Cardinal Pizzaballa mourns Christian mother and daughter killed in Israeli airstrike in Gaza

Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa, the Latin patriarch of Jerusalem, is mourning two Christian women, a mother and daughter, killed in an Israeli airstrike in Gaza City, offering prayers for their family and Gaza’s Christian community.

The Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem identified the women as Maysa Khader Ibrahim Abu Daoud (Ayyad) and Mary Hafez Michel Najjar (Abu Daoud), who was later identified as Maysa's daughter, saying they were killed in an Israeli airstrike in Gaza City overnight on Oct. 2. Additional reports noted that the strike occurred in the early morning hours of Oct. 3. 

“With deep sorrow and grief,” Cardinal Pizzaballa mourned the women’s deaths in an Oct. 3 statement issued by the patriarchate.

On behalf of the Latin Patriarchate, its clergy and faithful, the cardinal extended his “deepest condolences” to the women’s families and the Christian community in Gaza, praying that God would grant them “comfort, strength, and consolation in their loss.”

The Israeli military said that it carried out a strike on a Gaza apartment ​in an attempt to kill Ali al-Amoudi, who Hamas sources said leads the Hamas political office in Gaza, according to Reuters. The outlet also reported additional deaths, but it was not immediately clear if those were the result of the same strike.

The two Christian women had previously sheltered for an extended period at Holy Family Catholic Church in Gaza before moving to the residential apartment where they were killed, according to EWTN News, citing a statement from George Anton, the director of operations for the Latin Patriarchate in Gaza.

The women’s funeral was held Oct. 3 at St. Porphyrius Church, a Greek Orthodox church in Gaza City. Greek Orthodox Metropolitan Alexios and Archimandrite Silas, the pastor of St. Porphyrius, also expressed their condolences following the deaths.

The deaths mark another loss for Gaza’s small Christian population, which has suffered many casualties and displacement during the war.

In July 2025, three people were killed when a strike hit the compound of Holy Family Catholic Church, Gaza’s only Catholic parish, as Zeale News previously reported. Several others were wounded, including Father Gabriel Romanelli, the pastor.

In his statement following the latest deaths, Cardinal Pizzaballa entrusted the women to God’s mercy and prayed for their loved ones.

The cardinal asked the Lord to “receive the two deceased in His abundant mercy, grant them eternal rest in His Kingdom,” and give their families “the grace of consolation, strength, and hope.”

The patriarchate concluded its statement with a passage from Psalm 65: “Blessed the one whom you will choose and bring to dwell in your courts.”