Places once considered untouchable, mosques and churches, have become new frontlines of destruction in Gaza. Since October 2023, bombardments have repeatedly struck houses of worship, transforming them from sanctuaries of safety into sites of mourning. The attacks have left hundreds dead or wounded, shattering the sanctity of spaces meant to shelter the vulnerable.

Among the most harrowing incidents was the strike on Gaza’s historic St. Porphyrius Church, where 18 people, including children and women, were killed as they sought refuge. More recently, on 17 July 2025, the Catholic Holy Family Church, sheltering around 600 displaced civilians, was bombed. Survivors described scenes of chaos as three people were killed and nine others injured, many of them elderly and disabled. What had been a haven for Christian families became the setting of another massacre, leaving both Christian and Muslim communities in grief.

Witnesses insist these attacks are not tragic accidents but part of a systematic pattern: the erasure of Gaza’s religious and cultural identity alongside its civilian population. The targeting of mosques and churches, deliberately chosen for their role as sanctuaries, strikes at the heart of Palestinian life and memory. Yet despite the devastation, international silence prevails, deepening a sense of abandonment. For Gaza’s residents, every new assault confirms a grim reality, that even the most sacred spaces are no longer spared in a war seeking to strip them of both life and history.