GAZA CITY (Reuters) -An apparent Israeli strike on Gaza’s sole Catholic Church killed two people and injured several, the Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem said on Thursday.
“Two persons were killed as a result of an apparent strike by the Israeli army that hit the Holy Family Compound this morning,” the Patriarchate said in a statement.
Earlier, there were conflicting reports about whether the attack had caused deaths.
The Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) said it was “aware of reports regarding damage caused to the Holy Family Church in Gaza City and casualties at the scene. The circumstances of the incident are under review.”
“The IDF makes every feasible effort to mitigate harm to civilians and civilian structures, including religious sites, and regrets any damage caused to them,” its statement added.
The Holy Family Church in Gaza spoke in a separate statement of “a number of injured, some in critical condition.”
The Patriarchate earlier said the parish priest, Father Gabriel Romanelli, was among those injured, and his church had sustained damage.
Father Romanelli, an Argentine, used to regularly update the late Pope Francis about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict via calls and messages. Reuters footage from the hospital showed him to be lightly injured, with a bandaged left leg but able to walk.
The Vatican did not respond to a request for comment.
Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni blamed Israel for the strike on the religious compound.
“The attacks against the civilian population that Israel has been carrying out for months are unacceptable. No military action can justify such an attitude,” she said in a statement.
(Reporting by Alvise Armellini in Rome and Nidal Al Mughrabi, Editing by Giulia Segreti, William Maclean)
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