A Christian mother and daughter were allegedly shot and killed by an Israeli sniper on the grounds of a Catholic church in Gaza City on Saturday, the Latin patriarch of Jerusalem said.
“Around noon today… a sniper of the IDF murdered two Christian women inside the Holy Family Parish in Gaza, where the majority of Christian families have taken refuge since the start of the war,” the patriarchate said in a statement published in both English and Arabic.
“Nahida and her daughter Samar were shot and killed as they walked to the Sister’s Convent. One was killed as she tried to carry the other to safety,” it added.
Seven more people were wounded by gunfire as they tried to protect others, the statement said.
“No warning was given, no notification provided. They were shot in cold blood inside the premises of the Parish, where there are no belligerents.”
According to the Vatican press agency, citing Pierbattista Pizzaballa, the Latin patriarch of Jerusalem, the victims were an elderly woman and her daughter.
Approached for comment, the Israeli military said it was looking into the incident, which took place on the grounds of the Gaza Strip’s only Catholic church.
In its statement, the patriarchate also said three projectiles fired by an Israeli tank had struck the Convent of the Sisters of Mother Theresa, destroying its generator and fuel supplies, and rendering a building housing 54 disabled people uninhabitable.
“The 54 disabled persons are currently displaced and without access to the respirators that some of them need to survive,” it added.
According to the Vatican press agency, the strikes wounded three people.
“We cannot but express that we are at a loss to comprehend how such an attack could be carried out, even more so as the whole church prepares for Christmas,” the patriarchate said.
Italy’s top diplomat, Antonio Tajani, issued a “heartfelt appeal to the Israeli government and army to protect Christian places of worship.”
“That is not where the Hamas terrorists are hiding,” he said on X, formerly Twitter.
Following the incident, a British member of parliament for the Liberal Democrat Party revealed that her family are among those sheltering inside the Catholic church.
Speaking to the BBC on Saturday, MP Layla Moran said that her family have no access to food or water and are “days away from dying.”
On December 15, Moran said it had “been a horrible few days,” in a post on X. She added that her family had reported hearing gunfire inside the compound and that “the bin collector and the janitor have been shot and their bodies are laying outside and remain uncollected.”
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shot by an unknown sniper in Gaza,. Must be Israili action. RIIIGHT!!!!!!!!!!