Layla Moran's family trapped in Catholic church and under attack from IDF

From a BBC article today on Christmas in Bethlehem
It included this about the two ladies who were sadly killed

Jawdat Mikhael lives in Bethlehem, but his family is trapped in Northern Gaza. His parents, brother and dozens of other relatives have been sheltering in the Holy Family Church near Shejaiya in the east of Gaza City - an area devastated by Israeli bombardment.

As Jawdat and I are talking, a call from his father Han'na Mikhael comes through.
Image caption,
Jawdat Mikhael speaks with his father, who is still in Gaza
The line is crackly and connection is unstable - yet he hangs on for a glimpse of his dad.

Han'na tells his son the family is doing ok. He says he's managed to venture out of the church for the first time in more than two weeks to try to find some food. He says that all is left around the church is rubble and that all the shops are burned. "It's total destruction," he says.

He wells up as he says that communications are down and that there is no water. Food is scarce, too - "enough to keep you alive - not to fill your stomach," he says.
Han'na cries as he tells me about how different Christmas was last year.
"On days like this, we'd be decorating the church. There'd be carols. People would come over to help. But now we're just praying to make it out of here alive."
The family has already suffered a terrible loss.
A week ago, Jawdat's grandmother, Naheda Khalil Anton - who was also sheltering in the church in Gaza - was shot twice in the stomach as she was on her way to the bathroom. His aunt Samar Kamal Anton rushed to help her and was shot in the head.
Jawdat shows me pictures of the immediate aftermath and the funeral.

Well it seems in this instance even Macron surprisingly doesn't believe the IDF

This is from todays Guardian -still sounds dire

France’s president, Emmanuel Macron, expressed “great concern” about a Catholic parish in Gaza with the Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem, his office said.

Macron spoke with Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa by telephone on Saturday to discuss the “tragic situation” there since the outbreak of war in October.

“Hundreds of civilians of all confessions... have been living under bombs and bullets for more than two months while worshippers and nuns take care of the sick, elderly or disabled,” Macron was quoted as saying.

The Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem said on 16 December that an Israeli soldier shot dead “in cold blood” a Christian mother and daughter on the grounds of the Gaza Strip’s only Catholic church.

Macron offered his condolences for the parishioners who he said were killed “shamefully”, AFP reports. The Israeli army told the news agency that a review supported findings that no church was hit and that civilians were not injured or killed.

Layla Moran hasn't posted any more news about her family since 20 Dec

Is this the end of the matter?

Thank you @Desertrose2023 and thank you Benjamin Zephaniah, a visionary poet and compassionate man. Gone too soon. Actually, that poem made me cry.

I wouldn’t bother. When people post questions regarding the competency of the IDF’s response on October 7 they’re accused of minimizing atrocities, supporting terrorism/Hamas, reported to the CST and the thread gets deleted. Yet this kind of detached from reality attempt to deny the IDF’s accountability of their actions - which the Pope himself has called terrorism and the Archbishop of Westminister called “cold blooded killing” - is apparently perfectly acceptable.

As a poster I saw on social media said the other day, the “we’ll never know” who did it excuse was also rolled out for the first hospital bombing. That was about 20 hospitals and 15,000 killings ago.

Thanks @BelleHathor @Efacsen @MissyB1

another one worth a quick watch is the Xmas video message from the Palestinian Ambassador to the UK, Husam Zomlot. His words are sad but still hopeful.

https://www.instagram.com/tv/C1ID5XeASAB/?igsh=MTcwZjFjNng4YmJ6Zg==

What do you think is happening there?

The church isn't under attack and all the reports are lies?
Hamas spent time scoping out the church and used snipers to shoot two women whilst the IDF sat in their tank and watched on?
The women got caught in sniper cross fire? You know what snipers are trained to do and how unlikely that is, right?
The church is being besieged by Hamas and the occupants of the church hallucinated tanks?

If there was a tank there then it was IDF.

I can understand why you wouldn't believe anything Hamas say but what is your excuse for doubting the reports of civilians?

How are people able to hold onto the idea that the IDF can do no wrong when there is a mountain of evidence to prove otherwise?

Thanks @Desertrose2023 still pertinent 20 yrs after it was written

Saw some photos earlier of Bethlehem usually bustling with tourists and Christmas joy at this time of year - closed shops, deserted streets, no usual Christmas decorations or tree and the baby Jesus in the crib nestled in rubble [in sympathy with Gazas plight],

Plus IDF tanks blocking all the roads into the town

Yes, thank you DesertRose 💐

@Desertrose2023 thank you so much for posting that. What a powerful piece of poetry, and so very true and very relevant right now.

Christmas Has Been Shot

Christmas has been shot away this year,
There are too many choppers chopping up the sky
Too many bullets in the air for good tidings,
There will be no Christ and no mass
And darkness has fallen upon the land.
No one shall make a joyful noise unto the Lord
Or serve the Lord with gladness,
No one shall come before his presence with singing,
And Palestinian Christians who want to declare
The name of the Lord in Jerusalem
Or glorify the boy in Bethlehem
Have been told to piss off to Jordan,
Syria or Iraq.

All the saints have been told
To wait for the resumption of peace talks
And the angels of the Lord have been told
To wait until the Americans are ready
Because Zion means something else now,
And yes it was written that the truth shall flow
From the mouths of babe and suckling,
But babes and sucklings beware
The soldiers have orders to kill,
And the spirit of King Herod is alive.
They're not doing Christmas this year,
It has been shot away'And anyway
Christ is no messiah,' said the soldier
'This is our Promised Land. '

What we see over Bethlehem this year
Is a spineless, skeleton of a Christmas,
A Christmas that has been occupied, strangled
And driven to tears, crying tear gas and burning,
It's a Christmas that has no songs or sermons
Except the song of the bomber;
As loud as dying
As quiet as death.
Welcome to the birthplace of his holiness
Welcome to the humiliation of the natives,
Here even flowers are shot down
If they fly the local flag,
You will not hear the bells of Christmas
And you will not hear the women sing.
'And let me tell you something else,'
said the soldier
'No virgin gave birth here - we wouldn't allow it.'

Sorry gentiles
It looks like it's gonna be a cold Christmas,
Ain't no spirit of the Lord moving over the manger
Just a nuclear power
Flying in from Tel Aviv via Washington DC.
The power of the almighty has come for sure
To suck Christmas dryAnd to blow Christmas away.
There will be no mercyAnd no rejoicing
And no worshipping any little Black Palestinian boy,
And no crosses
And no three wise women or men
And no Arab shepherds,
Because Christmas has been done in
Christmas is coughing and choking
Christmas has been hit by bullets from the west,
So if you want to do Christmas this year
Take a bible,
Sit indoors,
And do your own thing,
Just don't do it in Bethlehem.

In memory of Benjamin Zephaniah, the poet and life long supporter of Palestine who recently passed away, here is his poem on Palestine published over 20 years ago in his book Too Black Too Strong.

@Silence1 that article is Heartbreaking, particularly the point that even when the bombing stops there will be nowhere for civilians to go back to and no infrastructure to enable them to live there again. Israel have made sure they cannot rebuild their lives.

Fair enough. It's what you're suggesting.

The empathy for those being terrorised and murdered is so touching.

You can literally read what I said, rather than make up things I didn't.

So people are pretending to get shot and pretending to be starving and besieged in a church? Is that what you're saying?

As mentioned previously too

The spokesperson couldn't even get the church right
He was was talking about a different church in a different area which Layla Moran had to point out

If they were not operational in the area where did it come from that they were going to allow a two hour window for people to use the toilet? And deliver food there as it was besieged?
It doesn't make sense

And in this instance I would trust Layla Moran than the IDF. And the Pope