The facade of the Roman Catholic Church of the Holy Family in Gaza City is depicted in this file photo from 2018.
Mohammed Saber/Shutterstock/EPA-EFE/File
CNN —
The Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem claims that two women were shot and murdered by an Israeli military sniper on Saturday inside the Holy Family Parish in Gaza.
According to the patriarchate, the mother and daughter were on their way to the Sister’s Convent when gunshots broke out. It went on, “One was killed as she attempted to carry the other to safety.”
The patriarchate, which is in charge of the Catholic Churches in Cyprus, Jordan, Israel, Gaza, and the West Bank, also said that seven other people were shot and injured in the attack at the compound, where the majority of Gaza’s Christian families had sought safety since the beginning of the conflict.
The statement went on, “No notification was given, no warning was given.” “They were shot in cold blood within the parish premises, where there are no hostile individuals.”
In his Sunday speech, Pope Francis used biblical passages on war while bemoaning the fact that “unarmed civilians are targets for bombs and gunfire” in Gaza.
“I keep getting very depressing and serious news regarding Gaza. Bombs and gunshots are directed on unarmed civilians. And this has occurred even in the Holy Family parish complex, where families, kids, the ill and disabled, and nuns predominate instead of terrorists,” he remarked at his weekly Angelus prayer.
“Someone is claiming that this is both war and terrorism. Indeed, it is terrorism and war. According to Scripture, “God puts an end to war… the bow he breaks and the spear he snaps,” for this reason, the Pope went on.
He continued, “Let us pray to the Lord for peace.”
The patriarchate claims that tanks from the Israel Defense Forces also struck the Convent of the Sisters of Mother Theresa, which is located on the church grounds and shelters 54 crippled individuals. The building’s fuel supplies, solar panels, water tanks, and generator—its sole source of electricity at the moment—were also damaged.
The convent was rendered “uninhabitable” by IDF rockets, according to the statement.
CNN has contacted the IDF for comments on several occasions.
Layla Moran, a UK politician for Oxford West and Abingdon, stated on Friday that her family members who were taking refuge in the church were “beyond desperate and terrified” due to the worsening circumstances.
On November 15, Moran reported the death of a family member who had sought refuge in the chapel to the UK House of Commons. Moran said that the church’s electricity generators had halted, citing reports from her family.
She claimed, “[My family] is reporting gunfire and white phosphorous into their compound.” “The janitor and the trash collector were shot; their bodies are lying outside and have not yet been picked up.”
The events within and surrounding the church, as well as the claim of the use of incendiary weapons (which may be prohibited in certain situations), cannot be independently verified by CNN.
