Israel

Today's news: South Korean doctors on strike on 18 June against government reform; Economic crisis and joblessness cause growing school dropout in Laos; At least seven security men killed in an explosion in Pakistan; Armenian archbishop calls for street protest against government territorial concessions to Azerbaijan.

Yesterday at the Centro PIME in Milan, the nun spoke about the six months of brutality she experienced in Gaza. The war came on suddenly, with violence greater than in the past, which “removed the veil of human rights". Christians too are among the victims, while the Rosary Sisters' school was destroyed. Reaching out to children who have only experienced war is a challenge, especially since many have developed hyper-aggressivity.

Despite denials by the Jewish State, the use in raids against Hezbollah, especially against civilian targets and farmland, has been documented by pro-human rights associations and observers on the ground. The Land of the Cedars is ready to lodge a complaint with the United Nations. Amnesty International speaks of ‘appalling’ attacks that cause serious damage to the environment.

Today's headlines: WFP says floods in Afghanistan have exacerbated the country’s hunger crisis. Over 300 people are killed and 1,182 houses buried in a massive landslide in Papua New Guinea. Tens of thousands of people take to the streets in Taiwan against pro-Chinese reforms currently before parliament. Laos fails to stop human trafficking, especially of young people.

Today's news: Up to 75 per cent of the Palestinians in Gaza are forcibly displaced, the Israeli army advances to Rafah, attacks in Jenin and authorises the return to three settlements in Samaria; Between 2016 and 2023, the Chinese authorities drove out more than 700,000 Tibetans; The Indonesian parliament wants to change the media law in a restrictive way; Bangladesh ruling party member found dead in India, three compatriots detained.

Today's news: Over 1400 academics sign a petition to the Israeli government to end the war in Gaza; In Beijing, the Minister of Agriculture is also under investigation; Nepalese Sherpa climbs Mount Everest for the 30th time, an all-time record; Vietnamese police arrested a prominent trade unionist; Concern in Moscow over attack on foreign tourists in Afghanistan.

Yonatan Zeigen to AsiaNews: impossible to ‘destroy’ Hamas, which is an ‘idea’, the ‘mentality’ must be changed. Continuing the occupation ‘will always return to 6 October’. To commemorate his mother's battles, each year a prize will be awarded to an Arab and a Jewish woman working for coexistence. The embrace between Maoz Inon and Azia Abu Sarah in front of Pope Francis is an example ‘of what we all aspire to’.

Fr. Romanelli entrusts his testimony to AsiaNews on his return after 7 months in the Strip: not a house is "intact", but we must look to the future. In the homily of the Pentecost Mass Card. Pizzaballa to the Christians of Gaza: "I have never heard a word of anger" from you, this is the "sign of your strength". The visit to a bakery destroyed by the war and recently reopened, which offers work to Christians and Muslims.

In Verona for the Arena of Peace the gesture of two people who have both lost loved ones in the Gaza conflict. The pontiff told the weavers of dialogue in the Holy Land: ‘Ask world leaders to listen to your voice, so that agreements are born from reality and not from ideologies’. ‘The sin of political regimes that have ended in dictatorships is not to admit plurality: only a society where conflicts are addressed and dialogue takes place has a future’.

According to the Israeli army they were killed immediately on 7 October during the attack on kibbutz Be'eri. The fate of six other Bangkok citizens believed to be in the hands of Hamas remains unknown, as does Nepalese student Bipin Joshi, Meanwhile, thousands of Thais are trying to find work again in Israel as farmers.

Patriarchate spokesman Farid Jubran tells AsiaNews: the community "happy and surprised" by an "unexpected" visit resulting from the patriarchate's diplomatic efforts. An "emergency" situation in which "food, doctors and medicines" are lacking. The humanitarian initiative of the Knights of Malta to meet the population's needs. The embrace with the vice-parish priest and the Greek Orthodox bishop.

The day that marks the birth of the modern State of Israel falls this year against the backdrop of the tragedy of 7 October and the war in Gaza. The risk of a political defeat is even greater than a military debacle. As Israel’s Declaration of Independence says, the challenge is "playing one's part in a common effort for the progress of the Middle East.”