Maysa Abu Daoud and her daughter Mary al-Najjar among the five Palestinians killed in the attack on Gaza City. Published on October 4, 2026October 4, 2026 The Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem, Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa, has expressed his “deep regret and pain” over the “tragic” death of two Christian women in an Israeli airstrike on Gaza City. Maysa Abu Daoud and her daughter Mary al-Najjar were among five Palestinians killed in the attack that hit the ground floor of a building in the Remal neighborhood on Saturday, in the latest Israeli violation of a “ceasefire” deal brokered by the United States with the Palestinian group Hamas. In a statement, the patriarch expressed his “deepest condolences” to the loved ones of the two women and to the Christian community in Gaza. His funeral took place on Saturday at St. Porphyry Church in Gaza’s Old City. The two women were Palestinian Christians from Gaza City who dedicated their time to helping parishioners. and displaced people taking refuge in the Holy Family Church, according to the Palestine Higher Presidential Committee for Ecclesiastical Affairs. Committee chairman Ramzi Khoury described their deaths as a “painful loss” for their families, the church and their parishioners. People inspect damage after an Israeli attack on a residential apartment in the Remal neighborhood of Gaza City. [Omar al-Qattaa/AFP]Mary’s son Fouad al-Najjar, 14, told the Anadolu news agency that the attack hit the building at around 1:30 am (22:30 GMT). “My grandmother and my mother died. May God have mercy on them,” he said. Al-Najjar called for an end to Israel’s genocidal war in Gaza, saying Palestinians were losing loved ones every day. “We are exhausted by this war and we have endured a lot.” said. “For almost three years, we have been experiencing the same destruction, the same pain and the same war.” Palestinian Lutheran pastor Munther Isaac, who serves in Ramallah and directs the Bethlehem Institute for Peace and Justice, wrote in X: “Genocide continues in Gaza.” Civil Defense members carry the bodies of Maysaa Abu Daoud and her daughter Mary al-Najjar during their funeral at St. Porphyry Greek Orthodox Church in Gaza City. [Omar al-Qattaa/AFP]Fewer than 1,000 Christians live in the Gaza Strip. The community was already small before the war and many of its members have since been killed in attacks on their homes and churches during the war that began in October 2023. On 19 October 2023, an attack on the St. Porphyry Church compound killed at least 18 people. Two months later, the Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem said an Israeli sniper shot dead a woman and her daughter inside the Holy Family parish compound in Gaza. An Israeli attack on the Holy Family Catholic Church compound on July 17, 2025 also killed three people and injured others, including parish priest Father Gabriel Romanelli. According to the Ministry of Health in Gaza, Israeli strikes have killed at least 74,228 people, including at least 1,445 since the start of the “ceasefire” in October 2025.
