Israel bombs historic Greek Orthodox Saint Porphyrius Church in Gaza

Israeli airstrike on the premises of Saint Porphyrius Greek Orthodox Church — the third oldest church in the world — in besieged Gaza on Friday has left at least 40 people killed and dozens injured.

The church constructed in 425 CE and later renovated in 1856, is located just meters away from Al Ahli Baptist Hospital, where Israeli airstrike committed a horrific massacre on Tuesday, resulting in the mass murder of hundreds of innocent Palestinians.

At least two women have been killed and many other civilians wounded in an Israeli attack on Saint Porphyrius Greek Orthodox Church in besieged Gaza, the Palestinian news agency WAFA said.

According to the ministry, several displaced people had taken shelter at the church compound when Israeli warplanes targeted it.

The strike left a “large number of martyrs and injured” at the compound, the ministry added.

According to the witnesses the strike damaged the facade of the church and caused an adjacent building to collapse, adding that many wounded people were evacuated to the hospital.

Earlier the Shifa Hospital director general said that dozens were hurt at the Church of Saint Porphyrios but could not give a precise death toll because bodies were buried under rubble.

Israel’s bombardment of the Greek Orthodox Church in Gaza indicates its “intentions to annihilate the Palestinian people,” the head of the Higher Committee for Churches Affairs in Palestine said.

In the statement published on its official website early on Friday, Ramzi Khoury “condemned the Israeli bombardment of the premises of Saint Porphyrius Greek Orthodox Church in Gaza, where around 500 Palestinian Muslims and Christians are seeking shelter.”

It added that the Israeli strike targeted the church’s council building.

The statement also stressed that “targeting places of worship constitutes a war crime, and international law makes it clear that houses of worship may under no circumstances be subjected to attacks.”

On the other hand, the Orthodox Patriarchate of Jerusalem expressed its “strongest condemnation” of the Israeli strike at its church compound.

“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 air strikes on residential areas over the past 13 days, constitutes a war crime that cannot be ignored,” the Patriarchate said in a statement.

It stressed that it will not abandon its religious and humanitarian duty, rooted in its Christian values, “to provide all that is necessary in times of war and peace alike.”