Family gatherings here. And broken families elsewhere.

 It’s all quiet in our house at the moment - the lull between organising almost the whole family together for lunch yesterday and the local bit of the family coming for Christmas dinner on Christmas Day.

We somehow managed to get almost the whole family to the local Italian restaurant: the southern branch of the family, the Spanish relatives, a few from Southport and those who live locally.

Granddaughter Number Four commented later: “I never knew I had so much family!l 

A lot of family catching up took place. A good time seemed to be had by all.

In the early evening one contingent set off to return to the B&B they had rented in Southport. And this morning the southern branch of the family headed back south. 

We’ve done a last bit of shopping to make sure we have supplies for Christmas Day, when we’ll have a family Christmas for those who live close by. Until then it’s calm and quiet.

Out in the wider world, it’s not very Christmassy. And not very calm and quiet. 

Here’s something Michael Rosen wrote two years ago. A reminder to those who think it all began in October of last year:

It goes on

till the ambulances are full of dying doctors

till the ambulances’ route to the hospital is 

blocked by bodies

till the ambulance sirens are worn out and 

cannot wail anymore

till the ambulances are full of tears

till the ambulances die

till the ambulances admit that it’s their fault

till there are no more ambulances

it goes on

And this was in today’s Guardian: 

Israel orders closure of one of the last functioning hospitals in northern Gaza

Hello, and welcome to the Guardian’s live coverage of Israel’s war on Gaza and developments in the Middle East more widely.

Israel late last night ordered the closure and evacuation of one of the last hospitals still partly functioning in northern Gaza.

The head of the Kamal Adwan hospital, Husam Abu Safiya, told Reuters that obeying the order to shut down was “next to impossible” because there were not enough ambulances to get patients out.

He said:

We currently have nearly 400 civilians inside the hospital, including babies in the neonatal unit, whose lives depend on oxygen and incubators. We cannot evacuate these patients safely without assistance, equipment, and time.

We are sending this message under heavy bombardment and direct targeting of the fuel tanks, which if hit will cause a large explosion and mass casualties of the civilians inside.

Abu Safiya said the military had ordered patients and staff to be evacuated to another hospital where conditions are even worse. The Israeli military said that on Friday it had sent fuel and food to the hospital and helped evacuate more than 100 patients and caregivers to other Gaza hospitals.

Life goes on. Stay safe and well, everyone!