Click to see full-size image. By the Israeli Air Force.
The last wave of Israeli strikes on the Gaza Strip has reportedly damaged a historic Orthodox church, killing and wounding a number of displaced civilians who were taking shelter there.
The Hamas-run interior ministry said that a strike late on October 19 left a “large number of martyrs and injured” at the compound of the Greek Orthodox Saint Porphyrius Church in Gaza city. The Strip’s government media office reported the next day that 18 Christian Palestinians were among the dead.
Playing down the strike, the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) told AFP that it had hit a command and control center involved in launching rockets and mortars towards Israel.
“As a result of the IDF [Israeli army] strike, a wall of a church in the area was damaged,” it said, adding “we are aware of reports on casualties. The incident is under review.”
Saint Porphyrius, built in about 1150, is the oldest church still in use in Gaza. Located in an historic neighborhood of Gaza city, the church offered sanctuary to people of various faiths over generations.
The Greek Orthodox Patriarchate of Jerusalem expressed its “strongest condemnation” of the Israeli strike in a statement.
“Targeting churches and their institutions, along with the shelters they provide to protect innocent citizens, especially children and women who have lost their homes due to Israeli airstrikes on residential areas over the past 13 days, constitutes a war crime that cannot be ignored,” the patriarchate’s statement reads.
The church was not the first or the last historic place of worship in Gaza to be targeted by the IDF. On October 20, Israeli strikes destroyed the historic al-Omari Mosque in northern Gaza. The ancient mosque dates from the 7th century and is the third largest mosque in historic Palestine.
In its latest update, the IDF announced that it hit more than 100 targets in overnight strikes across Gaza. The attacks destroyed tunnel shafts, munitions warehouses and dozens of operational headquarters, it said.
Daniel Hagari, a spokesman for the IDF, said that the rate of attacks by the Israeli Air Force on Gaza has not been seen in “decades”. He added that the air force was collaborating with Israel’s intelligence division in its campaign.
According to Gaza’s health ministry spokesperson Ashraf al-Qudra, 4,137 Palestinians have been killed so far in Israeli strikes on the Strip, including 1,661 children.
At least 13,260 others were wounded, the spokesman said, adding that officials in Gaza received 1,400 inquiries on missing people including 720 children.
“Operations are being done on the floor, on the ground, in the corridors of the hospital,” al-Qudra said.
With regard to the humanitarian situation in Gaza, the spokesman said that seven main hospitals and 21 health centers were placed out of service as a result of the Israeli strikes and blocked.
Forty-six members of medical teams have been killed and 23 ambulances were completely destroyed by Israeli strikes, he added.
“What’s going on in the Gaza Strip is a big massacre against our Palestinian people, against the Muslims and Christians … Israel is undoubtedly going to commit more massacres and the international world is witnessing [this],” al-Qudra explained.
Israel’s bombardment failed to stop attacks by the Hamas Movement. The group’s military wing, the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades, fired rockets at the cities of Tel Aviv and Jerusalem in addition to several settlements neighboring Gaza.
Al-Qassam also released footage showing recent mortar strikes on IDF gatherings near the Strip as well as a drone attack on an Israeli Merkava Mark 3.
According to Israeli officials, just over 1,400 Israelis were killed and more than 4,000 others were wounded during and after the October 7 Hamas-led surprise attack. So far, the IDF has confirmed that 203 people were captured in the initial attack. Hundreds others remain missing.
Casualties on both sides are expected to rise sharply once the IDF launches the ground phase of its large-scale operation in Gaza.
The invasion will also worsen the humanitarian situation in Gaza and generate high tensions across the Middle East. Israel’s main goal, which is to eradicate Hamas, will not likely be achieved without the displacement of more than two million Palestinains and the reoperation of the Strip.
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