Cardinal celebrates Christmas mass in Gaza City

The top Catholic leader in the Holy Land visited the Gaza Strip’s only Catholic church and celebrated a pre-Christmas mass for dozens of faithful on Sunday. Dozens of Palestinians gathered in the Holy Family Parish for the mass, which included the baptism of a baby named Mario.

The Holy Family compound was hit by fragments from an Israeli shell in July, killing three people in what Israel then called an accident and expressed regret over.

Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa arrived on Friday for his fourth visit to Gaza since the war began, and said the Christian community aims to be a “stable, solid reference point in this sea of destruction” as the rebuilding slowly begins.

Over the weekend, Pizzaballa visited hospitals and humanitarian projects, including meeting families living in a displaced persons camp along the Gaza seafront, the Latin Patriarchate said.

On Sunday, the cardinal told parishioners they “are in a very precarious situation like many others in practically all of Gaza.”

“We think that the powers of the world will decide our future. But then in reality, it is we the people here who will decide how to rebuild everything,” he said. “I encourage you, don’t lose your hope. Now, we are in a new phase of this situation, we have not just to survive, but also to rebuild life,” he said.

“In this new phase we have to bring the spirit of Christmas, the spirit of light, the spirit of tenderness, the spirit of growth,” continued Pizzaballa.

“Now it seems impossible, but after two years of terrible war, we are still here,” he said.

Israeli Cabinet approves 19 new Jewish settlements in the occupied West Bank

Meanwhile, Israel’s Cabinet approved a proposal for 19 new settlements in the occupied West Bank, the far-right finance minister said on Sunday.

It is the latest step by the far-right government to push ahead with a construction binge in the occupied territory that further threatens the possibility of a Palestinian state.

The settlements include two that were previously evacuated during a 2005 disengagement plan, according to Finance Minister Betzalel Smotrich, who has pushed a settlement expansion agenda in the West Bank.

It brings the total number of new settlements over the past few years to 69, Smotrich wrote on X.

The approval increases the number of settlements in the West Bank by nearly 50 percent during the current government’s tenure. In 2022, there were 141 settlements across the West Bank. After the current approval, there are now 210 settlements, according to Peace Now, an anti-settlement watchdog group. Settlements are widely considered illegal under international law.

Crux Now contributed to this report.