[1][2] The parish includes a school which provides a Christian education to children in Gaza, and it works closely with the nearby religious congregations of the Missionaries of Charity, Servants of the Lord and the Virgin of Matará,[3] and the Rosary Sisters.

[9] During the 2014 Gaza War, the parish school and the pastor's office were partially destroyed by an Israeli airstrike aimed at a nearby house.

[12] During the Israel-Hamas War, the church, school, and convents have sheltered several hundred refugees,[13] including Christian families whose homes were destroyed.

[14][15][16] On 9 October, Pope Francis called the parish priest, Gabriel Romanelli IVE, to offer prayer for the Christian community of Gaza.

[17] On 16 October, Pope Francis called Yusuf Asaad IVE and Nabila Saleh SSVM, both serving at Holy Family, to offer more support for the faithful of Gaza.

[28] The incident was widely reported[29][30][31] and condemned by church figures including Pope Francis[32][33] and the Archbishop of Westminster, Cardinal Vincent Nichols.

The Catholic Church has maintained no Palestinian belligerents were in the area, and the Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem issued a fiery rebuke, stating the woman had been "intentionally targeted" and "killed “in cold blood.”[37][38] On 7 July 2024, an Israeli bomb targeting a Hamas official hit the Holy Family Catholic School, killing four people sheltered there, including Palestinian Deputy Labor Minister Ihab al-Ghussein.