TRANSCRIPT:
The Holy Family Parish is the only Catholic church in the Gaza Strip.
Inside the Parish complex, a mother and daughter were shot dead by an Israeli army sniper.
The office for the Latin Catholics in the region, the Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem, says the women were "shot in cold blood", with no warning before the shots were fired.
The Pope has used his weekly Angelus prayer to call for peace, saying the violence against unarmed civilians must end.
"Unarmed civilians are being bombed and shot at, and this has even happened inside the Holy Family parish complex, where there are no terrorists but families, children and sick people with disabilities, nuns. A mother and her family were killed and other people shot by snipers, as they went to the bathroom. Some say 'it's terrorism, it's war'. Yes, it is war, it is terrorism. That is why scripture says that God stops wars, breaks bows and breaks spears. Let us pray to the Lord for peace."
British MP Layla Moran says six members of her extended family are among those still in the church complex - and she is worried they won't make it until Christmas.
"They're sleeping on mattresses in the Sunday school rooms. And the situation there has been deteriorating over the 60 odd days that they've been there. You know, they're down to a meal a day, drinking contaminated water. We've already lost one family member tragically, who desperately needed a hospital and couldn't get to it, and he passed away... This is a church. It's a week before Christmas. This is Advent. This is an important time in the Christian family's religious calendar. And there is a sniper killing women and firing at children. And you know this makes a mockery of Israel, Israeli government's assertions that they're not targeting civilians. And I just don't see how this helps them."
Manerva Alqib sheltered in the Holy Family Parish for 50 days before she escaped to Australia under a temporary visa, sponsored by her sister who is an Australian citizen.
A fortnight since arriving in the country, she told SBS, she is still shaken - and worried about 30 family members still unable to leave.
"I was hiding in the Latin Church for 50 days. The situation was really hard for us. There wasn't any water, there wasn't any electricity, medicine, clothing or anything. 600 of us were in the church. The situation now is even more difficult since we arrived here."
Meanwhile in Sydney, Nahil Chidiac has been preparing her home for the expected arrival of her cousins from Gaza.
She has told SBS the waiting is tough.
"Our hearts are very heavy with this Christmas. We would love to celebrate and be joyful during this time but unfortunately with our family stuck in the war and so many of our brothers and sisters currently experiencing an ethnic cleansing and a genocide we don't feel that we have a right to be celebrating."
With no food, no water - and nowhere safe to take refuge, Israel’s government is still facing calls for a ceasefire from some of its closest European allies and from protesters at home.
French Foreign Minister Catherine Colonna travelled to Israel and the West Bank to meet with Israeli and Palestinian authorities.
She says she conveyed a clear message to all parties.
"The systematic bombardments are causing too much suffering. Israel must preserve the lives of civilian populations, as international law demands it. And above all, we must work and work seriously to build a state for the Palestinians. Not tomorrow, not the day after tomorrow, but now. This state must be viable to serve legitimate Palestinian aspirations. The Palestinians have the right to a state, the Israelis have the right to security; and the right to be accepted as a state without having to endure the constant calls for its destruction. Therefore, it is the right to peace and security for all that must be guaranteed."
The foreign ministers of the UK and Germany have added their voices, calling for a "sustainable" ceasefire.
Israel's bombardment of Gaza since the October 7 Hamas attack has left much of the territory in ruins, with the United Nations estimating 90 per cent of Gaza’s population - 1.9 million people - have fled their homes.
18,800 people have been killed - 70 per cent of them women and children, according to the Palestinian Ministry of Health in Ramallah.
The US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin is due to visit Israel in the next 24 hours and is expected to push for a scaled back combat operation amid the growing civilian death toll.
Israel's Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, says he remains opposed to a ceasefire and the objectives remains the same.
"The will of the fallen is what guides us. We will fight until the end - and we will achieve all of our objectives. Eliminating Hamas, releasing all of our hostages - and ensuring Gaza will not become again a centre for terror incitement against the state of Israel; and attacks against the state of Israel."
Israel's government is also under pressure to find solutions for the remaining 120 Israelis believed to still be in captivity in the Gaza Strip after being taken hostage by Hamas on October 7.
Rudy Chen is the father of 19-year-old Itai, who is among the hostages.
"We are demanding that the war cabinet talk to us, to the families - not that they're waiting to get an offer from the United States, Qatar or anybody else, no. The Israeli government has to be active. They need to be put an offer on the table - including prisoners with blood on their hands. To get the hostages back alive. Alive. We don't want them back in bags. That requires (the government) to act now."
Tensions have risen higher following revelations that over the weekend, the Israel Defence Forces shot dead three Israeli hostages in northern Gaza.
An Israeli military official says early findings from an immediate review into the incident revealed one of the hostages was holding up a white flag.
The military said it also found signs reading "SOS" and "Help, three hostages" in Hebrew on the walls of a Gaza building where the hostages had been hiding.
Israel's military chief says troops inside Gaza have been told not to repeat the mistakes.
