For the Franciscan, the agreement had brought “a bit of hope”, but it is now being lost as tensions between Hamas and Israel escalate. He warns that, “No one really knows" what will happen. Trump threatens “hell” if “all” the hostages are not freed, while the Israeli right is pressing for military action. The Arab world opposes a Palestinian exodus from Gaza.

Jerusalem (AsiaNews) – “The truce that had brought some hope to the population is being lost: Israelis and Palestinians, everyone is worried about what may happen on Saturday,” said Fr Ibrahim Faltas, vicar general of the Custody of the Holy Land in Jerusalem, speaking to AsiaNews.

Israel set a deadline for Hamas to release the hostages, but “no one really knows” how this will unfold. “There are threats from all sides and it is a moment of great tensions. Expectations are high, the climate is tense, there is a widespread malaise.”

For the clergyman, “There is a real risk that war might break out again, for this reason, people are sick, they can't take it anymore, it's a horrible thing.” This is the case “not only in Gaza but in the West Bank” as well, which has “many problems, thousands of homeless people, a terrible and tragic reality".

"Everyone's hope is that war will never return to Gaza and that it will end in the West Bank" where military operations and episodes of violence are regularly reported. This is "what people expect. I have lived in the Holy Land for 36 years and I have never experienced a similar situation: I experienced the first Intifada, the second, the siege of the Nativity, but never something like this.”

To lessen tensions, he calls on “not only the international community, but above all America to find a way out. And the only solution to this problem is two states for two peoples.”

At present, a flurry of diplomatic activities is underway. Yesterday in Washington, Jordanian King Abdullah met US President Donald Trump, who had previously met Israeli Prime Minister Benyamin Netanyahu, the first foreign leader to visit him since his election.

For his part, Trump has renewed his proposal for a voluntary exodus of Palestinians from Gaza, which would become a "riviera" on the Mediterranean under American control.

While Israel’s current government backs the US plan, the entire Arab world in its entirety rejects it, from the Jordanian monarch (who did not respond directly to the issue at a press conference, but announced the arrival in his country of 2,000 sick Gazan children for treatment) to the Saudi crown prince Mohammed bin Salman, as well as Egypt.

Egypt is offering instead an alternative project with a “comprehensive vision” to rebuild Gaza without displacing its inhabitants.

Likewise, Saudi Arabia has reiterated once again its position that a Palestinian state is an essential condition for the normalisation of relations with Israel, the goal of Trump's Mideast policy embodied in the Abraham Accords.

In Israeli, reservists have been called up in view of renewed fighting in Gaza if Hamas does not meet the deadline set for the release of the hostages. Such an escalation will, in all likelihood, end a very fragile truce signed on 19 January, which, despite everything, had provided some breathing space to Gazans.

While Trump threatened to “let hell break out” in the Palestinian territory if all hostages are not freed, the Israeli prime minister promised "intense fighting" if Hamas does not meet the deadline, but did not specify whether the condition is the release of all the hostages or those agreed in the first phase of the ceasefire.

Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich is pressing for military action. Some government sources said that unless “all” the hostages are released, it will be war.

“Christians, like everyone else, are living this phase with concern," said Fr Faltas, who fears another exodus.

“The problem is that many Christians, especially in the Bethlehem area, are leaving. People are fleeing to seek a future, for a life that is better than the one they expect to have, staying here. Everyone says that we have no future in this land, and for this reason they are running away.”

Meanwhile, Israeli police raided on an historic educational bookshop in East Jerusalem, and arrested its owners, Ahmad and Mahmoud Muna, without a clear charge.

The two Palestinian men were released after two nights in custody, but remain under house arrest and will not be able to access the shop, which will remain closed for the next 20 days.

According to Israeli authorities, the bookstore has books that constitute “incitement and support for terrorism,” including a children's book in Arabic titled "From the river to the sea”, words associated with the claim both peoples have for the land from the Jordan to the Mediterranean, which suggests Israel’s elimination.

Following the arrests, advocacy and cultural groups reacted harshly, as did Western diplomatic circles, who view the raid as a disproportionate measure.

Bernard Sabella, a former representative of Fatah and executive secretary of the Department of Service to Palestinian Refugees of the Middle East Council of Churches, shares their concerns.

“The situation here is going from bad to worse, and people are feeling stressed,” he said. “The latest incident, with the raid on the educational bookstore has left many of us stunned,” he said, speaking to AsiaNews.

“For the first time in my life I feel very pessimistic, because I don't see a way out" and, if US President Donald Trump continues along this path, “the worst scenarios are yet to come”.

(Pictured prayer at the Holy Family parish, Gaza)

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