ISRAELI forces have damaged one of the oldest Christian churches in the world during their relentless bombardment of Palestinians in Gaza.

Four missiles reportedly killed at least 150 people when the Greek Orthodox church of Saint Porphyrius was struck on Thursday night.

The church is believed to be the world’s third-oldest Christian building. A church has stood on the site since as early as 425 AD.

About 500 Palestinians were seeking shelter in the building when the attack took place.

The Israeli military said that it had targeted a Hamas command and control centre nearby, causing damage to a church wall. 

The Greek Orthodox Patriarch of Jerusalem condemned the attack and said it would “not abandon its religious and humanitarian duty” to provide assistance.

Israel forces also continued waves of attacks against areas in the south of the coastal enclave, where they had told Palestinians to seek safety.

Palestinians in the Gaza Strip reported heavy air strikes in Khan Younis in the south and ambulances carrying men, women and children streamed into the town’s Nasser hospital, Gaza’s second largest, which is already overflowing with patients and people seeking shelter. 

The Israeli military boasted that it had struck more than 100 targets across Gaza linked to the territory’s Hamas rulers, including a tunnel and arms depots.

Israel claimed that Hamas was to blame for Tuesday’s night bombing of the al-Ahli hospital in Gaza, in which hundreds are feared dead, even though its forces had struck the building days before and had warned that hospitals should be evacuated.

US President Joe Biden supported the claim that the attack was carried out by “the other team.”

Speaking on Thursday night after returning to Washington from his visit to Israel, Mr Biden linked the current war in Gaza to the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

He said that Hamas and Russian President Vladimir Putin “both want to completely annihilate a neighbouring democracy.”

The US president said that he would send an “urgent budget request” for $100 billion (£82.2bn) to Congress today to cover emergency military aid to both Israel and Ukraine.

Geopolitical analyst and journalist Danny Haiphong said that while Mr Biden had requested billions to support bloodshed in Gaza and Ukraine, “he has requested $0 for the increasingly destitute working class in the US.

“We too are collateral damage of the US’s endless war regime.”

The Gaza Health Ministry said that 3,785 people have been killed in in the territory since the war began, with about 12,500 injured.

In Israel, more than 1,400 people have been killed, according to authorities.