Iranian missile causes serious damage to Franciscan parish in Israel
June 23, 2025
A leading Franciscan friar in the Holy Land described the terror and destruction wrought by Iranian strikes on Israel in the Iran-Israel war—including serious damage to the Franciscan parish in Jaffa.
“For seven nights and seven days, missiles have been arriving and departing to bring more terror, death, and destruction to the Holy Land,” Father Ibrahim Faltas, OFM, wrote in the June 20 edition of L’Osservatore Romano. “Cities are isolated, holy places are closed, people are asked not to go out and to seek safe refuge, the difficulties are many and varied: it is not easy to stock up on food, health emergencies and psychological trauma cannot be addressed, distrust and a lack of hope for the future are increasingly gaining ground.”
Father Faltas—the custos, or Franciscan superior, in the Holy Land, from 2016 to 2022, and now the vicar of the current custos —added:
On the seventh night of this war, the targets hit are, as often happens, places of gathering and service to the weak and defenseless. The parish premises and the convent adjacent to our church of St. Anthony in Jaffa have suffered serious damage due to a missile that fell nearby. The homes and businesses of the parishioners of this community have also suffered damage and people live in fear of new attacks.
Among the seven strategic locations targeted and hit by Iranian missiles, Soroka Hospital in Beer Sheva is the one that has suffered significant damage to its structures. Many patients hospitalized and in need of care were injured, many doctors and nurses, health personnel who help and save other lives, were also injured.
“In Gaza, in the hospital of Khan Younis, the lack of electricity in the hospitals will take away the possibility of life for premature babies,” Father Faltas continued. “The director reports it and adds that in 48 hours the newborns admitted to his hospital will run out of milk and their deaths from malnutrition are expected. The right to life is the same, identical less than 100 kilometers away, and the suffering in Gaza cannot be overlooked and easily forgotten.”
“The toll of these attacks is shocking, because those who die and those who suffer are mostly civilians, they are people who are not to blame, they are people who have the right to life and to a dignified existence, people who offer their service and their dedication to others,” Father Faltas commented.
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