Five civilians were killed in the strike on a residential building. Israel says it was targeting Hamas official Ali al-Amoudi, but has produced no public evidence about the military use of the property or the precautions taken to protect those inside.
By Javier Villamor
Gaza’s shrinking Christian community has buried two more of its members after an Israeli air strike hit a residential building in the Rimal neighbourhood of Gaza City during the night of October 2–3.
Maysa Khader Ibrahim Abu Daoud and her daughter, Mary Hafez Michel Najjar, both Greek Orthodox Christians, were killed alongside three other civilians. The women had spent part of the war sheltering at the Holy Family Catholic parish before leaving the compound in an attempt to rebuild something resembling a normal life elsewhere.
Two Palestinian Christian women, Maysaa Khader Ibrahim Abu Daoud (Ayad) and Marie Hafez Michel Al-Najjar (Abu Daoud), were murdered today, October 3, in an Israeli strike on their apartment in Gaza City. They belonged to Gaza’s Holy Family Parish. Two more lives lost. Two more Palestinian Christian families left grieving. Two more names the world must not forget. May they rest in the embrace of Christ, and may God receive them in His mercy. Do not look away. Do not let their deaths become another forgotten statistic. Say their names. Remember their faces. Demand protection for civilians. Demand accountability. Demand an end to the killing. END THE GENOCIDE. END THE KILLING. LET GAZA LIVE. Maysaa. Marie. Remember their names. 🇵🇸✝️
— Jack Nassar | جاك نصار (@jacknassar33) October 3, 2026
The Israeli military later said the operation had targeted Ali al-Amoudi, one of Hamas’s senior political figures in Gaza. It also claimed that the apartment was being used for “terrorist activity” and that steps had been taken to minimise civilian casualties.
No public evidence was provided to substantiate either claim. Reuters also reported that the Israel Defense Forces initially did not confirm that the announced operation against al-Amoudi was in fact the same strike that killed the five civilians.
Two days later, a senior Hamas official said al-Amoudi had survived the assassination attempt. Five civilians were dead. The man Israel was apparently trying to kill was not.
That outcome once again raises the central question surrounding Israel’s conduct in Gaza: how much civilian death is considered acceptable when a military target is believed to be nearby?
The supposed identification of a Hamas official does not in itself settle that question. Nor does naming the intended target after the strike explain why the civilians around him were considered an acceptable risk.
This is the same issue raised by the uncomfortable documentary Naza, in which alleged members of the IDF describe operational practices and targeting decisions in Gaza and elsewhere. Their accounts suggest a military doctrine in which achieving the designated objective can take precedence over almost every other consideration, including civilian death count.
If those testimonies are accurate, the implications are serious. They suggest that Israeli forces may often possess detailed intelligence on who is inside a building, how many people are present and, in some cases, their identities before a strike is authorised.
That does not make civilian casualties easier to explain. It makes it harder to dismiss them as the result of lack of information.
For Gaza’s Christians, these deaths are nothing new.
In October 2023, an Israeli strike hit the compound of the Greek Orthodox Church of Saint Porphyrius, where hundreds of displaced Palestinians had sought shelter, killing 18 civilians, according to Amnesty International.
Two months later, Nahida Anton and her daughter Samar were shot dead inside the Holy Family compound. The Latin Patriarchate said they were killed by an Israeli sniper. Israel disputed that account.
In July 2025, the Catholic Church of the Holy Family itself was struck by an Israeli projectile. Three people were killed and several others wounded, including parish priest Father Gabriel Romanelli. Israel blamed the incident on a weapons malfunction.
Romanelli now says 62 Christians have died during the war, 25 of them violently.
The community itself has almost halved. There were around 1,017 Christians in Gaza before October 2023. Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa now puts the number at just 541.
Those who remain are surviving between church compounds, damaged homes and temporary shelters. Reconstruction is still largely a promise.
Pope Leo XIV responded to the latest deaths with a message to Romanelli containing a stark question: “How long, O Lord?” Pizzaballa also expressed his “deep sorrow” for the victims.
Pope Leo XIV Mourns Gaza Victims After Israeli Strike Kills Five, Including Two Christians… His Holiness expressed his sorrow and prayers for Gaza’s Christian community after an Israeli airstrike on a residential building in Gaza City killed five civilians and wounded several others. Among the victims were two Greek Orthodox women, Maysa Abu Daoud and her daughter, Mary Najjar, who had recently found a new place of refuge and were attempting to rebuild their lives. ‘How long, Lord’ Pope Leo
— Catholics for Catholics 🇺🇲 (@CforCatholics) October 5, 2026
The Vatican has not yet announced a new diplomatic initiative, but the direction of travel is increasingly clear. After the 2025 strike on the Holy Family parish, Leo XIV called for a ceasefire, demanded protection for civilians and places of worship, and spoke directly with Benjamin Netanyahu. Secretary of State Cardinal Pietro Parolin also called for transparency over what had happened.
Relations between Israel and the Holy See are now entering one of their most difficult periods in decades.
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