Former Rep. Justin Amash says several relatives killed in Gaza church blast

Several relatives of former Michigan Rep. Justin Amash were killed when an Israeli airstrike destroyed part of a Greek Orthodox church in Gaza where they were sheltering, he said Friday.

Amash, who in 2011 became the first Palestinian American to serve in Congress, said in an X post that some of his kinfolk had been sheltering inside the Saint Porphyrius Orthodox Church when the airstrike happened. 

“I was really worried about this. With great sadness, I have now confirmed that several of my relatives (including Viola and Yara pictured here) were killed at Saint Porphyrius Orthodox Church in Gaza, where they had been sheltering, when part of the complex was destroyed as the result of an Israeli airstrike,” Amash said, sharing a photo of two of his relatives who died in the bombing celebrating Christmas.   

“The Palestinian Christian community has endured so much. Our family is hurting badly. May God watch over all Christians in Gaza — and all Israelis and Palestinians who are suffering, whatever their religion or creed,” added Amash, who represented Michigan’s 3rd Congressional District as a Republican before becoming an independent in 2019 and then a member of the Libertarian Party in 2020.

The Hamas-run Gaza Health Ministry said at least 16 people were killed in the blast and several remain buried under rubble.

Israel said the Christian church was not the intended target of the airstrike, and that Israeli fighter jets had been aiming at a Hamas command center launching rockets toward the Jewish state.   

“Earlier today, [Israel Defense Forces] fighter jets struck the command and control center belonging to a Hamas terrorist, involved in the launching of rockets and mortars toward Israel,” the IDF said in a statement. “The command and control center was used to carry out attacks against Israel, and contained terrorist infrastructure belonging to the Hamas terrorist organization.” 

“As a result of the IDF strike, a wall of a church in the area was damaged. We are aware of reports on casualties. The incident is under review,” the statement continued, noting that Hamas “intentionally” uses residents of the Gaza Strip “as human shields.”

The IDF has urged civilians in northern parts of Gaza to evacuate south. 

An estimated 1,000 Christians – mostly Greek Orthodox – are part of Gaza’s 2.3 million population. 

“The Orthodox Patriarchate of Jerusalem expresses its strongest condemnation of the Israeli air strike that has struck its church compound in the city of Gaza,” the Orthodox Church said in a statement.

Israel has battered Gaza with airstrikes – as a ground invasion looms – in the wake of Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack on southern Israel, which killed more than 1,000 people.