In Gaza, the number of children who have been killed or horrendously maimed numbers over 64,000 – in just over two years. Premature births have risen sharply, along with miscarriages and stillbirths linked to severe malnutrition, exhaustion and constant fear.

Today, in Orkney, people will gather in vigil, as they have done now since the end of October 2023, to remember those who have died in the Gaza Genocide. They meet on the Kirk Green, Broad Street, Kirkwall, between 1 and 2pm.

Al-Shifa was once the largest maternity hospital in Gaza but now it lies shattered by Israeli bombardment. In those remains the resilience of the people of Gaza to keep going is extraordinary. Medical staff are continuing to care and tend to women giving birth in the desolation of their land.

The medical staff struggle with the most basic of facilities because Israel has continued to limit the supplies that can enter Gaza. This is a war crime.

Sahar, a midwife, described delivering a friend’s premature baby in the besieged Zeitoun neighbourhood with nothing but a kitchen knife heated over a fire. “I had no gloves, no tools,” she said. “I used the knife to cut the umbilical cord and wet wipes as bandages.”

Often women give birth before they can reach any medical help. New borns are dying, women are haemorrhaging – bleeding to death.

In this month of all months when the birth of baby Jesus Christ is being celebrated, in the land of his birth, babies are dying – unnecessarily. The medical aid is stuck at the check points, deliberately held up by the apartheid state of Israel.

Saint Nicholas is the patron saint of all children and around the world, children will be receiving gifts on 5 -6 December – even in places where war is tearing communities apart. In Ukraine, Saint Nicholas (Mykolai) visits all children during the night and brings presents on 5–6 December. In Lebanon Saint Nicholas is celebrated by all the Christian communities: Catholic, Greek Orthodox, and Armenian.

The United Nations Population Fund (UNPFA) provides  ‘Emergency Birth Kits’ which can save lives when women are forced to deliver their babies under challenging conditions. These kits contain the supplies needed to prevent infection during childbirth, one of the leading causes of maternal mortality globally. You can donate to that fund here: UNPFA.

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Nicholas of Myra was known for his generosity through a Christian legend, in which he gave a poor father money in order to prevent his daughters from being taken into slavery, as the father did not have the funds for his daughters’ dowries. It is said that Nicholas of Myra threw the money through the family’s window, which landed in their shoes, which were drying near their fireplace.

Fiona Grahame

O Little Town of Bethlehem