#HolyLand – Two Palestinian Christian women, a mother and her daughter, were killed early Saturday when an Israeli airstrike hit a residential building in western Gaza City, Palestinian health officials and church authorities said.
Maysa Khader Ibrahim Abu Daoud, about 55, and her daughter, Mary Hafez Michel al-Najjar, about 36, died in the strike on the Al-Asala building in the Rimal neighborhood shortly after 1:25 a.m. local time. They were among five people killed. The others were identified as Dr. Yasmine Khamis al-Boubou, an academic, her mother, Haloum al-Boubou, and Bilal Khalil Awda, about 21. Several others were wounded, medics said.
The two women belonged to Gaza’s small Greek Orthodox community. Officials of the Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem said they had sheltered for a prolonged period at Holy Family Catholic Church during the war and had only recently moved into a rented apartment as they tried to resume a more stable life. Their funeral was held later Saturday at Saint Porphyrius Greek Orthodox Church in Gaza City.
Residents told reporters there had been no warning before the strike. Ahmed al-Dahdouh, an eyewitness, said families were asleep when explosions hit the building and that neighbors helped pull bodies from the rubble. “We are Muslims and these are our Christian brethren, who are not involved in anything, they are peaceful people,” he told Reuters.
The Israeli military later argued that the strike intended to target Ali al-Amoudi, whom they described as a senior Hamas political figure and deputy chairman of the group’s political bureau in the Gaza Strip. The military said he had been inside an apartment it claimed was used for militant activity, and that the results of the operation remained under review. It was not immediately confirmed whether al-Amoudi had been killed.
Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa, the Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem, expressed “profound sorrow and grief” over the deaths and offered condolences to the women’s families and to Gaza’s Christian community. The Greek Orthodox Church in Gaza also mourned the pair. Christians make up roughly one-percent of Gaza’s population.
The strike came amid a ceasefire framework that has been in place since October 2025. Israel claims Hamas has rearmed and has carried out attacks in violation of the truce; Hamas has denied those claims and accused Israel of undermining the agreement. Palestinian health officials have said more than 1,400 people have been killed by Israeli fire in Gaza since the ceasefire took effect.
These most recent deaths have become one of many incidents in which Israeli authorities have killed or harmed Christians in the Holy Land. The death tolls of civilians, both Christian and Muslim, killed in Gaza have amounted to more than 3,000, with no official count due to the ongoing conflict, although it is predicted to be much larger than current estimates.
Cover Image: Maysa and Mary seen together (left) and Maysa seen receiving Holy Communion (right).
