WelCom December 2023

The Catholic aid agency, Caritas Internationalis, joined international appeals for a ceasefire in Gaza.

In a statement titled Now is the time for peace, the central confederation of Caritas aid agencies across the world called for unimpeded humanitarian access to the 2.3 million people still in Gaza, while urging Hamas to release the hostages taken from Israel on 7 October.

Alistair Dutton, the secretary-general of Caritas Internationalis, said that ‘through our common humanity, all human life is equally sacred, and none can be written off as necessary collateral damage’.

He said international humanitarian law must be respected, and that required observing distinctions between civilians and combatants.

More than 12,000 people, including 5,000 children, have been killed by Israeli operations in Gaza since early October, according to the Hamas-run health ministry.

More than 700 people sheltering in the compound of Gaza’s only Catholic parish were ‘filled with terror and fear’, according to reports. Pope Francis has telephoned the parish daily to talk to them and give his blessing.

Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has already rejected any suggestion of a ceasefire, insisting it would allow Hamas to regroup, but has said he would consider ‘tactical little pauses’. Regional directors of UN agencies have repeatedly called for international action to stop attacks on hospitals in Gaza.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) said in a statement: ‘We are horrified at the latest reports of attacks on and in the vicinity of Al-Shifa Hospital, Al-Rantisi Naser Paediatric Hospital, Al-Quds Hospital, and others in Gaza city and northern Gaza, killing many, including children.’

Premature and new-born babies on life support were dying due to power, oxygen, and water cuts at Al-Shifa Hospital, it reported.

According to the UN, at least 197 Palestinians, including 48 children, have been killed and more than 2,600 injured in the occupied West Bank, amid mounting violence since the war began, including an attack by Israeli forces on an anti-war vigil in Nazareth. More than 1,100 people have been displaced from their homes.

Rabbis for Human Rights are working to help Palestinian farmers’ access their land in the West Bank, so they can conduct the olive harvest safely.

Sources: The London Tablet; UN

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