I am very pleased to say that despite all the odds being stacked against it, Al Ahli hospital has managed to reopen today. Our amazing and courageous staff deserve enormous credit for this. The sacred ministry of care and healing can continue.
Richard Sewell
3,149 posts
Richard Sewell
@sgcjerusalem
Dean of St George’s College, Jerusalem. Also husband, father and sports lover and life long Weller fan
Jerusalem
Joined January 2011
- Disaster: our hospital, Ahli Arab hospital has taken a direct hit from an Israeli missile. Early reports say hundreds of women and children killed. This is deliberate killing of vulnerable civilians. The bombs must stop now. There can be no possible justification for this.
- Deeply disturbed and shocked that a member of our church in Birzeit in Occupied West Bank has been arrested by Israeli forces. Layan Nasir is a 23 year old Palestinian Christian. Family don’t know where she is being held. Great concern and prayers for Layan and her family.
- Christians in Jerusalem gathered for prayer and to oppose bombing of civilians in Gaza and all destructive violence. The Latin Patriarch gave a message of encouragement and we lit candles to remember the dead and to counter the darkness. Chanting The Beatitudes in Aramaic.
00:00 - The distressing news just keeps on coming: IDF has forced closure of our Al Ahli Hospital in Gaza and detained most of our staff. Just skeleton staff remains to tend to over one hundred seriously wounded patients. No running water and no electricity. Hardly even shocked now.
- Awful news: Ahli Anglican Hospital in Gaza City has just been hit by a missile. Thankfully no one injured, but one of the floors in the diagnostic building was partially destroyed. Israel says it doesn’t target civilians or non military institutions, but it keeps on happening.
- I am really sorry and upset to have to report that Israel has extended the administrative detention of Layan Nasir for a further four months. Devastating news for Layan, her family and everyone close to her #freelayan
- Totally appalled by report from the Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem - an IDF sniper shot and killed two Catholics (mother and daughter) in the church compound where they were sheltering. 7 others wounded who were trying help. The Christian community has taken an awful blow 1/2
- Emergency: Israeli military tanks have set up a siege around our Al-Ahli hospital. Israeli forces have mounted an assault on the last functioning hospital in N Gaza. Now injured people have nowhere to go for treatment. Deeply shocking.
- We were able to celebrate Christmas in Bethlehem. Anglicans from Jerusalem and the West Bank worshipped in the Basilica of the Nativity on Christmas Eve. We sang carols defiantly in the face of the darkness surrounding us in Gaza and the WB. The streets were empty and we grieve.
- A full moon over St George’s Cathedral in Jerusalem looks more like a remarkable star.
- Happy St George’s Day! St George is beloved by Palestinian Christians, especially because his roots are in Palestine. His shrine is in Al-Lydd/Lod, near Tel Aviv. Palestinian Christians channel the spirit of St George because of his courage and his victory over tyranny.
- I am just hearing that our Al Ahli Hospital in Gaza City was hit by two missiles last night. Today the complete evacuation of the hospital has been ordered. Full information yet to be received. Deeply distressing.
- Palm Sunday dawns on the Mt of Olives. This will be like no other Palm Sunday in recent times. Most requests for permits for West Bankers have been refused. We will process with a deep sense of grief and sadness at the atrocities in Gaza and across the Land.
