Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office issued a statement late Thursday expressing its regret after an IDF strike killed three civilians in Gaza’s only Catholic church, heeding a demand from US President Donald Trump who angrily phoned the Israeli premier over the incident.
“Israel deeply regrets that a stray ammunition hit Gaza’s Holy Family Church,” the PMO said. “Every innocent life lost is a tragedy. We share the grief of the families and the faithful.”
The statement, which was not issued in Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s name, also expressed gratitude to Pope Leo XIV for his “words of comfort.” The pope had issued a statement expressing his sadness over the loss of life in the Gaza City strike and reiterating his hope for a ceasefire, while avoiding a direct condemnation of Israel.
“Israel is investigating the incident and remains committed to protecting civilians and holy sites,” the PMO said.
Less than an hour earlier, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters during a briefing that Trump phoned Netanyahu after first learning about the strike on Thursday morning.
Asked what Trump’s reaction had been to the latest civilian casualty incident in Gaza, Leavitt responded, “It was not a positive reaction.”
Leavitt said Netanyahu agreed during the call with Trump to issue a statement explaining that the strike had been a mistake.
Shortly after Netanyahu’s statement, the Israeli military said that shrapnel from a tank shell fired during operations in Gaza City hit the church.
The IDF said it carried out a preliminary investigation following reports of damage and casualties at the church.
“It emerged that fragments from a shell fired during operational activity in the area hit the church mistakenly,” the IDF said, adding that the cause of the incident is under review.
“The IDF directs its strikes solely at military targets and makes every feasible effort to mitigate harm to civilians and religious structures, and regrets any unintentional damage caused to them,” it added.
Pictures from the scene showed a large chunk of the building had been hit next to the large stone cross that adorned the house of worship. Windows were also damaged.
The Foreign Ministry commented on the incident earlier in the day, saying that Israel “expresses deep sorrow over the damage [to the church] and over any civilian casualty” and that the country “never targets churches or religious sites and regrets any harm to a religious site or to uninvolved civilians.”
Doctors at al-Ahli hospital said two women were killed. The third fatality, who died later, was male. The Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem named the dead as Najwa Abu Daoud, Saad Issa Kostandi Salameh and Foumia Issa Latif Ayyad.
Among the injured in the strike was Parish Priest Fr. Gabriel Romanelli, a confidant of the late Pope Francis, who would speak to him nightly throughout the war in Gaza.
The church was sheltering both Christians and Muslims, including a number of children with disabilities, according to Fadel Naem, acting director of Al-Ahli Hospital, which received the wounded.
Out of the Gaza Strip’s population of more than two million, about 1,000 are Christians. Most of them are Orthodox, but according to the Latin Patriarchate, there are about 135 Catholics in the territory.
Since the early days of the war which erupted in October 2023, members of the Catholic community have been sheltering at the Holy Family Church compound in Gaza City, and some Orthodox Christians have also found refuge there.
More than 21 months of war have created dire humanitarian conditions for Gaza’s population, displacing most residents at least once and triggering severe shortages of food and other essentials.
The war was triggered on October 7, 2023, when Hamas led thousands of terrorists to invade southern Israel in an attack that killed 1,200 people. Terrorists also abducted 251 as hostages to the Gaza Strip, where 49 are still held along with the body of an IDF soldier killed in 2014.
The Hamas-run Gaza health ministry says more than 58,000 people in the Strip have been killed or are presumed dead in the fighting so far, though the toll cannot be verified and does not differentiate between civilians and fighters.
Israel says it has killed some 20,000 combatants in battle as of January and another 1,600 terrorists inside Israel during the October 7 onslaught.
Israel has said it seeks to minimize civilian fatalities and stresses that Hamas uses Gaza’s civilians as human shields, fighting from civilian areas including homes, hospitals, schools, and mosques.