Holy Family Church in Gaza City. Photo by Dan Palraz. CC BY-SA 4.0

On 17 July 2025 an Israeli shell struck Gaza’s only Catholic Church killing three people and injuring 10 others. These included the priest, Gabriel Romanelli, who used to receive daily calls from the late Pope Francis.

The new pope, Pope Leo XIV, wrote on X: “I am deeply saddened to learn of the loss of life and injury caused by the military attack on the Holy Family Catholic Church in #Gaza. I assure the parish community of my spiritual closeness. I commend the souls of the deceased to the loving mercy of Almighty God, and pray for their families and the injured. I renew my call for an immediate ceasefire. Only dialogue and reconciliation can ensure enduring peace!”

Donald Trump called Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu about this incident.

As a result Netanyahu said “Israel deeply regrets that a stray ammunition hit Gaza’s Holy Family Church. Every innocent life lost is a tragedy. We share the grief of the families and the faithful. We are grateful to Pope Leo for his words of comfort. Israel is investigating the incident and remains committed to protecting civilians and holy sites.”

If every innocent life lost is a tragedy then Netanyahu must indeed be in deep mourning for over 83,000 Palestinian people that his armed forces killed between October 2023 and early January 2025, as reported in the journal Nature. More than half of them were women aged 18–64, children or people over 65.

We can only feel sorry for Prime Minister Netanyahu for the additional weight of grief he must be carrying as dozens more starving Palestinians die every day, killed as they try to get food from the chaotic distribution points run by the so-called Gaza Humanitarian Foundation which he and Trump have organised.

Let us hope that Netanyahu’s grief comes to an end soon and he accepts a ceasefire agreement with Hamas.