On Thursday, marking Day 649 of the ongoing genocide in Gaza and Day 120 since Israel violated the mediated ceasefire agreement on March 18, the Israeli army continued its bombardment of multiple areas across the devastated Gaza Strip, including the Latin Patriarchate Church in Gaza City, killing and injuring scores of Palestinians, including children and women.
Medical sources in Gaza reported that the Israeli attacks claimed the lives of at least 61 Palestinians, including 30 in Gaza City. Dozens more were wounded, among them children and women throughout the coastal enclave.
The sources also confirmed the death of a newborn at the Baptist hospital in the Zeitoun neighborhood, in the southern area of Gaza city, due to malnutrition.
In addition, sources at the Baptist hospital said two Palestinians were killed, and others injured, in an Israeli bombing of the Tuffah neighborhood, in the eastern part of Gaza city.
Three Palestinians were killed, and others injured, in an Israeli bombing of Jabalia town, in northern Gaza.
Furthermore, the Israeli army claimed it successfully targeted and killed Eyad Nasr, described as the deputy commander of Hamas’s Jabalia Battalion in the northern Gaza Strip.
According to the military statement, Nasr allegedly took part in the October 7 attacks and asserted that he was involved in recent attacks which led to the deaths of Israeli soldiers over the past several weeks.
In the same incident, the military also claimed to have killed two additional Hamas fighters: Hassan Mahmoud Mohammad Mer’ey , said to be a company commander in central Jabalia, and Mohammad Zaki Hamad, reportedly the deputy commander of a company within Hamas’s Beit Hanoun Battalion.
Four Palestinians were killed, and many injured, in an Israeli bombing of the Saftawi Junction, northwest of Gaza city.
At least one Palestinian was killed, and others wounded, when the army fired shells at a school, housing displaced families, west of Khan Younis city, in southern Gaza.
The army also detonated many buildings, while also firing shells and missiles at several parts of Khan Younis.
Medica sources said two Palestinians were killed, and several others injured, in an Israeli bombing of an area in the center of Khan Younis.
Furthermore, a child was killed, and several Palestinians were injured, when an Israeli drone bombarded tents of displaced families in the northwestern area of Khan Younis.
In related news, Doctors Without Borders (Médecins Sans Frontières) reported that Israeli forces shelled tents sheltering displaced families in Khan Younis at around 3 a.m. yesterday, as part of an expanded military operation.
Among the wounded in the attack was MSF colleague Hosni Al-Najjar. A nearby tent was also struck, killing an infant inside.
Eight Palestinians were killed and many injured in the Twam area in northern Gaza, as well as at the Holy Family Compound in the heart of the Old City
According to a statement from the Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem, three civilians were killed and seven wounded, three seriously, including the parish priest, Father Gabriel Romanelli.
Also, three Palestinians were killed and seven injured, three seriously. Among the wounded is the community’s parish priest, Father Gabriel Romanelli.
The Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan strongly condemned the Israeli airstrike on the Latin Patriarchate Church in Gaza, which left multiple civilians dead and wounded.
In its statement, Jordan described the assault as a blatant violation of international law and humanitarian principles, citing the 1949 Geneva Convention on the protection of civilians during wartime.
Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Ambassador Sufyan Al-Qudah asserted Thursday that the attack reflects the ongoing escalation by Israel’s hardline government, which continues to systematically target innocent civilians in the Gaza Strip.
He called on Israel, as the occupying power, to fulfill its international legal obligations, particularly those prohibiting attacks on civilian infrastructure and religious sites, and to cease its aggression immediately.
Al-Qudah also urged the international community to act responsibly—both legally and morally—by taking firm measures to end the military offensive and expedite the delivery of urgent humanitarian aid to Gaza, which is enduring a catastrophic crisis intensified by the continued assault.
The head of the Palestinian National Council, Rawhi Fattouh, denounced the Israeli military’s bombardment of the Latin Patriarchate Church in Gaza—one of the world’s oldest churches and currently sheltering hundreds of displaced civilians—as a grave violation of international humanitarian law.
He described the strike as part of a deliberate policy targeting religious sites and clergy, affecting all segments of Palestinian society and its sacred places without discrimination, in a calculated effort to depopulate the land and erase its cultural identity.
The deaths of 21 Palestinian civilians by suffocation, crowd crush, and live fire from US security forces operating in coordination with the Israeli army at an aid distribution centre in Rafah expose the #Gaza Humanitarian Foundation as an active instrument of the systematic mass… pic.twitter.com/FGfks80XTI
— Euro-Med Monitor (@EuroMedHR) July 17, 2025
In a statement issued Thursday, Fattouh urged the international community—particularly the UN Security Council, signatories to the Geneva Conventions, and relevant legal and ecclesiastical bodies—to take swift and decisive action to halt Israeli atrocities and hold those responsible to account.
He also criticized the prevailing silence from global actors, warning that it effectively provides cover for the continuation of aggression.
Fattouh stated that such inaction emboldens Israel to escalate crimes against civilians and religious sites, amounting to complicity with an apartheid regime that continues to commit violations including genocide, ethnic cleansing, and forced displacement.
He concluded by emphasizing that the intensified targeting of houses of worship poses a direct threat to international peace and security and called for a unified global response to end Israel’s impunity and enforce mechanisms of accountability under international law.
The U.S. Department of State has refrained from issuing a direct condemnation of the Israeli military’s strike on the Holy Family Catholic Church in Gaza, which left multiple civilians dead and wounded.
Instead, officials referred to the attack as a “church incident” and characterized Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s response as “appropriate.”
Al Jazeera quoted Israeli media reporting that military officials “extended an apology to senior Catholic Church representatives in Jerusalem” following the shelling of the Latin Patriarchate Church in Gaza’s Al-Zeitoun neighborhood.
The army claimed it opened an internal inquiry into the incident, aiming to determine whether the strike “was caused by a technical fault in the tank shell or a human error.”
This gesture and the alleged “investigation” come amid intensified scrutiny over attacks on religious sites, with global calls mounting for thorough accountability and greater protection of civilians in conflict zones.
This reaction has prompted backlashes from humanitarian groups and religious institutions, many of which have called for independent investigations and stronger international accountability.
While the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops joined Pope Leo XIV in urging an immediate ceasefire and expressing sorrow over the loss of life, the official stance from Washington has—unsurprisingly—fallen short of denouncing the serious violation.
In addition, a Palestinian civilian was killed and dozens injured as Israeli warplanes targeted a group of people near Al-Quds Tower in Gaza City’s Daraj neighborhood.
Separately, Majdi Ahmad Abu Mustafa, a young resident of New Nuseirat Camp in central Gaza, died from injuries sustained during a massacre carried out by Israeli forces in the refugee camp the previous week.
Another civilian was critically wounded after Israeli troops opened fire near the Gaza Valley Bridge, south of Al-Shuhada Junction. He was transferred to Al-Awda Hospital for urgent care.
Heavy Israeli shelling also struck tents housing displaced families around Eita Station in Mawasi Khan Younis in the south and near Sheikh Radwan Pond in Gaza City. Dozens were wounded in the attacks.
Medical sources in Gaza said 26 Palestinians were killed and more than 32 wounded over the past 24 hours while attempting to access humanitarian aid.
With these latest figures, the total number of Palestinians killed while trying to obtain humanitarian aid has risen to 877, alongside more than 5,666 injuries, since May 27, when the American-backed “Gaza Humanitarian Foundation” bypassed the United Nations and opened aid distribution centers where Palestinians have repeatedly come under live fire.
Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Monitor stated that the international community and complicit governments bear direct responsibility for the ongoing horrific crimes committed against starving civilians at aid distribution points operated by the Israeli-American Gaza Humanitarian Foundation in central and southern parts of the Gaza Strip.
The organization called for the immediate suspension of all operations by the Foundation and demanded the launch of an independent international investigation. It emphasized the need to prosecute officials involved in systematic mass killings at these distribution sites before international and national judicial bodies.
These centers, it noted, are run by a criminal entity forcibly imposed by the Israeli military as a substitute for the United Nations aid mechanism, which had been in place for nearly eighteen months prior to its removal.
Facts about #Gaza:
🚨 Food is running out
🚨 Those seeking it risk being shot.
🚨 Field hospitals receive dead bodies
🚨 Starvation rates among children hit their highest levels in June.UN Security Council briefing by @UNReliefChief#CeasefireNow pic.twitter.com/nA1ov3M1le
— UNRWA (@UNRWA) July 17, 2025
The Monitor urged international and domestic courts to initiate criminal proceedings against U.S. President Donald Trump for his complicity in the genocide unfolding in Gaza. It cited his administration’s active endorsement and support of the Israeli-imposed aid distribution system—transformed into a slaughter zone for starving civilians—as well as the full spectrum of military, financial, political, and diplomatic backing that enabled Israel to carry out and expand these crimes for over 21 months.
An investigation by The Guardian has revealed that missile components manufactured by the European arms firm MBDA have been used in airstrikes that killed at least 100 children in Gaza.
The report documents 24 verified instances between January 2024 and May 2025 in which MBDA-supplied weapons were deployed, resulting in approximately 500 Palestinian deaths. Rights groups and investigators are urging European governments to review their arms export policies and examine possible complicity in violations of international humanitarian law.
Israel bombed the only Catholic church in Gaza – the same one Pope Francis used to call every day.
The airstrike killed at least 3 people and wounded at least 10 others. The church was sheltering hundreds of Christian and Muslim Palestinians forcibly displaced by Israel’s… pic.twitter.com/yA9bNl8Ner
— AJ+ (@ajplus) July 17, 2025
According to medical sources, the number of Palestinians killed since Israel violated the mediated ceasefire agreement on March 18, 2025, has exceeded 7,843, with more than 27,933 reported injuries.
The Palestinian Health Ministry reported that in the last 24 hours, the bodies of 94 slain Palestinians, including one recovered from beneath the rubble, and 367 wounded civilians were transported to hospitals across the Gaza Strip. Many others remain trapped under debris as medics and rescue teams are unable to reach them due to unrelenting airstrikes and massive destruction..
Since October 7, 2023, Israeli forces have killed more than 58,667 Palestinians, including at least 17,335 children, 10,213 women, 4,167 elderly civilians, and 260 journalists. Over 139,974 have been injured, largely women, children, and the elderly.
