Gaza's tiny Palestinian Christian community is trying to capture some of the Christmas spirit under a fragile ceasefire in the Israel-Hamas war. One 76-year-old Christian finds hope in his faith while sheltering at Gaza's Holy Family Church compound. Attallah Tarazi says joy over Christ's birth must surpass the bitterness of war. But for some, the toll is inescapable as grief and uncertainty dampen Christmas cheer. Community members say many Christians have fled Gaza during the war. That has raised concerns about the community's future in the Palestinian territory.

Israel says it has received remains handed over by Palestinian militants in Gaza to the Red Cross. They are believed to be of one of two dead hostages still in Gaza, an Israeli and a Thai national. Israel's government said Tuesday the remains had been taken for forensics testing. Palestinian media say they were found in Gaza's northern town of Beit Lahiya. Since a U.S.-brokered ceasefire began on Oct. 10, 20 living hostages and the remains of 26 others have already been returned to Israel.

Pope Leo XIV is embarking on his first foreign trip. His pilgrimage to Turkey and Lebanon would be delicate under any circumstances but is even more fraught given Mideast tensions and the media glare that will document history's first American pope on the road. Leo is fulfilling a trip Pope Francis had planned to make. In Turkey, he'll mark an important anniversary with the Orthodox church. In Lebanon, he'll try to boost a long-suffering Christian community and country still demanding justice from the 2020 Beirut port blast. Leo, who spent 12 years as the global superior of his Augustinian religious order and two decades as a missionary in Peru, says he loves to travel. In recent weeks he has shown diplomatic dexterity in answering questions on the fly from reporters.

Israel says it has received human remains that Palestinian militants handed over to the Red Cross, but it is not immediately clear if they are one of three hostages remaining in the Gaza Strip. The office of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Tuesday the remains will be taken for forensic testing and identification. The handover is the latest under the fragile ceasefire that took effect on Oct. 10. Palestinian Islamic Jihad said it found the remains earlier this week in Nuseirat, a refugee camp in central Gaza. The remaining hostages yet to be handed over are two Israelis and a man from Thailand.

The U.S.- and Israel-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, set up to distribute aid to Gaza as an alternative to the United Nations but which Palestinians said endangered the lives of civilians as they tried to get food, has said it will shutter operations. The company had already closed distribution sites after a U.S.-brokered ceasefire took effect six weeks ago in Gaza. It announced Monday that it was permanently shutting down, claiming it had fulfilled its mission. Also Monday, Israel's defense minister and its military's chief of staff clashed publicly over the army's latest probes of its failures in the Oct. 7, 2023, attack by Palestinian militants that sparked the Israel-Hamas war.

Israel has returned the bodies of 45 Palestinians, according to the Red Cross. It comes a day after militants returned the remains of three Israeli soldiers killed in a Hamas-led attack in October 2023. The exchange is part of a U.S.-brokered ceasefire aimed at ending the conflict between Israel and Hamas. Since the truce began in October, Palestinian militants have released the remains of 20 hostages, with eight still in Gaza. For each Israeli hostage returned, Israel has been releasing the remains of 15 Palestinians, totaling 270 since the ceasefire started.

Israel has handed over the bodies of 30 Palestinians, according to the Red Cross and Gaza hospital officials, a day after Palestinian militants turned over the remains of two hostages to Israel. A doctor at Nasser Hospital in the southern city of Khan Younis confirmed receiving the bodies and said they were all unidentified. The exchange of Palestinian remains for hostage remains is the latest indication that the fraught Israel-Hamas ceasefire agreement is moving forward, despite deadly Israeli strikes on Gaza this week and the death of an Israeli soldier.

Israel's intense bombardment of the Gaza Strip this week marked the most serious challenge yet for a fragile, U.S.-brokered ceasefire. Gaza health officials said over 100 Palestinians were killed, including dozens of civilians. Israel said one of its soldiers was killed in an attack that helped prompt the fierce Israeli strikes. But by early Wednesday, the ceasefire had been restored almost as quickly as it had unraveled. Hamas handed over the remains of two dead hostages on Thursday, in another positive sign for the truce. The chain of events underscored the fragility of the truce between Israel and Hamas after two years of war, but also showed how intent the U.S. is on keeping it going.