Israel Bombs One of Christianity’s Oldest Churches as Civilians Sheltered Inside

Saint Porphyrius Church Strike Exposes Israel’s Disregard for Civilian and Religious Life

Israel’s assault on Gaza crossed another moral and legal red line when an Israeli airstrike destroyed part of the compound of the Church of Saint Porphyrius, one of the oldest Christian churches in the world, killing at least 18 Palestinian civilians and injuring many more.

At the time of the strike, around 450 displaced Palestinians—mostly Christians—were sheltering inside the church compound, believing the site would be protected under international law. Instead, the compound became another target in Israel’s campaign of overwhelming force against Gaza’s civilian population.

This was not a battlefield. It was a place of refuge.

A Protected Religious Site Turned Into a Mass Grave

Saint Porphyrius Church, founded in the 5th century, is a sacred Christian landmark that has survived empires, wars, and centuries of upheaval. What it did not survive was Israel’s modern military doctrine, which has repeatedly treated civilian infrastructure as expendable.

The strike collapsed a building within the church compound, trapping families beneath rubble. Women and children were among the dead. Survivors described chaos, screams, and bodies pulled from the wreckage of what was supposed to be a sanctuary.

International humanitarian law is clear: religious sites sheltering civilians are protected objects. Striking them—especially with full knowledge of civilian presence—constitutes a serious violation of the laws of war.

Israel’s claim that the destruction was “unintentional” rings hollow in a campaign marked by repeated strikes on hospitals, schools, refugee shelters, and now churches.

A Thousand Years of Coexistence—Destroyed in Weeks

For more than 1,000 years, Saint Porphyrius Church stood unharmed under successive Muslim governments. Gaza’s Christian community lived and worshiped openly through Byzantine, Islamic, and Ottoman eras.

That long history of coexistence makes the church’s destruction under Israeli bombardment impossible to dismiss as inevitable or accidental.

Images now circulating globally show the stark reality:

• Over a millennium of Muslim rule—church intact

• Decades of Israeli control—church compound destroyed

This is not an argument about theology. It is an indictment of modern military violence and occupation.

Israel’s War Is Erasing Palestinian Christians

Palestinian Christians are not outsiders or recent arrivals. They are indigenous to the land, descendants of one of the world’s oldest Christian communities. Yet Israel’s war on Gaza is accelerating their erasure.

Church leaders warn that if the assault continues, there may soon be no Christians left in Gaza at all—not because of religious persecution by neighbors, but because Israel’s bombs make no distinction between faiths.

Muslims and Christians are dying together under the same airstrikes.

Western and Evangelical Silence Speaks Volumes

The bombing of one of Christianity’s oldest churches should have triggered outrage across Western Christian institutions. Instead, the response—especially from evangelical leaders who loudly champion Israel—has been muted or nonexistent.

This silence has exposed a painful contradiction: Palestinian Christians are seemingly invisible when their suffering conflicts with political loyalty to Israel.

Faith, critics argue, has been subordinated to geopolitics.

A Crime Against History and Humanity

The destruction at Saint Porphyrius Church is not just collateral damage. It is a symbol of Israel’s widening war against civilian life in Gaza—one that now includes the bombing of ancient Christian sanctuaries filled with refugees.

A church that survived for centuries was damaged in a single night by modern weapons.

That fact alone demands accountability.