Judith Sudilovsky

A late-night hostage-exchange agreement has been reached between Israel and Hamas Nov. 21, and church leaders hope it will lead to end to the war.

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 the death toll in Gaza passed 8,000 and Israeli troops gradually increased their ground activity in the Gaza Strip, without calling it an "invasion."

An explosion at the St. Porphyrios Greek Orthodox Church campus in Gaza has left the administration building in ruins, and at least 17 people dead, though numbers have not yet been officially confirmed.

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 over 700 Israelis dead, among them civilians and dozens of soldiers and police who were killed battling the Hamas fighters. Over 2,000 people were injured. Israeli media said that more than 250 bodies had been recovered from the site of the music festival that was attacked by Hamas fighters on Oct. 7 in southern Israel.

Cardinal-designate Pierbattista Pizzaballa, Latin patriarch of Jerusalem, expressed the need to respect and protect the life and dignity of Palestinians during a July 10 visit to Jenin, following the withdrawal of Israeli forces from the city July 5.

Christian patriarchs and heads of churches in Jerusalem noted "with grave concern" British Prime Minister Liz Truss' call for her government to review moving the British Embassy to Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.

Rare documentation of the Portuguese Inquisition with detailed information about the sentencing trials which took place 500 years ago have been digitized for the first time in the Central Archives for the History of the Jewish People Jerusalem's National Library of Israel.

Israeli riot-control police attacked mourners and pallbearers as thousands came to pay their respects at the May 13 funeral of prominent Palestinian-American journalist Shereen Abu Akleh.

Despite the continuing difficulties, Christmas in Gaza this year is filled with faith, hope and resilience, a Latin Patriarchate official said following a three-day pastoral visit.

Catholic leaders are questioning a decision by Israel's Ministry of Internal Security to cancel a three-day Palestinian cultural event at Abraham's House.

May 12 saw the heaviest violence, and in Israel's largest mixed city, Haifa, a Jewish gang rioted through the German Colony neighborhood, known for its good relations between its mainly Jewish and Christian residents. Gang members damaged Arab property and set cars on fire, following a similar rampage by an Arab gang two days earlier.

Since early May 11, Israeli bombs have been falling around the Rosary Sisters school in Gaza, which sustained light to moderate damage inside and outside the compound — including to the front door and solar panels used for electricity.

The church and monastery were vacated in 1967 at the outbreak of war between Israel and some of its Arab neighbors, including Jordan, just across the Jordan River. After Israel took control of the area from Jordan, it was laid out with land mines by both the Israeli army and Palestinian gunmen who battled there in the 1960s and 1970s.

Catholic leaders expressed astonishment that a large group of evangelical Christians from the U.S. received visas to come to Israel to help with the grape harvest in West Bank settlements, while Catholic institutions have not been able to obtain Israeli visas for their volunteers and staff members because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Already blocked by an Israeli checkpoint at the entrance to the village, they said they worried that with the tacit permission for land annexation by what they said was a one-sided proposal, more checkpoints and more settlements would be built around Aboud, making daily life even more of a struggle.

The Assembly of Catholic Ordinaries of the Holy Land condemned vandalism attacks in two Arab villages and called on Israeli authorities to "investigate seriously" what they termed hate crimes.

Catholic Relief Services cut its services to needy people in the Gaza Strip by closing a U.S. government-funded program because of the Anti-Terrorism Clarification Act (ACTA).

The controversial Israeli Nation State law must be repealed because non-Jews also are citizens of Israel, said the Catholic ordinaries of the Holy Land.

U.S. Christian leaders expressed "grave concern" about the Trump administration's decision to stop financial assistance to six East Jerusalem hospitals.