Patriarchate condemns Israeli strike on its church grounds in Gaza as 'war crime'

The compound of Gaza's oldest church which was sheltering displaced civilians was hit in a strike last night.

CNN, Al Jazeera and various other agencies covering the war reported the Saint Porphyrius Greek Orthodox church was hit in an Israeli airstrike, killing at least eight people.

Condemning the attack, the Orthodox Patriarchate of Jerusalem said the Israeli airstrike hit its compound.

It added the targeting of churches and their institutions, where civilians are sheltering, is a war crime.

"Despite the evident targeting of the facilities and shelters of the Orthodox Patriarchate of Jerusalem and other churches – including the Episcopal Church of Jerusalem Hospital, other schools, and social institutions – the Patriarchate, along with the other churches, remain committed to fulfilling its religious and moral duty in providing assistance, support, and refuge to those in need, amidst continuous Israeli demands to evacuate these institutions of civilians and the pressures exerted on the churches in this regard," it said in a statement.

The Holy Orthodox Order of St George said the bombs hit two church halls where displaced people, including children and babies, were sleeping.

The church and monastery were sheltering 500 people, it said in a statement.

The Israeli Defence Forces told the Washington Post the strike, which targeted a Hamas centre, "damaged the wall of a church in the area" and that it is aware of the casualties.

The church was built between 1150 and 1160s by the Crusaders and named after a fifth-century bishop of Gaza, a news broadcaster reported.

A few days before that, Father Elias, a priest at the church, shared fears the church would soon be hit by Israeli strikes.

Israel said it dropped 6,000 bombs on densely populated Gaza in the first six days of the war, starting Oct 7 nearly matching the number of bombs dropped by the US on Afghanistan in one year.

The Gaza Strip is home to two million people, about 47 percent of which are children, according to the Palestinian Bureau of Statistics.

Strikes in southern Gaza

In the 24 hours leading up to Thursday evening, 307 Palestinians were killed in Gaza, bringing the death toll in the besieged enclave to 3,785, of which at least 1,524 were children, the United Nations said.

This includes Khan Younis in the southern part of Gaza, where Israel told Palestinians to evacuate for safety.

Palestinian news agency Wafa reported that 21 people have died in Khan Younis from an Israeli strike there.

The New York Times described Khan Younis as a "scene of horror" with "families buried under rubble" after Israeli airstrike there began on Tuesday, but Israel said it was hitting Hamas targets.

The actual death toll in Gaza is likely higher because many of the remains are inaccessible under the rubble of buildings levelled by Israeli airstrikes.

More than 12,500 people were injured in Israeli airstrikes, while about one million people are displaced, the UN said.

Water is also in short supply due to the Israeli blockade, forcing people to consume water from "unsafe sources, risking death and placing the population at risk of infectious disease outbreak”, the UN said.

Meanwhile, in Israel, at least 1,400 people have been killed and 3,800 injured since the Oct 7 Hamas attacks.

Red Crescent hospital damaged, Al Ahli hospital warned

The church strike comes after the Palestinian Red Crescent Society (PCRS) released a video of blasts near its Al Quds hospital, which houses more than 8,000 displaced persons.

Calling it a war crime, it said there was shrapnel and damage inside the PRCS buildings.

On Wednesday, a strike on the Anglican Church's Al Ahli Baptist Hospital killed about 500 people who were sheltering there, Palestinian authorities said.

They blame Israel’s airstrikes, but Israel claimed it was a misfired rocket by the Palestinian Jihad militant group. The group denied this.

The strike happened several days after the hospital's cancer centre was struck by rocket fire on Oct 14, according to the BBC and the Diocese of Jerusalem.

The Anglican Archbishop Hosam Naoum said the hospital received Israeli orders by telephone to evacuate the hospital on three consecutive days before the strike on Tuesday, Turkish media agency Anadolu reported.

Asked who was responsible for the strike, he said they are not military forensic experts but “we know at least that there are many buildings, homes, and many places that were bombed in Israeli raids."

“These are facts on the ground,” he said, calling the strike a "massacre".

The United States claims its preliminary assessment of video and satellite images supports the Israel claim, but this is still heavily contested.

The US also disputed the number of casualties at the Al Ahli hospital strike, saying it was likely to be on the "low end" of 100 to 300, USA Today reported.

Aid still can't be delivered

Yesterday, the US vetoed a UN Security Council resolution for a "humanitarian pause" in Gaza to allow aid for the civilians there.

CNN reports that the Rafah border crossing in Southern Gaza remains closed today, despite an earlier deal between the US and Egypt to deliver aid.

According to the news agency, the first convoy of 20 trucks was unable to cross because of road conditions on the Egyptian side.

It was earlier reported the trucks could not cross safely due to strikes from Israel.

The aid delivery is likely to happen on Saturday, and concrete barriers at the crossing are partially lifted in anticipation of that, CNN reported.

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