Top Christian leaders in Jerusalem deliver tons of aid to Gaza after church attack
The attack, which Israel claims was caused by "stray ammunition," killed three and injured the parish priest among others.
Top Christian leaders in Jerusalem delivered aid to Gaza on Friday during a rare visit after the Israeli military bombed the only Catholic church in the enclave the day before.
The attack, which Israel claims was caused by "stray ammunition," killed three and injured the parish priest among others.
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The attack caused an international outcry, garnering condemnation from France and Italy among other nations.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, in a phone call with Pope Leo XIV, said Israel "deeply regrets" the strike on the Holy Family Church in Gaza City.
On Friday, the Catholic Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem, Pierbattista Pizzaballa, and his Greek Orthodox counterpart, Theophilos II,I headed to Gaza to meet local Christians and to distribute humanitarian aid — something desperately needed since Israel expelled international aid organisations, including the UN.
During the visit, Pizzaballa and Theophilos expressed "the shared pastoral solicitude of the Churches of the Holy Land and their concern for the community of Gaza," calling Friday's visit a "powerful expression" of Christian unity.
Pope Leo said he had been "deeply saddened" by the strike on the church and the hundreds of displaced Palestinians seeking shelter there, noting that several of those desperate for protection at the parish were children, many of them with special needs.
Leo's predecessor, Pope Franci,s maintained regular contact with the Holy Family Church's parish priest, Father Gabriel Romanelli, conducting nightly Zoom calls with him even from his deathbed.
A statement from the Patriarchate on Friday said Pizzaballa had spoken with Leo before the visit and that the pontiff had, "expressed his support and affection to the entire community gathered around the parish and those suffering from the violence, and reiterated his intention to do everything possible to stop the needless slaughter of innocents."
Israel's military maintains that it does not target churches or religious sites, but the Jerusalem Patriarchate said there had been "repeated assaults on Christian holy sites in Gaza."
Pizzaballa and Theophilos, both of whom also visited the occupied West Bank last week after radical Jewish settlers reportedly attacked a Byzantine-era church there, say they delivered "hundreds of tons of food supplies as well as first aid kits and urgently needed medical equipment" on Friday.
During Friday's extremely rare visit by foreign officials — Israel has essentially sealed off Gaza to outsiders — the two said the aid was not only for the enclave's tiny Christian community but for "as many families as possible."
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