An Israeli strike on Gaza's only Catholic church killed three people on Thursday and wounded ten others, the Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem said.
A parish priest and several others were injured after the Holy Family Church in northern Gaza was struck in an attack on Thursday morning, officials with the Catholic Church said.
Gaza civil defence spokesman Mahmud Bassal confirmed that three people were killed in an Israeli strike on the church in Gaza City, with which the late Pope Francis kept regular contact through the war.
The Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem said a strike on Gaza's only Catholic church injured several people on Thursday, including the parish priest, as well as causing damage to the building.
"The Holy Family Church in Gaza has been struck by a raid this morning. There are several injuries in the place including the Parish Priest, Fr. Gabriel Romanelli. Currently there are no fatalities confirmed," the Latin Patriarchate said in a statement.
A 60-year-old janitor and an 84-year-old woman have been identified as the two people who were killed in the attack. The woman was receiving psychosocial support inside a Caritas tent in the church compound, according to the Catholic charity Caritas Jerusalem.
At least one person is in critical condition.
Gaza's civil defence agency said an Israeli strike on a Gaza City church killed two people on Thursday.
"Two citizens from the Christian community were killed as a result of injuries sustained in an Israeli strike on the Church of the Latin Monastery in the Old City, east of Gaza City, this morning," civil defence spokesman Mahud Bassal told AFP.
The Latin Patriarchate confirmed the two dead.
"We pray that their souls rest (in peace) and for an end to this barbaric war. Nothing can justify the targeting of innocent civilians," said the Patriarchate, which oversees the Holy Family Church in Gaza.
Earlier, doctors at the Al-Ahli Hospital in Gaza City said two women had been killed in the strike.
Parish priest Fr. Gabriel Romanelli was very close to the late Pope Francis, and the two spoke often during the war on Gaza.
The church was sheltering both Christians and Muslims, including a number of children with disabilities, according to Fadel Naem, acting director of Al-Ahli Hospital, which received the wounded.
Pope Leo XIV said on Thursday he was "deeply saddened" by an Israel strike which hit a Gaza church, killing two people, and called for "an immediate ceasefire".
"His Holiness Pope Leo XIV was deeply saddened to learn of the loss of life and injury caused by the military attack on the Holy Family Church in Gaza", read a telegram sent by the Vatican's secretary of state in the pope's name.
Leo "renews his call for an immediate ceasefire, and he expresses his profound hope for dialogue, reconciliation and enduring peace in the region", read the telegram, which did not mention Israel.
The Israeli army has released its first statement on the attack on the Catholic church in Gaza.
Posting on Telegram, a spokesman said the army is aware of the "claim" regarding damage to the church and injuries at the site. The incident is "under investigation", the spokesman added.
Italian Premier Giorgia Meloni blamed Israel for the strike on the church. "The attacks on the civilian population that Israel has been demonstrating for months are unacceptable. No military action can justify such an attitude," she said.
The church is just a stone's throw from Al-Ahli Hospital, Naem said, noting that the area around both the church and the hospital has been repeatedly struck for over a week.
At least two people were killed in strikes on Gaza on Thursday, including one in Gaza City and one in central Gaza's Bureij refugee camp, according to local hospitals.
In the last 18 months of his life, Francis would often call the lone Catholic church in the Gaza Strip to see how people huddled inside were coping with a devastating war.
Last year, he told CBS' "60 Minutes" that he calls a priest daily at 7pm at the Holy Family Church to hear what was happening to the nearly 600 people sheltering at the facility.
Only 1,000 Christians live in Gaza, an overwhelmingly Muslim territory, according to the US State Department's international religious freedom report for 2024.
The report says the majority of Palestinian Christians are Greek Orthodox, but they also include other Christians, including Roman Catholics.
Israel's war on Gaza has killed over 58,000 Palestinians, according to Gaza's Health Ministry, which has said women and children make up more than half of the dead.