Ceasefire Homecomings
After 15 months of fighting, thousands of displaced Palestinians are headed home (watch them stream in).
Israeli troops withdrew from a coastal road in Gaza on Monday, allowing Palestinians (300,000 by Hamas’s count) to leave southern shelters—schools, refugee camps, and relatives’ homes—for the northern Strip. Many will find only rubble, with satellite images showing 60% of northern buildings damaged or destroyed. Gaza’s health ministry says over 47,000 Palestinians have been killed in the conflict.
The migration was delayed 48 hours after Hamas didn’t release an expected civilian hostage on Saturday, then resumed after Hamas agreed to release her and others this week. Hamas also confirmed Israeli intelligence that only 18 of the remaining 26 hostages set to be released in phase one of the deal are alive.
Phase two negotiations are set to begin next week.
(We’re also covering this story tomorrow in Decaf, The Pour Over for Families. Sign up—for free—here.)
CHRISTIAN RESPONSE
Pray for the brokenhearted on both sides of the conflict to experience the comfort of Christ. He volunteered to leave his home to suffer terribly in our place so that we could live with him eternally in a world free of sin and its pains.
“Look, God’s dwelling is with humanity, and he will live with them. They will be his peoples, and God himself will be with them and will be their God. He will wipe away every tear from their eyes. Death will be no more; grief, crying, and pain will be no more, because the previous things have passed away.”
Revelation 21:3–4 (CSB) (read full passage)