Two women killed amid Israeli attack at Holy Family parish in Gaza, Latin Patriarchate says

Smoke billows over the northern Gaza Strip during Israeli bombardment from southern Israel on December 14, 2023 amid continuing battles between Israel and the Palestinian militant group Hamas. / Credit: Photo by JACK GUEZ/AFP via Getty Images

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Dec 16, 2023 / 10:59 am (CNA).

Two Christian women were killed on Saturday by an Israeli sniper at the Catholic Holy Family Parish in Gaza, the Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem said on Saturday morning.

The patriarchate said in a statement that "around noon" on Dec. 16, a sniper of the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) "murdered two Christian women inside the Holy Family Parish in Gaza, where the majority of Christian families has taken refuge since the start of the war."

"Nahida and her daughter Samar were shot and killed as they walked to the Sister's Convent," the statement said. "One was killed as she tried to carry the other to safety."