24th October 2026

Yesterday in the West Bank town of Hebron two gunmen killed two IDF personnel. Three other soldiers were wounded in the attack at a checkpoint outside Hebron, before the gunmen were shot dead, officials say. The Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, vowed to take revenge on the Palestinian people in Hebron saying that Israel will lock down Hebron and go house to house and demolish homes. "We will act to destroy this place, to change it completely," Netanyahu said. A Reuters reporter has already identified Israeli bulldozers demolishing homes in Hebron near the site of the shooting. Local residents said the homes had no connection to the attackers. “There is no alternative to a comprehensive military campaign in Judea and Samaria to dismantle the Palestinian Authority, collect the weapons, and eliminate the terrorists, exactly as we did in Gaza and Lebanon,” Bezalel Yoel Smotrich, leader of the right wing Religious Zionist Party, wrote on social media. 

Loving God, we ask your compassionate loving care for the families, colleagues, and friends of the Israeli soldiers killed in Hebron yesterday, and for those who loved their assailants. May the response to this attack not be one of vengeance on all the people. So we ask your care and protection for those now living in fear in Hebron. Move among the international community by the power of your Holy Spirit that warm hearts will speak restraint to the powers in Israel. We pray for peace, not violence and death.  We pray for unity, not division.  We pray that your command that foreigners living in the land should be treated as native born will be lived out in the lives of all.   In Jesus' name we pray.  Amen.

Around 100 students from a Portsmouth school in the south of England took part in a sleepout on Thursday 15th October sleeping rough in solidarity with the city’s rough sleepers. The event raised awareness of the kinds of lives lived by people who sleep rough.  It also raised money for The Roberts Centre which supports young people and families with housing support, nursery care, and much more.  Headteacher, Andrew Fisher said that the school is engaged with various organisations as part of the students' community action programme. "This sleep out is very much an extension of this, it should hopefully make them appreciate the challenges people throughout the city face," Andrew said.  A spokesperson for The Roberts Centre said: “We would like to say a massive thank you to the students for braving the cold and rain to sleep outdoors and raise over £700 for the Roberts Centre. This money will make a real difference to the children and families we support, and it's wonderful to see young people coming together to support their local community. We're incredibly grateful to everyone who took part and helped make this happen.”

You can find out more about the work of The Roberts Centre here.

Jesus Christ,

you are the light of the world.

Your light shines through history

displacing the darkness and awakening life.

Your light shines in the darkness,

which has never overcome it.

You bring light to the nations.

You light the path of our life's journey.

You bring the light of truth

and give us a share in your inheritance

enabling us to live in that place

where there is just one eternal light.

We praise and glorify you

for you shine in our hearts today and every day.

Amen.