The Church of St. Porphyrius in Gaza City has been hit by an Israeli airstrike, in which Hamas-run Palestinian health officials said 16 people were killed.
According to the Israeli Defense Force (IDF), part of the church was damaged in a strike on a militant command center close to it and was reviewing the incident.
"The IDF can unequivocally state that the Church was not the target of the strike," it said.
At least 500 Muslims and Christians had taken shelter in the church to avoid Israeli bombardments, Palestinian health ministry officials added.
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Palestinian Christians Condemn Airstrike on Gaza Church
The Greek Orthodox Patriarchate of Jerusalem, which has jurisdiction over the church, has not yet commented on the death toll but has strongly condemned the airstrike.
"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 church said in a statement.
"Targeting churches and their institutions, along with the shelters they provide to protect innocent citizens, especially children, and women who have lost their homes due to Israeli airstrikes on residential areas over the past 13 days, constitutes a war crime that cannot be ignored."
According to Reuters, video from the scene at the church compound showed a wounded boy being carried from the rubble in the dark of the night. A civil defense worker also said two people on the upper floors had survived, while those on lower floors had been killed and were still in the rubble.
Gaza has a very small population of Palestinian Orthodox Christians, with an estimated population of 1,000.
The Mahmoud Abbas-appointed Palestinian Churches Council also condemned the airstrike in the church.
"This shows that the targets of the Israeli occupation are the unarmed people, children, women, and the elderly," it said in a statement.
