Palestinian mother and daughter Nahida (Um Emad Anton) and Samar were killed by an Israel military sniper in Gaza church on December 16, 2023. (Via X)

An Israeli military sniper has shot dead a Christian mother and daughter on the grounds of a Catholic church in the Gaza Strip sheltering displaced Palestinian families.

The fatal shooting took place inside the Holy Family Parish in Gaza City at around noon on Saturday, the Latin Patriarchate of al-Quds, which oversees Catholic Churches across Cyprus, Jordan, the Israeli-occupied territories, Gaza and the West Bank, said in a statement.

Nahida and her daughter Samar were shot and killed as they walked to the Sister’s Convent. One was killed as she tried to carry the other to safety, it added.

The patriarchate also said that no warning was given before the shooting and that the victims were shot in cold blood inside the premises of the Parish, where there are no belligerents.

Seven more Palestinians were also wounded by gunfire as they tried to protect others at the church, according to the statement.

The patriarchate further said that an Israeli tank fired three projectiles, destroying a convent’s generator and fuel supplies, and rendering a building housing 54 disabled people uninhabitable.

The 54 disabled persons are currently displaced and without access to the respirators that some of them need to survive, it noted.

Meanwhile, the Vatican press agency said the Israeli strikes wounded three people.

Israeli air raid kills nearly two dozen Palestinians in Jabalia

In another development, at least 20 Palestinians were killed and some 100 others injured following an Israeli aerial assault on a residential block in Jabalia refugee camp in northern Gaza.

The attack targeted the home of the Shehab family, causing extensive damage to neighboring houses.

Israel waged the brutal war on Gaza on October 7 after the Palestinian Hamas resistance group carried out Operation Al-Aqsa Storm against the occupying entity in retaliation for its intensified atrocities against the Palestinian people.

Since the start of the onslaught on Gaza, the Tel Aviv regime has killed at least 19,088 Palestinians, mostly women and children, and injured 54,450 others.

Thousands more are also missing and presumed dead under the rubble in Gaza, which is under complete siege by Israel.