GAZA, (PIC)
Two Christian women – an elderly mother and her daughter – were shot dead by an Israeli sniper during their presence inside a Catholic church in Gaza City, the Latin Patriarchate of Occupied Jerusalem said on Sunday.
“Around noon today, a sniper of the Israeli occupation army murdered two Christian women inside the Holy Family Parish in Gaza,” where Christian families have been sheltering since the Israeli war started, the patriarchate said in a statement on Saturday.
“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 said.
The patriarchate highlighted that no warning was given before the shooting started, and added that “they were shot in cold blood inside the premises of the Parish, where there are no fighters.”
Seven more people were also wounded by Israeli gunfire as they tried to protect others, the statement said.
“This is a targeted death campaign during the Christmas season against the world’s oldest Christian community,” Hammam Farah, one of Nahida and Samar’s relatives, said in a statement on X.
In its statement, the patriarchate said three projectiles fired by an Israeli tank had also struck a convent of the Sisters of Mother Teresa charity, destroying its generator and fuel supplies, and rendering a building housing 54 disabled people uninhabitable.
According to Al Jazeera satellite channel, the church, which was accommodating Christians in Gaza, has been a target of direct Israeli bombardment over the past few days.
“Major parts of it have been destroyed. Snipers are shooting at every moving object in the yard,” Al Jazeera channel said.
