Israeli soldiers raided a hospital in isolated northern Gaza after forcing all the patients and most of the doctors to leave, the Palestinian Health Ministry said Tuesday. The Israeli military confirmed its troops had entered the Indonesian Hospital in the town of Jabaliya as part of an operation searching for Hamas

The Israeli military on Tuesday reportedly ordered the evacuation of a hospital in the contested northern Gaza Strip, as the Israeli parliament voted to extend the state of emergency in the country for another year.

Every night without fail, a mobile phone rings in the Holy Family church in Gaza, and a parish priest answers. The voice at the end of the line is that of Pope Francis, head of the Catholic Church and spiritual leader to a global flock of 1.

Some say that the community is in danger of losing its 1,600-year foothold in the enclave and that it is far from certain those who have fled will ever feel safe enough to return home.

There are not the usual cheerful street decorations nor the giant Christmas tree in front of the Nativity Church, built over the spot where it is believed that Jesus was born. Public celebrations of Christmas have been cancelled for a second year because of the war in Gaza.

The city of Bethlehem in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, the traditional birthplace of Jesus, will not have the usual trappings of the city's favorite holiday: no public Christmas tree, no raucous scouts march,

At Bethlehem in the occupied West Bank, the birthplace of Jesus Christ, residents and businesses are facing the effects of the Israel-Hamas war during the holiday season. The city, usually filled with tourists during this time,