Nigerian Islamic Group Condemns Israel For Bombing Church In Gaza

The Islamic Movement of Nigeria (IMN) has condemned the latest attack by the Israeli military on a Greek Orthodox Saint Porphyrius Church in Gaza amid the raging conflict between Israel and Hamas in Palestine.

Naija News reported earlier that scores of people were killed when an Israeli strike hit the compound of the Greek Orthodox Saint Porphyrius Church in Gaza City on Thursday night.

The besieged Palestinian enclave’s interior ministry said in a statement earlier that the Israeli air attack killed and injured a “large number” of displaced people sheltering at ancient Church in Gaza.

Also, Gaza’s Hamas-run government media office reported on Friday that 18 Christian Palestinians were among the dead.

Reacting to the latest development, IMN members protested in Abuja at the National Mosque after Jumma’at prayers, calling on Nigerians to support the people of Palestine over Israel in the ongoing war.

In a statement titled “We Condemn The Bombing Of The Greek Orthodox Gaza Church,” Sheikh Sidi Munir Mainasara, who spoke on behalf of the Islamic group in Nigeria, said: “We protest today to condemn an Israeli air attack on the Greek Orthodox Saint Porphyrius Church in Gaza City, Palestine. Located in a historic neighbourhood of Gaza City, the church is the oldest church still in use in Gaza. Over generations, the church has offered sanctuary to people of various faiths. The attack took place yesterday night.

“This comes after the earlier attack on the Gaza hospital that resulted in the killing of more than 500 people. We believe that this is a massacre and a violation of international laws.

“We call on Nigerians to support the people of Palestine. Supporting oppressed people is human. As said by Martin Luther King Jr., “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied to a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly”.

“Calling people to support justice everywhere and oppose tyranny and oppression everywhere is part of the teachings of our leader, Shaikh Ibraheem El-Zakzaky (H). For more than three decades, the Islamic movement, under the leadership of his eminence, Shaikh Ibraheem Zakzaky (H), has been organising programmes and protests in support of the oppressed people of Palestine.

“In view of the foregoing, we urge all in Nigeria to break the deafening silence and raise voices to support the oppressed Palestinians.

“We condemn this attack on the Gaza hospital, and the illegal state of Israel must be held liable for this atrocity.”