GAZA CITY, Palestine / ISTANBUL

Three people were killed and several others injured when the Israeli army struck a Catholic church in the northern Gaza Strip on Thursday, the Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem said.

In a statement, the Patriarchate said nine other people were wounded, including one in critical condition, in the attack that targeted the Catholic Holy Family Church in the Zeitoun neighborhood of Gaza City.

Among the injured was the parish priest, Father Gabriel Romanelli, who sustained a light injury, it added.

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

Gaza’s Civil Defense Agency earlier said that two elderly Palestinians were among the victims.

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

The army alleged that it exerts all efforts to “mitigate harm to civilians and civilian structures, including religious sites, and regrets any damage caused to them.”

In the course of its deadly offensive on the Gaza Strip, the Israeli army has bombed several worship places, including the Gaza Baptist Church and the Greek Orthodox Church of Saint Porphyrius, the oldest in the Gaza Strip and the third oldest in the world.

The Holy Family Church is the only Catholic church in the Gaza Strip, which has been sheltering many displaced Christian and Muslim Palestinians since October 2023.

The Israeli army, rejecting international calls for a ceasefire, has pursued a brutal offensive against Gaza since October 2023, killing nearly 58,700 Palestinians, most of them women and children.

Last November, the International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant for war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza.

Israel also faces a genocide case at the International Court of Justice for its war on the enclave.