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Palestinian Man Decries Killing of Christian Neighbors as Gaza's Ancient Community Faces Erasure

When a tank shell tore through the compound of the Holy Family Church in Gaza City on the morning of July 17, 2025, Shadi Abu Daoud lost his 70-year-old mother, Najwa. She had been sheltering with dozens of other civilians — Christians and Muslims alike — inside the only Catholic church remaining in the Gaza Strip. Standing amid the rubble, Abu Daoud spoke to reporters: "In the morning, a tank shell targeted us and hit the church, and a number of civilians were killed and wounded." His grief was not only personal. His Christian neighbors — Saad Issa Kostandi Salameh and Foumia Issa Latif Ayyad — were also killed in the blast, according to the Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem. Ten others were wounded, including the parish priest, who had been a personal acquaintance of the late Pope Francis.

His voice joined a growing chorus of Palestinians, Muslim and Christian, mourning not just individual deaths but the obliteration of a community that has lived in Gaza for nearly two millennia.

A Church Turned Shelter, Then a Target

The Holy Family Church compound had served throughout the war as one of Gaza's last havens for vulnerable civilians, sheltering children with disabilities, elderly residents, and families displaced by Israeli military operations across the Strip. Its role as a refuge made the strike all the more damning in the eyes of international observers.

The Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem condemned the attack as "the targeting of innocent civilians and of a sacred place." Pope Leo XIV issued a statement saying he was "deeply saddened" and renewed his call for "an immediate ceasefire." Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni went further, stating that "the attacks against the civilian population that Israel has been carrying out for months are unacceptable." In an unusual move, the Israeli Foreign Ministry issued a social media apology, expressing "deep sorrow over the damage to the Holy Family Church in Gaza City and over any civilian casualty," without formally accepting responsibility. The Israeli military said it was investigating — a phrase that has become familiar after nearly two years of strikes on civilian infrastructure in Gaza, according to Al Jazeera.

The Erasure of Gaza's Christian Community

Before October 7, 2023, Gaza's Christian population numbered fewer than 1,000 — a tiny but historically significant community descending from some of the earliest converts to Christianity. Since the war began, approximately 30 to 44 Christians have been killed, with estimates suggesting that 75% of Christian homes in Gaza have been damaged or destroyed, according to Global Ministries. The Church of Saint Porphyrius, Gaza's oldest Greek Orthodox site, was struck in October 2023, killing at least 18 displaced civilians sheltering inside.

By Easter 2026, the community had shrunk to the point of near-invisibility. An Al Jazeera report documented Christians in Gaza "refusing to celebrate," marking the holiday in silence under what many describe as existential conditions. The article quoted community members who said they no longer felt safe openly identifying as Christian in their own neighborhoods.

The story of Abu Daoud and his Christian neighbors reflects a pattern that human rights observers have flagged with increasing urgency: the collapse of Gaza's pluralistic social fabric, where Muslim and Christian families had lived side by side for generations. It is not just buildings that are being destroyed — it is a shared identity that pre-dates most modern nation-states. The Christian Post has tracked a long arc of violence against Gaza's Christian community, stretching back well before the current war.

For Shadi Abu Daoud, the theology of coexistence is not abstract. His mother died beside his Christian neighbors inside a house of worship. His grief is inseparable from theirs.

Key Takeaways

A Palestinian Muslim man, Shadi Abu Daoud, publicly decried the killing of his Christian neighbors in a July 2025 Israeli strike on Holy Family Church, Gaza's only Catholic church, which killed three civilians and wounded ten, including the parish priest.
The attack drew rare international condemnation from Pope Leo XIV, Italian Prime Minister Meloni, and the Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem; the Israeli Foreign Ministry issued an apology but stopped short of accepting formal responsibility.
Gaza's Christian community — already fewer than 1,000 before the war — has been reduced further, with dozens killed, 75% of Christian homes damaged or destroyed, and the community marking Easter 2026 in mourning rather than celebration.
The loss of Palestinian Christians is widely seen as the destruction of a living bridge to the region's ancient pluralism, with implications that extend far beyond any single strike or ceasefire negotiation.

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