Gaza Christians decry Israel’s war crimes after airstrike hits 12th-century church

News Network

October 20, 2023

A “large number” of displaced people sheltering at a church compound in Gaza have been killed in an Israeli air attack, the Palestinian interior ministry says.

At least 18 displaced Palestinians sheltering at the Greek Orthodox Saint Porphyrius Church in Gaza City were killed Thursday night, the Palestinian health ministry said on Friday.

Built in about 1150, the church is the oldest still in use in Gaza. Located in an historic neighborhood of Gaza City, it offered sanctuary to people of various faiths over generations.

Many Christian and Muslim Gaza residents had taken refuge at the 12th-century place of worship when it was attacked.

The Israeli military claimed that its warplanes targeted a command and control centre involved in launching rockets and mortars towards Israel, but as a result of the strike, a wall of a church in the area was damaged.

“Targeting churches and their institutions, along with the shelters they provide to protect innocent citizens, especially 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,” the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate of al-Quds said.

Palestinians Christians and Muslims in Gaza have fled to churches and church-run institutions in recent days, including Saint Porphyrius, to seek shelter from Israel’s bombing campaign.

The Greek Orthodox church is thought to be the third oldest church in the world. A church was first built on the site in 425 CE, though the current building was constructed in the 12th century.

Ramzi Khoury, head of the Higher Committee for Church Affairs in Palestine, said the bombing indicated Israel’s “intentions to annihilate the Palestinian people”.

“Targeting places of worship constitutes a war crime, and international law makes it clear that houses of worship may under no circumstances be subjected to attacks,” he said in a statement.

On Tuesday, an Israeli airstrike on al-Ahli Arab Hospital in Gaza killed nearly 500 Palestinians, triggering global outrage at the slaughter of people, many of whom were taking shelter from nearly two weeks of ruthless Israeli bombing of the besieged enclave.

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UN condemns Israeli regime’s ‘organized torture’ against Palestinians

News Network

November 30,2025

The United Nations Committee against Torture (CAT) has condemned the Israeli regime for enforcing a policy of “organized torture” against Palestinians.

In a report published on Friday, CAT stated that the occupying regime enforces a deliberate policy of “organized and widespread torture and ill-treatment” against Palestinian abductees, particularly since October 7, 2023, when Israel launched its genocidal war on Gaza.

The committee expressed “deep concern over repeated severe beatings, dog attacks, electrocution, water-boarding, use of prolonged stress positions [and] sexual violence” inflicted on Palestinians.

Palestinian prisoners were degraded by “being made to act like animals or being urinated on,” systematically denied medical care, and subjected to excessive restraints, “in some cases resulting in amputation,” the report added.

CAT also condemned the routine application of “unlawful combatants law” to justify the prolonged detention without trial of thousands of Palestinian men, women, and children.

More than 10,000 Palestinians, including women and children, are currently held in Israeli prisons, according to Palestinian and international human rights groups, with 3,474 Palestinians in “administrative detention,” meaning they are imprisoned without trial for indefinite periods.

The report highlighted the “high proportion of children who are currently detained without charge or on remand,” noting that while Israel sets the age of criminal responsibility at 12, even younger children have been abducted.

Children designated as security prisoners face severe restrictions on family contact, may be subjected to solitary confinement, and are denied access to education, in clear violation of international law.

The committee further suggested that Israel’s policies across the Occupied Territories constitute collective torture against the Palestinian population.

“A range of policies adopted by Israel in the course of its continued unlawful presence in the Occupied Palestinian Territory amounts to cruel, inhuman or degrading living conditions for the Palestinian population,” the report said.

On Thursday, the Palestinian resistance movement Hamas condemned the systematic killing and torture of Palestinian abductees in Israeli prisons, urging international action to halt these abuses.

Citing human rights data, Hamas stated that 94 Palestinians have been killed in Israeli prisons since the start of Tel Aviv’s genocidal war on Gaza.

“This reflects an organized criminal approach that has turned these prisons into direct killing grounds to eliminate our people,” the resistance movement said.

Hamas called on the international community, the UN, and human rights organizations to immediately pressure Israel to end crimes against prisoners and uphold their rights as guaranteed by all international conventions and norms.

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