2024 has been an extraordinarily difficult year so far for all our partners in the West Bank as tensions, restrictions and violence continue to increase. The Jerusalem Princess Basmas Centre (JBPC) provides specialist disability support to children across the West Bank. The team recently gave us an update on what the year has been like for them so far.

Embrace has had the privilege of partnering with the Al-Kafaàt Foundation since its foundation in the 1960s. Serving through many years of civil war and, more recently, economic and political crisis, theirs is an incredible story of dedication, vision and faith.

St Porphyrius, the first Bishop of Gaza, founded the church in Gaza City that still bears his name. The stories recorded of this life are strikingly similar to those of Christians in Gaza today.

In difficult times, we face difficult questions. Written by staff at Embrace’s partner MERATH, this blog discusses what it’s like to live with the threat of war in Lebanon and wrestles with why God is allowing the bloodshed and destruction to persist. It also gives some specific prayer points so that you can join in interceding for the region.

Against the backdrop of a crippling economic crisis and a gaping political vacuum, tensions are growing in Lebanon between Syrian refugees and host communities. With a marked rise in intolerance and even violence, one church in the Beqaa Valley in eastern Lebanon is going against the grain. As part of a network of local churches supported by Embrace’s partner, MERATH, this particular church is choosing to walk in the paths of love.

Before 7 October 2023, there were around 1,000 Christians in Gaza. After nine months of fighting, around one third of that number have left or been killed. Rhiannon de Laune, Embrace’s Programmes and Partnerships Manager, reflects on the personal story of one Palestinian Christian in Gaza and asks what the future might look like for this tiny but deeply rooted community.

It’s been over 8 months since the war in Gaza began. Nader Abu Amsha, Executive Director of Embrace partner DSPR, tells us in this searing and personal blog what the war has meant for his staff (and their families) in Gaza, caught up in the catastrophe themselves but continuing, with extraordinary courage, to meet the needs of a traumatised and suffering population.

“The scale of the destruction I witnessed is unbelievable.” Cardinal Pizzaballa, Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem, reflects on what he saw during his recent visit to Gaza.

As a Jewish-Israeli, I carry much pain in our violent reality, but perhaps my truer human pain is the fear of taking a public stance against the continuation of this war, against violence from both sides, and most of all the loss of human compassion.