Gaza, damage to St. Porphyry church following bombing

The first damage to cultural property is beginning to be recorded in the course of the war between Israel and Hamas that broke out last October 7 with the terrorist organization’s attack on Israeli territories bordering the Gaza Strip. Last Oct. 19, in fact, an Israeli bombardment hit St. Porphyry’s Church, an Orthodox church dating back to the 12th century and later renovated in the 19th century, among the oldest in the area (the oldest in Gaza at all), built on the site of an earlier house of worship dating back to the 5th century.

St. Porphyry’s Church, located in the Zaytun neighborhood in Gaza’s historic center, houses the tomb of the eponymous saint, St. Porphyry, who was bishop of Gaza between 395 and 420. Already damaged in 2014 during another Israeli bombardment against the Gaza Strip, it was hit again during a raid that the IDF said was targeting a nearby Hamas rocket launching post. Witnesses heard by the AFP news agency reported that the shelling appeared to target not the church but a site near the building. St. Porphyrios Church, until the time of the damage, housed displaced Christian and Muslim civilians who had chosen to take refuge in the building. Gaza officials, Al Jazeera reports, said there were 16 casualties, all Christians. There were also casualties, some of whom were transported to hospitals while others, reported Gaza’s Catholic pastor, Gabriel Romanelli, were taken to his parish due to lack of places in the hospitals. The shelling caused damage to the church’s exterior facade and the collapse of an adjacent building.

“Targeting churches and their institutions, along with shelters that protect innocent citizens,” the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate of Jerusalem said in a note, “particularly children and women who have lost their homes due to Israeli airstrikes on residential areas over the past 13 days, constitutes a war crime that cannot be ignored.” Also taking a position was the Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem, Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa: “The pain of those families, who have already been tried for so long, is enormous and we are with them. We pray that this situation will end as soon as possible. We hope that reasonableness will return to those who make decisions. War and bombs have never solved problems, rather they always create new ones.” According to the Israeli military, “Hamas intentionally inserts its resources into civilian areas and uses residents of the Gaza Strip as human shields.”

Image: the church of St. Porphyry in November 2022. Photo: Dan Palraz

Gaza, damage to St. Porphyry church following bombing

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