O Ye Faithful

 

All Things That Matter Press, true to its mission, has published another of my books. The link to Amazon is to the right on this blog. Below is the sample story from collection of stories.

O, Ye Faithful

And fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul:

But rather fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.

Mariam was seated in her family room, watching news on the TV. Her thoughts were aloof and poignant. Some sort of poignant aloofness, which had become a part of her psyche and spirit since her little daughter had contracted AIDS.  Three long, bitter years since that horrible car accident.  Her daughter, Crystal had lain bleeding in the hospital, and blood infusion had made her the victim of AIDS.  Mariam had lost faith in God after this great tragedy. God had left her heart. He had abandoned her to the mercy of this cruel world.

Mariam was watching the colors on the screen, not heeding the words. Her thoughts were reaching out to her daughter.  Straying in realms cruel and malign, where scorn and malice were the proud queens in this land sacred and civilized!  Her own homeland!  Her gold city!  Her New York!  Her own beloved America!

This very day was the Fall Quarter of school year. Crystal had returned to school. All were astir, exultant reporters, incensed parents, insensate children, and the relentless horde of New York.  All had gathered together in one mass of rage and indignation.  Clamoring about the injustice of letting a child with AIDS to attend school!  The school yard was teeming with parents of the healthy children, protesting against the justice of the Court in permitting Crystal to attend school.

Mariam's thoughts were swimming in little pools of rage and torment, as she kept watching TV.  Not even acknowledging the presence of her husband, who had just drifted into the room, and had seated himself beside her.

I want to keep my kids at home where they are safe— one irate mother was commenting.  The flash of lightning in her gaze piercing the TV screen!

"God, dear God!" Mariam exclaimed suddenly. "What insufferable arrogance? Safe from what, does she know?  Is anyone safe in this besotted world of malice and cruelty?  Can one divine the hour of death?  Can one ward off misfortunes?  Is death not inevitable?  Does she have any fear of God?  No pity in her heart!  No love for the innocent children, but for her own healthy brood!  Do homes promise safety?  Can one not die in sleep?  What about the fires, floods, storms, hurricanes?  AIDS is not contagious.  If it was, I would be the first one not to permit Crystal to attend school.  How could I endure the agony of knowing that other children would be infected?"  She turned to her husband, as if pleading. "Oh, Peter, is there no help from God?  No mercy, no comfort, no consolation!  Crystal, my poor baby, how she suffers, the insults and cruelty?  No friends, how stricken and bewildered she looks—"

"Mary," Peter began soothingly. "You would tear your heart to pieces, if you go on like this.  Crystal needs us, she needs our love.  She needs—you," his tone was vehement abruptly.  "No one has any friends, Mary, no one, but parasites and flatterers.  Greed and gluttony!  Malice and deceit!  The inherent virtues in all of us, and they are virtues, believe me.  The vices are but few, stupidity and ignorance!  Do you think that the misfortunes of one move the other to pity or kindness?  No, Mary, no!  People gloat over the misfortunes of the others.  One cannot fight against ignorance, Mary, and certainly, not against malefic evil in each and every heart!"

"Peter," Mary murmured absently. "I thought I am the only one losing faith in God.  You have too?  No hope from God, no faith in God.  Can we still call ourselves Christians?  We have become godless.  Surely, there must be some goodness in people's hearts?  They are not all evil.  Let us pray, Peter, let us pray to God.  Let us renew our hope—"

"Which God, Mary!"  Peter interrupted fiercely.  "The gods and goddesses of the pagans, where are they now?  Brahma, Buddha, Jehovah, Jesus, Muhammed, do they help the afflicted?  The gods are dead.  No love in our hearts, no Salvation in Faith, no comfort in prayers."  His thoughts were throbbing and foundering.  "Though, I do believe in goodness, in us and in others and in love."

"I am not strong, Peter."  Mariam lamented softly.  "I am weak.  I can't think.  I can't even think of going to church. Remember, the forced smiles of our congregation, the averted looks, and the cold greetings.  The reek of pity!  I wish I can find comfort in Bible as I did before."  Her gaze was searching her husband's eyes.  "I know you love reading, but why are you reading a host of religious books these days?  The book on Calvinistic theology, is that the one you keep by your pillow?  Quran, Bhagavad-Gita, the teachings of Buddha!  What are you trying to learn from all these books?  Some cure for your pain?"

"I have learnt nothing, Mary, nothing!"  Peter intoned rather passionately.  "Gita is too profound for my meager intellect, the concept of non-duality?  Quran, nothing new in there, but repetition of stories from the Bible!  I should get back to my philosophers. Spinoza.  Light displays both, itself and darkness.  Though, reading him has not helped me all this time. I haven't seen any light, but I know what darkness is," he got to his feet.  "Let us go to bed early.  Hoping that Crystal would have no more nightmares!"

"Blessed are they that mourn; for they shall be comforted."  Mariam's sad murmur was swallowed by Crystal's screams.

Both Peter and Mariam were flying to their daughter's bedside.

"Mom, dad, help, help—"   Crystal was screaming in her sleep.

"Crystal, my love, mommy is here."  Mariam was stroking Crystal's hair.

"They are beating, beat—ing—"   Crystal was sobbing amidst her dreams.

"Hush, darling, hush. Daddy is right here."  Peter was holding his daughter's hand.

Finally, Crystal was soothed, cradled between her parents.  She was sleeping.  Peter pretending to sleep!  And Mariam was reliving the nightmares of her daughter. 

Since Crystal had returned to school, her sleep was pierced by terrible nightmares. She would dream that she was running, running.  And a horde of kids were following her.  They were threatening to kill her.  Circling around her!  Then they would turn to snakes, lizards and all sorts of imaginable beasts.  Hissing and snarling with frenzy.

Dreams like these had become Crystal's living foes and inviolate nightmares for Peter and Mariam.  The protests of the parents had softened with time, and most of the children had returned to school.  Even Mariam had made her peace with God.

Crystal is going to die.  Mariam's own thoughts would hiss and warn!  Yes, she would die.  Knowing only the sting of hatred and rejection?  She would die unloved by her classmates and friendless in this swarming ocean of children.  She would think in utter despair.

And right now, this despair was fresh, when she faced her daughter who had just returned from school.

"I don't want to go to school, Mom, I don't want to."  Crystal complained, as soon as she tossed her bag in one corner.  "Why do I have to?"

"School is so much fun, my love!"  Mariam elicited one bright smile.  "You would be bored stiff if you stayed home."

"No one talks to me."  Crystal pouted her lips.  “No one plays with me.  No one likes me."

"You are much too sensitive, love."  Mariam attempted to soothe and reason.  "You haven't seen your friends all summer.  It takes time— to start the friendships all over again."

"I have no friends, Mom."  Crystal cried, forcing back her tears.  "No friends.  No one comes here.  I am not allowed— I have AIDS.  Am I going to die, Mom, am I?"

"My baby!"  Mariam folded Crystal into her arms.  "You are not going to die, love.  You are going to get well.  You would have lots and lots of friends—" She ceased to speak, watching Peter come into the room.

"Is this the way to cheer your dad, darling?"  Peter flashed a bright smile at Crystal.  "Who is going to Kings Island with me tomorrow?  Not you, if you cry.  Mommy is so scared of all the rides; you have to sit with me."

"I have no friends, no friends."  Crystal sobbed.

"New York is friendless, my pet."  Peter lifted her into his arms, suspending her high up.  "We are moving to Ohio.  Plenty of friends there!  Now, give your daddy a big smile.  That's it!"  He laughed, watching her smile through her tears.

The gloomy afternoon dwindled into a gloomier evening. Peter and Mariam sat at the dining table, with Crystal still unappeased.

"Am I really going to die, Dad?"  Crystal asked abruptly.

"All of us have to die, darling.  Sometime or the other!"  Peter tried to soothe her fear and curiosity.  "No one really knows, when. And no one likes to know, when.  All that lives must die, my pet.  That is the law of nature."  He stole a glance at Mariam.  Then he continued thoughtfully, as if Crystal was not a child, but a mature adult.  "The men, women, the birds and the beasts, all have to die.  Young or old!  Poor or rich!  All must taste death.  Life is not eternal."

"What is eternal, Dad?"  Crystal's fear was diverted by this big, strange word.

"It means, forever, darling."  Peter expounded.  "Nothing lasts forever."  He murmured to himself.

"Forever!"  Crystal repeated with a quick smile.  "I will be with you forever, Dad.  And Mom!  Will you be with me, Mom, when I die?"

"Yes, my love, always."  Mariam smiled.  Her heart wounded and bleeding!

"Think about life, darling.  And about love, our love," Peter coaxed.

"Will I go to heaven after I die?"  Crystal asked heedlessly.

"Yes, darling, yes."  Peter was trying his best to be cheerful, but his thoughts were straying and swarming.  "Heaven, especially, is made for little girls like you.  Your innocence alone is the ticket to heaven.  Children know no sin."

"What is sin, Dad?"  Crystal was in a loquacious mood.

"When one does something bad."  Peter struggled with his thoughts.  "Or, when one hurts someone!"

"We are going to have so much fun at Kings Island."  Mariam tried to divert Crystal's attention from such morbid thoughts.

"All the kids in school are bad."  Crystal declared.  "They don't talk to me.  They are sin."

"Oh, love."  Mariam could only murmur.

"My pet."  Was Peter's mild reproof!

"All kids hate me."  Crystal continued assiduously.  "They hate me."

"Come, pet, we have to get that poodle from the Mall."  Peter got to his feet.

The autumn with the loveliest of its colors had succumbed to the death in winter.  And Mariam's heart had the same chill and darkness inside its pulsating womb as before.

What does one hope to achieve in this sea of madness and suffering.  Mariam would think inside the bliss of her own oblivion.  This life! This black, wretched misery!  This churning despair!  This groaning, throbbing hopelessness.  She was wont to find refuge in this sea of hopeless, helpless pain.

Such pain was visiting her again, as she handed the clean dishes to Peter for drying.

"You startled me last night, Mary.  Startled me out of my wits and sanity!"  Peter commented.

"Oh, it was horrible, Peter.  The worst nightmare I have ever had."  Mariam sought the armless chair, and sank into it as if gasping for breath.  "Did I tell you all?  The dream was so real.  I had gone to get Crystal from school.  I couldn't find her.  Then I noticed a throng of teenagers carrying an un-lidded casket.  Crystal was in that casket.  Her features pale and twisted!  Her eyes were bright.  The fear of death shining in them!  The boys, the girls, they were lowering this casket down and down.  Crystal was screaming.  Help, help, mom, dad!"

"Mary, love, didn't I tell you not to read any magazine."  Peter's tone was consoling, yet harsh.  "This is no nightmare, but a facsimile of vulgarity in print.  Didn't you see such a scene depicted on the cover of Newsweek?  The cover story!  I am going to cancel all subscriptions.  We don't need the help of the besotted artists."

"No use pretending, Peter that we are not suffering."  Mariam murmured gently.  "Yet, I am suffering less, now that Crystal has conjured up a friend, and seems happy!  Haven't you noticed?"

"A friend!"  Peter asked incredulously.

"Yes, a friend."  Mariam intoned reminiscently.  "Her fantasy friend—a dear, dear friend at school!"

"Why do you think, she conjured up this friend?"  Peter asked intently.  "Does this friend of hers have a name?"

"I didn't ask, Peter."  Mariam murmured.  "I know, Peter, I—"   She couldn't finish, for Crystal came sailing into the kitchen.

"I am hungry, Mom."  Crystal chirped happily.  "Are we ready to eat?"

"Yes, love, yes."  Mariam smiled.

"How are we doing in school?"  Peter inquired endearingly.

"Better, Dad!"  Crystal claimed her seat.  "Didn't mom tell you, I have a friend, now?"

"Well, tell your dad your friend's name."  Peter asked.  "Your mom never tells me anything."

"Ma—ggy."  Was Crystal's laconic response!

"Where does she live?"  Peter prodded further.

"Not she, Dad.  He!  A boy!"  Crystal laughed.

"Oh, Magi, you mean."  Peter murmured low.

"Ma—ggy, that's what I said, Dad.  He lives in the country."

"What an unusual name."  Peter thought aloud.

"Maggy is very nice.  And very handsome."  Crystal was saying.  "He came from, he told me, I don't know.  He sits by me.  When our math teacher asks us to close our eyes and pray.  He prays with me.  Do you know what he says, Dad?  And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.  For Thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, forever, Amen.  What is evil, Dad?"  Was her abrupt query.

"Evil means, not good, darling."  Peter was watching her tenderly.  "If one hurts someone!  If one makes someone unhappy.  These acts make one evil, if they have hurt someone, or made others unhappy."  He couldn't explain, his thoughts foundering inside realms profound.  "One's own sin toward one’s own self, or toward others makes one evil.  And evil in one's mind and heart makes one commit sin."

"I know, Dad."  Crystal snatched the pause.  "Like all the kids in school.  They are sin!"

"No, love, people are not sin."  Mariam smiled.  "If they commit sin, they are called sinful.  That means, full of sin."

"All kids ignore Maggy, as they do me."  Crystal continued heedlessly.  "No one talks to him.  They don't even see him.  Just like me, they look at me as if I am not there.  Maggy doesn't like lunch, but I make him share from my tray.  At recess, we sit on the swing and talk.  He is the bestest of my friends, and funny too."

"Invite him here, love—"   Mariam could not continue, cursing her for her own indiscretion.

"Maggy helps his dad at the farm."  Crystal began hastily.  "He says he has no time.  He is going to take me to his farm, show me the pigs, sheep.  He has horses.  I want a pony, Dad, can I?"  She asked abruptly.

"Yes, my pet, when we move to the country."  Peter responded wistfully.

 

"Can we, Dad, can we?"  Crystal clapped her hands.  “Maggy's dad has a big farm.  A big house too.  We can move close to Maggy."  She was distracted by the chimes from the Ormolu clock, announcing the hour of her cartoons.  "I am excused, aren't I—"   She sailed out of the kitchen happily.

The dusk in the evening was replaced by chill and bleakness, as Peter and Mariam lay in bed.  Both wearied and distraught, both trying to sleep!

"Magi is an unusual name, Mary."  Peter murmured to himself.  "Her friend must be real?  She has a wild imagination, I know.  But she is not the one to imagine a friend, so close to reality."

"She is hallucinating, Peter."  Mariam, too, demurred aloud.  "A mother knows.  Last Tuesday, I watched her from the window.  As I wait for her every day when it's time for her to come home from school.  But that day, I could notice she was talking to herself.  As if saying goodbye to someone!  When she came inside, she literally flew into my arms.  Did you see Maggy, Mom?"  She babbled away.  He walked home with me.  He will be going away to see an old friend, I don't know what all she said."  She sighed to herself.  "Do you think, Peter that even children, to shut out the pain and horror in living, find refuge in reveries and delusions?"

"Purity and innocence in a child's heart are their mighty weapons against cruelty in this world."  Peter commented tonelessly.  "Unarmed and exposed to danger, we all succumb to the assaults of deceit and injustice.  But very few of us, who can reclaim the purity and innocence within, can find shelter in hopes, if not in dreams.  More so the children, for they have not lost their purity and innocence, yet."

"Do we not live in a civilized world?"  Mariam appeared to question her own doubts.  "In a civilized world, preaching love, mercy and compassion!"

"Self-love, self-mercy, self-compassion."  Peter's tones were dreamy.  "History cannot help, but repeat itself.  Nothing would ever teach mankind to love others.  Civilized world, indeed!  What do the poor, the homeless, the afflicted and the unfortunate, receive from this civilized world?  Nothing, but disgust and mockery!  Famines still abound.  Deaths and hungers graze not the greed and gluttony of the wealthy nations.  The ages past and tragic!  Dark and blackened with tragedies!  The Bubonic plague!  The Great London plague.  What did people do then?  They looked upon the suffered and the suffering with loathing and revulsion.  Fleeing, fleeing."  He closed his eyes.

 

The white purity in winter had chilled and soothed Mariam's heart.  She had espoused peace.  She had ceased to think, knowing only that her daughter had found the crumbs of happiness.  Rarely would her thoughts approach the silent abyss inside her, but when they did, she could feel the raging storms underneath its calm surface.  Then she could hear her thoughts, raving and ranting, within the very fibers of her soul.

My daughter is suffering.  Suffering terribly!  Lonesome and friendless.  She is dying, dying.  Mariam had become accustomed to these agonized chants within her.

This very evening, Mariam was aware of these familiar chants, as she sat cuddled on the sofa, her head leaning to one side.  Crystal was sleeping in her bedroom.  She had fever, and was resting.  Mariam's thoughts were burning and unresting.

Already the end of another year!  The death of time!  The birth of a new year!  No, only December.  Mariam could taste the odor of fatigue and hopelessness in her thoughts.  Christmas songs!  Christian charity!  Commercial fever!  Gifts, feasts, festive celebrations!  No joy, no hope, no love, no peace?  No songs in my heart. Only the gifts of pains, fears and sorrows!  She was looking into the eyes of death.

So abysmal, so profound was the ocean of pain inside her that she didn't hear Peter's approach.  Not until he kissed her softly on the cheek.  He had just returned from work.

"Where is Crystal, doing her homework?"  Peter asked abstractedly.

"She is sleeping."  Was Mariam's involuntary response!  "A little feverish.  Raving.  Raving about Magi, as if he is real!  I think she is going insane, peter."  Despair was shining in her eyes.

"She is as sane as any normal child, Mary."  Peter's tone was soothing.  "Any normal child, who has learned to suffer the pain in living and has discovered the mystery of unsuffering.  If we didn't lose ourselves in happy dreams now and then, we all would go stark mad."  He failed in his attempt to smile.

"She is dying."  Mariam murmured inaudibly.

"We are not alone, darling, we have each other."  Peter claimed her hands and kissed them slowly.  "Together in joy and grief!  We still have Crystal, we have hope!"  He seemed stunned by the stark naked misery and despair in his wife's eyes.  "I am not only losing my daughter, but my wife."  He felt choked by the flood of misery inside his own heart.

"Peter."  Mariam could only mutter.  And in that one word were all her pain, all her love, all her agony.

"Mary."  Peter could think of no words of comfort.  "Rock Hudson died today."

"Poor man, how tragic!"  Was Mariam's poignant response.  "How the Press hounds even the dead?  How one slides down the ladder of acclaim to the rung of ignominy by the crafty words of the reporters?"

"Self-righteousness would lead us all to the doors of damnation."  Peter elicited one snort of laughter.  "Let us see if Crystal is really sleeping, or conjuring up dreams.  Or, talking with Magi!"  He held out his hands to assist her to her feet.

"Dad, I don't have a fever. Mom doesn't know."  Crystal sprang up in her bed, as soon as Peter and Mariam approached her.

"Moms don't know anything."  Mariam smiled.

"Did mom tell you, Dad, Magi invited me to his house?  Mom says I am allowed.  But I have to ask you.  Can I go, Dad, can I?"  Crystal asked with a feverish excitement.

"Can you, my pet!"  Peter teased.  "You may, darling, if your mom is wrong in assuming that you have fever."

"Maggy says he will take me home right after school.  Tomorrow, that is."  Crystal bubbled with enthusiasm.  "He says his mom loves little girls.  She baked hot-cross buns just for me.  I told him I am not a little girl.  He said his mom will love me anyways.  I am a big girl, Dad, ain't I?"

"You are still my little pet, darling."  Peter murmured effusively.

"You are warm, love.  And little moist!" Mariam was pressing Crystal's brow tenderly.

"Maggy says he loves his mom."  Crystal was chirping feverishly.  "She loves him too, but she loves little girls.  She may want to keep me forever, he says.  I told him I love my mom, and dad.  Very, very much!  And I don't want to leave them.  Never, never!  He looked at me very, very sad."  She put her own small hands on top of her mom's comforting ones.  "Very, very sad, Mom, You know, the way you look at me sometimes."  Her eyes were seeking her dad's attention.  "And then, Dad, he was so quiet.  I asked him why he was sad and not talking.  He said I am not sad.  I am just like you, listening to you.  And then, Dad, he said something very smart.  I don't understand.  We all have to leave our parents someday, but then we will meet them in heaven.  You mean when we all die, I said.  But he didn't talk.  He was sad and quiet again.  I asked him if he prayed.  He said, yes. I pray for the kids, for the world, he said. Isn't it smart, Dad?  And then he said something else.  He who fashions you in the—"   She couldn't remember, her eyes shining.

"He it is Who fashions you in the wombs as He wills; there is no God but He, the Mighty, the wise."  Peter quoted.  Some sort of chill cutting through his soul like a blade of ice.

"That's it, Dad, he said that!"  Crystal clapped happily.  "I told him my dad is very, very smart—" She paused.  A dreamy look alighting in her eyes.  "Sometimes I don't understand him, Dad.  I told him kids are bad.  They are sinful.  They don't love us, they hate everyone.  He said, they do not know, they do not know.  I don't understand, Dad.  Why is he so sad and quiet sometimes?"

"You mustn't say such things, love, about the kids."  Mariam shot her a mild reproof.

"He doesn't care, Mom."  Crystal closed her eyes.  "Everyone ignores him.  Maggy says nothing bad to anyone. But I tell him, all the kids are bad.  They don't talk to us.  They don't play with us.  But he becomes very, very sad. I don't want to make him sad, Mom.  I don't care if no one talks to me.  I want them to talk to Maggy.  He is so nice.  I will see him tomorrow— oh, Mom!  My head, hurting, hurting!"

The sunless morning with gray mists was sprinkling snow on the road as Peter drove to work.  His friend, Dr. Hazel had made a house visit and had prescribed Tylenol for Crystal.  Crystal had spent a restless night, but had found comfort in deep sleep in the early hours of the morning.  Then Mariam herself had snatched a few hours of rest.  Now she was wide awake, and listening to the night sounds, which she actually had heard from Crystal's lips in disturbed sleep.

Mom, I am so happy.  I will never leave you.  Never, never, Mom!  Marian could still hear her daughter's voice as she peeked into her room.  Crystal herself was wide awake.

"How are you feeling, love?"  Mariam kissed her on the brow.

"Fine, Mom, fine."  Crystal chirped brightly.  "I can't wait; I am going to Maggy's house."

"Yes, love, yes."  Mariam felt her pulse.  "Would you like a glass of juice?"

"Yes, please," was Crystal's keen response.

"Here, love. Drink this and two more Tylenols."  Mariam held out the tablets and a glass of juice.

"Sleepy again."  Crystal murmured, after swallowing the pills obediently.

"You didn't sleep well all night, love. So, you must rest."  Mariam smoothed the comforter over her fondly.

The early afternoon with a sprinkling of snow was greeting a little sunshine, as Mariam paced in her family room abstractedly.  Crystal was still sleeping, and her thoughts were seeking the chamber of mourning, where her mute laments were silenced forever.  Involuntarily, her feet were leading her toward her daughter's bedroom.  Crystal was awake.  She had begun to cough.  Tears gathering into her eyes due to the violence of coughing!

"I am hungry, Mom."  Crystal was laughing through her tears.

"Chicken soup, coming up!" Mariam retraced her steps.

"Mom, Maggy came to see me—"   Crystal was swallowing spoons full of chicken soup after Mariam balanced the tray in her lap.  "I woke up, my head was hurting.  He touched my forehead, my head stopped hurting."

"I didn't see him, love."  Mariam murmured low.  "You couldn't, Mom."  Crystal's eyes were shining.  “He said you were sleeping on the sofa.  He didn't want to disturb you."

"He didn't go to school."  Mariam commented to herself.

"Oh, Mom."  Crystal began to laugh.  He was in school.  When he didn't see me he asked the teacher if she would let him come to see me.  He came on his lunch break.  He said he will come after school.  We will see his mom.  You said I could go?"

"Yes, love, yes, if you feel better."  Mariam consoled absently.

"We will have so much fun, Mom."  Crystal was bubbling with joy.  “Maggy says they have a big garden.  Very, very big trees!  Apple, peach, all kinds!  No fruit now, but his mom made jams.  They have a big lake, very, very big.  Cows, goats and sheep and—"   She paused as if thinking.

"More soup, love."  Mariam ventured softly.

"No, Mom. Thank you.  Bathroom."  Crystal lumbered to her feet.

"Let me help you, love."  Mariam held out her hands.

"Mom!  I am not sick.  No fever."  Crystal leaped down from her bed, and scurried to the bathroom.

"My head is hurting again."  Crystal murmured after returning from the bathroom.

"Let me press your head."  Mariam seated herself on the bed, giving her a gentle massage.

Crystal fell asleep instantly.  She was murmuring, Maggy, Maggy, her face transfigured with joy.

Another bleak day with the looming threat of death and surcease!  Crystal was still feverish and restless.  Raving in her sleep, and talking about Magi when awake.  This windy afternoon, Peter had come home early.  Both he and Mariam were plodding toward their daughter's bedroom, weighed down with sorrow.

"How is my little pet?"  Peter asked Mariam before entering Crystal's room.

"Her fever is abating, I think."  Was Mariam's tender response.  She raves, though, in all her waking, sleeping hours.  I heard her just this morning, in her sleep, of course.  O, ye of little faith. O, ye of little faith.  I am partly to blame.  Indulging in all her whims and dreams!  She thinks, Magi is coming this evening."

"Maybe!  He will come!"  Was Peter's thoughtless response, as he entered his daughter's room.  Finding her awake, he summoned a smile. "How is my little pet?"  He kissed her cheek.

"Fine, Dad."  Crystal chirped brightly.  "Did mom tell you, Maggy was here?  He was here, Dad.  My head was hurting.  He put his hand on my head, my hurt went away.  He is coming. I will see his mom.  Mom said, I can!  Can I, Dad?"

"Yes."  Peter murmured, his thoughts distracted beyond reason.

"My head is not hurting anymore."  Crystal continued sprightfully.  "Do you know, Dad, Maggy has a big house, very, very big.  A big lake, a big garden!  I like to—” Her voice was choked by a sudden fit of coughing.

"Here, have some water, love."  Mariam patted her on the back, holding out a glass of water.

"My head is hurting again."  Crystal took one sip, and tossed her head on the pillow.

"Would you like more soup?"  Mariam asked.

"Yes, please."  Crystal sprang up to a couchant position, watching her mother leave.

"I don't understand, Dad, when Maggy puts his hand on my head, my hurt goes away."  Crystal began quickly after her mother was gone to warm the soup.  "I am so happy when I see him. I can play in the snow all day, with him.  He is so nice, Dad.  Very smart, very, very good looking!  You will like him, Dad, won't you?

"Yes, my pet."  Peter murmured feebly.

Mariam returned with a bowl of hot soup in the tray.  This time, Crystal joined her hands in prayer before touching her soup.

"Thank you Lord for all these tender mercies of Thine and for Thy food, Amen."  Crystal's eyes were shining with pride.  "Maggy taught me this prayer."  She attacked her soup ravenously.  "He brought me candy, very, very sweet.  Very good, and we prayed."  She couldn't take another spoonful.  "I am sleepy, I want to—"   She lay back on her pillow, weak and shuddering.

Another day, bright and crystal-clear, but with no hope of light for Peter and Mariam.  Crystal was sleeping and raving in her sleep.  She was rather in a deep, profound swoon, conversing with the angels.  Peter and Mariam were by her side, numb and dazed.  More so with grief and despair, than with fatigue and hopelessness!  Dr. Hazel had just arrived, adding a sliver of hope to this funereal room.

"Maggy is coming!  He is here. See—"   Crystal's voice was jubilant.  "Isn't he nice?  Bye, Mom. Bye, Dad.  Hold my hand, Maggy, Ma—"   A cry of joy sat shuddering on her lips.  Her small body was in convulsions, before it settled down to an imperceptible shudder and then listlessness.

Crystal was warm in her coffin, but the day of her funeral was cold and bright.  The clear, blue skies shimmering like the sheets of ice.  A few stray clouds in the distance were weaving a tapestry in gold lace, but there were famine and desolation in Mariam's heart.  She could not take her eyes off the open casket of her daughter.

My baby, my child!  Gone, gone!  I will never see her, never hear her voice.  She would be so cold here.  Cold and alone!  Alone and friendless, as—the fire of grief in Mariam's heart was ebbing and rippling.

For dust you are and to dust you will return.

The litany of the parson was reaching Mariam.  She stirred as if to snatch her daughter out of this polished casket.  Before she could move, an abrupt thunder from the sky went cleaving through her heart.  Her eyes were lifted to the mirror of cruelty in the sky.  Her gaze suspended there as if searching for something.  A few dark clouds, swollen with tears, were billowing forth with an astonishing speed.  This cold day was slashed with gray, tearless mists.  She was forcing her gaze back to the open casket, but it was arrested on the way to a man of indescribable stature.  In a flash, she had recognized the man, her heart melting inside the fire of disbelief, smoldering and crackling.

This man was no ordinary mortal.  Not a strange mourner.  Neither a hypocrite in tie and suit!  Neither aggrieved, nor grieving.  Certainly not affecting sorrow!  Mariam's sight and thoughts were in swoon.  He was the king, the man-god?  Mourning not the birth of death, but rejoicing at the death of life!  This man was clad in the kingly robe of purest white.  His eyes were as bright as the stars, and his lips as chaste as the heavens.

Maggy. Magi. Christ. Jesus.  Mariam's heart was thundering. She was gazing into the eyes of the Lord.  There were mingling of life and death in those eyes.

Mariam was standing there prisoner to the love and warmth in those eyes.  She was blinded, dazzled.  So awed and humbled was she that she had not noticed Crystal into the arms of this Man, this Savior.  This Friend of the Friendless!  Her sight was restored, her blindness was cured.  The God Himself was holding Crystal into His arms.

Crystal is in me.  In my blood, in the very fibers of my soul!  In the promise of death—in me!  In the prophecy of life—in me!  How can I lose her?  How can I lose a part of my soul?  I have not lost her.  She is with me.  She will be with me, always.  Mariam's thoughts were caught in the rapture of some bliss sublime.

Mariam was beholding the portrait of life. Magi— Crystal, they were illumined, blessed by Christ.  Revealing the purity of love, faith, trust!  The friends eternal, were floating, drifting, and sailing together.

Suddenly, the clouds with tear-streaked eyes were harnessing the sun in its own chariot of gold.  The rain was singing hymns to the Lord.  The thunder was humming the songs of love in honor of the bridegroom.  The wind was whispering the promise of peace to the world.

Mariam's eyes were flooding with tears of joy.  The mist-clouds in her thoughts were pouring bliss.  Her anguish was fleeing, her sorrow and bitterness melting.  Peter was leading her toward the shelter of the trees, where their car was parked.  The rain was pouring in torrents.  The cold, stinging wind was raging and whistling.  Yet, Mariam was oblivious to this stabbing fury in nature.  Her sacredness within was awakening.  She was listening to the holy songs from the very lips of her soul and psyche.

 

Thy lips, O my spouse, drop as the honeycomb; and the smell of thy garments is like the smell of Lebanon.

 

New Year Wishes for Global Peace

 

Palestinian Holocaust

Excerpts from my new book in progress

“We all know the old cliché about the first casualty in war being truth. The powerful and their propagandists need not be smart creatures, only talented—in the same way a serial killer is talented. Talent in making black appear white, a grim picture rosy, a cruel policy necessary.”

“There is a word, better than the ubiquitous genocide to distill the monstrous totality of what is underway in the north of Gaza, and the clarity of the mission: extermination. And this rampage might be the first example of a modern war where its butchers tell you what they’re doing while they’re doing it. What is happening there? asks Moshe Ya’alon, former chief of the Israel Defense Forces, referring to Gaza’s northernmost towns. The army is essentially cleansing the area of ​​Arabs. Starting in early October, the enclave was sealed. No aid allowed in, only people allowed out. Not for the first time were Palestinians, some 200,000 of them, commanded to leave. Their exodus—to where? No place is safe—became a death march, as they were exposed above to the bomber pilots and operators of drones; Salah Al Din Road was and is a shooting gallery. Into November the air campaign thumped on. Hospitals were blasted repeatedly. Individual strikes killed 20, 30, 80 people at a time. On October 29, in the suburb of Beit Lahia, bombs flattened a five-story apartment block, burying under it 93 Palestinians. Perhaps as many as 75,000 people remain in this closing circle. Every last one of them, according to the Israeli army, is a fair target.”

Snippets from The New York Times, UN report of abuse in Israeli detention, savagery behind the scenes, which are worthy of awakening empathy, if not opening a window of global conscience.  “Palestinian detainees were made to sit on their knees for hours with their hands tied, while blindfolded, deprived of food and water. Being urinated on, badly beaten with metal bars, forced into cages and attacked by dogs. Detainees were also made to lie on thin mattresses on top of rubble for hours without food, water or access to toilet, with their legs and hands bound with plastic ties. One woman was threatened by Israeli officers that her whole family would be killed in an airstrike if she didn’t provide more information. One man was forced to sit on an electrical probe that burned his anus. Some Gazans were beaten on their genitals, aggressively searched and sexually groped. One woman was forced to strip in front of male officers. Some of UNRWA staff members were beaten, stripped, humiliated and abused while being detained by Israeli authorities. During interrogations, they were pressured to say that UNRWA had affiliations with Hamas and that its staff members took part in the Oct. 7 attack.”

Netanyahu’s Most Recent Atrocities after striking Kamal Adwan Hospital

December 28, 2024

“There was no limit to the beating. They struck people on the head with hoses. They dragged three people at a time, including an injured person with a cast, and beat them on their heads,” added Rayan. “They spared no one—not the injured, not the elderly, not the children.”

“War required a skill for euphemism of the kind Netanyahu displayed when he said back in January that “Israel has no intention of permanently occupying Gaza or displacing its civilian population.” After Human Rights Watch, in a long mid-November report, starkly accused the Israeli government of causing the “mass and forced displacement of the majority of the civilian population, a widespread and systematic policy that amounts to a crime against humanity,” the Israeli foreign ministry’s spokesperson Oren Marmorstein replied, “Israel’s efforts are directed solely at dismantling Hamas’s terror capabilities.” Sometimes the fables were so blatant you did not know whether to laugh bitterly or shiver.”

“Yet for every hard question dodged and every accusation smoothed over, there is someone like Eiland or Dichter to state the obvious. And what is the obvious? What are they doing? Gaza is the zone where the super technological is used to inflict on an undeserving mass a primitive form of life. Bare life. This is the latest frontier of elegantly computerized mass killing: a new way to carry out an old sin. The prestige of their machines is at stake: AI and algorithms, night-piercing radar, mass surveillance, the avionics of an F-35 jet. Can the killing be done fast enough? Trillions of dollars spent to design, build, arm, and operate a fleet of devices so that for every mother killed in Gaza, six children die with her, in her apartment, in her tent, on their street. The gleam of military might deployed for the vaporizing of families waving white flags and bearing all their worldly goods on their backs.

Palestinian Holocaust

Chapter One

Netanyahu Genocide in Gaza, Rafah

This book chronicles the chronology of atrocities committed by Netanyahu, captured in snippets from news, media, articles and analysis.

Ancient history records Israel as a mythical state torn out of the pages of Biblical Exodus. In modern history it is carved out of Palestine by Imperial British, gifted to Israelis when they evacuated Palestine Year 1948, ending their hold of Divide and Rule.

Key events since the October 7, 2023, attack.

Oct. 7, 2023: Hamas launched an attack on Israel during the Jewish holiday of Simchat Torah — the deadliest attack against Jewish people since the Holocaust. Over 1,100 people were killed and about 250 were taken hostage.

Oct. 8, 2023: Israel declared war against Hamas. A counterattack by Israeli forces in the Gaza Strip, one of two Palestinian territories, killed more than 400 people, including 78 children.

Oct. 9, 2023: Israel ordered a complete siege of Gaza, which was home to more than 2 million Palestinians.

Oct. 20, 2023: An American mother and daughter who were taken hostage by Hamas were released to IDF.

Oct. 27, 2023: Israel launched ground invasion into Palestinian territory. The United Nations General Assembly voted for a resolution, calling for an immediate truce — the U.S. voted against it.

Nov. 6, 2023: Gaza health ministry said more than 10,000 Palestinians had been killed in the first month of the war.

Nov. 24, 2023: Israel and Hamas called for a temporary ceasefire to exchange hostages and prisoners. Hamas released more than 100 Israeli hostages and Israel released 240 Palestinians being held as prisoners. The truce only lasted for one week.

Dec. 4, 2023: Israeli forces pushed into southern Gaza, claiming that Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar, who was credited with planning the Oct. 7 attack, was hiding in the area.

Dec. 22, 2023: More than 20,000 Palestinians had been killed, according to local officials.

Dec. 28, 2023: The U.N. condemned the “rapidly deteriorating human rights situation in the occupied West Bank.”

Jan. 26, 2024: The U.N. International Court of Justice told Israel to do more to prevent more Palestinian civilians from being harmed or killed in Gaza.

Feb. 23, 2024: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu released postwar plans, which included Israel having indefinite military control of Gaza and the southern border.

Feb. 29, 2024: More than 30,000 Palestinians were reported killed.

April 1, 2024: Seven humanitarian aid workers with World Central Kitchen, founded by celebrity chef José Andrés, were killed in Gaza by an Israeli airstrike.

April-May: Columbia University initiated a national wave of student protests on college campuses throughout the U.S.

May 7, 2024: The Israeli army launched a ground attack in Rafah, the southernmost city in Gaza, where a majority of Gazan citizens had relocated to find shelter.

The Rafah Crossing, which connects Gaza and Egypt, is one of the few border areas not controlled by Israel and allows for aid to come into the territory.

June 8, 2024: At least four Israeli hostages are rescued.

July 24, 2024: Netanyahu addressed Congress, pledging a “total victory” against Hamas. During his U.S. trip, Netanyahu met with President Biden, Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump. 

Aug. 6, 2024: Israel announced that the remains of the last missing person from the Oct. 7 attacks had been found.

Aug. 13, 2024: The U.S. approved $20 billion in weapons sales to Israel.

Aug. 15, 2024: More than 40,000 Palestinians had been killed.

Aug. 18, 2024: Hamas rejected the newest U.S. proposal for a Gaza hostage and ceasefire deal, saying, “Netanyahu is still putting obstacles in the way of reaching an agreement, and is setting new conditions and demands with the aim of undermining the mediators' efforts and prolonging the war.”

Aug. 20, 2024: Protesters advocating for a ceasefire between Israelis and Palestinians, were arrested outside of the Democratic National Convention.

Aug. 27, 2024: Israeli forces rescued a 52-year-old hostage from Hamas.

Aug. 31, 2024: At least six Israeli hostages were found dead in a tunnel under Rafah, including Israeli American Hersh Goldberg-Polin, whose parents spoke at the Democratic National Convention.

Sept. 30, 2024: Israel invaded Lebanon targeting the Hezbollah, making it Israel’s sixth invasion of Lebanon in 50 years. Hezbollah claimed it was attacking Israel on behalf of the people in Gaza.

Oct. 4, 2024: Israel launched its deadliest airstrike attack on the West Bank, another Palestinian territory.

Israel's retaliatory offensive had destroyed much of the Gaza Strip and killed more than 42,000 Palestinians. The Gaza Health Ministry did not distinguish between civilians and combatants but said more than half of those killed were women and children.

The U.S. had been working with fellow mediators Egypt and Qatar on a cease-fire proposal since the war began a year ago, sending Blinken and other envoys to the Middle East multiple times to try to broker a deal without success.

Last month, on Blinken’s 10th trip to the region since the war in Gaza began, he skipped Israel and withheld optimistic projections of a breakthrough.

At least 15 killed in strike on former school in Gaza

In other news from the Gaza conflict, at least 15 people were killed in an Israeli strike on a former school building in northern Gaza, a spokesman for the Kamal Adwan hospital said on Thursday.

More than 42,400 people were said to have been killed in Israel's campaign in Gaza following the October 7 attacks last year, according to the Hamas-run authorities, and close to 100,000 injured.

In the Middle East: The conflict had grown beyond Hamas and Gaza. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed to continue the war, while the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah promised to keep fighting Israel.

October 14, 2024

Warning:  Graphic descriptions of death and injury

“There is no conscience. There is no humanity. There are only leaders who watch and do not act”.

That was what Ahmed al-Dalou believed, as the images of his family burning replayed in his mind. He said his life was gone. It died in the inferno of al-Aqsa compound with his boys and wife in the early hours of Monday 14 October.

In front of him on the ground was a shroud, wrapped around the body of Abdulrahman,12, his youngest son.

The child lingered in agony for four days after the fire. The day before he died Ahmed saw him in hospital and he was able to tell his father: “Don’t be worried, I am OK dad. I’m fine. Don’t be afraid.”

Ahmed was half speaking, half crying, as he talked of what had been taken from him.

“Three times I tried to pull Abdulrahman out of the fire, but his body fell back into it.”

His older brother, Sha'aban, 19, and his mother, Alaa, 37, both died on the night of the fire.

Sha'aban became a new symbol of Gaza’s terrible suffering. Images of him writhing in agony as he was burned to death in the family’s tent, were shared around the world on social media.

There were burns all over Ahmed’s face and hands. The tone of his voice was high, a keening sound. Of the anonymous pilot who sent the missile, and the leaders who gave him orders, Ahmed said: “They broke my heart, and they broke my spirit. I wish the fire had burned me.”

The strike happened at about 01:15 local time last Monday.

Four people were killed immediately and dozens more wounded, including many with severe burn injuries.

A spokesperson for the White House told CBS News, the BBC's US partner, that footage of the fire was “deeply disturbing” and called on Israel to do more to protect civilians.

“Israel has a responsibility to do more to avoid civilian casualties, and what happened here is horrifying, even if Hamas was operating near the hospital in an attempt to use civilians as human shields.”

The US and other powers, including Britain, had expressed concern about civilian casualties since the early stages of the war.

People were burned to death, blown to pieces, and shot every day in this war.

Most of the time the death agonies happened away from the cameras. It was the frantic search for survivors in the rubble, the dramatic scenes at hospitals, the endless stream of funerals, that were captured by cameras.

But the death of Sha'aban al-Dalou was different. His hand could be seen, reaching out of the inferno, a figure wrapped in flame, writhing and beyond the reach of any help.

In the days following his death Sha'aban’s own videos and photographs emerged. He was a typical teenager of his generation, aware of the power of social media, adept at recording his daily life.

The burning figure from the night of fire appeared to the world as an articulate, intelligent teenager, a software engineering student, a young man who took care of his family, planning for a new life outside Gaza. He filmed himself donating blood and encouraged others to do the same.

“We saw so many injuries, many children are in dire need of blood. All we demand is for a ceasefire and this tragedy to end.”

We were only able to tell the story of al-Dalou family because of our own local journalist who went to meet the survivors. International journalists from media organizations, including the BBC, were not given independent access to Gaza by Israel.

In a video recorded in the tent where he died Sha'aban described how his family had been displaced five times since the war began a year ago. He had two sisters, and two younger brothers.

“We live in very hard circumstances,” he said. “We suffer from various things such as homelessness, limited food, and extremely limited medicine.”

In the background, as he spoke, there was the loud mechanical hum of an Israeli observation drone, a constant in the daily and nightly soundtrack of Gaza.

The surviving brother of Sha'aban and Abdulrahman, Mohammed al-Dalou, told the BBC that he had tried to go into the flames to rescue his older brother.

But other injured people had held him back, fearing he too would be killed. Mohammed did not sleep in the family tent, but outside on the street where he kept watch over their piled belongings.

“I was screaming for someone to let me go, but in vain. My brother’s leg was trapped and he couldn’t free himself. I think you saw it in the video. He was raising his hand.”

"That was my brother. He was my support in this world.”

Sha'aban would come and wake him for prayers in the morning with a bottle of water and he would tell him: “I’ll work for you.”

Mohammed recalled how the brothers set up a stall at the gates of the hospital selling food that the family made.

“We managed everything with our hard work. Everything we had was from our effort. We would get food and drink, then everything was lost.”

He saw the burned bodies, but could only identify his mother. Although her remains had been mutilated by fire, he recognized a distinctive bracelet.

“Without it, I wouldn’t have known she was my mother. Her hand was detached from her body, but the bracelet was still on it. I took it off her hand.”

“This is his only memento of the woman who was the kindness in our home".

The al-Dalou family was in shock. The survivors mourned the dead. Our BBC colleague asked Mohammed about the psychological cost of seeing his loved ones die.

“I can’t describe it. I can’t describe how I felt. I want to explain it to people, but I can’t. I can’t describe it. I saw my brother burning in front of me, and my mother too.”

Then, as if he was posing a question on behalf of the dead, he asked: “What more do you need, and you stay silent? You see us burning, and you stay silent.”

CBS News met kids in Gaza and Lebanon scarred for life by Israeli bombs

Beirut and Gaza — Displaced Palestinians in a tent camp outside the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in central Gaza woke up in the early morning hours Tuesday to a blazing inferno after an Israeli airstrike. The flames spreading quickly from tent to tent. Civilians who'd sought shelter in the camp said there was only one fire extinguisher to try to quash the blaze.

Residents and rescue workers scrambled to rescue people from the flames, but they could not save Shaaban Al-Dalou, who was burned alive.

His father Ahmed Al-Dalou also suffered agonizing burns, but it's guilt that was eating him alive when CBS News met him on Wednesday, several days after the strike.

Al-Dalou said that as flames tore through the camp, he found himself faced with an impossible choice.

"I woke up to go to the toilet and when I came back to bed, the sound of warplanes was loud," he said.

He raced to find his family, but "I didn't know who I should try to save."

"I saw Shaaban sitting up and, although he was on fire, I thought he could get up and run, so I rushed to rescue my youngest children. I thought everyone was safe."

Al-Dalou managed to pull his younger son Abdul Rahman and his sister Rahaf to safety, but both Shaaban, who would have turned 20 on Wednesday, and his mother were killed in the fire.

"Today is Shaaban's birthday," the grieving father told CBS News. "He is celebrating his birthday with his mother in heaven."

Al-Dalou's other children were being treated for severe burns in a Gaza hospital ill equipped to handle the overwhelming casualty count.

Every day, more burnt victims, young and old, came through the doors of hospitals across the Palestinian territory.

Layaan Hamadeen, 13, was among them. She was trying to get food for her family when she was severely injured in another recent Israeli strike. From her hospital bed, she told CBS News that she just wanted to be a teenage girl again.

"I want the war to end," she said. "I want to wear beautiful clothes and have beautiful hair again and I long for healthy food like apples and mangos."

On Israel's second front, in its war with Hamas’ allies Hezbollah in Lebanon, the death toll was also rising. Israeli jets continued to pound southern Lebanon and, despite the U.S. voicing concern over the bombing campaign in the capital city of Beirut, there was a fresh series of strikes around the capital Wednesday.

The Israeli military had vowed to keep striking Hezbollah strongholds in Lebanon, and it said it only targeted the group's weapons and fighters, but the Lebanese health ministry said the strikes had killed more than 2,300 people over the last month or so, wounded some 11,000 more, and forced hundreds of thousands of people to flee their homes.

CBS News visited the only Lebanese hospital with a full burn unit this week, and found it had tripled its usual number of beds to cope with the number the casualties coming in.

Like many youngsters, 11-year-old Hamoodi seemed unable to tear his eyes away from his phone. It was helping take his mind off the burn wounds covering one side of his body.

Hamoodi, 11, looked at his phone in a bed at the Lebanese Geitaoui Hospital in Beirut, Oct. 14, 2024, where he was being treated for burns covering one side of his body, sustained in an Israeli airstrike: CBS News

The phone was also his only connection to his mother, who was being treated in another hospital. They were both injured in an Israeli airstrike. As he sat there scrolling, Hamoodi still didn't know that his father and brother were killed in the attack.

His aunt Jamal Ibrahim said he was asking for them, but she was worried the news could be too much for the boy to bear.

The war's youngest victims were particularly difficult for Nurse Ali Humaida.

"It's terrible to see children in pain," he said, "especially when there isn't much we can do."

“Already, tiny Yvana, just 21 months old, has learned to dread the men and women in blue scrubs.”

Yvana Zayoun, just 21 months old, laid in a bed at the Lebanese Hospital Geitaoui in Beirut, Oct. 14, 2024, where she was being treated for burns to virtually her entire body, sustained in an Israeli airstrike that hit her home: CBS News

She was wrapped in bandages that covered severe burns, from head to toe. The slightest touch was excruciating, but the bandages had to be changed regularly.

Her mother Fatima Zayoun told CBS News their house was hit by a rocket more than three weeks ago.

"I saw my daughter on fire," she said.

The mother had been inconsolable since that day.

CBS News correspondent Debora Patta spoke with Fatima Zayoun, as her young daughter Yvana Zayoun laid in a bed at the Lebanese Hospital Geitaoui in Beirut, Oct. 14, 2024, where she was being treated for severe burns sustained in an Israeli airstrike: CBS News

"I don't care about anything," she said. "I just want her to get better."

ZOUK MOSBEH, Lebanon — The Israeli military hit bank branches across Lebanon overnight to target Hezbollah’s finances, expanding its offensive in an assault that sparked panic as the United States launched a new push for a diplomatic solution to the intensifying regional conflict.

Secretary of State Antony Blinken was set to travel to the Middle East on Monday for a trip that would focus on talks to end the U.S. ally’s conflict with Iran-backed militant groups in Lebanon and Gaza after the killing of Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar and amid mounting outrage over Israel's deadly renewed assault on the north of the Palestinian enclave, where the United Nations said life had been made "impossible."

But it also came as Israel prepared an attack against Iran itself.

An advanced anti-missile system sent by the US. was now in place in Israel, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said early Monday, boosting its defenses while the U.S. was investigating an apparent leak of top-secret documents showing American spy agencies tracking possible Israeli preparations for the strike.

October 17, 2024

The Israeli military claimed it killed top Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar during a military operation in the southern Gaza Strip on Wednesday.

Sinwar had been credited with being the mastermind behind the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas attacks, during which over 1,100 people were killed and 250 were taken hostage.

Sinwar’s death was the most significant assassination of a Hamas official since Mohammed Deig, the group’s military leader, and Ismail Haniyeh, Hamas’s political leader, were both killed in July.

President Biden called it a "good day for Israel, for the United States, and for the world" now that Sinwar was dead, saying in a statement that the Hamas leader "was responsible for the deaths of thousands of Israelis, Palestinians, Americans, and citizens from over 30 countries." He compared his death to what Americans felt after al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden was killed in 2011.

Vice President Kamala Harris told reporters that Sinwar "had American blood on his hands" and "justice has been served."

After speaking to Netanyahu, Biden told reporters: "Now's the time to move on. Move on, towards a ceasefire in Gaza, make sure that we are moving in a direction that we're going to be able to make things better for the whole world."

During a campaign event in Milwaukee, Harris said, "This moment gives us an opportunity to finally end the war in Gaza."

While Egypt and Qatar had brokered several ceasefire negotiations between Israel and Hamas in the last year, nothing had come to fruition to end the war.

Over the last year, more than 42,000 Palestinians — including over 16,000 children — had been killed, according to the Hamas-run Gaza Health Ministry, as reported by Human Rights Watch. More than 10,000 Palestinians were considered missing. In the West Bank, at least 723 Palestinians had been killed. More than 127 journalists and media workers had been killed, according to the committee designed to Protect Journalists.

October 19, 2024

Smoke rose from an Israeli airstrike on Dahiyeh, in the southern suburb of Beirut, Lebanon.

Israel's military said dozens of projectiles were launched from Lebanon a day after Hezbollah announced a new phase in fighting. Netanyahu’s office said the drone targeted his house in the Mediterranean coastal town of Caesarea. Neither he nor his wife was there. It wasn't clear if the house was hit.

“The proxies of Iran who today tried to assassinate me and my wife made a bitter mistake,” Netanyahu said.

Hezbollah didn't claim responsibility but said it carried out several rocket attacks on Israel. The barrage came as Israel was expected to respond to an attack earlier that month by Iran.

Israel in turn carried out at least 10 airstrikes on Beirut's southern suburbs known as Dahiyeh, a heavily populated area home to Hezbollah's offices, Lebanese authorities said. Israel’s military said it struck Hezbollah targets.

The U.S. defense secretary, Lloyd Austin, called civilian casualties in Lebanon “far too high” in the intensifying Israel-Hezbollah War and urged Israel to scale back some strikes, especially in and around Beirut.

In Gaza, Israeli forces fired at hospitals in the Palestinian enclave's battered north, and strikes killed more than 50 people, including children, in less than 24 hours, according to hospital officials and an Associated Press reporter there.

“The possibility of war in the region remained a serious concern,” Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said while visiting Turkey. Group of Seven defense ministers warned against escalation and “all-out war.”

New exchange of airstrikes.

Israel’s military said about 200 projectiles were fired from Lebanon, a day after Hezbollah said it planned to send more guided missiles and exploding drones. The militant group’s longtime leader, Hassan Nasrallah, was killed in an Israeli airstrike in September, and Israel sent ground troops into Lebanon.

Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency said an Israeli airstrike on an apartment in eastern Baaloul village killed five people, including the mayor of nearby Sohmor village. An Israeli military official confirmed that the IDF struck targets in the Bekaa Valley.

Lebanon’s health ministry said an Israeli airstrike hit a vehicle on a highway north of Beirut, killing two people. Israel said it killed Hezbollah’s deputy commander in the southern town of Bint Jbeil. The army said Nasser Rashid supervised attacks against Israel.

Israel had issued near-daily warnings for people to leave buildings and villages in parts of Lebanon. The fighting had displaced more than 1 million people, including around 400,000 children.

Israel’s retaliatory offensive in Gaza had killed more than 42,000 Palestinians, according to local health authorities, who didn’t distinguish combatants from civilians but said more than half the dead were women and children.

More strikes pounded Gaza on Saturday, and Palestinian communications company Paltel said they knocked out internet networks in the north.

The Palestinian Health Ministry said Israeli strikes hit the upper floors of the Indonesian Hospital in Beit Lahiya, and forces opened fire at it, causing panic. The U.N. said two patients died due to a power outage and lack of supplies in recent days.

Israel's military said it was operating near the hospital and “there was no intentional fire directed at it.”

The military also said it was looking into the matter after Al-Awda hospital in Jabaliya, northern Gaza, said strikes hit the top floors, wounding several staff members. It later said the military hit its ambulances and courtyard, wounding four people, including a medic.

Three houses in Jabaliya were struck overnight, killing at least 30 people, more than half women and children, said Fares Abu Hamza, head of the health ministry’s ambulance and emergency service. At least 80 were wounded.

Palestinian residents said Israel’s military was forcing hundreds of displaced people to leave Jabaliya and head to Gaza City.

“The occupation evicted us at gunpoint,” said Umm Sayed, a mother of three. “Tanks and heavy armed forces were encircling us.” She said many young men were taken apparently for interrogation, and most were later released.

Israel’s military described it as an evacuation and said it detained militants for questioning.

A U.N. school sheltering displaced people west of Gaza City was hit, killing several people, according to the Hamas-run civil defense first responders.

“What is this? There is a clinic and there are children,” said Bashir Haddad, a displaced person there, according to AP video. A boy collected body parts on a piece of cardboard.

Elsewhere in central Gaza, at least 10 people were killed, including two children, when a house was hit in the town of Zawayda, according to the al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in Deir al-Balah. Another strike killed 11 people from the same family in the Maghazi refugee camp, the hospital said.

PARIS AP — Reuters photographer Mohammed Salem captured that year’s prestigious World Press Photo of the Year award Thursday with a depiction of loss and sorrow in Gaza, a heartrending photo of a Palestinian woman cradling the body of her young niece. The photograph, taken in Khan Younis just days after Salem’s own child was born, showed 36-year-old Inas Abu Maamar holding five-year-old Saly, who was killed along with her mother and sister when an Israeli missile struck their home.

The war had destroyed vast swaths of Gaza, displaced about 90% of its population of 2.3 million people, and left them struggling to find food, water, medicine and fuel.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu sounded defiant as he vowed that his country would "win this war" after an attack drone reportedly crashed near a home he owned in the Israeli coastal town of Caesarea.

An Israeli government spokesman accused the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah of launching the drone and targeting the Israeli leader. The home is one of Netanyahu's private residences, while his official residence is in Jerusalem.

The spokesman told dpa that neither Netanyahu nor his wife were at the residence at the time of the attack, without providing further details on the exact location of the strike.

Bloody fighting involving Israeli forces as well as Israeli airstrikes continued in both Lebanon and the Gaza Strip on Saturday. The Israeli military said numerous Hezbollah fighters were killed in southern Lebanon, while numerous airstrikes shook the suburbs of Beirut.

The fighting was continuing despite hopes expressed by some world leaders in recent days that Israel's recent killing of Yehya al-Sinwar, the leader of the Palestinian militant group Hamas, could be used as an opportunity to pressure Israel and Hamas to finally end the devastating conflict in Gaza.

Over the past few months, Israeli forces also killed al-Sinwar's predecessor as Hamas leader, Ismail Haniyeh, and the long-time head of Hezbollah, Hassan Nasrallah.

Airstrikes around Beirut, fighting in Lebanon

The Lebanese news agency NNA reported that the Beirut suburb of Haret Hreik was hit by a series of airstrikes, with images showing large clouds of smoke rising from the densely populated area.

An Israeli military spokesman had previously called on the residents of Haret Hreik to flee the area.

Haret Hreik is part of Beirut's southern suburbs, known as Dahiyeh, which have historically been a stronghold of the Shiite Hezbollah militia. The adjacent neighborhood of Bourj al-Barajneh and the city of Shuwayfat were also reportedly shaken by explosions.

Israel last attacked the neighborhood three days ago. Many of the residents of the densely populated residential area had already fled from Israeli strikes.

Further Israeli airstrikes across Lebanon, including in a mainly Christian northern suburb of Beirut that had not previously been targeted left a number of others dead, according to Lebanese reports.

Continuation of Fighting in Gaza

In the Gaza Strip, there was fierce fighting in both the southern city of Rafah and in the Jabalia refugee camp in northern Gaza, according to both the IDF and Palestinian reports.

The Palestinian news agency WAFA reported on Saturday at least 30 dead and at least 50 injured in Jabalia due to Israeli attacks overnight. Palestinian sources said that all three hospitals there had been forced to cease operations by the latest attacks.

Israeli tanks had also taken up positions around the Indonesian Hospital, added Munir al-Borsh from the Gaza Ministry of Health, which was controlled by Hamas.

The IDF said Israeli troops killed several "terrorists" in operations in both Jabalia and Rafah.

Since the Gaza war began more than a year ago, over 42,000 people had already been killed, according to Palestinian sources.

These figures, which couldn’t be independently verified, were considered largely credible, and according to the United Nations, most of the deceased were women and children.

Conditions for civilians still holding out in Jabalia were appalling, reports said. The dead and injured often couldn’t be retrieved for a long time due to the fighting. In addition, there were hardly any food or clean drinking water left.

Wishing Whole world a Happy, Healthy, Harmonious New Year