#Christian mother and daughter shot dead by Israeli sniper in church grounds in Gaza City

“The water tanks and solar panels were also struck. We don’t know if they have enough water to survive. The Christian community in Gaza is on the verge of extinction.”

Pope Francis condemns killings 

Pope Francis condemned the killings when he gave his weekend blessing, describing it as terrorism.

“Unarmed civilians are the objects of bombings and shootings. And this happened even inside the Holy Family parish complex, where there are no terrorists, but families, children, people who are sick or disabled, nuns,” he said.

“Some would say ‘It is war. It is terrorism.’ Yes, it is war. It is terrorism,” he said.

Last month, when meeting relatives of the hostages held by Hamas, he also spoke of terrorism to describe what had been happening in the conflict.

‘This is terrorism’ 

“This is what wars do. But here we have gone beyond wars. This is not war. This is terrorism,” he said at the time.

The killings took place days after the Israeli Defence Forces admitted mistakenly killing three hostages in Gaza.

Originally established in 1099, the Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem forms part of the Roman Catholic church. Its territory includes Cyprus, Jordan, Israel and Palestine.

The Israeli army has said it is looking into the alleged killings at the church.