Gaza Christians pray for end of ‘death and destruction’

GAZA CITY: Hundreds of Christians in war-ravaged Gaza City gathered at a church on Tuesday, praying for an end to the war that has devastated much of the Palestinian territory.

Gone were the sparkling lights, the festive decorations, and the towering Christmas tree that had graced Gaza City for decades.

The Square of the Unknown Soldier, once alive with the spirit of the season, now lay in ruins, reduced to rubble by relentless Israeli air strikes.

Amid the rubble, the faithful sought solace even as fighting continued to rage across the coastal strip on Tuesday.

“This Christmas carries the stench of death and destruction,” said George Al-Sayegh, who for weeks has sought refuge in the 12th century Greek Orthodox Church of Saint Porphyrius.

“There is no joy, no festive spirit. We don’t even know who will survive until the next holiday.”

A part of the church itself was destroyed in an Israeli air strike in October last year, in which 18 Palestinian Christians were killed, according to the territory’s health ministry.

About 1,100 Christians live in Gaza, a community that has also faced the brunt of the war since October 7 last year, when fighting between Israel and Hamas broke out.

READ ALSO:

• Israeli army forces patients out of a north Gaza hospital
• Edo local govt chairmen resume work
• Court stops Wike from selling Abuja disputed land

Israel’s recent air strikes, including one that killed several children according to the territory’s civil defense agency, have come under severe criticism from Pope Francis.

“With pain I think of Gaza, of so much cruelty, of the children being machine-gunned, of the bombings of schools and hospitals. What cruelty,” the pope said after his weekly Angelus prayer on Sunday.

Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar had slammed the pontiff’s comment, saying they showed “double standards.”

But the pain and sorrow are visible in Gaza, and for Gaza City resident Kamal Jamil Caesar Anton, the festive season of Christmas is marred by profound grief.

Last December, his wife Nahida and daughter Samar were killed by Israeli sniper fire within the compound of the Holy Family Church, he said.

“We pray for peace, for the war to end so that the people can live safely,” Anton said.

His sentiments were echoed by resident Ramez Al-Souri who also suffered a bitter tragedy during the air strike that hit the Church of Saint Porphyrius.

His three children were among those killed in that attack.

“We are still suffering. We didn’t celebrate last year because of the destruction,” Souri said.

“This year we hoped for an end to the war, but every day we lose loved ones.”

Local Christian community leader George Anton hoped the warring sides would end the fighting soon.

“We call on all parties to end the war and to seek a true path to peace,” he said.

“We hope both peoples can live in harmony and security.”

Gaza Christians pray for end of ‘death and destruction’

ARAB NEWS

Israeli army forces patients out of a north Gaza hospital

CAIRO: Israeli troops forced the evacuation of the Indonesian Hospital in northern Gaza and many patients, some of them on foot, arrived at another hospital miles away in Gaza City, the territory’s health ministry said on Tuesday.

The Indonesian Hospital is one of the Gaza Strip’s few still partially functioning hospitals, on its northern edge, an area that has been under intense Israeli military pressure for nearly three months.

Israel says its operation around the three northern Gaza communities surrounding the hospital — Beit Lahiya, Beit Hanoun and Jabalia — is targeting Hamas militants.

Palestinians accuse Israel of seeking to permanently depopulate northern Gaza to create a buffer zone, which Israel denies.

Munir Al-Bursh, director of the health ministry in the Hamas-run Gaza Strip, said the Israeli army had ordered hospital officials to evacuate it on Monday, before storming it in the early hours of Tuesday and forcing those inside to leave.

He said two other medical facilities in northern Gaza, Al-Awda and Kamal Adwan Hospitals, were also subject to frequent assaults by Israeli troops operating in the area.

“Occupation forces have taken the three hospitals out of medical service because of the repeated attacks that undermined them and destroyed parts of them,” Bursh said in a statement.

READ ALSO:

• Edo local govt chairmen resume work
• Court stops Wike from selling Abuja disputed land
• Canadian province opens 2025 government internship programs for international students

The Israeli military said it was looking into the report.

Officials at the three hospitals have so far refused orders by Israel to evacuate their facilities or leave patients unattended since the new military offensive began on Oct. 5.

Israel says it has been facilitating the delivery of medical supplies, fuel and the transfer of patients to other hospitals in the enclave during that period in collaboration with international agencies such as the World Health Organization.

Hussam Abu Safiya, director of the Kamal Adwan Hospital, said they resisted a new order by the army to evacuate hundreds of patients, their companions and staff, adding that the hospital has been under constant Israeli fire that damaged generators, oxygen pumps and parts of the building.

Israeli forces have operated in the vicinity of the hospital since Monday, medics said.

NEW STRIKES

Meanwhile, Israeli bombardment continued elsewhere in the enclave and medics said at least nine Palestinians, including a member of the civil emergency service, were killed in four separate military strikes across the enclave on Tuesday.

The war in Gaza was triggered by Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023 attack on southern Israel, in which 1,200 people were killed and 251 taken hostage to Gaza, according to Israeli tallies.

Israel’s campaign against Hamas has since killed more than 45,200 Palestinians, according to health officials in the Hamas-run enclave. Most of the population of 2.3 million has been displaced and much of Gaza is in ruins.

A fresh bid by mediators Egypt, Qatar and the United States to end the fighting and release Israeli and foreign hostages has gained momentum this month, though no breakthrough has yet been reported.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday said progress had been made in hostage negotiations with Hamas but that he did not know how much longer it would take to see the results.

Gaps between Israel and Hamas over a possible Gaza ceasefire have narrowed, according to Israeli and Palestinian officials’ remarks on Monday, though crucial differences have yet to be resolved.

Israeli army forces patients out of a north Gaza hospital

ARAB NEWS

President Biden commutes death sentences of 37 federal inmates

U.S. President Joe Biden on Monday commuted the death sentences of 37 out of 40 federal inmates, replacing their sentences with life imprisonment without parole.

This decision comes amid heightened calls from death penalty opponents urging the president to act before leaving office.

The commutation reflects Biden’s stance on the federal death penalty, which has been under a moratorium throughout his presidency.

The action also stands in stark contrast to former President Donald Trump’s tenure, during which a record number of federal executions were carried out.

The decision leaves only a few individuals, primarily those convicted of heinous acts motivated by hate or terrorism, still facing federal death sentences.

With less than a month remaining in his term, Biden’s decision has been widely regarded as a step towards reforming the federal justice system and addressing longstanding controversies surrounding capital punishment.

“These commutations are consistent with the moratorium my Administration has imposed on federal executions, in cases other than terrorism and hate-motivated mass murder,” Biden said in a statement.

READ ALSO:

• NNPC reduces petrol price to N965/litre in Abuja
• Court remands suspected terrorists linked to Bello Turji
• Lagos to get new rolling stock for blue, red rail lines in 2025

“I am commuting the sentences of 37 of the 40 individuals on federal death row to life sentences without the possibility of parole,” he said.

The three inmates who will remain on federal death row include Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, who helped carry out the 2013 Boston Marathon bombing, and Dylann Roof, an avowed white supremacist who in 2015 shot and killed nine Black churchgoers in Charleston, South Carolina.

Robert Bowers, who killed 11 Jewish worshippers during a 2018 mass shooting at the Tree of Life synagogue in Pittsburgh, will also remain on death row.

Those commuted included nine people convicted of murdering fellow prisoners, four for murders committed during bank robberies and one who killed a prison guard.

“Make no mistake: I condemn these murderers, grieve for the victims of their despicable acts, and ache for all the families who have suffered unimaginable and irreparable loss,” Biden said.

“But guided by my conscience and my experience…I am more convinced than ever that we must stop the use of the death penalty at the federal level,” he added.

– Trump death penalty expansion –

Biden campaigned for the White House as an opponent of the death penalty, and the Justice Department issued a moratorium on its use at the federal level after he became president.

During his reelection campaign, Trump spoke frequently of expanding the use of capital punishment to include migrants who kill American citizens and drug and human traffickers.

There had been no federal inmates put to death in the United States since 2003 until Trump resumed federal executions in July 2020.

He oversaw 13 by lethal injection during his final six months in power, more than any US leader in 120 years.

The last federal execution — which was carried out by lethal injection at a prison in Terre Haute, Indiana — took place on January 16, 2021, four days before Trump left office.

The death penalty has been abolished in 23 of the 50 US states, while six others — Arizona, California, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania and Tennessee — have moratoriums in place.

In 2024, there have been 25 executions in the United States, all at the state level.

President Biden commutes death sentences of 37 federal inmates

(AFP)