AN ISRAELI military inquiry into the killing of 15 emergency workers in Gaza last month (News, 2 April) concluded on Sunday that “professional failures” and an “operational misunderstanding” by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) were to blame.
The Palestine Red Crescent Society and the UN, whose staff members were killed, have criticised the report for seeking to confine blame to troops on the ground. Initial claims by the IDF that the medical convoy had been unmarked appear to be contradicted by video evidence from the phone of one of those killed (News, 11 April).
The head of the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs in the occupied Palestinian territories, Jonathan Whittall, said that the IDF investigation did not go far enough. “A lack of real accountability undermines international law and makes the world a more dangerous place,” he said, the BBC reported.
In occupied east Jerusalem, Easter celebrations were disrupted by an increased security operation by Israeli forces.
On Easter Day, the Orthodox Jerusalem Patriarchate said that it “emphatically condemns the egregious violations that desecrated the sanctity of Jerusalem yesterday, particularly in the Old City and around the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, during the celebration of the blessed Holy Fire on Saturday.
“Israeli police forces transformed the sacred city into a militarized zone, erecting barriers, obstructing the faithful from reaching their churches, and perpetrating assaults against scouts and worshippers, both locals and pilgrims from around the world.
“These reprehensible actions, which deprived thousands of believers of their divine right to prayer and worship, stand in direct contradiction to Jerusalem’s eternal vocation as a city of peace for all the children of God,” the statement said.
The custodian of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, Adeeb Joudeh al-Husseini, described police actions as “a deliberate humiliation of believers and pilgrims, and a denial of their right to practice their religious rituals freely”, the news website The New Arab reported.
The disruption did not prevent the ceremony from taking place, as it has for more than 1000 years. The Greek Orthodox Patriarch emerges from a tomb revered as Christ’s burial place carrying a flame that is held to be lit by miraculous means.
Eastern and Western dates for Easter coincided this year, which includes the 1700th anniversary of the Council of Nicaea, for the first time since 2017. Church leaders in Jerusalem described “this happy confluence of events” as an inspiration to pursue greater Christian unity (News, 18 April).