Since the conflict began, there have been several strikes at the Church of the Holy Family. Pope Francis lamented the deaths of these two women in Gaza, where “defenseless civilians are the target of shootings and bombings.”
A mother and her daughter were killed by an Israeli soldier on Saturday in the grounds of Gaza City's only Catholic church, the Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem said.
“Today around noon, an Israeli army sniper killed two Christian women in the parish of the Holy Family in Gaza, where the majority of Christian families in the Gaza Strip have found refuge since the beginning of the war,” said the Patriarchate between Israel and the Palestinian movement Hamas in a press release.
“Nahida and her daughter Samar were shot on the way to the sisters’ monastery,” the statement continued.
The Israeli army will investigate the facts
According to the Vatican Press Agency, which quotes Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa, the Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem, it is an “elderly woman” and her daughter. According to the same source, seven other people were injured by gunfire as they tried to protect themselves from gunfire in the community.
“They were shot in cold blood,” the Patriarchate continued to accuse, even though “no belligerent is within the walls of the parish.”
The Israeli army contacted by AFP said it was investigating these allegations.
The Pope regrets her death
Pope Francis this Sunday regretted the deaths of these two women on Saturday in Gaza, where “defenseless civilians” are the target of shootings and bombings.
“I continue to receive very serious and painful news from Gaza. Defenseless civilians are the target of bombings and shootings. A mother and her daughter (…) were killed by sniper fire and other people were injured,” explained the sovereign pontiff at the end of the Angelus prayer on the 17th.
“There are no Hamas terrorists hiding here”
The Catholic community in Gaza, whose Palestinian population is predominantly Muslim, has 135 members out of a thousand Christians, most of them Orthodox.
The Patriarchate adds that earlier in the day “a shell fired from an Israeli tank” targeted the Monastery of the Sisters of Mercy of Mother Teresa, located in the same complex and which, according to the Patriarchate, houses 54 sick people.
The community's generator, the only source of electricity, and fuel oil reserves were destroyed in the strike, resulting in an explosion and fire that damaged the monastery. Two more strikes made it uninhabitable and the disabled residents are now being stripped of their respiratory protective equipment. According to the Vatican agency, three people were injured by these shots.
In Rome, the head of Italian diplomacy, Antonio Tajani, made “an urgent appeal to the Israeli government and army to protect Christian places of worship in Gaza.” “There are no Hamas terrorists hiding here,” he said At.