Conflict in the Middle East

More than 1,500 people have been killed in Israeli bombardment of the enclave since it renewed the Israel-Hamas war on March 18, the Hamas-run health ministry in Gaza said.

For the second year in a row, few foreign pilgrims were in attendance at the traditional Palm Sunday procession from the Mount of Olives into the Old City of Jerusalem due to the ongoing Israel-Hamas war in the Gaza Strip. But even the gray skies that threatened rain didn’t dampen the spirit of the 4,000 participants.

Ongoing conflict in the Gaza Strip between Israel and Hamas will have “dire consequences” for civil society’s future and is likely to worsen the region’s tensions for another generation, Bishop A. Elias Zaidan, chair of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Committee on International Justice and Peace, said in a statement following the breakdown of a ceasefire agreement in the Holy Land.

Israel has identified three of the bodies of hostages returned Feb. 20 but said the body of Shiri Bibas — mother of two red-headed boys who became a symbol of Israeli hostage suffering, both confirmed dead — was not returned as promised by Hamas.