Priest close to Pope Francis injured in Israeli attack on Gaza’s only Catholic church

Gaza’s only Catholic church – a refuge for many Christians during Israel’s war on Palestinians – has been bombed this morning.

Strikes pounded the Holy Family Church, killing two people and wounding several others, including the parish priest.

Father Gabriel Romanelli was very close with the late Pope Francis and the two spoke every night since the beginning of Israel’s massacre on Gaza.

The church was damaged in the attack, which witnesses said appeared to be an Israeli tank shelling.

Fr Romanelli had earlier said that no one was killed in the Israeli assault, but doctors at the Al-Ahli Hospital in Gaza City said two women had died.

Footage published by Palestinian photographer Abdalaziz Khalil shows the priest being treated for his injuries.

His right leg is being bandaged, but otherwise he is believed to be in good condition. 

Italian premier Giorgia Meloni blamed Israel for the church strike, saying: ‘The attacks on the civilian population that Israel has been demonstrating for months are unacceptable.

‘No military action can justify such an attitude.’

Foreign minister Antonio Tajani also described the attack as a ‘serious act against a Christian place of worship,’ adding that it is ‘time to stop and find peace.’

‘The attacks by the Israeli army against the civilian population in Gaza are no longer acceptable,’ he wrote on X.

The raid came as Gaza’s civil defence agency reported that Israeli strikes killed 22 people across the Palestinian territory today.

Out of the Gaza’s population of 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, 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.

Pope Francis repeatedly called for an end to the war.

In his final Easter message, a day before his death on April 21, the pontiff condemned the ‘deplorable humanitarian situation’ in the Palestinian territory.

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