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JERUSALEM — Pope Francis condemned the killing of two women sheltering at a church in the Gaza Strip, appealing on Sunday for an end to the war.
A sniper from the Israel Defense Forces shot the women “without warning” and “in cold blood” Saturday, the Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem, an ecclesiastical office for the Latin Catholics in the region, said in a statement earlier. They were sheltering at the Holy Family Parish in Gaza, where the majority of Christian families in Gaza have taken refuge during the war, it said.
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Naming the women as Nahida Khalil Anton and her daughter Samar Kamal Anton, Francis said that there were “no terrorists” at the Catholic parish and that it is hosting families, nuns and those who are sick or have disabilities.
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“Some are saying, ‘This is terrorism and war.’ Yes, it is war. It is terrorism,” Francis said after a prayer with pilgrims gathered at St. Peter’s Square.
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It’s not the first time Francis has used the word “terrorism” in relation to the war in Gaza. At his general audience in St. Peter’s Square on Nov. 22, Francis said the conflict had “gone beyond war. This is terrorism.” And The Washington Post reported an undisclosed phone call between Francis and Israeli President Isaac Herzog in late October in which the Pope said it is “forbidden to respond to terror with terror,” amid growing global horror over the loss of civilian life in Gaza.
At least 18,787 people have been killed in Gaza and 50,897 wounded since the war began, according to the Gaza Health Ministry, including thousands of children.
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“Nahida and her daughter Samar were shot and killed as they walked to the Sister’s Convent,” the patriarchate said, referring to a building in the parish complex. “One was killed as she tried to carry the other to safety. Seven more people were shot and wounded as they tried to protect others inside the church compound. No warning was given, no notification was provided.”
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The Washington Post could not immediately verify the details of the patriarchate’s report.
The IDF said Sunday that representatives of the complex “contacted the IDF regarding explosions that were heard near the church.”
“No reports of a hit on the church, nor civilians being injured or killed, were raised,” the IDF said in an unsigned statement. “A review of the IDF’s operational findings support this.”
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Cellular and internet networks were largely down across Gaza from Thursday evening to Sunday, the latest in a series of near-total blackouts to hit the Palestinian territory. Gazans with eSIM cards, or with the Ooredoo carrier in the north, retained limited access. The outages have made it difficult for those inside the church to be reached.
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An aid worker in Gaza, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to protect his privacy because he was not authorized by the organization to speak, said one of his colleagues was hit by shrapnel in her legs during the attack.
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A doctor in the church operated quickly on her to remove shrapnel from one leg, the aid worker said, but was unable to dislodge shrapnel from the second leg, which may have sustained a fracture.
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The aid worker said he was initially able to get updates from another colleague, who has an eSIM. But then the colleague’s phone died.
“I am wondering if the accusations will be ‘these were Catholic branch of Hamas!’” he told The Post by WhatsApp message. “Not only the families, there are 50 kids with physical and mental disabilities that sisters are nursing.”
British lawmaker Layla Moran said her relatives are among the hundreds of civilians trapped in the church. Moran told the BBC that her family members are “days away from dying” without access to water or food.
“I’m now no longer sure they are going to survive until Christmas,” Moran told the BBC.
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The Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem said that in addition to the midday sniper attack, a rocket from an IDF tank hit the Convent of the Sisters of Mother Teresa, a mission that is home to more than 54 people with disabilities.
The strike destroyed fuel reserves and the generator supplying the building’s sole source of electricity, it said. The explosion and fire resulting from the strikes also damaged the home at the mission, rendering it “uninhabitable” and displacing the disabled residents, including those who need respirators to survive, the patriarchate said.
Saturday’s strike echoes an attack in October on the historic Greek Orthodox Church of St. Porphyrius, Gaza’s oldest active church. About two weeks into the war, hundreds of Palestinian civilians were sheltering in the church when Israeli forces launched a strike that killed 18 people and wounded 20 others.
The IDF said at the time that a strike targeting a Hamas control center “damaged the wall of a church in the area” and that the church was not a target.
Israel has faced growing criticism, including from President Biden, that its “indiscriminate bombing” is eroding support for its war in Gaza as the human toll climbs.
Bellware reported from Chicago and Masih from Seoul.
Israel-Gaza war Israeli soldiers fighting in Gaza mistakenly shot dead three Israeli hostages, the IDF said. Follow the latest news on the Israel-Gaza war.
A U.S. intelligence assessment has found almost half of the munitions Israel has used in Gaza since the war began have been unguided bombs, a ratio that some arms experts say helps explain the conflict’s enormous civilian death toll.
Hostages: More than 100 held in the Gaza Strip have been released. Here’s what we know about those released by Hamas so far.
Oct. 7 attack: Hamas spent more than a year planning its assault on Israel. A Washington Post video analysis shows how Hamas exploited vulnerabilities created by Israel’s reliance on technology at the “Iron Wall,” the security barrier around the Gaza Strip, to carry out the deadliest attack in Israel’s history. Traders earned millions of dollars anticipating the Oct. 7 Hamas attack, a study found.
Israeli-Palestinian conflict: The Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip has a complicated history. Understand what’s behind the Israel-Gaza war and see the history of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
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