GAZA CITY (OSV News): The Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem issued a strong condemnation after the Israeli military targeted a Catholic school in Gaza that killed four people, including a senior Hamas official.
In a statement published on July 7, the patriarchate said it was monitoring reports of a strike on Holy Family School, which “has, since the beginning of the war, been a place of refuge for hundreds of civilians.”
The statement read., “The Latin Patriarchate condemns, in the strongest terms, the targeting of civilians or any belligerent actions that fall short of ensuring that civilians remain outside the combat scene.”
The patriarchate called for a ceasefire agreement “that would put an immediate end to the horrifying bloodbath and humanitarian catastrophe in the region.”
According to multiple news reports, including by The Associated Press, Israeli airstrikes took place overnight on July 6 and 7 in Gaza, killing 13 Palestinians.
The strike against Holy Family School, which was operating as a shelter, claimed the lives of four people, including Ihab al-Ghussein, Hamas’ undersecretary of labour.
In a statement, Hamas mourned the death of al-Ghussein, whose wife and daughter were killed in strikes in the early days of the war, AP reported.
Israeli military officials justified the attack on the school, arguing that the bombing struck a Hamas military building and a weapons-making facility “in the area of a school building.”
