(RNS) — The American Jewish Committee said Thursday (July 31) that it will donate $25,000 toward the “rehabilitation” of the Holy Family Church and community in Gaza. The only Catholic church in Gaza was damaged by what the Israel Defense Forces called a munitions misfire by one of its tanks in the church’s vicinity on July 17. Three civilians who were sheltering in the church complex were killed in the incident and several — included the parish priest — were injured.
Gaza’s tiny Christian community — numbering just about 1,000 people prior to the Israel-Hamas war and now dwindling — was particularly close to the heart of Pope Francis, who tried to phone the community every evening, even during his last hospitalization before his death on April 21. The church has been housing and feeding a few hundred Christians and Muslims for nearly two years as the war continues.
Rabbi Noam Marans, AJC director of interreligious affairs, told RNS that while AJC is a Jewish organization primarily focused on the safety and security of the Jewish people and the state of Israel, “our concern and empathy extends beyond the Jewish people, to all humanity, and particularly towards the innocents caught up in this awful war.”
Hamas fighters and IDF soldiers have fought several battles in the vicinity of the church since Hamas infiltrated Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, killing about 1,200 people and taking hostage about 250 …