Gaza (AsiaNews) – Once again, an Israeli air raid has struck innocent people in Gaza. And once again, among these victims are members of the very small Christian community in the Strip. At around 2 am this morning, two powerful explosions caused by drones shook the centre of Gaza City: the attack left at least five people dead, including Maysa Khader Ibrahim Abu Daoud and Mary Hafez Michel Najjar, two women from the local Christian community.
The bombs dropped by the drone struck them whilst they were sleeping at home, in a building that was completely destroyed. Both the Greek Orthodox community and the Latin parish of the Holy Family in Gaza are mourning their loss at this time.
According to Israeli military sources, the raid was reportedly aimed at senior Hamas leader Ali al-Amoudi, considered one of the group’s most influential political figures currently in the Strip. Among the victims named this morning by local media in Gaza, there is no mention of Amoudi’s fate, but reports speak of the death of a young man, a mother and her daughter, and two other adult women.
This once again raises the very issue of ‘collateral damage’ in the Israeli army’s actions in Gaza, a matter at the centre of fierce controversy, not least due to the allegations contained in the documentary *NAZA*, produced by Israeli filmmakers Yuval Abraham and Rachel Szor, which features anonymous testimonies from some soldiers in the Israeli army.
“With deep sorrow and grief,” reads a statement issued by the Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem, “Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa mourns the passing of Mrs Maysa Khader Ibrahim Abu Daoud (Ayyad) and Mrs Mary Hafez Michel Najjar (Abu Daoud), who were killed in the Israeli air raid that took place last night, 2 October 2026, in Gaza City. On behalf of the Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem, its clergy and the faithful, Cardinal Pizzaballa expresses his deepest condolences to the families of the deceased and to the Christian community in Gaza, praying that the Lord may grant them comfort, strength and consolation in this loss.”
The statement announces that the funerals will take place today at midday at the Church of St Porphyrius, the Greek Orthodox church in Gaza. The Patriarch – the text continues – “raises his prayers to the Lord, asking that He may welcome the two deceased into His abundant mercy, grant them eternal rest in His Kingdom and bestow upon their families and loved ones the grace of consolation, strength and hope.
‘Blessed are those whom you have chosen and called to be near you; they shall dwell in your courts’ (Ps 65:5)”.
The Holy Family community in Gaza – which had only recently celebrated the reopening of its school – also issued a statement this morning conveying the condolences of the parish priest, Fr Gabriel Romanelli, the Sisters of the Incarnate Word and the Missionaries of Charity working in Gaza, as well as the entire community, to the families affected by this latest bereavement, which is by no means the first to directly strike the Christian community in Gaza.
According to a statement made last July by Fr Romanelli in an interview with Vatican News, of the approximately 1,000 Christians living in Gaza at the start of the war, 60 had already died: “23 were killed either by bombing or by Israeli snipers,” explained the parish priest, “the others due to a lack of medical care. And 60 people represent about 6 per cent of the Christian community, comprising both Catholics and Orthodox Christians’. The number of Christians directly struck by Israeli fire has thus risen to 25 since the start of the conflict.
Looking at the bigger picture, since the so-called ceasefire came into force – on 10 October 2025, practically a year ago – there have been around 1,150 Palestinian casualties in what Israel describes as ‘targeted strikes’, but which continue to result in a very high number of civilian casualties.
Meanwhile, the so-called Board of Peace, championed by US President Donald Trump, remains at a standstill, with over half of Gaza under Israeli control and the second phase of the agreement stalled over the issue of Hamas’s disarmament and the lack of agreement on the stabilisation force that is supposed to facilitate the withdrawal of Israeli troops.
