Excellent article by my friend, Xavier Abu Eid who is a member of St Peter’s Anglican Church in Birzeit in Occupied Palestine.

Prayer and action for the International Day of Peace - Sunday 21 September. Needed for so many parts of our world and for us in Palestine and Israel it is especially urgent as we are in the brink of an even darker nightmare. Please support and share. www.christianaid.org.uk/get-involved...

The news regarding Layan’s court case is (surprisingly) that it has been postponed, yet again, until November. Still, the family take this as good news for now. Thanks to all for prayers and support in so many ways.

Today our friend Layan Nasir appears in an Israeli military court facing charges which have hung over her for 4 years. Despite 8 months in administrative detention last year for a different issue which was never revealed, Layan faces further unjust imprisonment. We cry out to God for justice.

Having spent 7 months in an Israeli jail last year under administrative detention, Layan Nasir is facing trial again. Her much-postponed trial will conclude on Sept 7. All pressure to avoid a custodial sentence is needed now. Letters to Israeli ambassadors and elected representatives please.

We are receiving early reports of an Israeli missile attack on the compound of Holy Innocents Church in Gaza City. Information suggests at least two women have been killed. More information to follow when available.

The denials defy belief: There’s no famine in Gaza. There’s no problem with GHF’s aid distribution process. IDF soldiers do not target aid seekers. Evidence tells us otherwise and denials don’t change that. Only independent investigation will reveal the full truth. Let’s have it.

Today is St Peter’s day in the Church year. Several churches in the Holy Land are dedicated to St Peter. One of the best is St Peter Primacy on the shore of the Sea of Galilee. Its simple beauty captures the heart of the gospel story. Jesus Christ calls us to follow and seek his kingdom of justice.

Beabadoobee at Glastonbury smashed it. So proud!

Kneecap, Palestine Action, flags, slogans, next they’ll be banning olives, watermelons and keffiyehs (or are they banned already?).

Haaretz reports today IDF officers and soldiers admit that they were ordered to fire at unarmed crowds near food distribution sites in Gaza, even when no threat was present. Here the crimes are told in plain speak for the benefit of those who continue in total denial of horrific truth.

Netanyahu has cancelled the GHF ‘food aid project’ in Gaza because of alleged Hamas hijacking of aid. So now, no food at all is being distributed at the height of a humanitarian disaster. Israel is not capable of running a competent aid effort so the alternative must be installed NOW!

Don’t believe anything Trump says. Especially don’t believe anything he claims regarding the Middle East. He literally knows nothing. As he (unilaterally) declares a ceasefire, right now missiles are raining down on Iran and across Israel. Peace work takes time and care. Trump gives neither.

Trump dropped a bomb on the negotiating room and now he says ‘it’s time to talk’. The ‘Great Deal Maker’ has not secured a single deal in this term but he still hails his own extraordinary abilities. He and the US are destabilising forces in this volatile region. Sirens still sounding in Jerusalem.

Francis Martin writes beautifully about being in Jerusalem even when your trip has been cancelled because of the missiles.

Reports on Iran, Israel, Jerusalem, the West Bank and Gaza.

Trump contemplates a US bombing spree and others talk of ‘chopping off the head of the snake’. This is escalation talk which will be reciprocated. It’s leading to plans to evacuate internationals. So unsettling and troubling. We feel we belong here but there comes a time…Probably not yet though.

Deeply worrying development as Israel closes access to Al Aqsa Mosque compound citing war with Iran as reason. This article explains the potential seismic implications of unprecedented move.

I’m doing #FastForGaza again today. Attention is on Israel v Iran but meanwhile, people are still being starved and bombed in Gaza. Almost 400 people have been killed while trying to access emergency food. Lift the siege. Fast-Pray-Advocate!

While the G7 are bravely affirming Israel’s ‘right to self defence’ they ignore the ongoing deliberate starvation of 2 million people in Gaza. Day by day dozens of aid seekers are being shot. It is the most inhumane feeding programme ever devised. The world turns a blind eye but time will come.

Trump was a baby in his first term of office:tantrums, crying when he didn’t get his way and totally focused on his own need. Second term he’s an adolescent: passionate one minute, disinterested the next and full of promises he can’t deliver. Please can we have a grown up: fit, stable and capable?

We should call the present Israel-Iran war ‘Trump’s War’. Escalation is a direct result of his decision to cancel the Iran nuclear deal (JCPOA) in 2018. Responsible Statecraft journal called this ‘one of Trump’s biggest failures’. But know the man who created war has no interest in ending it.

Here in East Jerusalem and throughout the land we’re on a high alert war footing. No public gatherings, work or school till further notice. We are told that Iran has fired off 100 drones which are on their way from Iran (these will be shot down).

On a mini break in Jordan but I’m still doing #FastForGaza. Starvation and bombing continues in Gaza relentlessly. Pathetic amounts of food are delivered and desperate families are dehumanised when collecting meagre supplies risking their lives. Actively resist this atrocity or condone it.

Long overdue but very necessary. Settler violence and clearance of Palestinians in the West Bank are part of the same strategy as the Gaza decimation. US Ambassador’s support for these two dangerous men demonstrates again that the US supports Israel’s expansionist agenda. The US is the problem.

It was good to have Bishop Rachel visiting us in Jerusalem again building on last year’s visit. She clearly saw a rapidly deteriorating situation in the West Bank.

More details are emerging. Every day,new atrocities and new tragedies.Alleged reasons for such outrages are trotted out with no evidence and the international community all too often, naively accepts these. Words will not stop these breaches of international law, only firm and decisive action. When?

Oh Lord, no! Our Al Ahli Hospital in Gaza City has been hit, yet again. An IDF drone targeted and killed three journalists with multiple other injuries. This has got to stop!

Miriana Spoljaric, president of the International Committee of the Red Cross told the BBC yesterday: ‘What's happening in Gaza exceeds all boundaries of legal, moral, and humanitarian norms….Gaza has become worse than hell on Earth.’ The world is still watching and only tutting its disapproval.

We are keeping going with #FastForGaza because the response to massive starvation in Gaza is pathetic and so much more needs to be done. Fast, agitate, advocate, educate and pray. No time to lose.

Ridiculous, outrageous and much more than that. When will anything change? #FastForGaza

Sunset over Jerusalem last night seems to animate our hopes.

WAKE UP WORLD!

It might be of interest to people who call Pro Palestine demos ‘hate marches’ that on ‘Flag Day’ in Jerusalem there were widespread chants of ‘Death to Arabs’, ‘May your village burn’ and ‘There are no schools in Gaza, no children are left’. No police action was taken. In some cases they joined in!

Despite a little more food getting into Gaza this week I’ll still be doing #FastforGaza on Wednesday. The new process for getting food in operated via the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation is a fig leaf plan which will not come near to addressing the impact of the starvation plan. Please join and act.

We wait with great apprehension to see how today unfolds. It’s ‘Jerusalem Day’ which marks Israel’s victory over Arab forces in June 1967. Now it is an annual festival of racism and hatred. The Old City will be swamped by flag waving, death chanting young men. But how bad will it all be this year?

Early morning at the Sea of Galilee. Taking time to breathe in the beauty and receive the grace on a new day.

Wise and clear words from @owenjones.bsky.social as ever.

The time for action is now and there is no time to lose. If you can’t fast for 24 hours, miss a meal or fast from social media for the day. We will do this every Wednesday until Gaza has the supplies and aid it must have to live well.

The suffering in Gaza is appalling so we are calling on people to #FastforGaza. The siege of Gaza must be lifted and sufficient quantities of food, fuel and medical supplies must enter to avert greater disaster. Join the worldwide fast on May 21, share the #fastforgaza tag and post your support.

The world has finally totally given up on Gaza and will permit Israel to conduct its final erasure project. Between Trump’s chaotic, strategy-free flailing around and Europe’s paralysed waiting for a good idea to pop up, Gaza has been abandoned. This will be to everyone’s eternal shame. #fastforgaza

The siege of Gaza has been enforced for 70+ days and the suffering of the people is appalling. Please fast for Gaza as a simple but powerful campaign to tell politicians and leaders that we need action. End the siege and get food and supplies into Gaza to save the people. Use #fastforgaza and share.

Delighted to have been able to visit Layan Nasir and her family at home in Birzeit today. Layan has endured two periods in administrative detention. She is in good heart and strong. Her case is scheduled in court again on Sunday. Please pray for her and for justice.

There should be a one day strike and fast everywhere on Monday to call for an end to the siege and the deliberate starvation of the people of Gaza. This would show governments the strength of feeling that it’s time actually to DO SOMETHING! We do want our governments to do something, don’t we?

So now Trump wants to ‘have Gaza, take it and make it just a freedom zone’. When Gaza is starving now and being bombed into oblivion now, this is insulting beyond adequate words. The world is watching the annihilation of people take place in front of their eyes and he speaks utter nonsense.

Addressing the UN @tomfletcherun.bsky.social said: “Will you act now – decisively – to prevent genocide in Gaza and to ensure respect for international humanitarian law?…Or will you say ‘we did what we could’. You must decide”.

Everybody knows, everybody knows, everybody can know about this reality unless they choose to be ignorant. When has it ever occurred in modern times that a rich country with more food than it knows what to do with and with aid trucks queued up ready would starve people to death? 1/3

“If Trump were a braver man, he would go to Gaza to see for himself the devastation he and his far-right allies have wreaked. He will not do so. That Trump is no gentleman is common knowledge. It’s plain he’s no statesman either.”

Rumours are rife in Palestinian communities that on Trump’s visits to the Middle East he’ll announce a pathway to a Palestinian state. Sadly that’s not going to happen. But could it just be that the wheel of influence is finally turning away from Israel? We shall see.

Excellent photojournalism from Will W-J.