The shelling of the Holy Family Catholic Church in Gaza also damaged the church compound, where hundreds of Palestinians have been sheltering from the Israel-Hamas war.

Israeli forces killed at least 27 people in attacks in the Gaza Strip on Thursday, including three people who died in a strike on a church that late Pope Francis used to speak to regularly, medics and church officials said.

Pope Leo XIV is “deeply saddened” after two people were killed in a strike on Gaza’s only Catholic church, he said in a Vatican telegram on Thursday.