Saturday, October 3, 2026

With deep sorrow and grief, His Beatitude Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa, Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem, mourns the passing of Mrs. Maysa Khader Ibrahim Abu Daoud (Ayyad) and Mrs. Mary Hafez Michel Najjar (Abu Daoud), who were killed in the Israeli air strike that took place last night October 2nd, 2026, in Gaza City.

Maysaa. Marie. Remember their names

https://x.com/jacknassar33/status/2106278844810314050/photo/1

Christian Palestinians- Mary Hafez Abu Dawoud and her daughter Maysa Abu Dawoud killed by Israel

Daoud Kuttab داود كُتّاب

@daoudkuttab

Sad eulogy by the Patriarch of the latin church in Jerusalem @LPJerusalem

[AS ALWAYS PLEASE GO TO THE LINK TO READ GOOD ARTICLES (or quotes) IN FULL: HELP SHAPE ALGORITHMS (and conversations) THAT EMPOWER DECENCY, DIGNITY, JUSTICE & PEACE... and hopefully Palestine, or at least fair and just laws and policies here, there- and everywhere]

Condolences

https://www.lpj.org/en/news/condolences-on-the-death-of-maysa-khader-abu-daoud-and-mary-hafez

With deep sorrow and grief, His Beatitude Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa, Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem, mourns the passing of Mrs. Maysa Khader Ibrahim Abu Daoud (Ayyad) and Mrs. Mary Hafez Michel Najjar (Abu Daoud), who were killed in the Israeli air strike that took place last night October 2nd, 2026, in Gaza City.

On behalf of the Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem, its clergy and faithful, Card. Pizzaballa extends his deepest condolences to the families of the deceased and to the Christian community in Gaza, praying that the Lord may grant them comfort, strength, and consolation in their loss.

The funeral will take place today, Saturday, 3 October 2026, at 12:00 noon at St. Porphyrius Church in Gaza.

His Beatitude offers his prayers to the Lord, asking Him to receive the two deceased in His abundant mercy, grant them eternal rest in His Kingdom, and bestow upon their families and loved ones the grace of consolation, strength, and hope.

“Blessed the one whom you will choose and bring to dwell in your courts.” (Ps 65:5)

https://x.com/LPJerusalem/status/2106313489627140386

Gaza: WHO appeals for massive aid influx ahead of winter- Repeated delays in bringing lifesaving medicines, prosthetics and more [food, clean water...etc...] from Israel into Gaza risk having devastating consequences on Palestinians who urgently need them in the war-torn enclave, the UN World Health Organization (WHO) said [warned] on Friday

UN News A child with his homemade kite in the Al-Rimal neighbourhood of central Gaza City (file).

United Nations News

By Daniel Johnson in Geneva

2 October 2026 Peace and Security

Repeated delays in bringing lifesaving medicines, prosthetics and more from Israel into Gaza risk having devastating consequences on Palestinians who urgently need them in the war-torn enclave, the UN World Health Organization (WHO) said on Friday.

“A truck full of non-priority supplies or the right supplies arriving too late, doesn't save lives. That's the question that actually matters," said Dr Reinhilde Van De Weerdt, WHO Representative in the Occupied Palestinian Territory (OPT).

Almost 12 months into a fragile ceasefire agreement between Hamas fighters and Israel marked by ongoing Israeli airstrikes and other military activity, Gaza’s humanitarian situation remains “overwhelming”, according to the UN aid coordination office, OCHA.

Approved aid can only be brought into the Strip via Kerem Shalom in the southern tip of the enclave, while Rafah (also in the south) is open for the limited movement of people including patients requiring medical treatment abroad. At least four other main entry points into Gaza for aid remain closed: Kissufim, Gate 96, Erez and Erez West.

'Dual use' denials

In a call to the Israeli authorities to “release the pressure on medical supplies”, Dr Van De Weerdt also stressed that essential medicines “should not be considered as dual use” – and therefore banned by Israel on the grounds that they could be used by Hamas fighters – “as they are globally accepted standards on medical items anybody needs anywhere to run a hospital or a clinic”.

In the last six months, one shipment of prosthetics and assistive devices was rejected four times. "Every rejection means another delay for someone who has already lost a limb and is simply waiting for the chance to walk again," stressed the WHO official, who noted that medicines "by contrast, move relatively well", with almost 87 per cent approved and just over 1 per cent rejected.

UN aid agencies operating in Gaza still provide critical assistance to families across the Strip in coordination with the Israeli authorities, but this lifesaving work is impeded by a lack of reliable and timely access.

“Our ask is simple and has not changed: we need the unimpeded and predictable entry of humanitarian and health supplies into Gaza at scale. We also need a multi-crossing model so that aid isn't forced to trickle down through a limited number of crossings,” the WHO senior official said.

Highlighting the “extraordinary health workers” still risking their lives to help others in Gaza, Dr Van De Weerdt said that too few supplies were reaching them and not enough patients were getting the care they needed and deserved. The already dire humanitarian situation risks getting even worse soon, once autumn ends.

Rodent threat

“As winter begins, this urgency to get supplies into Gaza only deepens. Almost two million people are in need of shelter to protect against the cold and the risk of flooding, exposing people to serious health and safety risks, let alone [their] dignity,” the WHO official explained.

As in previous winters in Gaza, the enclave’s residents are expected to face a heightened risk of preventable disease outbreaks, linked to the absence of safe shelter, a lack of clean water and the high number of rats, whose bites transmit infection. The destruction of public health laboratories has complicated the task of identifying potential epidemics, WHO explained.

The development follows a warning from OCHA on Thursday about serious public health risks linked to the accumulation of solid waste in the heart of Gaza City.

Recent gains in improving sanitation in Gaza remain fragile because of a lack of reliable access to heavy machinery and equipment, OCHA explained, “or to engine oil and spare parts required to keep them running. Sustained funding for fuel is also critical.”

Meanwhile, mine action partners reported that they still lack “permissions and equipment” to remove unexploded ordnance hazards identified in the rubble during 37 assessment missions.

https://news.un.org/en/story/2026/10/1168508

AI [artificial intelligence] weapons systems are already here. Algorithms must not decide who lives and dies. Israel’s conduct in Gaza shows the danger of using AI in warfare. Humans must remain at the center of wartime decisions

AI (artificial intelligence) in The Guardian

‘When AI is used for targeting, it brings a similar feigned omniscience to killing.’ Photograph: Alaa Badarneh/EPA

Fri 2 Oct 2026

Kenneth Roth

As tech leaders warn about the threats of artificial intelligence, most conjure up images of AI agents running amok, such as hacking systems used to run our critical infrastructure, banks or even militaries. Yet one serious danger is mentioned less frequently – the threat posed by AI–empowered lethal weapons. Fully autonomous versions of these weapons are colloquially known as killer robots.

Israel’s conduct in Gaza shows that, in an important respect, such AI weapon systems are already here. An algorithm has been deciding who lives and who dies.

For more than a decade, governments have been meeting in Geneva to stop the development of autonomous AI weapons. In early September, 128 governments met to approve a report that could serve as the foundation for a binding treaty.

But a collection of lawyers sent by Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin teamed up to water it down. Notably, they weakened a provision that requires humans to review military targets developed by AI before a strike.

Fully autonomous weapons remain the focus; the use of AI to determine targets for conventional weapons is not. At risk is the longstanding quest to maintain a “human in the loop” – that is, meaningful or effective “human control” of AI-empowered weaponry.

For many people, talk of killer robots conjures up images of Arnold Schwarzenegger’s The Terminator. I have often thought about the problem in the context of the Tahrir Square uprising at the height of the Arab spring that led to the ouster of the Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak.

Mubarak’s fate was sealed when the Egyptian army made clear it would refuse to fire on Egyptian protesters. But killer robots would have had no such qualms. If Mubarak had been able to deploy them, he might have stayed in power.

The negotiators in Geneva are not even addressing this problem. The Trump-Putin lawyers made sure that the agreed report referred only to war, not repression.

Today, amid the drone warfare in eastern Ukraine, Russian and Ukrainian troops are experimenting with fully autonomous weapons to overcome jamming of the signals used to control drones. We can expect these nascent deployments to expand.

Yet the “killer robot” metaphor is deceptive. If we look at targeting decisions more expansively, AI has already taken over. In Gaza, the Israeli military is using AI to target Palestinians.

Israel has long monitored phone communications in that territory... READ MORE https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2026/oct/02/ai-weapons-systems-algorithms-war

Friday, October 2, 2026

Friday's International Day of Non-Violence [October 2, 2026] marks the birthday of Mahatma Gandhi, a leader who remained committed to the principle of non-violence, even in the most difficult circumstances

https://x.com/UN/status/2105870639475429640/photo/1

https://www.un.org/en/observances/non-violence-day

The “Non-Violence” (or “Knotted Gun”) sculpture by Swedish artist Carl Fredrik Reuterswärd on display at the UN Visitors’ Plaza. The Knotted Gun is the symbol of the Non-Violence Project Foundation. Photo:UN Photo/Fan Xiao

In these highly charged times, let’s summon the courage, empathy, dignity and shared humanity that Gandhi exemplified throughout his life.

UN Secretary-General António Guterres

Say No to Violence

The International Day of Non-Violence is observed on 2 October, the birthday of Mahatma Gandhi, leader of the Indian independence movement and pioneer of the philosophy and strategy of non-violence.

According to General Assembly resolution A/RES/61/271 of 15 June 2007, which established the commemoration, the International Day is an occasion to "disseminate the message of non-violence, including through education and public awareness". The resolution reaffirms "the universal relevance of the principle of non-violence" and the desire "to secure a culture of peace, tolerance, understanding and non-violence".

Introducing the resolution in the General Assembly on behalf of 140 co-sponsors, India’s Minister of State for External Affairs, Mr. Anand Sharma, said that the wide and diverse sponsorship of the resolution was a reflection of the universal respect for Mahatma Gandhi and of the enduring relevance of his philosophy. Quoting the late leader’s own words, he said: "Non-violence is the greatest force at the disposal of mankind. It is mightier than the mightiest weapon of destruction devised by the ingenuity of man".

International Day of Non-Violence: UN Stamp

Gandhi and the struggle for non-violence

The name of Mahatma Gandhi transcends the bounds of race, religion and nation-states, and has emerged as the prophetic voice of the twenty-first century. The world remembers Gandhi not just for his passionate adherence to the practice of non-violence and supreme humanism, but as the benchmark against which we test men and women in public life, political ideas and government policies, and the hopes and wishes of our shared planet.

https://www.unesco.org/en/articles/ahmisa-non-violence-gandhi-and-global-citizenship-education-gced

WCNSF — Wounded Child, No Surviving Family... Medical workers [in GAZA PALESTINE] began using it to describe children who arrive at hospitals wounded, but with no surviving family left to find them. Nothing can make the deliberate or indiscriminate harming of children acceptable. There are an estimated 30,000 WCNSF in Gaza, they are not statistics. They are someone's whole world — until there is no one left.

WCNSF — Wounded Child, No Surviving Family GAZA Palestine

Zara Zhar

@Boudicca61AD

WCNSF — Wounded Child, No Surviving Family

This is an acronym being used in Gaza that should never have had to exist:

Medical workers began using it to describe children who arrive at hospitals wounded, but with no surviving family left to find them.

And let’s not hide behind vague language.

These are Palestinian children being wounded and killed amid Israeli military bombardment and ground operations in Gaza to this day.

UNICEF has repeatedly documented children killed and injured in Israeli strikes, including children sheltering in homes, schools and makeshift shelters.

Some children survive the strike that destroys their family.

They wake up in a hospital bed with injuries they may carry for the rest of their lives — and discover that there is nobody left to take them home.

No mother.

No father.

No brother.

No sister.

No family member coming through the hospital doors asking:

“Where is my child?”

UNICEF has documented cases in which children were the sole survivors of attacks that killed their entire families.

This is what WCNSF means.

Not an abstract statistic.

Not a political talking point.

A child who survived — and everyone who loved them did not.

Nothing can make the deliberate or indiscriminate harming of children acceptable.

The scale of destruction documented in Gaza demands scrutiny, accountability and protection for civilians.

A wounded child should have a family rushing to their bedside.

They should not have to become a five-letter acronym because everyone they loved was killed.

WCNSF.

Five letters created because ordinary language could no longer keep up with the scale of the suffering.

No child should ever have to become a category.

No hospital should have to need a term for a wounded child with nobody left to come for them.

Remember the children behind those letters.

There are an estimated 30,000 WCNSF in Gaza, they are not statistics.

They are someone's whole world — until there is no one left.

https://x.com/Boudicca61AD/status/2105767757589680171

Just a gentle reminder from Dr. Hanan Ashrawi of Palestine: "In Gaza, Israel continues to shell Palestinians, killing up to a dozen daily, while Palestinian civil defence employees continue to dig up hundreds of remains of the ten thousand that Israel massacred in their own homes & neighborhoods. In the West Bank, Israeli settler thugs continue their daily raids & pogroms armed, funded & aided by the Israeli government & army. They uproot hundreds of thousands of mainly olive trees & steal the olives that Palestinian farmers picked. In the meantime, the Israeli government brazenly announces the stealing of more land & the building of more settlements while re-engineering the demographic reality & courses of movement in the West Bank to facilitate its fragmentation & annexation"

Hanan Ashrawi [Just Hanan. #FreePalestine]

@DrHananAshrawi

In Gaza, Israel continues to shell Palestinians, killing up to a dozen daily, while Palestinian civil defence employees continue to dig up hundreds of remains of the ten thousand that Israel massacred in their own homes & neighborhoods.

In the West Bank, Israeli settler thugs continue their daily raids & pogroms armed, funded & aided by the Israeli government & army. They uproot hundreds of thousands of mainly olive trees & steal the olives that Palestinian farmers picked.

In the meantime, the Israeli government brazenly announces the stealing of more land & the building of more settlements while re-engineering the demographic reality & courses of movement in the West Bank to facilitate its fragmentation & annexation. Just a gentle reminder.

https://x.com/DrHananAshrawi/status/2105954028135776443

Annie's New Letters (& notes)

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