Gazans flee as Israel broadens evacuation order, pushes into Khan Yunis

TEL TAL: It was a mournful moment for Christians in Syria. A bell that once summoned residents to worship rang out, but the church was no longer there.
The Saint Odisho church was blown up by the Daesh group a decade ago, leaving Tel Tal village almost empty of residents.
A local Christian who fled the attack, Ishaq Nissan, walked the streets and pointed to uninhabited homes, explaining where families had gone: US, Australia, Canada or Europe.
This month, northeast Syria’s remaining Christians will mark the 10th anniversary of the Daesh attack on over 30 villages along the Khabur river. On Feb. 23, 2015, dozens of Christians were killed or wounded and over 200 were taken hostage. Churches were blown up, and thousands of people fled.
The anniversary comes as Christians worry about the future of Syria following the ouster of longtime president Bashar Assad in December by insurgents led by the Islamist Hayat Tahrir Al-Sham group. HTS leader Ahmad Al-Sharaa is now interim president, and most government members come from Islamic factions.
Al-Sharaa has repeatedly said religious rights will be protected in post-Assad Syria. Though HTS had been an Al-Qaeda affiliate, it is opposed to IS and fought deadly battles with it over the years. IS was defeated in Syria in 2019, but sleeper cells still carry out attacks.
Since Assad’s fall, there have been some attacks by others targeting Christians. In December, a Christmas tree was set on fire in Suqailabiyah village. Authorities called it an isolated incident.
“We hope as Christians that there will be cooperation between all parties of Syria in what gives everyone their rights,” Syriac Orthodox Archbishop Maurice Amsih, who leads the church in the northeast, told The Associated Press.
Amsih said Christians in Syria are opposed to Islamic rule: “We want them to treat us in a civil way.”
Western countries have pressed Syria’s new authorities to guarantee the rights of religious and ethnic minorities, as well as those of women. The vast majority of Syrians are Sunni Muslims, while about a quarter of the population is Christian, Druze or Alawite.
Christians made up about 10 percent of Syria’s prewar population of 23 million, co-existing with the Muslim majority and enjoying freedom of worship under the Assad government. The last parliament speaker under Assad was Christian.
But since civil war began in 2011 with a popular uprising against Assad and a government crackdown, hundreds of thousands of Christians have left the country. The rise of IS, and its attack 10 years ago, helped to drive them out.
“We were living in peace and never expected this dark day to happen in our modern history,” said Elias Antar Elias, a Tel Tal resident who represents the villages of the Khabur river region in the Kurdish-led administration in northeast Syria.
The 78-year-old and his family fled in the middle of the night as the extremists stormed one Christian village after another, horrifying the population that had lived in relative peace for decades.
Elias, a retired teacher, fled with his family to the northeastern city of Hassakeh and stayed until Kurdish and Christian fighters regained control of their hometown months later.
“We saw the beheaded bodies of Christians on the side of the road as dogs were eating them,” Elias said, calling it “an image that pains our hearts.”
Elias said Tel Tal had about 400 residents before the IS attack. Today, there are about 30.
At the spot where the Saint Odisho church once stood, Elias recalled its importance: “This is where we baptized our children. This is where I got married.”
Asked why his family didn’t leave for good like many others, he replied: “I’m in love with this place. Our graves and martyrs are here. This is our land.”
The archbishop said 34 Christian villages along the Khabur river were home to 45,000 Assyrians before the 2015 attack.
Amsih said about 2.2 million Christians were in Syria before the civil war, and he estimated that two-thirds of them have left the country.
In nearby Tel Nasri, Christian residents have left and the village is full of displaced people from other regions. The Church of Virgin Mary still stands but is badly damaged after being blown up in 2015.
Some Christians who witnessed the violence say they have no plans to leave Syria, even with uncertainty ahead under new leaders.
Janet Chamoun was praying in a church in Qamishli in 2015 when a car bomb exploded outside, throwing her and her daughter to the floor. Glass shattered and some people were injured.
“Despite the fear we decided to stay,” Chamoun said outside the repaired Virgin Mary Syriac church, where she still comes every day to pray.
“Our home and roots are here,” she said.

JERUSALEM: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu instructed the military to carry out an “intensive” operation in the West Bank after explosions on buses close to Tel Aviv on Thursday, in what Netanyahu’s office described as an attempted mass attack.
No casualties were reported.
The Israeli police earlier said there had been explosions on three buses in two Israeli suburbs outside Tel Aviv and that four explosive devices had been found. Local media reported the explosions had occurred on buses in depots and were empty.
The explosions were a stark reminder of the devastating bus bombings in Israel that were a hallmark of the Palestinian uprising of the 2000s, although such attacks are now rare.
The military said in a statement that it was assisting the police and Shin Bet intelligence agency in the investigation. The police said it was searching for suspects, advising the public to remain vigilant.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the explosions. Netanyahu met with the defense minister, head of the military and Shin Bet and the police commissioner following the explosions, his office said. A police spokesperson said that improvised explosive devices with timers had been identified and public transportation had been searched for any further devices.
A video published by local media showed what appeared to be a bus on fire at a depot and a photo of a burned out bus.
The military said it would intensify counter-terrorism operations in the West Bank and that it had blocked entry points in certain areas, without specifying where. The military has been conducting a large scale military operation in the West Bank over the past month that it says is targeting militants.
Tens of thousands of Palestinians have been forced to leave their homes in West Bank refugee camps, while homes and infrastructure have been demolished.
The bus blasts come amid a fragile ceasefire in Gaza between the Palestinian militant group Hamas and Israel after 16 months of war. Hamas on Thursday released the bodies of four hostages.
The ceasefire has held since it was implemented on January 19 despite accusations traded by Israel and Hamas of violations.