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Israeli strike damages Christian-run hospital in Gaza, Catholic aid group says #Catholic Israeli airstrikes on an apartment building adjacent to the Al-Ahli Arab Hospital in Gaza City damaged the hospital on the evening of July 29, blowing out windows and doors, and frightening patients and medical staff, according to a report by the Catholic Near East Welfare Association (CNEWA).“The repeated explosions create confusion among medical staff and place additional psychological pressure on patients,” Mousa Ayad, manager at Al-Ahli Arab Hospital, told CNEWA’s Diaa Ostaz.Ayad told CNEWA he could not rule out another airstrike: “This is war, and no one knows where the next danger will be. But given the hospital’s humanitarian and medical role, we do not believe that the hospital is the intended target.”According to CNEWA, Mahmoud Basal, spokesman for Gaza’s Civil Defense, said emergency response crews were not able to immediately reach the struck building, which is beside the hospital and a shelter for displaced people, because responders feared a second strike.“The fire burned for more than 15 minutes before our crews could move in,” he said, according to CNEWA. “We continue to work with severe shortages of firefighting vehicles, water tankers and fuel, making every emergency response more difficult.”CNEWA reported that, according to Gaza’s Ministry of Health, nearly 1,200 Palestinians have been killed and another 3,900 injured since the ceasefire took effect in October 2025.Ayad told CNEWA that despite the ceasefire, Gaza’s health sector is still in dire circumstances.“The situation has not improved significantly. Hospitals continue to face shortages of medical supplies, equipment and essential consumables,” he said. “Thousands of patients remain on waiting lists for surgery, while many others still need to travel outside Gaza for specialized treatment.”Last year, he told CNEWA that the hospital was operating at 350% capacity and a total evacuation would be “a major humanitarian challenge.”This is not the first time the hospital has been struck.On Oct. 17, 2023, an airstrike on the hospital killed 500 people and injured many others. More than 5,000 people were sheltering at the hospital at the time, reported Joseph Hazboun, regional director for CNEWA’s Jerusalem office.Then, in June 2025 airstrikes, six people, including four journalists, were killed and 30 others were injured.Three months later, Israel Defense Forces killed one person and injured several others after it launched a missile that landed in the hospital’s courtyard, according to CNEWA.The Catholic aid group has long supported Al-Ahli Arab Hospital, and since January 2025, it has partnered with the hospital to provide urgent medical services.Pope Pius XI founded CNEWA in 1926 as “an instrument of love and a sign of hope for those in need scattered throughout the historic but unstable lands of the ancient Eastern churches — the Middle East, Northeast Africa, India and Eastern Europe,” according to the group’s website.

Israeli strike damages Christian-run hospital in Gaza, Catholic aid group says #Catholic Israeli airstrikes on an apartment building adjacent to the Al-Ahli Arab Hospital in Gaza City damaged the hospital on the evening of July 29, blowing out windows and doors, and frightening patients and medical staff, according to a report by the Catholic Near East Welfare Association (CNEWA).“The repeated explosions create confusion among medical staff and place additional psychological pressure on patients,” Mousa Ayad, manager at Al-Ahli Arab Hospital, told CNEWA’s Diaa Ostaz.Ayad told CNEWA he could not rule out another airstrike: “This is war, and no one knows where the next danger will be. But given the hospital’s humanitarian and medical role, we do not believe that the hospital is the intended target.”According to CNEWA, Mahmoud Basal, spokesman for Gaza’s Civil Defense, said emergency response crews were not able to immediately reach the struck building, which is beside the hospital and a shelter for displaced people, because responders feared a second strike.“The fire burned for more than 15 minutes before our crews could move in,” he said, according to CNEWA. “We continue to work with severe shortages of firefighting vehicles, water tankers and fuel, making every emergency response more difficult.”CNEWA reported that, according to Gaza’s Ministry of Health, nearly 1,200 Palestinians have been killed and another 3,900 injured since the ceasefire took effect in October 2025.Ayad told CNEWA that despite the ceasefire, Gaza’s health sector is still in dire circumstances.“The situation has not improved significantly. Hospitals continue to face shortages of medical supplies, equipment and essential consumables,” he said. “Thousands of patients remain on waiting lists for surgery, while many others still need to travel outside Gaza for specialized treatment.”Last year, he told CNEWA that the hospital was operating at 350% capacity and a total evacuation would be “a major humanitarian challenge.”This is not the first time the hospital has been struck.On Oct. 17, 2023, an airstrike on the hospital killed 500 people and injured many others. More than 5,000 people were sheltering at the hospital at the time, reported Joseph Hazboun, regional director for CNEWA’s Jerusalem office.Then, in June 2025 airstrikes, six people, including four journalists, were killed and 30 others were injured.Three months later, Israel Defense Forces killed one person and injured several others after it launched a missile that landed in the hospital’s courtyard, according to CNEWA.The Catholic aid group has long supported Al-Ahli Arab Hospital, and since January 2025, it has partnered with the hospital to provide urgent medical services.Pope Pius XI founded CNEWA in 1926 as “an instrument of love and a sign of hope for those in need scattered throughout the historic but unstable lands of the ancient Eastern churches — the Middle East, Northeast Africa, India and Eastern Europe,” according to the group’s website.

The Catholic Near East Welfare Association (CNEWA) reported emergency response crews were not able to immediately reach the struck building because responders feared a second strike.

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Abortion count rises as women turn to chemical abortions, per new data #Catholic The U.S. abortion count continues to rise even as travel abortions decrease, a recent study found.The Guttmacher Institute, a data group that openly supports abortion access, documented a decrease in people leaving their own state to get abortions in other states. Instead, abortion seekers turn toward mail-order abortions, which have seen a surge in recent years.The group tracks abortions monthly, following trends “in the post-Dobbs era” since 2023, according to Guttmacher data scientist and study lead Isaac Maddow-Zimet. The data indicated an overall increase in abortions from 2025 to 2026. “In the first three months of 2026, there were 296,130 abortions as compared to 292,590 in the first three months of 2025,” data scholar Michael New told EWTN News. “This is an increase of just over 1%.”New said this fact has gone underreported.“Most media outlets that are reporting on the Guttmacher data have not reported on this, but the number of abortions continues to rise,” said New, who is a senior associate scholar at Charlotte Lozier Institute, a group that studies data relating to the pro-life cause.“These rising abortion numbers are an important reason why pro-lifers are frustrated with the Trump administration’s lack of action on telehealth abortions,” continued New, who also works as a professor at the Busch School of Business at The Catholic University of America.The Trump administration has neglected to enforce various regulations — such as the Comstock Act or in-person prescription requirements — that could be groundbreaking for protecting unborn children from chemical abortions.From 2024 to 2025, travel abortions declined by nearly 8%. Scholars agree that mail-order abortion is the reason for the decline in abortion travel.“Currently, we are seeing a major shift in where and how people access abortion,” Maddow-Zimet said. “While travel remains a critical pathway to care, we have seen a decrease in people leaving their state of residence, likely due to both the growth of telehealth access and fewer options for in-person care in the South and Southeast.”New also cited chemical abortions as the draw away from travel abortions. “The main reason for this decline in out-of-state travel is because of the rising number of telehealth abortions,” New said. “The most recent data from the Society for Family Planning shows that approximately 27% of all abortions are done by telehealth.”In Florida, the study also found a near tripling of abortion travel by Floridians after the state passed a heartbeat law to protect unborn babies; at the same time, fewer people traveled to Florida to obtain abortions due to this law.“The national decline [in travel abortions] might have been even larger had Florida not started enforcing a Heartbeat Act in 2024,” New said. “Because of this strong pro-life law, far fewer women residing in southern states traveled to Florida for abortions.”Texas has also seen a decline in Texans traveling to get abortions.  “This trend is seen at the state level,” New continued. “Between 2024 and 2025 the number of Texas women obtaining abortions in other states fell by 19%.”Mail-order abortion is pro-life priorityAdvocates for unborn children highlighted the importance of opposing chemical abortions and protecting unborn children across state lines. Abortion continues to rise with the increase in mail-order abortions.Kelsey Pritchard, Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America spokeswoman, called for protections of unborn children across state lines.“We need a national minimum standard to ensure children across America have basic human rights and the chance at life, regardless of their zip code,” Pritchard told EWTN News.“Nine states and the District of Columbia still have no gestational limits whatsoever on abortion, allowing abortion up to the moment of birth, with late-term abortion centers purposely located within range of pro-life state borders,” Pritchard said. “This is barbaric and extreme, and it places the United States in the same category as communist countries like China and Vietnam on abortion.”“While stopping the ‘Wild West’ of unregulated abortion by mail is our immediate priority, both issues underscore the urgent need for national action to protect unborn children and their mothers,” Pritchard said. “Abortion travel is down overall, but mail-order abortions are surging and driving the national total up to an estimated 1.1 million abortions per year — more than the day Roe was reversed,” Pritchard said. “Every single month, approximately 15,000 babies in the womb die from mail-order abortion drugs in states with pro-life laws, while women and girls are poisoned and coerced by abusers who obtain these drugs online without so much as an ID check.”Kristi Hamrick, Students for Life spokeswoman, questioned the data, noting that there is no reporting requirement for abortion.“I find it extraordinary that the abortion industry reports so much data that is accepted as gospel, despite the fact that we canʼt verify it,” Hamrick said. “We have no national abortion reporting law, and while this data will be broadly reported, every point of data from pro-life sources is treated as suspect.”Guttmacher collects monthly data from brick-and-mortar facilities and telehealth providers, according to the study methodology.The nature of mail-order abortion pills makes it harder to accurately track the number of the abortions in the U.S. as the pills are highly unregulated and some companies operate outside of the U.S. healthcare system.“The landscape of abortion is shifting, from brick-and-mortar abortion vendor to online pill pushers, so less driving, if that is true, does not mean less abortion,” Hamrick said.For Students for Life, “fighting chemical abortion pills” is a priority.Through pregnancy help centers, maternity homes, and other programs, the pro-life movement continues to encourage women to choose life.“But what is happening in real time is that many are reaching out to women online and in their communities to encourage and support them in choosing life, while we also have to confront a new abortion cartel,” Hamrick said.

Abortion count rises as women turn to chemical abortions, per new data #Catholic The U.S. abortion count continues to rise even as travel abortions decrease, a recent study found.The Guttmacher Institute, a data group that openly supports abortion access, documented a decrease in people leaving their own state to get abortions in other states. Instead, abortion seekers turn toward mail-order abortions, which have seen a surge in recent years.The group tracks abortions monthly, following trends “in the post-Dobbs era” since 2023, according to Guttmacher data scientist and study lead Isaac Maddow-Zimet. The data indicated an overall increase in abortions from 2025 to 2026. “In the first three months of 2026, there were 296,130 abortions as compared to 292,590 in the first three months of 2025,” data scholar Michael New told EWTN News. “This is an increase of just over 1%.”New said this fact has gone underreported.“Most media outlets that are reporting on the Guttmacher data have not reported on this, but the number of abortions continues to rise,” said New, who is a senior associate scholar at Charlotte Lozier Institute, a group that studies data relating to the pro-life cause.“These rising abortion numbers are an important reason why pro-lifers are frustrated with the Trump administration’s lack of action on telehealth abortions,” continued New, who also works as a professor at the Busch School of Business at The Catholic University of America.The Trump administration has neglected to enforce various regulations — such as the Comstock Act or in-person prescription requirements — that could be groundbreaking for protecting unborn children from chemical abortions.From 2024 to 2025, travel abortions declined by nearly 8%. Scholars agree that mail-order abortion is the reason for the decline in abortion travel.“Currently, we are seeing a major shift in where and how people access abortion,” Maddow-Zimet said. “While travel remains a critical pathway to care, we have seen a decrease in people leaving their state of residence, likely due to both the growth of telehealth access and fewer options for in-person care in the South and Southeast.”New also cited chemical abortions as the draw away from travel abortions. “The main reason for this decline in out-of-state travel is because of the rising number of telehealth abortions,” New said. “The most recent data from the Society for Family Planning shows that approximately 27% of all abortions are done by telehealth.”In Florida, the study also found a near tripling of abortion travel by Floridians after the state passed a heartbeat law to protect unborn babies; at the same time, fewer people traveled to Florida to obtain abortions due to this law.“The national decline [in travel abortions] might have been even larger had Florida not started enforcing a Heartbeat Act in 2024,” New said. “Because of this strong pro-life law, far fewer women residing in southern states traveled to Florida for abortions.”Texas has also seen a decline in Texans traveling to get abortions.  “This trend is seen at the state level,” New continued. “Between 2024 and 2025 the number of Texas women obtaining abortions in other states fell by 19%.”Mail-order abortion is pro-life priorityAdvocates for unborn children highlighted the importance of opposing chemical abortions and protecting unborn children across state lines. Abortion continues to rise with the increase in mail-order abortions.Kelsey Pritchard, Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America spokeswoman, called for protections of unborn children across state lines.“We need a national minimum standard to ensure children across America have basic human rights and the chance at life, regardless of their zip code,” Pritchard told EWTN News.“Nine states and the District of Columbia still have no gestational limits whatsoever on abortion, allowing abortion up to the moment of birth, with late-term abortion centers purposely located within range of pro-life state borders,” Pritchard said. “This is barbaric and extreme, and it places the United States in the same category as communist countries like China and Vietnam on abortion.”“While stopping the ‘Wild West’ of unregulated abortion by mail is our immediate priority, both issues underscore the urgent need for national action to protect unborn children and their mothers,” Pritchard said. “Abortion travel is down overall, but mail-order abortions are surging and driving the national total up to an estimated 1.1 million abortions per year — more than the day Roe was reversed,” Pritchard said. “Every single month, approximately 15,000 babies in the womb die from mail-order abortion drugs in states with pro-life laws, while women and girls are poisoned and coerced by abusers who obtain these drugs online without so much as an ID check.”Kristi Hamrick, Students for Life spokeswoman, questioned the data, noting that there is no reporting requirement for abortion.“I find it extraordinary that the abortion industry reports so much data that is accepted as gospel, despite the fact that we canʼt verify it,” Hamrick said. “We have no national abortion reporting law, and while this data will be broadly reported, every point of data from pro-life sources is treated as suspect.”Guttmacher collects monthly data from brick-and-mortar facilities and telehealth providers, according to the study methodology.The nature of mail-order abortion pills makes it harder to accurately track the number of the abortions in the U.S. as the pills are highly unregulated and some companies operate outside of the U.S. healthcare system.“The landscape of abortion is shifting, from brick-and-mortar abortion vendor to online pill pushers, so less driving, if that is true, does not mean less abortion,” Hamrick said.For Students for Life, “fighting chemical abortion pills” is a priority.Through pregnancy help centers, maternity homes, and other programs, the pro-life movement continues to encourage women to choose life.“But what is happening in real time is that many are reaching out to women online and in their communities to encourage and support them in choosing life, while we also have to confront a new abortion cartel,” Hamrick said.

The abortion count is rising as women rely more on mail-order chemical abortions, according to the most recent data.

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