Moran, a UK member of parliament for Oxford West and Abingdon, said 300 people, including children, were inside the Holy Family Parish church in Gaza City as Israel\u2019s bombardment of the enclave continues into its tenth week. <\/p>\n
\u201cThese are Christians seeking sanctuary the week before Christmas, having been there for more than 60 days\u2026 who have been told by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF)\u00a0that they need to evacuate (and) it\u2019s unclear why or where \u2013 there are no churches outside Gaza City.\u201d <\/p>\n
The plight of those sheltering in the church has received growing international attention after the Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem accused an Israeli military sniper of shooting dead\u00a0a mother and a daughter there. <\/p>\n
IDF tanks also targeted the convent of the Sisters of Mother Teresa, part of the church\u2019s compound that also houses 54 disabled people, the patriarchate said.\u00a0The building\u2019s generator, fuel resources, solar panels and water tanks were also destroyed, it added. <\/p>\n
The two women had been walking to the convent when gunfire erupted. \u201cOne was killed as she tried to carry the other to safety,\u201d the patriarchate said. Seven others were also shot and wounded in the attack at the church complex, it said. <\/p>\n
The IDF appeared to deny responsibility for the killings. <\/p>\n
\u201cRepresentatives of the church contacted the IDF regarding explosions that were heard near the church. During the dialogue between the IDF and representatives of the community, no reports of a hit on the church, nor civilians being injured or killed, were raised,\u201d the IDF statement read. \u201cA review of the IDF\u2019s operational findings supports this.\u201d <\/p>\n
The IDF also said it \u201ctakes claims regarding harm to sensitive sites with the utmost seriousness \u2014 especially churches \u2014 considering that Christian communities are a minority group in the Middle East.\u201d <\/p>\n
\u201cThe IDF only targets terrorists and terror infrastructure and does not target civilians, no matter their religion\u2026 (and) takes vast measures to avoid harm to uninvolved civilians,\u201d the statement added. <\/p>\n
Israel\u2019s military has faced growing international criticism over the shootings. <\/p>\n
\u201cUnarmed civilians are targets for bombs and gunfire and this has happened even within the parish complex of the Holy Family, where there are no terrorists but families, children, people who are sick and have disabilities,\u201d Pope Francis said Sunday. <\/p>\n
British Minister of State for the Middle East Tariq Ahmad also condemned the killings and called on Israel to abide by humanitarian law. <\/p>\n
\u201cShocked that civilians taking refuge in a church in northern Gaza have been killed and others injured,\u201d Ahmad said in a\u00a0statement\u00a0on Sunday. <\/p>\n
\u201cIsrael must abide by international humanitarian law. Civilians must be protected,\u201d he added. \u201cA sustainable ceasefire, leading to sustainable peace, is urgently needed.\u201d <\/p>\n
Several members of Moran\u2019s extended family took refuge in the church in the first week after October 7. <\/p>\n
Her family is down to their \u201clast can of corn\u201d as the situation deteriorates, Moran said, calling for the Israeli government and military to stop targeting the church. <\/p>\n
She shared that she had already lost a family member, who died from dehydration. <\/p>\n
\u201cHe was 81 and was fit and well before all of this and he passed away because he was not able to get to a hospital,\u201d she said. <\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m not sure (my remaining family members) are going to survive. <\/p>\n
\u201cI would simply say this to the Israeli government, this is the week before Christmas, is this the time you want to pick a fight with the Pope? Is this the time that you want to forcibly displace Palestinians from where they\u2019ve chosen to seek sanctuary?\u201d <\/p>\n
Moran reiterated there had never been a Hamas presence at the church. \u201cThe assertion that Hamas is operating from that church is baseless.\u201d <\/p>\n
\u201cThere are children there. The women who are killed, if anyone dares to look at the pictures, could not look less like Hamas fighters,\u201d she added. <\/p>\n\n
Moran, a UK member of parliament for Oxford West and Abingdon, said 300 people, including children, were inside the Holy Family Parish church in Gaza City as Israel\u2019s bombardment of the enclave continues into its tenth week. \u201cThese are Christians seeking sanctuary the week before Christmas, having been there for more than 60 days\u2026 who <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":13059,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-13058","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13058","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13058"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13058\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/13059"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13058"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13058"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13058"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}