Archive July 17, 2025

Israel kills three in Gaza Catholic church sheltering elderly, children

As the military battles the besieged enclave, Israel’s only Catholic church, according to the Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem, bombed three people and injured at least ten others, according to the military.

The Holy Family Church in Gaza City was struck on Thursday, and according to a statement from the Patriarchate, at least one person is in critical condition. The church’s priest suffered minor injuries, the article continued.

According to the Catholic charity Caritas Jerusalem, the parish’s 60-year-old janitor and an 84-year-old woman were among those who were killed.

At least 32 Palestinians were killed by Israeli-caused attacks in Gaza on Thursday, according to medical sources who spoke to Al Jazeera.

A Palestinian activist’s video of the Holy Family Church’s attack shows the church’s pastor, Father Gabriel Romanelli, following the Israeli attack. The priest is seen in the video, wearing a bandaged, otherwise good right leg.

After condemning the deadly attack, the Patriarchate said in its statement that “the people in the Holy Family Compound were people who found in the Church a sanctuary … hoping that the horrors of war would at least spare their lives.”

According to Shadi Abu Dawoud, a 47-year-old Palestinian Christian, the main hall of the church was home to “peaceful civilians” consisting of dozens of displaced citizens, mostly children and elderly people.

When Israeli forces attacked, he told Al Jazeera, “My mother suffered serious injuries in the head while she was wandering in the church’s yard with other elderly women.” This Israeli airstrike completely surprised us. This is a barbaric and unlawful act.

Mohammed Abu Hashem, 69, who lives next to the church, claimed that a massive explosion left the area covered in black smoke as he was destroying his home. He added that he never anticipated the Israelis would attack the church.

He claimed that the Israeli airstrike was “absolutely horrifying.” Beyond words can describe the horror we are experiencing. Nothing could possibly describe what we are going through. It is not even close to what you hear or watch on television.

The assistant parish priest of the Holy Family Church in Gaza City, Father Bashar Fawadleh, the parish priest of the Christ The Redeemer church in Taybeh, near Ramallah, claimed to have spoken with him about the attack.

“He described the bombing as being very difficult. According to Fawadleh, they bombed the church itself. Our perception is that between life and death, between hope and sorrow.

Fawadleh called for a ceasefire once more to put an end to the “horrible war in Gaza.”

“War of extermination”

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the attack was the result of “stray ammunition” and that Israel was “remaining committed to protecting civilians and holy sites.”

According to White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt, the president contacted the Israeli leader after having “not a positive reaction” to the strike. His statement was made after that call.

Leavitt claimed that the prime minister’s statement to the president, “That was a mistake by the Israelis to hit that Catholic church, was.

Al Jazeera’s Hamdah Salhut reported from Amman, in the capital of Jordan, citing the Foreign Ministry’s earlier statement that an investigation was being conducted.

The military frequently absolves itself of any kind of wrongdoing, which makes it a little difficult to believe any kind of Israeli investigation that occurs after 21 months of war. No one is held accountable, Salhut said.

She added that despite repeated attacks since the start of the war on Gaza, Israel continued to defend its claim that it did not target churches or religious institutions.

According to a telegram sent by Cardinal Pietro Parolin, the Vatican’s secretary of state, Pope Leo, the head of the Roman Catholic Church, was “deeply saddened to learn of the loss of life and injury caused by the military attack” on the Gaza church.

Pope Leo “assures the parish priest, Father Gabriele Romanelli, and the entire parish community of his spiritual closeness,” according to the telegram.

He reiterates his “call for an immediate ceasefire,” and he expresses his sincere desire for peace, reconciliation, and lasting peace in the area.

In a show of support for the church’s parishioners, his predecessor, the late Pope Francis, had made frequent calls with them each night. The call was made the day before he passed away in April.

An Israeli tank “directly” struck the church, according to Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa, the Latin patriarch of Jerusalem, in comments to&nbsp and Vatican News&nbsp.

“We are not certain about this because a tank hit the church directly, the Church of the Holy Family, the Latin church,” he continued.

Israel has repeatedly attacked religious sites, including mosques and churches, since the start of the conflict in Gaza. At least 18 people were killed when the Israeli army bombed the oldest church in the Gaza Strip in October 2023, just days after the deadly assault.

Israel “exterminated” by attacking Palestinian civilians who were sheltering in religious sites and schools in Gaza, according to a report from an independent UN commission last month.

Israel has destroyed more than 90% of Gaza’s school and university buildings, according to a report from the UN Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory, which includes East Jerusalem and Israel.

Hamas criticized the attack as “a new crime committed against innocent displaced persons” in the meantime.

In a statement shared on Telegram, the group stated that “it fits within the context of the comprehensive war of extermination against the Palestinian people.”

Giorgia Meloni, the prime minister of Italy, attributed the strike to Israel, saying that Israeli attacks on “the civilian population that Israel has been carrying out for months are unacceptable.”

VIDEO: Former Liberian President George Weah Signs Buhari’s Condolence Register In Abuja

Former Liberian President George Weah arrived at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Abuja on Thursday to sign the condolence register in honor of late President Muhammadu Buhari.

The former Liberian leader and his entourage were received by the chief of protocol of the ministry Wahab Akande.

Buhari, who died in a London hospital on Sunday, was buried in Daura on Tuesday, with President Bola Tinubu in attendance.

Watch video below:

How women’s cricket has developed in India

Getty Images

India’s women have just won a T20 series on English soil for the first time. A 50-over World Cup on their home turf is imminent, which could take the sport to fever pitch in a country that already boasts the lucrative Women’s Premier League, the second most valuable women’s sports league in the world.

For former captain Mithali Raj, the opportunities and financial rewards available to the country’s top female cricketers in 2025 are a world away from when she broke into the India team in 1999, aged 16.

“I was pretty much emptying my dad’s pocket to play for India,” she explains during a trip to England that saw her honoured by ringing the five-minute bell at Lord’s during the third men’s Test.

“There was absolutely no payment. We had to buy our own equipment and try to organise our own training sessions. There were times when we’d train on matting wickets, and then we’d get a week to practice on the turf [before a match].”

Cultural and socio-economic challenges were also prevalent among many families, who did not want their daughters playing cricket, either because it was deemed a men’s game or they needed their daughter to be working and earning money.

Raj debuted for India seven years before the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) took over the administration, following a merger with the Women’s Cricket Association of India.

She witnessed the start of a slow transformation, as the women’s game began to be better resourced with match fees introduced and access to top facilities, such as the National Cricket Academy with the best physios and trainers.

In order to earn a living, India’s national players had to have jobs, most with Indian Railways, as they were “the only institution that gave jobs to women cricketers in India”.

The next game-changing moment for Raj and her compatriots was the announcement of BCCI retainer contracts for the top 11 players in 2015. Raj was nearly 33.

“If you are from an affluent family, you can manage to play for however long, because you do not really have to think about how you are going to run your house,” she says. “But if you are not, you would think, what next? Where am I going to earn money?

The impact of the 2017 World Cup final

Raj identifies India’s participation in the 2017 World Cup final against England at Lord’s as a seminal moment.

It was only the third World Cup staged under the auspices of the International Cricket Council (ICC), and the first time every match of a Women’s World Cup was visible either via live streaming or on TV.

The ICC’s digital and social media channels received a record 100 million video views.

“Until then, we really did not have that sort of coverage,” says Raj. “Digital media was relatively new in 2017. It really doubled up the sort of coverage that women’s cricket needed.”

India lost to the hosts but it was a ground-breaking match. It was sold out, and according to India’s Broadcast Audience Research Council (BARC) the final generated 19.53 million impressions in India, making it the most watched female sports event in the country, beating the badminton final at the Rio Olympics between PV Sindhu and Carolina Marin.

After that final, the pay for contracted top-tier international players rose from a reported 15 lakh to 50 lakh.

By 2020, Star Sports were broadcasting India’s matches at the Women’s T20 World Cup in five different languages. India’s defeat by Australia in the final was watched in India by a record live average audience of 9.02 million according to the ICC.

Advent of the Women’s Premier League

Mumbai Indians celebrate winning the 2025 Women's Premier LeagueGetty Images

The women’s cricket world had long been waiting for the women’s version of the Indian Premier League (IPL). When it finally arrived in 2023 it exploded onto the scene with five teams bought for £465m and Viacom buying the media rights for £96m over five years.

Smriti Mandhana was the most expensive player, bought for a jaw-dropping £340,000 by Royal Challengers Bengaluru.

The competition turned a profit and contributed around 3.9% of the BCCI’s revenue in the 2023-24 financial year. That is over-shadowed by the IPL’s contribution of 59.10%, but it is vindication of the BCCI waiting until the market was right.

The WPL offers potentially life-changing sums for up to 90 players (up to 30 of which could be overseas). Outside of the WPL however, there are no contracts for domestic cricketers in India, only match fees.

One BCCI official has said players who don’t have a WPL deal “fend for themselves”. If they are lucky, they may have a personal sponsor, mentor or advocate who supports them financially. Some players may have jobs in the same way that Raj was employed by Railways.

This is the same structure that exists in the men’s domestic game across India, with no contracts at state level.

The number of women’s retainers has increased marginally, with 16 women awarded in 2024-25. These contracts require annual renewal, and don’t offer maternity clauses. There are 34 BCCI retainers available to men.

In a country of 1.4 billion, where the BCCI’s Under-15s girls’ competition alone sees 36 teams and potentially 540 players competing (numbers replicated at U19 and U23 level), WPL pay packets reach the few rather than the many. But the money to be chased has changed attitudes around girls’ cricket.

“Now it is not looked down upon,” says a smiling Raj. “Cricket is a profession, it’s a sport, and everybody is keen to get their girls to play cricket. That’s a huge, huge shift.”

The crowds and media attention on the WPL has helped to accustom domestic players to big-stage cricket before they play for the national side.

The tournament also helps enormously with talent scouting.

What of the future?

A clear pathway exists to the women’s national team, through club, district, state, zone, India A then India. However, barriers still remain.

“There is a lot of raw talent in the districts and in the villages,” says Raj. “It’s just that they don’t have the facilities if a young girl in the interiors wants to start playing cricket.

“The society in the villages – it still needs to progress. And the financial barrier is huge. I’m associated with Andhra Cricket Association and I went into these districts and there were a few girls who did not have money for three meals in a day. The associations have to make an effort to get into these places and give them basic facilities.

“But otherwise, to play cricket in India now, it’s far more open and easier than before.

She concludes: “The next step is to add a couple more teams to WPL, because there are many good players who get left out with just five teams.

“And of course winning the World Cup.”

However, as Raj sees it, the prize that would propel the Indian game forward exponentially would be Olympic gold, with cricket in LA 2028.

“It’s a chance to get a medal for the country. I know we have the World Cups, but the medal in the Olympics is a huge thing back at home.

Related topics

  • Cricket

How women’s cricket has developed in India

Getty Images

India’s women have just won a T20 series on English soil for the first time. A 50-over World Cup on their home turf is imminent, which could take the sport to fever pitch in a country that already boasts the lucrative Women’s Premier League, the second most valuable women’s sports league in the world.

For former captain Mithali Raj, the opportunities and financial rewards available to the country’s top female cricketers in 2025 are a world away from when she broke into the India team in 1999, aged 16.

“I was pretty much emptying my dad’s pocket to play for India,” she explains during a trip to England that saw her honoured by ringing the five-minute bell at Lord’s during the third men’s Test.

“There was absolutely no payment. We had to buy our own equipment and try to organise our own training sessions. There were times when we’d train on matting wickets, and then we’d get a week to practice on the turf [before a match].”

Cultural and socio-economic challenges were also prevalent among many families, who did not want their daughters playing cricket, either because it was deemed a men’s game or they needed their daughter to be working and earning money.

Raj debuted for India seven years before the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) took over the administration, following a merger with the Women’s Cricket Association of India.

She witnessed the start of a slow transformation, as the women’s game began to be better resourced with match fees introduced and access to top facilities, such as the National Cricket Academy with the best physios and trainers.

In order to earn a living, India’s national players had to have jobs, most with Indian Railways, as they were “the only institution that gave jobs to women cricketers in India”.

The next game-changing moment for Raj and her compatriots was the announcement of BCCI retainer contracts for the top 11 players in 2015. Raj was nearly 33.

“If you are from an affluent family, you can manage to play for however long, because you do not really have to think about how you are going to run your house,” she says. “But if you are not, you would think, what next? Where am I going to earn money?

The impact of the 2017 World Cup final

Raj identifies India’s participation in the 2017 World Cup final against England at Lord’s as a seminal moment.

It was only the third World Cup staged under the auspices of the International Cricket Council (ICC), and the first time every match of a Women’s World Cup was visible either via live streaming or on TV.

The ICC’s digital and social media channels received a record 100 million video views.

“Until then, we really did not have that sort of coverage,” says Raj. “Digital media was relatively new in 2017. It really doubled up the sort of coverage that women’s cricket needed.”

India lost to the hosts but it was a ground-breaking match. It was sold out, and according to India’s Broadcast Audience Research Council (BARC) the final generated 19.53 million impressions in India, making it the most watched female sports event in the country, beating the badminton final at the Rio Olympics between PV Sindhu and Carolina Marin.

After that final, the pay for contracted top-tier international players rose from a reported 15 lakh to 50 lakh.

By 2020, Star Sports were broadcasting India’s matches at the Women’s T20 World Cup in five different languages. India’s defeat by Australia in the final was watched in India by a record live average audience of 9.02 million according to the ICC.

Advent of the Women’s Premier League

Mumbai Indians celebrate winning the 2025 Women's Premier LeagueGetty Images

The women’s cricket world had long been waiting for the women’s version of the Indian Premier League (IPL). When it finally arrived in 2023 it exploded onto the scene with five teams bought for £465m and Viacom buying the media rights for £96m over five years.

Smriti Mandhana was the most expensive player, bought for a jaw-dropping £340,000 by Royal Challengers Bengaluru.

The competition turned a profit and contributed around 3.9% of the BCCI’s revenue in the 2023-24 financial year. That is over-shadowed by the IPL’s contribution of 59.10%, but it is vindication of the BCCI waiting until the market was right.

The WPL offers potentially life-changing sums for up to 90 players (up to 30 of which could be overseas). Outside of the WPL however, there are no contracts for domestic cricketers in India, only match fees.

One BCCI official has said players who don’t have a WPL deal “fend for themselves”. If they are lucky, they may have a personal sponsor, mentor or advocate who supports them financially. Some players may have jobs in the same way that Raj was employed by Railways.

This is the same structure that exists in the men’s domestic game across India, with no contracts at state level.

The number of women’s retainers has increased marginally, with 16 women awarded in 2024-25. These contracts require annual renewal, and don’t offer maternity clauses. There are 34 BCCI retainers available to men.

In a country of 1.4 billion, where the BCCI’s Under-15s girls’ competition alone sees 36 teams and potentially 540 players competing (numbers replicated at U19 and U23 level), WPL pay packets reach the few rather than the many. But the money to be chased has changed attitudes around girls’ cricket.

“Now it is not looked down upon,” says a smiling Raj. “Cricket is a profession, it’s a sport, and everybody is keen to get their girls to play cricket. That’s a huge, huge shift.”

The crowds and media attention on the WPL has helped to accustom domestic players to big-stage cricket before they play for the national side.

The tournament also helps enormously with talent scouting.

What of the future?

A clear pathway exists to the women’s national team, through club, district, state, zone, India A then India. However, barriers still remain.

“There is a lot of raw talent in the districts and in the villages,” says Raj. “It’s just that they don’t have the facilities if a young girl in the interiors wants to start playing cricket.

“The society in the villages – it still needs to progress. And the financial barrier is huge. I’m associated with Andhra Cricket Association and I went into these districts and there were a few girls who did not have money for three meals in a day. The associations have to make an effort to get into these places and give them basic facilities.

“But otherwise, to play cricket in India now, it’s far more open and easier than before.

She concludes: “The next step is to add a couple more teams to WPL, because there are many good players who get left out with just five teams.

“And of course winning the World Cup.”

However, as Raj sees it, the prize that would propel the Indian game forward exponentially would be Olympic gold, with cricket in LA 2028.

“It’s a chance to get a medal for the country. I know we have the World Cups, but the medal in the Olympics is a huge thing back at home.

Related topics

  • Cricket

Eagles Super Bowl winner Braman dies aged 38

Images courtesy of Getty

Bryan Braman, 38, who was diagnosed with an aggressive form of cancer in February, passed away.

Braman signed for the Houston Texans in 2011 as an undrafted free agent, where he spent three seasons before making the Philadelphia Eagles.

He was a member of the Philadelphia Eagles’ team that won Super Bowl LII when they defeated the New England Patriots in 2018 during his four years there.

Linebacker Braman’s final game for the Eagles and his final NFL game came against the Eagles in Minneapolis.

Braman made 56 tackles in his career and played 97 regular-season games.

The three greatest accomplishments of my life, according to Braman, who won the Super Bowl and who beat his daughters, Blakely, 11, and Marlowe, 8, were “the three greatest accomplishments in my life.”

related subjects

  • American Football

Eagles Super Bowl winner Braman dies aged 38

Images courtesy of Getty

Bryan Braman, 38, who was diagnosed with an aggressive form of cancer in February, passed away.

Braman signed for the Houston Texans in 2011 as an undrafted free agent, where he spent three seasons before making the Philadelphia Eagles.

He was a member of the Philadelphia Eagles’ team that won Super Bowl LII when they defeated the New England Patriots in 2018 during his four years there.

Linebacker Braman’s final game for the Eagles and his final NFL game came against the Eagles in Minneapolis.

Braman made 56 tackles in his career and played 97 regular-season games.

The three greatest accomplishments of my life, according to Braman, who won the Super Bowl and who beat his daughters, Blakely, 11, and Marlowe, 8, were “the three greatest accomplishments in my life.”

related subjects

  • American Football