Viola al-Amash, a 26-year-old Caritas Poland employee, was killed in an Israeli airstrike on the St. Porphyrius Greek Orthodox Church in Gaza on October 20th, along with her husband Abdel Nour Al Souri and their infant daughter Alya.
The church was hit by an air strike on the night of October 20th, killing at least 16 people.
The Israeli military stated that a portion of the church was damaged during a strike on a militant command center and that the incident was being investigated.
According to Palestinian officials, the Greek Orthodox Church has provided shelter for a minimum of 500 Muslims and Christians.
In a statement, the Orthodox Church expressed its strongest condemnation of the Israeli air strike that targeted its church compound in Gaza.
Gaza has a population of 2.3 million, and among them are approximately 1,000 Christians, with the majority being Greek Orthodox.
According to the Israeli military, their fighter jets targeted a nearby command and control center that was being utilized to conduct attacks against Israel.
The statement mentioned that a wall of a church in the area was damaged due to the IDF strike. They acknowledged the existence of casualty reports and stated that the incident is currently being reviewed.
It stated that the IDF (Israel Defense Forces) can confidently affirm that the Church was not the intended focus of the attack.
However, witnesses said that the damage inside the church was extensive.
