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Holy Family Church, Gaza

Churches in the Gaza StripReligious buildings and structures in Gaza CityRoman Catholic churches in the State of PalestineVague or ambiguous time from December 2023Zaytun Quarter
Holy Family Church in Gaza
Holy Family Church in Gaza

The Holy Family Church (Arabic: كنيسة العائلة المقدسة) of Gaza City is the only Catholic church in the Gaza Strip, State of Palestine. The parish includes a school which provides a Christian education to children in Gaza, and it works closely with the nearby religious congregations of the Missionaries of Charity, Servants of the Lord and the Virgin of Matará, and the Rosary Sisters. The Missionaries of Charity care for the elderly and disabled, and the Rosary Sisters operate a school. The community is served by priests from the Institute of the Incarnate Word.

Excerpt from the Wikipedia article Holy Family Church, Gaza (License: CC BY-SA 3.0, Authors, Images).

Holy Family Church, Gaza
Amer Ben Alaas, Gaza Northern Remal

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Latitude Longitude
N 31.5240835 ° E 34.451993038889 °
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Amer Ben Alaas
890 Gaza, Northern Remal
Palestinian Territories
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Holy Family Church in Gaza
Holy Family Church in Gaza
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Killing of Naheda and Samr Anton
Killing of Naheda and Samr Anton

On 16 December 2023, two Palestinian Christians, Naheda Anton and her daughter Samr Anton, were shot and killed while walking inside the grounds of the Holy Family Church to go to the bathroom during the 2023 Israel–Hamas war. The Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem said: “Nahida and her daughter Samar were shot and killed as they walked to the Sister’s Convent. One was killed as she tried to carry the other to safety. Seven more people were shot and wounded as they tried to protect others inside the church compound. No warning was given, no notification was provided. They were shot in cold blood inside the premises of the Parish, where there are no belligerents.” Hamas and the Patriarchate said an Israeli sniper killed the women.Al Jazeera said others died after Israeli troops prevented medical aid reaching the wounded. The pair were part of a large group of civilians, including other Palestinian Christians, that had been taking refuge in the church. The sister of one of the civilians told the BBC that those in the church were scared to leave for fear of being shot at, adding that "they believed the Israelis were shooting anything that moves". Reportedly IDF bombs have leveled most of the buildings around the church, and many have reported Israeli tanks and snipers in the surviving buildings overlooking the compound. The churches generators were destroyed due to the bombs, along with their solar panels, water tanks and fuel resources.The Patriarchate said that earlier in the morning, an Israeli airstrike hit the Missionaries of Charity convent, which housed 54 disabled people; the rocket attack caused a large explosion and displaced all of the residents.The Israeli military said it had not targeted the church and that church representatives had not mentioned an attack or civilian deaths when they spoke to the IDF on 16 December. Following an investigation, the IDF said that Hamas had fired an RPG from the vicinity of the church, and that IDF soldiers had fired back and hit Hamas spotters.

Gaza City
Gaza City

Gaza ( GAH-zə; Arabic: غَزَّة, romanized: Ġazzah, IPA: [ˈɣazza] ), also called Gaza City, is a Palestinian city in the Gaza Strip, with a population of 590,481 (in 2017), making it the largest city in the State of Palestine. Inhabited since at least the 15th century BCE, Gaza has been dominated by different peoples and empires throughout its history. The Philistines made it a part of their pentapolis after the Ancient Egyptians had ruled it for nearly 350 years. Under the Roman Empire Gaza experienced relative peace and its port flourished. In 635 CE, it became the first city in Palestine to be conquered by the Muslim Rashidun army and quickly developed into a center of Islamic law. However, by the time the Crusaders invaded the country starting in 1099, Gaza was in ruins. In later centuries, Gaza experienced several hardships—from Mongol raids to floods and locusts, reducing it to a village by the 16th century, when it was incorporated into the Ottoman Empire. During the first half of Ottoman rule, the Ridwan dynasty controlled Gaza and under them the city went through an age of great commerce and peace. The municipality of Gaza was established in 1893. Gaza fell to British forces during World War I, becoming a part of Mandatory Palestine. As a result of the 1948 Arab–Israeli War, Egypt administered the newly formed Gaza Strip territory and several improvements were undertaken in the city. Gaza was occupied by Israel in the Six-Day War in 1967, and in 1993, the city was transferred to the newly created Palestinian National Authority. In the months following the 2006 election, an armed conflict broke out between the Palestinian political factions of Fatah and Hamas, resulting in the latter taking power in Gaza. The Gaza Strip was then subject to an Israeli-led, Egyptian-supported blockade. Israel eased the blockade allowing consumer goods in June 2010, and Egypt reopened the Rafah Border Crossing in 2011 to pedestrians.The primary economic activities of Gaza are small-scale industries and agriculture. However, the blockade and recurring conflicts have put the economy under severe pressure. The majority of Gaza's Palestinian inhabitants are Muslim, although there is also a tiny Christian minority. Gaza has a very young population, with roughly 75% under the age of 25. The city is currently administered by a 14-member municipal council. As of January 2024, as part of the Israel–Hamas war, the Israeli army has bombed large portions of the city and surrounding areas of the Northern Gaza Strip, destroying many buildings and infrastructure. Almost all residents have fled or been evacuated to Southern Gaza, or killed as a result. Therefore, previous recorded or estimated population numbers have become outdated.