas administration official, Ihab al-Ghusain, the group's deputy labor minister.

The Israeli military says the compound was used as a hideout for militants and housed “a Hamas weapons manufacturing plant.” The IDF said it took measures to minimize the risk of injury to civilians.

Raid on UN-run school on July 7

The attack on the Catholic school comes just hours after Israeli forces attacked a U.N.-run school on Saturday, killing at least 16 people and wounding 75 others who were staying there, according to Gaza authorities, including two UNRWA workers. The incident sparked outrage at the U.N. agency for Palestinian refugees over repeated attacks on its facilities.

Since the start of the war in the Gaza Strip, following the Hamas attack on October 7, thousands of Palestinians in the enclave have sought refuge in hospitals, schools and other civilian facilities. However, Israel accuses Hamas and other militants of hiding there.

Civilians must stay out of the fighting

In its statement, the Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem also condemned “in the strongest terms” the targeting of non-combatants, “or any belligerent action that does not ensure that civilians remain out of the scene of combat.”

She added that she continued to pray and hope “that the parties will reach an agreement that would immediately end the horrific bloodshed and humanitarian catastrophe in the region.”

Previous incidents

The Holy Family Catholic parish in Gaza City, home to some 600 displaced Christians, is not the first target of attacks by Israeli forces in their fight against Hamas. Last December, an Israeli sniper killed two Christian women, a mother and her daughter, inside the compound.

The incident came nearly two months after an airstrike on a building adjacent to the Greek Orthodox Church of St. Porphyrios, in which several people sheltering there lost their lives.

Pope Francis and the Holy See, as well as the United Nations, have repeatedly called for effective protection of civilians in the conflict.

At an open Security Council debate in New York in May, the Permanent Mission of the Holy See deplored that civilian infrastructure such as schools, hospitals and places of worship had become “devastating targets, disproportionately affecting the lives of the innocent and defenseless.”

Israeli victims and hostages and Palestinian death toll

More recently, the Holy Land Justice and Peace Commission rejected the “just war” argument legitimizing the devastation and slaughter of civilians in response to the Hamas attacks of October 7.

During this unprecedented incursion, Palestinian terrorists killed about 1,200 people and took 251 hostages, 116 of whom are still in Gaza, 42 of whom are believed to have died. Israeli retaliation has so far left at least 38,000 dead in Gaza, mostly civilians, according to data from the Hamas-run Health Ministry.