Two Christian girls – an aged mom and her daughter – had been shot useless by an Israeli soldier on the grounds of a Catholic church in Gaza Metropolis, the Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem has mentioned.
“Around noon [10:00 GMT] today … a sniper” of the Israeli military “murdered two Christian women inside the Holy Family Parish in Gaza” the place Christian households have been sheltering for the reason that Israel-Hamas battle broke out, the patriarchate mentioned 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 mentioned.
The patriarchate highlighted that no warning was given earlier than the capturing began and added that “they were shot in cold blood inside the premises of the Parish, where there are no belligerents.”
Seven extra folks had been additionally wounded by gunfire as they tried to guard others, the assertion mentioned.
“This is a targeted death campaign during the Christmas season on the world’s oldest Christian community,” Hammam Farah, Nahida and Samar’s member of the family, mentioned in an announcement on X.
This morning Israeli snipers shot and killed my two household associates in an assault on the Holy Household Catholic Church in Gaza.
Nahida (Um Emad Anton) and Samar, mom and daughter, had been strolling to the Sisters’ Convent to make use of the one lavatory.
One was killed as she tried to… pic.twitter.com/ZtTxgsDrVf
— Hammam Farah (@hammam_therapy) December 17, 2023
Reporting from Rafah in southern Gaza, Al Jazeera’s Hani Mahmoud mentioned the church, which was accommodating Christians in Gaza, has been a goal of direct Israeli bombardment over the previous few days.
“Major parts of it have been destroyed. Snipers are shooting at every moving object in the yard,” he added.
In its assertion, the patriarchate mentioned three projectiles fired by an Israeli tank had additionally struck a convent of the Sisters of Mom Teresa charity, destroying its generator and gasoline provides, and rendering a constructing housing 54 disabled folks uninhabitable.
“The 54 disabled persons are currently displaced and without access to the respirators that some of them need to survive,” it added.
In line with the Vatican press company, the strikes wounded three folks.
“The 800 remaining Christians in Gaza are on the verge of extinction. They’ve made life very difficult for this community,” Mahmoud mentioned.
Who’re the Christians of Gaza?
Gaza’s Christians are one of many oldest communities within the Center East, courting again to the primary century.
Nonetheless, the variety of Christians in Gaza has dwindled in recent times. As we speak there are solely roughly 1,000 left, a pointy drop from the three,000 registered in 2007, when Hamas assumed full management over the enclave.
In line with Kamel Ayyad, a spokesperson for the Church of Saint Porphyrius, which was just lately bombed by Israel, the vast majority of the inhabitants is from Gaza itself.
The remaining arrived right here after the creation of the state of Israel, which displaced about 700,000 Palestinians – an occasion they seek advice from because the Nakba, or “catastrophe”.
The Israeli blockade of Gaza following Hamas’s rise to energy in 2007 accelerated the flight of Christians from the poverty-stricken enclave.
“It’s become very difficult for people to live here,” mentioned Ayyad. “Many of the Christians left for the West Bank, for America, Canada or the Arab world, seeking better education and health.”
Whereas most of Gaza’s Christians belong to the Greek Orthodox religion, smaller numbers worship on the Catholic Holy Household Church and the Gaza Baptist Church.
‘Living under siege’
After Saturday’s church assault, Italy’s high diplomat Antonio Tajani issued a “heartfelt appeal to the Israeli government and army to protect Christian places of worship”.
“That is not where the Hamas terrorists are hiding,” he mentioned on X.
Underneath the latest Israeli bombardments, Christians and Muslims alike sought refuge at a number of church buildings in Gaza like Saint Porphyrius.
However after this church was bombed, all of them moved to the close by Holy Household Church, situated 400 metres (1,300 ft) away, which has additionally been bombed now.
Israel has mentioned it’s wanting into what occurred on the Holy Household church on Saturday.
However dwelling below siege, Christians in Gaza attest to a spirit of solidarity that has united faiths of their battle for survival and their dream of freedom.
“We are all Palestinians. We live in the same city, with the same suffering,” mentioned Ayyad.
“We are all under siege and are all the same.”
