The only Catholic parish in Gaza and a convent serving nuns associated with the order of the late Mother Teresa both were targeted by Israeli Defense Forces Dec. 16, leaving two women dead, others injured and the convent in rubble.
“An Israeli sniper shot and killed a mother and a daughter on Saturday as they left the church building inside the compound of the Holy Family Catholic Parish in Gaza,” reported Vatican News.
The Catholic news service called the deaths “murder” and quoted parish priest Gabriel Romanelli: “The situation already goes beyond tragedy. After the days of truce, the area of al Zeitoun started to be very active, with many bombings.”
On the Friday night before the attack, bombings intensified in that area, injuring three people inside the church, he said.
Then “a rocket fired from an IDF tank targeted the Convent of the Sisters of Mother Teresa,” also known as the Missionaries of Charity, according to a statement from the Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem.
Around noon on Saturday, an Israeli sniper shot Nahida Khalil Anton, an elderly woman, and her daughter, Samar Kamal Anton, as they exited the church building and were walking toward the Sisters’ Convent.
Palestinian Christian worshipers gather as they attend a ceremony inside the Roman Catholic Holy Family Church during the start of the Christmas holiday, in Gaza City, on December 19, 2021. (Shutterstock)
Israeli Defense Forces claimed there was a rocket launcher on the premises. The church, and even the pope, deny this.
On Sunday, Pope Francis condemned the Israeli attack, saying there are no terrorists hidden inside the church or the convent, only “families, children, people who are sick and have disabilities, and nuns.”
“Some say, ‘This is terrorism. This is war.’ Yes, it is war. It is terrorism,” he said. “That is why the Scripture affirms that ‘God stops wars … breaks the bow, splinters the spear.’ Let us pray to the Lord for peace.”
The convent, which is part of the church compound, is home to more than 50 disabled people.
According to the Washington Post, the majority of Christian families in Gaza have taken refuge from the war inside the Catholic compound, which was believed to be a safe haven. Christians are a distinct minority in Gaza.
The statement from the Latin Patriarchate said Israel Defense Forces shot the women “without warning” and “in cold blood.”
This happened just one day after Israeli Defense Forces shot three Israelis who had been held hostage by Hamas — even though the three had taken off their shirts and were waving a white flag of surrender.
The government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu refused to apologize for the deadly mistake, which further incited complaints against him and his hardline policies. Nearly 20,000 Palestinians — many children and women — have been killed by Israeli forces in Gaza since the start of the war aimed at rooting out the terrorist group Hamas. That has brought international condemnation from everyone except the United States, where Netanyahu and the state of Israel continue to enjoy the support of Congress and the Biden administration.
Pope Francis previously accused Israel of engaging in “terrorism” and in November told Israeli President Isaac Herzog it is “forbidden to respond to terror with terror.”
Issa Antoun, who was present inside the compound when the two women were shot, said: “This is not the first time that the church has been targeted since the beginning of the war, but rather the sixth time. The patriarchate has asked for international protection for us, but as I speak to you, bulldozers are closing the church door, blocking it with a pile of cars that were on the street.”
The compound’s generator and its fuel resources were destroyed, the patriarchate said, and the disabled people who live at the facility are displaced and do not have access to the respirators some of them need to survive.
Raouf J. Halaby
Raouf Halaby, a Palestinian Christian who lives in the United States, has been an outspoken critic of Israel’s military action and of American Christians who support it.
In Dec. 18 email to friend, he wrote: “Very reluctantly, almost to the point of feeling anguished shame at forwarding this missive just a few days before Christmas, I feel compelled to make this very earnest plea on behalf of 2.3 million civilians in Gaza bearing the brunt of apocalyptic death, displacement, expulsion, starvation, and disease.
“If you are moved, I am pleading with you to take even one minute during your daily supplications, to say a brief prayer for the dead, the dying and for those who will die. Better yet, “Let’s pray about it” is not sufficient. Please express your outrage at the leaders who’ve sold their souls and are cheering at the altar of revenge.”
Halaby explained that Israeli forces have bombed 36 mosques in Gaza, including one the fourth-oldest Christian church in the world. “And yesterday, two women, a mother and her daughter, emerging after mass from Gaza’s Catholic church, were murdered by Israeli snipers. And what would Jesus do? He would cry.”
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