Two women were killed and seven others were injured by an Israeli military sniper inside a Catholic Church in Gaza on Saturday, according to the Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem, CNN reported. The mother and daughter were walking to the Sister\u2019s Convent at the Holy Family Parish in Gaza, the patriarchate said, when gunfire erupted. \u201cOne was killed as she tried to carry the other to safety,\u201d it said on Sunday.<\/p>\n
Seven others were also shot and wounded in the attack at the complex, where most of Gaza\u2019s Christian families have taken refuge since the start of the war, according to the patriarchate, which oversees Catholic Churches across Cyprus, Jordan, Israel, Gaza and the West Bank. \u201cNo warning was given, no notification was provided,\u201d the statement continued. \u201cThey were shot in cold blood inside the premises of the parish, where there are no belligerents.\u201d Expressing his sorrow, Pope Francis addressed the tragic deaths during his Sunday Angelus prayer, highlighting the vulnerability of unarmed civilians in Gaza, the statement said, CNN reported.<\/p>\n
\u201cUnarmed civilians are targets for bombs and gunfire,\u201d Pope said, invoking scripture on the devastating impacts of war. \u201cI continue receiving very serious and sad news about Gaza. Unarmed civilians are targets for bombs and gunfire. And this has happened even within the parish complex of the Holy Family, where there are no terrorists, but families, children, people who are sick and have disabilities, sisters,\u201d the Pope said during his weekly Angelus prayer. \u201cSome are saying, \u2018This is terrorism and war.\u2019 Yes, it is war, it is terrorism. That is why Scripture says that \u2018God puts an end to war\u2026 the bow he breaks and the spear he snaps,'\u201d the Pope continued.<\/p>\n
\u201cLet us pray to the Lord for peace,\u201d he added. According to the patriarchate, the Convent of the Sisters of Mother Theresa, housing 54 disabled individuals, was also targeted by Israel Defence Forces tanks. The convent\u2019s generator, its sole electricity source, along with fuel resources, solar panels, and water tanks, were destroyed by IDF rockets. The patriarchate further reported that the convent had become uninhabitable due to the attacks, CNN reported.<\/p>\n
Despite attempts to reach the Israel Defence Forces for comment, CNN has not received a response. On Friday, UK lawmaker Layla Moran, whose family sought refuge in the church, said they were \u201cbeyond desperate and terrified\u201d as conditions worsened. She informed the UK House of Commons about a family member\u2019s death on November 15 and reported the cessation of electricity generators at the church. Moran also mentioned alleged incidents of white phosphorous use and gunfire within the compound, including the shooting of the bin collector and janitor, whose bodies remained uncollected.<\/p>\n
\u201c(My family) are reporting white phosphorous and gunfire into their compound,\u201d she said. \u201cThe bin collector and the janitor have been shot and their bodies are laying outside and remain uncollected.\u201d CNN, however, cannot independently verify the reported conditions in and around the church or the allegations of the use of incendiary munitions.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Two women were killed and seven others were injured by an Israeli military sniper inside a Catholic Church in Gaza\u2026<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":28,"featured_media":17469,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[186],"tags":[2911,1380,5362,493,1531,1418,5360,5361,536,1264,5363,339,5365,5364,5359,3294],"class_list":["post-17467","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-world","tag-bombing-of-civilians","tag-gaza","tag-holy-family-parish-in-gaza","tag-humanitarian-crisis","tag-idf","tag-israel-hamas-war","tag-jerusalem","tag-latin-patriarchate-of-jerusalem","tag-palestine","tag-pope-francis","tag-sniper","tag-uk","tag-uk-lawmaker-layla-moran","tag-unarmed","tag-vatican","tag-women-and-children"],"reading_time":"3 min read","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/usa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17467","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/usa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/usa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/usa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/28"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/usa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=17467"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/usa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17467\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/usa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/17469"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/usa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17467"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/usa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17467"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/usa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17467"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}