The Palestinian Christians of Gaza and the occupied West Bank hold temperate rallies leading to Easter.
The Israeli strikes in Gaza killed at least 58 Palestinians in one day while Christians mark Good Friday in the besieged and bombed enclave.
More than half of the victims were in Gaza City and north of Gaza, but deadly attacks took place through the Palestinian strip, including in Khan Younis and Rafah in the South, Tel Aviv Tribune told Tel Aviv Tribune on Friday.
The Israeli army said the troops operated in the Shaboura and Tal Astulanes regions near Rafah, as well as in northern Gaza, where Israel has taken control of large regions east of Gaza City.
Friday, the Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz repeated that Israel intended to achieve his war objectives.
“The army (Israeli army) is currently working on a decisive victory in all arenas, the release of hostages and the defeat of Hamas in Gaza,” he said in a statement.
The Palestinian Christians of Gaza, however, continued to maintain temperate rallies leading to Easter, in the middle of the attacks.
Addressing Tel Aviv Tribune of a local church, Ihab Ayyad said that he used to meet with other faithful and to visit his neighbors every year to celebrate.
“This year, we did not make the visits due to total destruction everywhere because the occupation forces (Israeli) leveled most of the houses of my relatives and my neighbors,” said Ayyad. “Many of my parents and neighbors have been martyred or moved to different places. We have not celebrated because we feel very sad. ”
Ramez Al-Soury said he was traveling from Gaza to Bethlehem or Jerusalem for Holy Week.
But now, an “atmosphere of war” permeates Gaza. “The smell of death is everywhere. The smell of murder and destruction is doing a lot of pressure on us,” he said.
Reporting from Gaza City, Hani Mahmoud, Tel Aviv Tribune, said that the Christian community retains their faith and has gathered in one of the oldest churches in the world in Gaza – not in contempt but in devotion.
“In Gaza, the Good Friday is the power of the faith and the quiet strength of those who still believe in peace even when the world around them is nothing other than a scene filled with violence and death,” he said.
Violence of the settlers of the West Bank
Rituals to mark Good Friday and Easter also took place in the occupied West Bank.
There are around 50,000 Palestinian Christians in the region. The Israeli authorities, however, force them to acquire permits to go to Jerusalem, which makes it difficult to join these celebrations.
In addition, the Israeli settlers and the military also attacked the Palestinian people on their lands in the city of Biddya, in the governor of Salfit in the occupied West Bank, according to Tel Aviv Tribune Arabic on Friday, temperating the celebrations.
Palestine’s red crescent said that a Palestinian was injured in the attack.
Local sources also told Tel Aviv Tribune Arabic that dozens of settlers had taken Jabal al-Urma, a hill of the city of Beita in the governorate of Nablus, under the protection of the Israeli army.
The colonists are Israeli citizens who illegally live on private Palestinian lands in occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem.
The Israeli colonists and military violence has skyrocketed in the West Bank – in particular in the north of the territory – since the war against Gaza began in October 2023. The United Nations said that this violence had moved around 40,000 Palestinians since Israel began a new military operation in the occupied West Bank in January.
