Burnie Advocate / Australian Associated Press | October 24 2023 The armed wing of the Palestinian Hamas militant group says it has released two more female civilian captives on health grounds in response to Egyptian-Qatari mediation efforts. A source has told Reuters the two were elderly Israelis. Abu Ubaida, spokesman for the armed wing, said… Continue reading Hamas says it has released two female captives

ByNajma Sambul October 22, 2023 — 6.47pmSave Draped in Palestinian flags, holding placards and wearing traditional chequered scarves, thousands of protesters took to Melbourne’s streets for a second consecutive week calling for an end to the war in Gaza. Marching in wintry rain and wind, people hugged, cried and shouted in support of those caught… Continue reading Marching, crying, shouting: 15,000 at pro-Palestine protest

The latest death toll stands at 4,741 Palestinians and at least 1,405 people killed in Israel since October 7. Israel has pounded the Gaza Strip for a 16th day in a row as the besieged Palestinian enclave faces a growing humanitarian catastrophe. Here are the latest casualty figures as of October 22, 2.00pm local time (11:00 GMT):… Continue reading Israel-Gaza war in maps and charts: Live Tracker

Wilful blindness towards the citizens of Gaza, so common in the global Jewish diaspora, leads to the dehumanisation of an entire population. Crikey | Antony Loewenstein | Oct 19, 2023 “You’re a Jew,” the Israeli border guard told me at the Erez checkpoint, the border crossing between Israel and Gaza. “Why do you want to… Continue reading The reckoning for decades of Israeli occupation is upon us

Over the last 11 days, our colleagues in Gaza have been reaching out to us intermittently via WhatsApp. Now, they’re silent. Crikey | Rachel Coghlan and Mhoira Leng | Oct 20, 2023 As palliative care practitioners, our motivation is driven by healing, hope and common humanity. Broadly defined, palliative care is care — social, emotional,… Continue reading Humanity until infinity: Will the world find its heart before it’s too late?

Israel has levelled a northern Gaza district after giving families still there a half-hour warning to escape, as it made clear that a command to invade Gaza was expected soon. It has also ordered the evacuation of the biggest Israeli town near Lebanon, Kiryat Shmona. In Washington, US President Joe Biden, back from a trip… Continue reading Gaza district razed, invasion imminent, as Sydney protest approved

“Learn to do right; seek justice; defend the oppressed” (Isa 1:17). We, at the undersigned Palestinian Christian institutions and grassroots movements, grieve and lament the renewed cycle of violence in our land. As we were about to publish this open letter, some of us lost dear friends and family members in the atrocious Israeli bombardment… Continue reading A Call for Repentance: An Open Letter from Palestinian Christians to Western Church Leaders and Theologians

19/10/2023 33:7) aiah“The angels of peace are weeping bitterly” (Is As fellow Shepherds we add our voices to those of our Patriarchs and Heads of the Churches of Jerusalem. We care deeply for every human life, whether Israeli or Palestinian, created in the image and likeness of God. We weep for all victims and offer… Continue reading Appeal for a Just and lasting Peace in the Holy Land

(The Age, 19/10/2023) ( https://www.theage.com.au/world/middle-east/this-is-a-massacre-basic-humanity-needs-to-be-restored-in-gaza-20231018-p5ed7k.html ) As we learn of the bombing of the Al Ahli Arab Hospital in Gaza City, once again we are forced to believe the unbelievable. As well as treating people injured in the war, the hospital was also hosting displaced Gazans who believed a medical facility would be a safe haven in… Continue reading ‘This is a massacre’: Basic humanity needs to be restored in Gaza