Iran’s FM Likens Israel to Daesh after Gaza Church Bombing
TEHRAN (Tasnim) – The foreign minister of Iran equated the Zionist regime to the Daesh (ISIS of ISIL) terrorist group after an Israeli air strike killed and injured a large number of displaced people sheltering at the compound of the Greek Orthodox Saint Porphyrius Church in Gaza City.
“The bombing of the historic Saint Porphyrius Church in Gaza where women and children had taken shelter is the latest crime on part of the occupying apartheid regime,” Hossein Amirabdollahian said in a post on his X account.
“The savagery of this pariah regime and its acts of aggression and desecration of divine religions as well as its onslaught against the historical and cultural heritage of humanity are all similar to (the ways of) uncivilized terror groups and Daesh,” the top Iranian diplomat stated.
Officials in Gaza reported on Friday that at least 16 Christian Palestinians were among the dead in the 12th-century church where many Christian and Muslim Gaza residents had taken refuge as the war raged in the enclave.
Witnesses said the attack damaged the facade of the church and caused an adjacent building to collapse, adding that many injured people were evacuated to hospital.
Saint Porphyrius, built in about 1150, is the oldest church still in use in Gaza. Located in an historic neighborhood of Gaza City, the church offered sanctuary to people of various faiths over generations.
Gaza has been hit by a relentless barrage of Israeli fire following an operation by Hamas fighters on October 7.
The Israeli regime’s campaign since has killed at least 3,785 Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, most of them civilians.