Charities urge UK authorities to ‘hold Israel accountable’ after Gaza ceasefire
18 organizations accuse British government of failing to act when UN accused Israel of war crimes
Letter calls for permanent end to hostilities and says truce must be a ‘starting point for justice and accountability’
Updated 17 January 2025
Arab News
LONDON: UK charities and other organizations have called on the British government to ensure the ceasefire in Gaza marks the start of a process that ends Israel’s occupation of Palestinian territories and ensures “justice and accountability.”
An alliance of 18 groups, including the Council for Arab-British Understanding, Oxfam and Amnesty International, on Thursday signed a letter welcoming the Gaza ceasefire agreement, upon which the Israeli parliament was due to vote on Thursday evening.
But the groups said the temporary truce, expected to take effect on Sunday, must become permanent and represent a “starting point for justice and accountability.”
The letter stated: “This deal alone will not end Palestinian suffering in Gaza, and therefore must be the beginning, and not the end, of a process that will rapidly bring a comprehensive ceasefire, with a lifting of the 17-year long blockade, and end of Israel’s occupation of Gaza, West Bank and East Jerusalem.”
The agreement to end 15 months of devastating war in Gaza, during which at least 46,000 Palestinians were killed, was reached on Wednesday. It calls for a six-week ceasefire, the gradual withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza, and the freeing of hostages taken by Hamas during the Oct. 7, 2023, attacks on Israel during which 1,200 people were killed. Palestinian prisoners detained in Israel will also be released and a mammoth humanitarian aid operation launched in Gaza.
The letter calls for a halt to deliveries of arms to Israel, “including components for F-35 fighter jets sent indirectly,” as part of a series of actions that would “ensure accountability and justice for Palestinians.”
It outlines the terrible suffering endured by Palestinians during the war, including the forced displacement of more than 1.9 million people, representing nearly 90 percent of Gaza’s population.
It also accuses the UK government of failing to act in any meaningful way in response, despite a UN Commission of Inquiry accusing Israel of committing war crimes and crimes against humanity during the conflict.
The UK, the letter says, “has neither secured a permanent ceasefire nor shown willingness to hold Israel accountable.”
Israeli authorities were repeatedly accused during the conflict of restricting deliveries of humanitarian aid to Gaza that could have alleviated the suffering of the civilian population. The organizations that signed the letter called for full humanitarian access now to be granted “to avert the risk of famine.”
They continued: “This is a moment of truth for the UK. To continue shielding Israel from accountability is to abandon the principles of justice and human rights that it claims to uphold.”
The British prime minister, Keir Starmer, welcomed the ceasefire agreement and said the focus should turn now to humanitarian aid and efforts to secure a better, long-term future for the region.
"After months of devastating bloodshed and countless lives lost, this is the long-overdue news that the Israeli and Palestinian people have desperately been waiting for,” he said.
The UK, the US and other European allies of Israel faced criticism throughout the conflict for failing to put pressure on Israel to end its military operations.
Trump expresses doubts Putin is willing to end the Ukraine war, a day after saying a deal was close
“There was no reason for Putin to be shooting missiles into civilian areas, cities and towns, over the last few days,” Trump said
“It makes me think that maybe he doesn’t want to stop the war, he’s just tapping me along, and has to be dealt with differently, through “Banking” or “Secondary Sanctions?”
Updated 4 sec ago
AP
ROME: President Donald Trump said Saturday that he doubts Russia’s Vladimir Putin wants to end his war in Ukraine, expressing new skepticism that a peace deal can be reached soon. Only a day earlier, Trump had said Ukraine and Russia were ” very close to a deal.”
“There was no reason for Putin to be shooting missiles into civilian areas, cities and towns, over the last few days,” Trump said in a social media post as he flew back to the United States after attending Pope Francis’ funeral at the Vatican, where he met briefly with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.
Trump also hinted at further sanctions against Russia.
“It makes me think that maybe he doesn’t want to stop the war, he’s just tapping me along, and has to be dealt with differently, through “Banking” or “Secondary Sanctions?” Too many people are dying!!!” Trump wrote.
The new doubts aired by Trump come as the president and top aides intensify their push to come to a deal to end the war that began in February 2022 when Russian invaded Ukraine.
The comments also sharply contrasted with Trump’s positive assessment that the two sides were “very close to a deal” after his special envoy, Steve Witkoff, had met with Putin in Moscow on Friday.
The Trump-Zelensky conversation on the sidelines of the pope’s funeral was first face-to-face encounter between the two leaders since they argued during a heated Oval Office meeting at the White House in late February. That confrontation led to the White House to briefly pause US military assistance and intelligence sharing with Ukraine.
Days after ordering the pause, Trump also announced he was “strongly considering” imposing new sanctions and tariffs on Russia to try to prod Putin to negotiate in earnest. Trump has not yet followed through on the threat — something even some of his staunch Republican allies are now pressuring him to do.
It’s the second time a matter of days that Trump has rebuked Putin, whom the American president rarely publicly criticizes.
On Thursday, Trump publicly urged the Russian leader to “STOP!” after a deadly barrage of attacks on Kyiv, Ukraine’s capital.
After their brief meeting Saturday, Zelensky’s office had said the US and Ukrainian teams were making arrangements for the leaders to talk again Saturday. But Trump went directly to the Rome airport after the funeral and boarded Air Force One for the 10-hour flight back to the United States.
Zelensky’s spokesperson, Serhii Nykyforov, said Trump and Zelensky did not meet again in person because of their tight schedules.
Zelensky called it a “good meeting” on social media after the funeral.
“We discussed a lot one on one. Hoping for results on everything we covered. Protecting lives of our people. Full and unconditional ceasefire. Reliable and lasting peace that will prevent another war from breaking out,” he said on X. “Very symbolic meeting that has potential to become historic, if we achieve joint results. Thank you.”
The White House called the discussion “very productive” and said it would release more details later. The meeting lasted about 15 minutes inside St. Peter’s Basilica at the Vatican, where Francis often preached the need for a peaceful end to the war, just before Trump and Zelensky took their seats at the outdoor funeral service.
The Vatican long ago had offered to help facilitate peace talks and Francis had regularly called for peace and dialogue from the altar of the basilica. That Trump and Zelensky spoke privately, face to face and hunched over on chairs on the marbled floors of the pope’s home, on the day of his funeral, was perhaps a fitting way to honor his wishes.
Trump said on social media, after he arrived in Italy late Friday, that Russia and Ukraine should meet for “very high level talks” on ending the war.
Neither Putin nor Zelensky have commented Trump’s calls for direct talks.
Trump has pressed both sides to quickly come to an agreement to end the war, but while Zelensky agreed to an American plan for an initial 30-day halt to hostilities, Russia has not signed on and has continued to strike at targets inside Ukraine.
Putin did not attend Francis’ funeral. He faces an arrest warrant issued by the International Criminal Court, which has accused him of war crimes stemming from Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine.
Meanwhile, in a statement Friday night, Zelensky said “very significant meetings may take place” in the coming days, and that an unconditional ceasefire was needed.
“Real pressure on Russia is needed so that they accept either the American proposal to cease fire and move toward peace, or our proposal — whichever one can truly work and ensure a reliable, immediate, and unconditional ceasefire, and then — a dignified peace and security guarantees,” he said.
“Diplomacy must succeed. And we are doing everything to make diplomacy truly meaningful and finally effective.”
The meeting Saturday also came shortly after Trump had issued his most definitive statement to date about the need for Ukraine to give up territory to Russia to bring the war to a close. He said in a Time magazine interview published Friday that “Crimea will stay with Russia.”
Russia seized the strategic peninsula along the Black Sea in southern Ukraine in 2014, years before the full-scale invasion that began in 2022. Zelensky wants to regain Crimea and other Ukrainian territory seized by Russia, but Trump considers that demand to be unrealistic.
Referring to Crimea during the interview, which was conducted at the White House on Tuesday, Trump said, “everybody understands that it’s been with them for a long time,” meaning Russia.
ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Saturday said Pakistan’s armed forces were fully prepared to defend the country’s sovereignty and called for a “neutral” investigation into a militant attack in Indian-administered Kashmir that has brought Pakistan and India close to the brink of another conflict.
Sharif’s remarks came as Indian and Pakistani troops exchanged gunfire for a second straight day on Saturday as ties plummeted between the two nuclear-armed neighbors over the attack in Pahalgam that killed 26 tourists on Tuesday.
Indian police have identified three suspects, including two Pakistani nationals, who carried out the April 22 attack. Pakistan has denied any involvement. Since the attack, both nations have unleashed a raft of measures against each other, with Pakistan closing its airspace to Indian airlines and India suspending the 1960 Indus Waters Treaty that regulates water-sharing from the Indus river and its tributaries.
Indian Border Security Force personnel (brown) and Pakistani Rangers (black) take part in the beating retreat ceremony at the gates of the Wagah border post, about 35 km from Amritsar, India. (AFP)
Sharif said the tragic incident in Pahalgam was yet another example of New Delhi’s “perpetual blame game” that must come to a halt, adding that Islamabad was “open to participate in any neutral, transparent and credible investigation” into the attack.
“Water is a vital national interest of Pakistan ... any attempt to stop, reduce or divert the flow of water belonging to Pakistan under the Indus Water Treaty would be responded to with full force and might and nobody should remain under any kind of false impression and confusion,” Sharif said during a passing-out parade at the Pakistan Military Academy in Abbottabad.
“Our valiant armed forces remain fully capable and prepared to defend the country’s sovereignty and its territorial integrity against any misadventure as clearly demonstrated by its measured yet resolute response to India’s reckless incursion in February 2019.”
Sharif’s comment was a reference to the downing of an Indian fighter jet in 2019 in response to Indian airstrikes in Pakistan, following a militant attack in Pulwama in Indian-administered Kashmir in which at least 40 Indian paramilitary police were killed. India had also blamed the Pulwama attack on Pakistan, while Islamabad denied any complicity.
Kashmir has been divided between India and Pakistan since their independence in 1947, with both claiming the territory in full but governing separate portions of it.
Rebel groups have waged an insurgency in Indian-controlled Kashmir since 1989, demanding independence or a merger with Pakistan.
Tuesday’s assault happened as tourists enjoyed tranquil mountain views at the popular site at Pahalgam, when gunmen burst from the cover of the forest and raked crowds with automatic weapons. Survivors told Indian media the gunmen targeted men and spared those who could give the Islamic declaration of faith.
India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday said his country would “track and punish every terrorist and their backer,” vowing to “pursue them to the ends of the Earth.” There has been growing concern since Tuesday’s attack that India could conduct a military strike on Pakistani territory as it did in 2019.
The UN has urged the neighbors to show “maximum restraint,” while US President Donald Trump has downplayed the tensions, saying that the dispute will get “figured out, one way or another.”
Rapidly deteriorating relations between India and Pakistan over the deadly shooting in Indian-administered Kashmir are also starting to have small but prickly economic consequences for both nations.
While India unveiled a series of mostly symbolic diplomatic measures against Pakistan, Islamabad responded on Thursday with similar tit-for-tat measures but upped the ante by halting trade with New Delhi and closing its airspace to Indian airlines.
Experts say that while the retaliatory moves will not have an immediate or far-reaching impact, they will likely result in longer and more expensive flights for Indians, while forcing Pakistan to increase pharmaceutical imports from other countries.
Families unable to reunite as India-Pakistan border slams shut
Indian doctor Vikram Udasi, 37, said he and his Pakistani wife both rushed to reach the border crossing when the closure was announced, but arrived just too late
On Saturday, a steady trickle of cars and rickshaws brought those leaving to the border
Updated 26 April 2025
AFP
ATTARI: Indian business owner Rishi Kumar Jisrani has spent two days watching a messy scramble of people haul suitcases and drop loved ones at the border with Pakistan before it shuts, with dwindling hopes his family will be allowed across.
As relations between Islamabad and New Delhi quickly deteriorate, the neighboring nations have scrapped visas and expelled each other’s citizens, giving people just days to get to the frontier before it closes.
Jisrani, 39, fears it is already too late, with his Pakistani wife and their two children now stuck on the other side.
“They have told her that they can allow my children to come back, since they are Indian passport holders, but not her,” he said, adding that he has received no advice from the Indian side.
“How can we separate a mother from her children?“
Since India accused Pakistan of backing a deadly April 22 attack on tourists in Pahalgam — claims Islamabad denies — the two countries have exchanged gunfire and diplomatic barbs. And at the busy Attari-Wagah border crossing, the fraying ties are painfully tearing apart the many families that straddle the divide.
There were no immediate figures on how many citizens of either nationality are in each other’s country and are expected to cross.
On Saturday, a steady trickle of cars and rickshaws brought those leaving to the border, with relatives waving farewell at a police barricade.
Indian citizen Anees Mohammad, 41, managed to get his 76-year-old aunt, Shehar Bano, to the border just ahead of India’s April 29 deadline to leave.
“She is old and sick and had come here to meet everyone in the family,” said Mohammad, from Indore in India’s Madhya Pradesh state.
Exhausted and emotional, he mopped his brow in the blazing midday heat as he bid his aunt goodbye.
“No one knows when and if we will meet again.”
At the frontier, the cleavage of families has painful historical precedent. The end of British rule in 1947 violently partitioned the sub-continent into Hindu-majority India and Muslim-majority Pakistan.
This week’s expulsion orders add to longstanding distress for families of mixed nationalities, who often struggle to obtain visas.
Jisrani said his wife, Savita Kumari, 35, is a Hindu like him and has a long-term Indian visa.
She has previously used that to travel from her home in India to visit her wider family in Pakistan. But that did not make a difference amid the latest tumult.
On Saturday, the hostilities did not appear to be de-escalating. The Indian army said its troops traded gunfire with Pakistan for a second day running, while Islamabad vowed to defend its sovereignty.
Indian doctor Vikram Udasi, 37, said he and his Pakistani wife both rushed to reach the border crossing when the closure was announced, but arrived just too late.
“My wife and our four-year-old boy, Aahan, went there to meet her mother and the rest of the family,” said Udasi.
He has been at the crossing since Friday, while his wife and their child are barred by officers barely a kilometer away.
“They are now stuck on the other side. They are not being allowed back. They are asking my wife to send the child,” he said.
“Please allow them to return. Go ahead, cancel tourist and other short-term visas, but let those with families and long-term visas to return, please.”
He condemned the attack in Kashmir, but despaired of the fallout on ordinary citizens like himself.
“Whatever the issues between the two governments, it is us who are bearing the brunt of it,” he said.
“We are caught in the middle of it, suffering.”
Iwaya Takeshi to visit Kingdom on April 30 and May 1
Updated 26 April 2025
Khaldon Azhari
TOKYO: Japanese Foreign Minister Takeshi Iwaya will visit Saudi Arabia on April 30 and May 1 on a trip that will also take him to the United Nations in New York and Senegal in Africa.
Following on from the Foreign Ministers’ Strategic Dialogue in February, Iwaya will exchange views closely with Saudi Arabian Foreign Minister Faisal bin Farhan Al Saud to discuss issues such as the situation in Gaza, Syria, Iran and the Red Sea, as well as strengthening coordination between Japan and Saudi Arabia and other Arab countries, a high-ranking Foreign Ministry official told Arab News Japan.
The official stated that Japan considers Saudi Arabia to be the leader of the Arab-Islamic world, as it is home to two of Islam’s holiest sites, Makkah and Madinah. Additionally, Saudi Arabia is the only Arab nation that is a member of the G20. With its abundant oil resources, the country plays a significant role in OPEC. “Given the current instability in the Middle East, Saudi Arabia serves as a crucial stabilizing force in the region and maintains a strong relationship with the United States,” he said.
Japan aims to strengthen its diverse economic relationship with Saudi Arabia, extending beyond their existing energy partnership. This visit is expected to speed up the efforts to finalize the Japan-GCC Economic Partnership Agreement negotiations that resumed last year. Additionally, Japan is committed to supporting Saudi Arabia’s goals for decarbonization and industrial diversification as part of “Saudi Vision 2030.”
Japan also acknowledges the role of Saudi Arabia in the international community, which seems to have strong connections with the Trump administration and Russia.
In February, the second Foreign Ministers’ Strategic Dialogue was held in Tokyo between Minister Iwaya and Minister Faisal. The most recent visit by a Japanese Foreign Minister to Saudi Arabia occurred in September 2023.
In February, the second Foreign Ministers’ Strategic Dialogue was held in Tokyo between Minister Iwaya (R) and Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan (L). (ANJ)
Japan’s relationship with Saudi Arabia has a long history, with Japan importing approximately 40 percent of its crude oil from Saudi Arabia. This makes Saudi Arabia Japan’s most important partner for energy security. As we approach the 70th anniversary of diplomatic relations between the two countries in 2025, this visit is particularly significant, the Japanese official said.
In February, during Saudi Foreign Minister Faisal’s visit to Japan, the two countries signed an agreement to establish the “Strategic Partnership Council (SPC),” which will be co-chaired by the leaders of both nations.
“As we prepare for the SPC, the visit aims to reinforce cooperation in various areas, including politics, economy, security, and culture. The two countries will also solidify their collaboration for the upcoming Expo in Riyadh in 2030, which is a promising sign for the future of Japan-Saudi relations.”
Iwaya’s visit to the United Nations coincides with the final session of the Preparatory Committee for the 2026 Review Conference of the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT), which takes place every five years. This event marks the first time in seven years that a Foreign Minister has attended such a meeting.
To ensure that next year’s NPT Review Conference produces positive results, Japan aims to take a leading role in nuclear disarmament and non-proliferation. The country will advocate for dialogue and collaboration among states and parties to work towards creating a world without nuclear weapons, according to the Foreign Ministry.
Japan is actively engaging in discussions with UN officials to enhance collaboration with the United Nations, focusing on strengthening its functions and addressing global challenges.
Regarding its relationship with Senegal, Japan’s Foreign Ministry highlights that Japan and Senegal are strategically important partners. Japan is dedicated to contributing to the “Senegal 2050” initiative, emphasizing human resource development.
Senegal serves as a key base for Japanese companies in French-speaking West Africa. In 2024, oil and natural gas production began, resulting in an increase in the number of Japanese companies operating in Senegal.
Hundreds of thousands at funeral mourn pope ‘with an open heart’
Some waited overnight to get a seat in the vast square in front of St Peter's Basilica, with the Vatican reporting some 250,00 people attended
More than 50 heads of state were also present at the solemn ceremony, including Trump who met world leaders in a corner of the basilica beforehand
Updated 26 April 2025
AFP
Vatican City: Hundreds of thousands of mourners and world leaders, including US President Donald Trump packed St. Peter’s Square on Saturday for the funeral of Pope Francis, “pope among the people” and the Catholic Church’s first Latin American leader.
Some waited overnight to get a seat in the vast square in front of St. Peter’s Basilica, with the Vatican reporting some 250,00 people attended, in an outpouring of support for the Argentine pontiff.
More than 50 heads of state were also present at the solemn ceremony, including Trump — who met several world leaders in a corner of the basilica beforehand, notably Ukraine’s Volodomyr Zelensky, in their first face-to-face since their Oval Office clash in February.
The crowds applauded as the pope’s coffin was carried out of the basilica by white gloved pallbearers, accompanied by more than 200 red-robed cardinals, and then again as it was taken back after the approximately two-hour mass.
Francis, who died on Monday aged 88, was “a pope among the people, with an open heart,” who strove for a more compassionate, open-minded Catholic Church, Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re said in his funeral homily.
There was applause again from the masses gathered under bright blue skies as he hailed the pope’s “conviction that the Church is a home for all, a home with its doors always open.”
Francis sought to steer the centuries-old Church into a more inclusive direction during his 12-year papacy, and his death prompted a global outpouring of emotion.
“I’m touched by how many people are here. It’s beautiful to see all these nationalities together,” said Jeremie Metais, 29, from Grenoble, France.
“It’s a bit like the center of the world today.”
Members of the clergy attend the funeral Mass of Pope Francis, at the Vatican, on April 26, 2025. (REUTERS)
Italian and Vatican authorities mounted a major security operation for the ceremony, with fighter jets on standby and snipers positioned on roofs surrounding the tiny city-state.
After the funeral, the pope’s simple wooden coffin was put onto a white popemobile for a slow drive through the streets of Rome to the basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore, where he will be buried.
The funeral sets off the first of nine days of official Vatican mourning for Francis, who took over following the resignation of Pope Benedict XVI in 2013.
After the mourning, cardinals will gather for the conclave to elect a new pope to lead the world’s 1.4 billion Catholics.
Many of Francis’s reforms angered traditionalists, while his criticism of injustices, from the treatment of migrants to the damage wrought by global warming, riled many world leaders.
Yet the former archbishop of Buenos Aires’s compassion and charisma earned him global affection and respect.
“His gestures and exhortations in favor of refugees and displaced persons are countless,” Battista Re said.
The coffin of Pope Francis passes the Colosseum in Rome, on April 26, 2025. (AP)
He recalled the first trip of Francis’s papacy to Lampedusa, an Italian island that is often the first port of call for migrants crossing the Mediterranean, as well as when the Argentine celebrated mass on the border between Mexico and the US.
Trump’s administration drew the pontiff’s ire for its mass deportation of migrants, but the president has paid tribute to “a good man” who “loved the world.”
Making the first foreign trip of his second term, Trump sat among dozens of leaders from other countries — many of them keen to bend his ear over a trade war he unleashed, among other subjects.
The White House said Saturday that the president had a “very productive” meeting with Zelensky before the funeral, while a second meeting was planned after, the Ukrainian presidency said.
Kyiv published a photo of the encounter, the two men sitting face to face in red and gold chairs in the basilica, as well as another showing Zelensky huddled with Trump, Britain’s Keir Starmer and French President Emmanuel Macron.
In the homily, Battista Re highlighted Francis’s incessant calls for peace, and said he urged “reason and honest negotiation” in efforts to end conflicts raging around the world.
“’Build bridges, not walls’ was an exhortation he repeated many times,” the cardinal said.
Trump’s predecessor Joe Biden also attended the funeral, alongside UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres, Germany’s Olaf Scholz, Italy’s Giorgia Meloni, and Lebanon’s Joseph Aoun.
Israel — angered by Francis’s criticism of its conduct in Gaza — sent only its Holy See ambassador. China, which does not have formal relations with the Vatican, did not send any representative.
Italian mourners Francesco Morello, 58, said the homily about peace was a “fitting, strong and beautiful message.”
Of the world leaders gathered, Morello noted: “He could not bring them together in life but he managed in death.”
Pallbearers carry the coffin of Pope Francis inside the Papal Basilica of Saint Mary Major (Santa Maria Maggiore) during his funeral, in Rome, on Italy, April 26, 2025. (REUTERS)
Francis died of a stroke and heart failure less than a month after he left hospital where he had battled pneumonia for five weeks.
He loved nothing more than being among his flock, taking selfies with the faithful and kissing babies, and made it his mission to visit the peripheries, rather than mainstream centers of Catholicism.
His last public act, the day before his death, was an Easter Sunday blessing of the entire world, ending his papacy as he had begun it — with an appeal to protect the “vulnerable, the marginalized and migrants.”
The Jesuit chose to be named after Saint Francis of Assisi, saying he wanted “a poor Church for the poor,” and eschewed fine robes and the papal palace.
Instead, the Church’s 266th pope lived at a Vatican guesthouse and chose to be interred in his favorite Rome church — the first pontiff to be buried outside the Vatican walls in more than a century.
Catholics around the world held events to watch the proceedings live, including in Buenos Aires, where Francis was born Jorge Bergoglio in the poor neighborhood of Flores in 1936.
“The pope showed us that there was another way to live the faith,” said Lara Amado, 25, in the Argentine capital.
A man holds a rose outside the Papal Basilica of Saint Mary Major (Santa Maria Maggiore), on the day of the funeral of Pope Francis, in Rome, Italy, on April 26, 2025. (REUTERS)
Francis asked to be put inside a single wooden coffin to be laid in a simple marble tomb, marked only with the inscription “Franciscus,” his name in Latin.
Francis’s admirers credit him with transforming perceptions of the Church and helping revive the faith following decades of clerical sex abuse scandals.
He was considered a radical by some for allowing divorced and remarried believers to receive communion, approving the baptism of transgender believers and blessings for same-sex couples, and refusing to judge gay Catholics.
But he also stuck with some centuries-old dogma, notably holding firm on the Church’s opposition to abortion.
Francis strove for “a Church determined to take care of the problems of people and the great anxieties that tear the contemporary world apart,” Battista Re said.
“A Church capable of bending down to every person, regardless of their beliefs or condition, and healing their wounds.”
