Gabriel Romanelli, the sole Catholic parish priest in Gaza, has said 33 Palestinian Christians have died during Israel’s military offensive in the area, Al Jazeera reports.

Twenty were killed by Israeli military attacks and 13 lost their lives due to insufficient medical care and other reasons, the report added.

Their deaths mean Gaza’s small Christian population, believed to number about 1,000 people, has shrunk by more than 3 per cent, the priest told Sky News during a visit to Glasgow.

“Our church will always be an oasis for people. Unfortunately, this oasis has become a shelter, a hospital and a cemetery,” Romanelli said.