What The Bible Says - Good Samaritan's Penny Pulpit by Pastor Ed Rice

What The Bible Says Good Samaritan's Penny Pulpit by Pastor Ed Rice

What the Bible Says, Good Samaritan's Penny Pulpit by Pastor Ed Rice

Yemen's Houthis targeted the MSC Darwin ship in the Gulf of Aden, the Iran-aligned group's military spokesman Yahya Sarea said in a televised speech on Thursday, as Houthi forces have staged attacks on shipping in the Red Sea region for months in solidarity with Palestinians fighting Israel in the Gaza war.

A Palestinian civil defense team on Thursday called on the United Nations to investigate what it said were war crimes at a Gaza hospital, saying nearly 400 bodies were recovered from mass graves after Israeli soldiers departed the complex."There are cases of field execution of some patients while undergoing surgeries and wearing surgical gowns at the Nasser Medical Complex," the civil defense forces said at a press conference, without presenting any evidence.Palestinian authorities have this week reported finding hundreds of bodies in mass graves at Nasser hospital, the main medical facility in central Gaza, after Israeli troops pulled out of the city of Khan Younis.Bodies were also reported to have been found at the Al Shifa hospital in northern Gaza, which was targeted in an Israeli special forces operation.UN rights chief Volker Turk said on Tuesday he was "horrified" by the destruction of the Nasser and Al Shifa medical facilities and by the reports of the mass graves, according to a spokesperson.The Israeli military said claims by Palestinian authorities that the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) had buried the bodies were "baseless and unfounded."It said forces searching for Israeli hostages had examined bodies previously buried by Palestinians near Nasser hospital and had returned them after they had been examined."The examination was conducted in a careful manner and exclusively in places where intelligence indicated the possible presence of hostages. The examination was carried out respectfully while maintaining the dignity of the deceased," it said in a statement.Israel has denied killing those found in the graves and has released footage they say shows Palestinians digging these graves before the IDF operation.The Palestinian Civil Defense Team accused Israel of burying a number of bodies in the Nasser complex in plastic bags at a depth of 3 meters (10 ft), where they quickly decomposed concealing evidence of its "crimes," including torture, it said.The office of the prosecutor at the International Criminal Court in The Hague is investigating both sides in the Israeli-Gaza war, including the events of October 7 and their aftermath.Chief Prosecutor Karim Khan has said his team is "actively investigating any crimes allegedly committed" in Gaza and that "those who are in breach of the law will be held accountable."

Pro-Palestinians advocacy group campaigns to include Zionism in proposed 'anti-fascist bill leading to possible prison sentences for alleged fascists

The former U.S. ambassador to Israel during the Trump administration asserted Monday that there is no pathway to statehood for Palestinians who supported Hamas' Oct. 7 massacre, declaring that the only plan for the Jewish state is the one God had for it thousands of years ago.?

Headlines bombard us with news about the devastation in Gaza—the staggering death toll, the increasing war and bloodshed, the innocent lives lost. People on both sides cry for an end to the violence and the pain. ? As Christians, we hear the news, and our hearts fill with compassion and anguish. Why is this happening? Why are people so eager to fight—and die—over this one small section of land?Gaza, also called the Gaza Strip, is a thin piece of land of about 140 square miles located between Israel and Egypt. Roughly 2.3 million Palestinians live there, and it is a Palestinian territory. It is situated on the eastern coast of the Mediterranean Sea, with Egypt on its southwest and Israel on its east and north.However, there is longtime animosity between Israel and Palestine. In 1947, the United Nations divided Palestine into an Arab and a Jewish state. This was to accommodate a post-World War Two desire for a Jewish homeland, but it came against the will of the local Arab population.On October 7, 2023, the Islamic militant group Hamas killed more than a thousand people, mostly civilians, and took 250 others hostage in the deadliest attack in Israel's history. Israel immediately declared war on Hamas, and as of this writing, more than 30,000 people have been killed.Beyond a territory for present-day Palestine, the land is much desired by both groups. But there is also much biblical importance and history surrounding Gaza. Here are five biblical reasons by Gaza is important.Photo Credit: ©Getty Images/pawel.gaul