At the White House press briefing on July 17, EWTN White House Correspondent Owen Jenson asked White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt about the Catholic church in Gaza that had been struck that day by an artillery shell.

“In Gaza today, Holy Family Catholic Church was struck by an Israeli shell,” Jenson said.

“Yes,” said Leavitt.

“Three people were killed, 10 wounded,” Jenson continued. “What is the president’s reaction to that church coming under fire?”

“It was not a positive reaction,” Leavitt said. “He called Prime Minister Netanyahu this morning to address the strikes on that church in Gaza, and I understand the prime minister agreed to put out a statement. It was a mistake by the Israelis to hit that Catholic Church. That’s what the prime minister relayed to the president — and you should look at the prime minister’s statement that will be coming out.”

Later that day, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office did put out a statement. He also called Pope Leo XIV and, as noted in a posting on X, “expressed Israel’s regret for the tragic incident.”

“Israel deeply regrets that a stray ammunition hit Gaza’s Holy Family Church,” said Netanyahu’s statement. “Every innocent life lost is a tragedy. We share the grief of the families and the faithful. We are grateful to Pope Leo for his words of comfort. Israel is investigating the incident and remains committed to protecting civilians and holy sites.”

On Sunday, the pope made his own statement. “I express my profound sadness regarding last Thursday’s attack by the Israeli army on the Catholic Parish of the Holy Family in Gaza City, which as you know killed three Christians and gravely wounded others,” the pope said. “I pray for the victims, Saad Issa Kostandi Salameh, Foumia Issa Latif Ayyad, Najwa Ibrahim Latif Abu Daoud, and I am particularly close to their families and to all the parishioners.

"I again call for an immediate halt to the barbarism of the war and for a peaceful resolution of the conflict,” said the pope.

“To our beloved Middle Eastern Christians I say: I deeply sympathize with your feeling that you can do little in the face of this grave situation,” he said. “You are in the heart of the Pope and the whole Church. Thank you for your witness of faith.”

Just a few days before this incident at the Holy Family Church, the patriarchs of the Latin, Greek Orthodox and Melkite Greek Catholic churches in Jerusalem had visited the West Bank town of Taybeh to protest events that had taken place there.

“On Monday, 7 July 2025, radical Israelis from nearby settlements intentionally set fire near the town’s cemetery and the Church of St. George, which dates back to the 5th century,” said a joint statement issued during this visit by the Council of Patriarchs and Heads of Churches in Jerusalem that was posted on the Latin Patriarchate’s website. “Taybeh is the last remaining all-Christian town in the West Bank. These actions are a direct and intentional threat to our local community first and foremost, but also to the historic and religious heritage of our ancestors and holy sites.”

“In recent months,” the patriarchs said, “the radicals have led their cattle to graze on the farms of Christians on the east side of Taybeh — the agricultural area — rendering them inaccessible at best but at worst damaging the olive groves that families depend on. Last month, several homes were attacked by these radicals, lighting fires and erecting a billboard that said, translated into English, ‘there is no future for you here.’”

Last Saturday, U.S. Ambassador Mike Huckabee, the former governor of Arkansas, visited Taybeh in support of the Christian community there.

“To commit an act of sacrilege by desecrating a place that is supposed to be a place of worship, it is an act of terror, and it is a crime,” Huckabee said in a statement on his visit. “There should be consequences, and it should be harsh consequences because it is one of the last bastions of our civilization, the places where we worship.”

“And what has happened here is an absolute travesty,” Huckabee said, “and it’s my desire to do everything possible to let the people of this peaceful village know that we will certainly insist that those who carry out acts of terror and violence in Taybeh — or anywhere — be found and prosecuted.

"Not just reprimanded, that’s not enough,” said Huckabee. “People need to pay a price for doing something that destroys that which belongs, not just to other people, but that which belongs to God. That is a sacrilege.”

The current conflict in Gaza started when members of Hamas, an evil Iranian-backed terrorist group, swarmed out of Gaza into Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, killing more than 1,200 people and, according to the Congressional Research Service, taking 251 hostages.

Hamas must be permanently defeated — and Israel deserves the full support of the United States in achieving that end.

And Huckabee and President Donald Trump have taken the right stand in defending the Christians of the Holy Land.

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