WASHINGTON (Sputnik) – The Israeli military reportedly used the locations of a Catholic Church and a convent in Gaza obtained from US congressional staff to later strike them with rockets and snipers.
In an attempt to prevent Israeli strikes on religious sites in Gaza, one of the largest Christian aid organizations there, Catholic Relief Services, passed on the coordinates of several sites in the enclave to Senate staffers, who, in turn, sent them to Israel, US media reported on Thursday citing a series of emails from October.
The move by the aid organization was reportedly an attempt to get a commitment from Israel not to target at least four buildings in Gaza, including the two that were later struck by the Israeli military.
On more than one occasion, church leaders shared GPS satellite data with the Israeli military, but it didn’t help to prevent the deadly incident, according to Father Ibrahim Nino, a spokesperson for the Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem cited in the report.
“But what happened, happened,” the report cited Father Nino as saying. “And we are sure of it because we have 648 witnesses inside the compound of the church.”
On Saturday, the Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem, the Catholic body overseeing the region, published a statement condemning Israeli sniper and tank attacks on the Holy Family parish, the only Catholic parish in the enclave, and the convent of the Missionaries of Charity located in a shared compound in Gaza killing two women and injuring several more.
