An Oct. 9 Instagram post (direct link, archive link) includes a photo of a historic church that it says was lost in the Israel-Hamas war.
“Israel just bombed and destroyed the third oldest church in the world and the biggest church in Palestine,” reads the post.
It received more than 3,000 likes in two days. Another version of the claim was shared more than 10,000 times on X, formerly known as Twitter.
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The post shows the Saint Porphyrios Orthodox Church in Gaza. As of Oct. 9, the church said it had not been damaged and that it was open to worshipers and refugees.
The image in the post matches Saint Porphyrios Orthodox Church in Gaza. While rankings of oldest and largest churches are subject to interpretation and difficult to verify, the claim of the church's destruction is wrong: The 12th-century church was intact at the time the claim was made.
The church replied to a comment on its Facebook page on Oct. 9 asking whether an Israeli airstrike had destroyed the building, saying the claim was false and it was “currently opening its doors to receive refugees.”
It then made a separate Facebook post that further confirmed the church was open and undamaged. The post thanked the public for their concern and asked for prayers amid the...
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