The Israeli military is accused of attacking a church compound in Gaza just one week before Christmas, killing two Christian women and displacing dozens of disabled Palestinians.

On Saturday, an Israeli sniper shot in cold blood mother Nahida Anton and daughter Samar Anton while they were walking to the Sisters Convent inside the Holy Family Parish in Gaza, according to a statement from the Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem .

No warning was given, no notification was provided, the statement said, adding that there are no belligerents at the compound. Seven people were wounded in the attack as they tried to protect others in the compound. During attacks the night before, heavy bombing resulted in three additional people wounded inside the church, as well as the compounds solar panels and water tanks destroyed.

Many Christian families in Gaza have been taking refuge inside the church compound since Israel began its heavy bombardment on the Palestinian enclave. Since Oct. 7, Israels destruction of Gaza has led to more than 18,700 Palestinians dead and thousands more buried under rubble, the Gaza Health Ministry said Thursday before the territory experienced a communications blackout that has since been partially restored.

Hours before the sniper attack, the patriarchate said that rockets fired from an Israeli tank hit the Convent of the Sisters of Mother Theresa, which is part of the church compound and home to 54 disabled people. The first rocket destroyed the buildings fuel sources and generator the convents only source of electricity and caused an explosion and massive fire that damaged the house. Two subsequent rockets on the convent rendered the home uninhabitable, according to the patriarchate.

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

Layla Moran, a member of British Parliament, said that she has several family members sheltering inside the same church compound. On Saturday, the lawmaker said that military forces had taken over a building opposite to the church and that there are snipers at every window pointing to the church.

Pope Francis, who has repeatedly spoken out against the humanitarian crisis in Gaza, expressed concern on Sunday about Israels church attacks, which he described as terrorism.

I continue to receive very grave and painful news from Gaza, he said during his weekly blessing. 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.