As escalation between Israel and Hamas is growing with the passage of time, Israel’s airstrike hit an Orthodox church located in Gaza. The Orthodox Patriarchate of Jerusalem released a statement and condemned a recent Attack on the church; the attack occurred on 19th of October Thursday.
The statement, which was published on the official website Patriarchate, stated that “attacking churches and other institutions relating to church is a serious kind of war crime and needs to be dealt strictly as per international law”.
Notably, the church and other realting institutions, along with shelter homes, are protecting innocent civilians such as children, women, etc, who lost their homes in the Israeli airstrike in the last thirteen days. Severe damage was caused to the church, and an another building adjoining the church was also destroyed.
The statement also referred to previous attacks on the Patriarchate institutions linked to the orthodox church during the ongoing war between Israel and Hamas.
The statement further includes that “despite repeated attacks on the facilities, shelters homes, school, hospitals, and other social institutions linked to Orthodox church, the patriarchate is always committed to fulfil its moral duty to provide every possible aid and refuge to all of those who are victims of the ongoing conflict.”
Patriarchate stressed that we will not abandon our religious and moral duties rooted in our Christian values. Moreover, we will continue our efforts for needy people due to war.
In Thursday’s airstrike of Israel, attack least two women were killed, and many others also got injured, as per reports of the Palestinian News agency WAFA.
At the beginning of this month, the Ministry of Interior said that a large number of civilian casualties happened in Gaza. It called this incident of church attack a “new massacre” committed by the Israeli Defence forces against humanity.
On the other hand, there was no official reaction from the Israeli side regarding the attack on the orthodox church so far.