Former Congressman Reveals ‘Several’ Family Members Killed in Israeli Airstrike on Gaza Orthodox Church

Former Congressman Justin Amash said Friday that several of his relatives were killed in an Israeli airstrike on a historic church in Gaza.

Amash, a Republican-turned-independent from Michigan, said in a post on X that his family at been sheltering at the Saint Porphyrius Orthodox Church "when part of the complex was destroyed as the result of an Israeli airstrike.”

Israel admitted Friday that it hit an annex of the church, saying "a wall of a church in the area was damaged” when it was targeting a Hamas command.

At least 18 people Christian Palestinians died in the attack, local health officials and the church said.

“I was really worried about this,” Amash wrote. His photo included a picture of two of his relatives, Viola and Yara, who died in the strike.

Amash, who served in Congress from 2011 to 2021, did not say the number amount of relatives who died.

"The Palestinian Christian community has endured so much,” he wrote. "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.”

Saint Porphyrios, consecrated in the year 1150 and completed in 1160, is the oldest functioning church in Gaza.

More than 4,000 Palestinians in Gaza have been killed since Hamas’s Oct. 7 assault on Israel that killed 1,400 people.