France's President Emmanuel Macron joined other international leaders to hit out at an Israeli military strike on a Catholic church in Gaza which left at least three people dead and injured 10 people.
Israel authorities said a stray missile struck the Holy Family Church on Thursday during a raid.
The Catholic charity Caritas Jerusalem said the parish’s 60-year-old janitor and an 84-year-old woman were killed in the attack. The parish priest Gabriel Romanelli was slightly wounded.
"I firmly condemn the strike," said Macron. "I pledge France's solidarity with all the Christians in Palestine who, from Gaza to Taybeh, are under threat today."
Giorgia Meloni, the Italian premier, said: “The attacks on the civilian population that Israel has been demonstrating for months are unacceptable.”
Pope Leo XIV expressed his deep sadness and called for an immediate ceasefire in the Gaza Strip.
In a telegram of condolences for the victims, Leo expressed his profound hope for dialogue, reconciliation and enduring peace in the region.
The pope said he was deeply saddened to learn of the loss of life and injury caused by the military attack.
The American president, Donald Trump, called the Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to express his frustration over the strike on the church, the White House said.
Netanyahu later released a statement admitted a mistake.
"Israel deeply regrets that a stray shot hit the Church of the Holy Family in Gaza. Every innocent life lost is a tragedy," said Netanyahu. "We share the pain of the families and the faithful."
Earlier, Jean-Noël Barrot, France's Minister of Foreign Affairs. described the bombing as unacceptable. "I expressed our country's emotion and solidarity to the Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem," Barrot said. "These attacks are intolerable, and it is time for the carnage in Gaza to stop.
Mgr Pascal Gollnisch, director general of Œuvre d'Orient, a French association working with Christians in the East, told the French news agency AFP: "One wonders whether Israel has a grudge against Christian communities. The bombing of a place of worship is totally unacceptable."
Displaced seeking refuge in church
More than 600 people displaced by the war had taken refuge in the only Catholic parish in the Gaza Strip.
Leo's predecessor, Pope Francis, used to call Romanelli regularly to be kept informed of the situation in the city.
Israel, which has been at war with the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas since 7 October 2023, initially stated that it would never target religious sites in the Gaza Strip.
The Greek Orthodox Patriarchate of Jerusalem, which also has a church in Gaza that has been hit during Israeli strikes, said in a statement: "Targeting a holy site is a blatant affront to human dignity and a grave violation of the sanctity of life and the inviolability of religious sites, which are meant to serve as safe havens during times of war."
