CNA Staff, Dec 21, 2023 / 12:22 pm
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) has again denied claims that an IDF sniper “murdered” two women at the Catholic Holy Family Parish in Gaza last week, with military officials indicating that a review of the incident does not line up with widely distributed reports of the women’s deaths.
The Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem said last week that “around noon” on Dec. 16, a sniper of the IDF “murdered two Christian women inside the Holy Family Parish in Gaza,” with the patriarchate claiming the women “were shot in cold blood inside the premises of the parish, where there are no belligerents.”
The IDF initially disputed those claims, telling CNA that in discussions with church officials “no reports of a hit on the church, nor civilians being injured or killed, were raised.”
In a statement to CNA on Thursday, an IDF spokesman further disputed that characterization based on a military review of the incident.