GAZA CITY: An American NGO chief who obtained Palestinian citizenship through marriage is saving thousands of sick children in the Gaza Strip through his work as founder of the Palestine Children’s Relief Fund.
In 2018, Steve Sosebee, an American who married a Palestinian woman, was given a Palestinian passport and ID card. Since then, he has lived on and off in the West Bank.
“I did not choose Palestine, but Palestine chose me,” said Sosebee, 67, who was born in Kent, Ohio.

SAO PAULO, Brazil: Chile’s announcement that it will open an embassy in Palestine, and Brazil’s new government abandoning its predecessor’s pro-Israel foreign policy, have raised hopes in Latin America about changes in regional stances on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Just one day after left-wing President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva took office on Jan. 1, Brazil announced a radical shift in its diplomacy.

LONDON: Pope Francis has called for the preservation of the historical and legal status quo in occupied Jerusalem, the Palestinian News and Information Agency has reported. 

During his annual meeting with the diplomatic corps accredited to Vatican City on Monday, Pope Francis expressed concern about the rise in violence in Jerusalem.

He said that Jerusalem belongs to the three monotheistic religions — Islam, Judaism and Christianity — and noted that it should be a forum for peace rather than a theater of conflict.

AL-MUKALLA: Unidentified gunmen assassinated a tribal chief in Houthi-held Sanaa on Sunday evening, in what appears to be the latest in a series of drive-by shootings and assaults.

Nasser Abdullah Tamah Al-Kumaim, a tribal leader and businessman from the province of Thamar, was reportedly gunned down outside his home by attackers who fled the scene, according to local media reports and comments from relatives.

RAMALLAH: The Palestinian Ministry of Foreign Affairs has instructed all Palestinian embassies around the world to launch a comprehensive international campaign to expose the Israeli government’s policies against the Palestinians, Ambassador Ahmed Al-Deek told Arab News on Monday.

Al-Deek, political advisor to Foreign Minister Riyad Al-Maliki — whose VIP travel card was canceled by Israel — also said that the crisis-hit Palestinian Authority was expecting more punitive measures from the extremist government of Benjamin Netanyahu.