Israel attacks: France says strike on Gaza church ‘unacceptable’

PARIS/GAZA: France’s Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot Thursday slammed as “unacceptable” a strike on Gaza’s only Catholic church that the Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem said was carried out by Israel and killed two people, reported AFP.

“Unacceptable attack in Gaza against the Church of the Holy Family, historically under the protection of France,” he said, alluding to a 16th-centrury accord for France to protect Catholic Christians in the Holy Land.

NO JUSTIFICATION

Similarly, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, in a statement, said: “The Israeli raids on Gaza have also hit the Holy Family Church. The attacks against the civilian population that Israel has been carrying out for months are unacceptable. No military action can justify such behaviour.”

Earlier, medics confirmed that two people were killed and several others injured when the Israeli army struck the Catholic church.

In this connection, witnesses said fighter jets hit the Catholic Holy Family Church in the Zeitoun neighborhood of Gaza City early Thursday.

Read more: Erdogan backs Syria, Netanyahu says got ceasefire by force

According to Gaza’s Civil Defense Agency, two elderly Palestinians died, while several other people were injured, including the parish priest, Gabriel Romanelli.

Romanelli was transferred to the al-Ahli Baptist Hospital to receive medical treatment for his leg injury, witnesses said.

In a press release, the Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem confirmed the attack and the injuries, including the wounding of the parish priest, stating that the church has sustained damage.

WE DON’T DO

However, the Israeli army claimed that the circumstances of the attack were under review.

According to the military, it exerts all efforts to “mitigate harm to civilians and civilian structures, including religious sites, and regrets any damage caused to them”.

NOT THE FIRST ONE

Meanwhile, it isn’t the first Christian worship place that Israel has bombed in Gaza. The pervious victims included the Gaza Baptist Church and the Greek Orthodox Church of Saint Porphyrius.

The latter is the oldest in the Gaza Strip and the third oldest in the world.