JERUSALEM (OSV News) -- Following long days of delicate and intense negotiations between Israel and Hamas with the mediation of Qatar, Egypt and the U.S., the first group of hostages held by Hamas has been freed. Twenty-four hostages -- 13 Israeli civilians,
The Latin patriarch of Jerusalem, Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa, expressed his happiness at the late-night hostage-exchange agreement reached between Israel and Hamas Nov. 21, and said he hoped it would lead to end to the war which broke out after an Oct. 7
Christmas in Bethlehem and the Holy Land this year will be one of solemnity, prayer and fasting as the Patriarchs and Heads of the Churches in Jerusalem called upon the faithful to forgo any "unnecessarily festive activities" during the Christmas season this
As the world prayed for peace in the Holy Land Oct. 27, Pope Francis called for the war to halt and prayers to continue during the Angelus Oct. 29, as death toll in Gaza passed 8,000 and Israeli troops gradually increased their
JERUSALEM (OSV News) — For Mother María del Pilar Llerena Vargas, “it was an image that will be very difficult to erase.” The Sister of Charity of the Incarnate Word from Peru, who is serving in the Catholic parish in Gaza, recalled
Several hundred people had been sheltering at the St. Porphyrios Greek Orthodox Church campus, many of them sleeping, when the explosion went off the night of Oct. 19. The Hamas Ministry of Interior in Gaza blamed the explosion on an Israeli airstrike
While Palestinian officials said the hospital was hit in an Israeli strike and had killed some 500 people, the Israel Defense Forces said intelligence showed Palestinian Islamic Jihad group was responsible for the "failed rocket launch" that struck the al-Ahli Baptist Hospital.
"An
Just before the children in her kindergarten class went on vacation for the Jewish Sukkot festival, Romina Shvalb, 42, a kindergarten teacher in the quiet Israeli kibbutz of Nir Oz near the Gaza border, had baked challah -- the braided sweet bread
Pilgrims who were in Israel following a surprise terrorist attack by Hamas terrorists against civilian communities in southern Israel Oct. 7 light candles and say prayers of peace at the Church of the Holy Sepulcher as fighting continued in southern Israel.
Patriarchs and Heads of the Churches in Jerusalem united in a call for peace and justice amid unfolding violence, following a surprise attack by Hamas in southern Israel, which has left around 600 Israelis dead, among them civilians and dozens of soldiers