Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu recognized this Thursday a “error” after Tsahal’s strike against a church in Gaza which left at least three dead.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told Donald Trump that hitting a church in Gaza was an “error” from Israel, the White House said this Thursday, by reporting the telephone exchange between the two leaders.
The American president “called Prime Minister Netanyahu this morning to evoke the strike on this church in Gaza (…). It was an error of the Israelis to strike this Catholic church, that is what the Prime Minister said to the President,” the spokesperson for the White House Karoline Leavitt told the press.
The Israeli Prime Minister “deeply” regrets “this strike, which left three dead, believing that it is a” tragedy “. We share the pain of families and faithful, “said Benjamin Netanyahu in a statement from his office. He added that Israel” investigates this incident “.
The civil defense in Gaza and the Latin Jerusalem Latin patriarchy reported three people killed and 10 injured. Since the start of the war, Father Gabriel Romanelli regularly dialogued by video connection with the former Pope Francis, who died in April, since this complex which houses hundreds of Palestinian displaced.
“A tank struck the church”
Within the Al-Ahli Hospital in Gaza-Ville, wounded receive care in tents. Among them, Father Romanelli, wearing a dressing around the leg.
Some injured arrived on stretchers. One of them has an oxygen mask. Other Palestinians cry next to the remains covered with white mortuary bags placed on the ground.
“A tank targeted us and hit the church. Several civilians were killed and injured,” said Shadi Abou Daoud, a move from which the 70 -year -old died in the strike.
For Latin patriarchy, “targeting a sacred site which houses around 600 displaced, mostly children, is a blatant violation of human dignity (…) and of the sacred character of religious sites, which are supposed to provide a safe shelter in wartime”.
The Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem, Pierbattista Pizzaballa, told Vatican News: “What we know with certainty is that a tank hit the church directly. The Israeli army said by mistake but we are not sure”.
Pope Leo XIV said he was “deeply saddened” and has renewed his call “to an immediate ceasefire” in Gaza, where indirect negotiations between Hamas and Israel for a truce are deadlocked.
Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni said that “Israeli raids on Gaza have affected the Church of the Holy Family. The attacks on the civilian population carried out by Israel for months are unacceptable”. France has condemned an “unacceptable” bombardment.
