The Israeli military entered the compound of the Holy Family Catholic parish in Gaza on Saturday and shot anyone leaving the church. The victims were an elderly woman and her daughter who rushed out of the building to save her mother. Israel justified the attack by claiming that a rocket launcher was stationed in the community.
From Vatican News
Israelis have opened fire on Christians in the Gaza Strip. According to the Palestinian news agency Wafa, dozens of deaths have been reported after heavy bombardments overnight in the area around the Latin parish of the Holy Family in Gaza City, and reports continue to come in that Israeli snipers are continuing to fire in these hours.
A statement released by the Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem confirmed that an Israeli sniper murdered two Christian women in the parish of the Holy Family, where most Christian families have sought refuge since the start of the war.
Samar, the Christian, was killed in the Holy Family Parish while trying to help her mother Nahida, who had just been shot by an Israeli sniper
Shot in cold blood
The victims are Nahida and her daughter Samar, who were shot on the way to the sisters' monastery. “One was killed while attempting to carry the other to safety,” the statement said.
Seven other people were also reportedly shot and injured while trying to protect people on church grounds. The Patriarchate's statement said: “No warning was given, no notification was sent. They were shot in cold blood in the parish premises, where there are no warring parties.”
Samar's mother Nahida was killed by an Israeli sniper on the grounds of the Holy Family Church in Gaza
Attack on the monastery of the Missionaries of Charity
The statement also revealed that a rocket fired from an Israel Defense Forces tank in the morning targeted and hit the convent of the Sisters of Mother Theresa, destroying the building's generator – its only source of electricity – while a massive fire broke out House damaged.
“The monastery houses over 54 disabled people and is part of the church grounds, which have been designated as a place of worship since the beginning of the war,” it said.
The building was then attacked by two more rockets, making the home uninhabitable: “The 54 disabled people are currently displaced and do not have access to the ventilators that some of them need to survive.”
Heavy bombing in the area
Three other people were injured in the overnight attacks, also on church grounds, while solar panels and water tanks essential to the congregation's survival were destroyed.
The ongoing attack was reportedly justified by Israelis claiming the presence of a rocket launcher in the community. Despite the intervention of the patriarchy, the operation was not stopped. Israeli soldiers reportedly fired on the community compound and the civilians housed there.
Senseless tragedy
The Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem concluded by expressing its solidarity and condolences to the families “affected by this senseless tragedy.”
It said it prayed with the entire Christian community while expressing incomprehension as to “how such an attack could have been carried out, especially as the entire Church was preparing for Christmas.”