Middle East: Clerics visit Gaza after deadly church strike

US Ambassador to Turkey Tom Barrack said Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the Syrian presidency have agreed to a ceasefire.

The ceasefire deal was welcomed by Turkey, Jordan and countries in the Middle East, Burrack added.  

"We call upon Druze, Bedouins, and Sunnis to put down their weapons and together with other minorities build a new and united Syrian identity," Barrack wrote on X. "We urge all Syrians to honor each other and live in peace and prosperity with their neighbors."   

Clashes between Druze militias and Bedouin tribal groups in the southern Syrian province Sweida last week led the Syrian government to deploy its forces there. The Syrian military was then drawn into fighting with the Druze militias.  

The UK-based Syrian Observatory of Human Rights reported that almost 600 people have died in the fighting in southern Syria. 

In response to the clashes, the Israeli military began conducting strikes in Sweida and the Syrian capital, Damascus, in what it said was in defense of the Druze minority.  

Israel has agreed to allow Syrian government forces limited access to parts of the southern Sweida region for the next two days, an Israeli official told the Reuters news agency on Friday.

"In light of the ongoing instability in southwest Syria, Israel has agreed to allow limited entry of [Syrian] internal security forces into Sweida district for the next 48 hours," the official was reported as saying.

The move comes after fresh clashes in Sweida between the local Druze community and Bedouin tribes following the withdrawal of government forces earlier in the week (see below).

Israel, encouraged by voices from its own Druze minority, has promised to protect the Druze community in Syria from the new Islamist-led government under interim President Ahmed al-Sharaa, which it describes as jihadists. Al-Sharaa rejects the label and has himself promised to be tolerant of Syria's minorities.

Meanwhile, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan told his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin in a phone call on Friday that the renewed clashes in Sweida "posed a threat to the entire region" and insisted that Israel must not violate Syria's sovereignty.

Violence erupted again in the southern Syrian province of Sweida on Friday as clashes took place between local Druze fighters and Bedouin tribes – with the latter reportedly supported by Syria's Islamist-led government.

Interim Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa ordered government forces to pull out of Sweida earlier this week and handed over control to local religious elders and community leaders. The withdrawal came after Israel launched airstrikes on Syrian military targets in Damascus and Sweida, ostensibly in support of Syria's Druze community.

The UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said that Friday's "deployment of tribal fighters to Sweida province was facilitated by government forces, because government forces are unable to deploy to Sweida under the terms of the security agreement with Israel."

A ceasefire was supposed to take effect on Thursday, but Sharaa's office accused Druze fighters of violating it.

The Israeli Foreign Ministry on Friday said it was sending "humanitarian aid" in response to "recent attacks targeting the Druze community in Sweida." The two million shekel (nearly $600,000; roughly €515,964) package includes food parcels and medical supplies, the ministry said.

The United Nations called for an end to the "bloodshed" and demanded an "independent" investigation of the violence, which has claimed nearly 600 lives since Sunday, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

One doctor at Sweida National Hospital told the French AFP news agency that the facility has received "more than 400 bodies since Monday morning."

Top Christian leaders in Jerusalem delivered aid to Gaza on Friday during a rare visit after the Israeli military bombed the only Catholic church in the enclave the day before. 

The attack, which Israel claims was caused by "stray ammunition," killed three and injured the parish priest among others.

The attack caused an international outcry, garnering condemnation from France and Italy among other nations. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, in a phone call with Pope Leo XIV, said Israel "deeply regrets" the strike on the Holy Family Church in Gaza City.

On Friday, the Catholic Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem Pierbattista Pizzaballa and his Greek Orthodox counterpart Theophilos III headed to Gaza to meet local Christians and to distribute humanitarian aid — something desperately needed since Israel expelled international aid organizations including the UN.

During the visit, Pizzaballa and Theophilos expressed "the shared pastoral solicitude of the Churches of the Holy Land and their concern for the community of Gaza," calling Friday's visit a "powerful expression" of Christian unity.

Pope Leo said he had been "deeply saddened" by the strike on the church and the hundreds of displaced Palestinians seeking shelter there — noting that several of those desperate for protection at the parish were children, many of them with special needs.

Leo's predecessor Pope Francis maintained regular contact with the Holy Family Church's parish priest, Father Gabriel Romanelli, conducting nightly zoom calls with him even from his own deathbed.

A statement from the Patriarchate on Friday said Pizzaballa had spoken with Leo before the visit and that the pontiff had, "expressed his support and affection to the entire community gathered around the parish and those suffering from the violence, and reiterated his intention to do everything possible to stop the needless slaughter of innocents."

Israel's military maintains that it does not target churches or religious sites, but the Jerusalem Patriarchate said there had been "repeated assaults on Christian holy sites in Gaza."

Pizzaballa and Theophilos, both of whom also visited the occupied West Bank last week after radical Jewish settlers reportedly attacked a Byzantine-era church there, say they delivered, "hundreds of tons of food supplies as well as first aid kits and urgently needed medical equipment" on Friday.

During Friday's extremely rare visit by foreign officials — Israel has essentially sealed off Gaza to outsiders — the two said the aid was not only for the enclave's tiny Christian community but for "as many families as possible." 

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz took the unusual step of criticizing Israel on Friday.

Merz, speaking at an annual summer press conference, said Israel's approach to Gaza is "no longer acceptable."

The chancellor called for an immediate ceasefire in the beleaguered enclave as the death toll there surpassed 58,000 this week. 

He also called for more humanitarian assistance for those in Gaza — something that has been gravely hampered by Israel's decision to boot all international aid programs out of Gaza in favor of the highly controversial US-run and Israeli-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF).

Critics have called the GHF a cynical death trap for desperate Gazans seeking to find food for their families.

Merz said he is in regular contact with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and that he has offered to increase German aid to the enclave.

Merz also noted that his government "does not support" Israel's settlement policy. adding that he clearly expressed that sentiment in his calls with Netanyahu. 

"It's clear where we stand. We are doing everything we can to do right by both sides [Israel and Palestinians in Gaza]," said Merz, noting that "the state of Israel would cease to exist" if it didn't defend itself. At the same time, said Merz, "We see the suffering of the Palestinian people and we are also trying to do all we can to deliver humanitarian assistance."  

Germany, due to what it refers to as its historical responsibility toward the state of Israel, has been one of its staunchest supporters during its war in Gaza, providing significant diplomatic and military support.

Merz on Friday brushed off calls for the suspension of EU association agreements with Israel as well as firmly rejecting any equivalency between Russia's invasion of Ukraine and Israel's approach to Gaza — stating that Russia had launched a war of aggression, whereas Israel was defending itself against Hamas.

Israel launched its military operations in Gaza and the wider Middle East after the Gaza-based Islamist group Hamas — listed as a terror organization by Israel, the US, EU and others — launched a surprise attack on October 7, 2023, leading to the deaths of some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and with another 250 being taken hostage.

Israel has killed more than 58,000 people in Gaza, mostly women and children, according to figures from the Health Ministry in the Hamas-run enclave. The UN considers the figures largely reliable, but an independent survey published in the journal Nature in late June said the death toll was likely closer to 84,000.

The death toll from the violence in Syria's Sweida province continues to climb, with the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights documenting at least 516 deaths since fighting broke out on July 13.

The UK-based war monitor reported the killing of 83 Druze civilians in streets across the southern province of Sweida and the surrounding countryside.

The observatory said Syrian government forces were responsible.

The head of the United Nations human rights office has called for Syria's interim authorities to ensure accountability and justice for the killings and rights violations.

"This bloodshed and the violence must stop, and the protection of all people must be the utmost priority, in line with international human rights law," OHCHR High Commissioner Volker Türk said in a statement.

Two of Jerusalem's most senior Christian clerics traveled to Gaza on Friday after a deadly Israeli strike on the Palestinian territory's only Catholic church, the Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem said in a statement.

The Patriarch Pierbattista Pizzaballa and his Greek Orthodox counterpart, Theophilos III, led an "ecclesiastical delegation" to meet local Christians following Thursday's strike on the Holy Family Church in Gaza City.

The delegation "shared pastoral solicitude of the Churches of the Holy Land and their concern for the community of Gaza," the Latin Patriarchate said.

"During their stay, the delegation will meet with members of the local Christian community, offer condolences and solidarity, and stand alongside those affected by the recent events."

Israel on Thursday said it "deeply" regretted striking the church.

"Every innocent life lost is a tragedy. We share the grief of the families and the faithful," Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office said in a statement.

Three people were killed and several others injured in the attack.

A church official said Pope Leo XIV was "deeply saddened" by the strike.

Calling the hit a "military attack," the Vatican's Secretary of State Pietro Parolin said: "In commending the souls of the deceased to the loving mercy of Almighty God, the Holy Father prays for the consolation of those who grieve and for the recovery of the injured."

Netanyahu's office said the Israeli prime minister was "grateful to Pope Leo for his words of comfort."

The church had become a shelter for Gaza's Christian community amid the conflict.

An Israeli strike on Gaza's only Catholic Church on Thursday sparked international uproar, with Israel saying it "deeply regrets" the attack.

There was also a tense peace in Syria following fighting in Sweida between Syrian forces and local Druze militias that also saw Israel carry out strikes in Damascus the day before.

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