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The popemobile used by the late pope Francis on his 2014 visit to Bethlehem re-emerged on Tuesday as a mobile children’s clinic to be deployed in Gaza.The vehicle is still unmistakeable as a popemobile: pristine white inside and out, and with the familiar raised canopy.But instead of transporting the leader of the world’s 1.4 billion Roman Catholics, the re-branded “Vehicle of Hope” is now set to serve in the war-battered Gaza Strip, in accordance with the late pope’s wishes.It was unveiled in Bethlehem in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, around the corner from the Church of the Nativity and Manger Square, where preparations are well underway for Christmas.”The Vehicle of Hope is ready for its new mission,” Cardinal Anders Arborelius, the Bishop of Stockholm, told a press conference, after blessing the vehicle.”We want every child we reach to feel seen, heard and protected. The rights and well-being of the child come first.”This vehicle stands as a testament: the world has not forgotten the children of Gaza.”This is not just a vehicle: it’s a message of compassion, dignity and hope.”Staffed by medics, the popemobile is intended for performing triage and is equipped for examination, diagnosis and treatment, including vaccines, stitches and tests for infections.The clinic should be able to perform up to 200 consultations a day. The children will sit in the pontiff’s chair while being attended to.- Pope’s ‘final wish’ -In May 2014, Francis visited Amman, Bethlehem and Jerusalem, on his second international visit as pontiff. The popemobile was used as he toured Bethlehem, greeting the crowds gathered in Manger Square.A gift from the Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas, the converted Mitsubishi was later given to Franciscan friars.Pope Francis died on April 21 aged 88, and his final wish for Gaza’s children was that the popemobile should become a mobile health unit, the official Vatican News portal said in May.The vehicle was transformed by Caritas, the Catholic humanitarian aid organisation. Costing $15,000, it has been repurposed and spruced up by Palestinian mechanics. The open sides have been screened off.”The children of Gaza were very close to the heart of pope Francis,” said Peter Brune, secretary general of the Caritas Sweden branch.”They will sit on the seat of the pope, and be treated like the most valuable person on Earth.”However, there is no date yet as to when it might receive Israeli authorisation to enter Gaza, where a fragile truce between Israel and Hamas came into effect on October 10 after two years of war that devastated healthcare in the Palestinian territory.”As with all humanitarian assistance, we urgently need access to Gaza,” Caritas secretary general Alistair Dutton told AFP.”We’re working through the official channels to get this in as quickly as possible.”

Thousands of people demonstrated on Tuesday across Syria’s coastal Alawite heartland in protest at recent attacks targeting the minority community, AFP correspondents said.The protests are the biggest in the Alawite region since the fall last December of longtime Syrian ruler Bashar al-Assad, who hails from the community, following an Islamist-led offensive.Since then, the community has been the target of attacks, while hundreds of people were killed in sectarian massacres in the area in March.Protesters in the port city of Latakia shouted slogans including “The Syrian people are one” and “To the whole world, listen to us, the Alawites will not bend”.Security forces were deployed in the city but did not intervene.”We are one united people. We want armed factions in the region to leave, justice for our martyrs on the coast, and the release of our prisoners… We don’t know what they are accused of,” said Joumana, 58, a lawyer, who declined to provide her family name.Demonstrations also took place in other coastal areas such as Tartus and Jableh, where hundreds of people held banners demanding “federalism” and “the liberation of prisoners”, an AFP correspondent said.The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitor said that 9,000 mostly Alawite former military personnel who had surrendered to the new authorities were still being held.Clashes broke out in Jableh between participants in the rally and a counter-demonstration by supporters of the authorities, and gunshots were heard, the correspondent said. A few people sustained minor injuries.Later on Tuesday, the Observatory said people vandalised Alawite properties and hurled insults at members of the community in Latakia.- ‘We demand federalism’ -The protests took place after a call on social media by the Supreme Islamic Alawite Council in Syria and Abroad.That appeal followed a wave of violence against the community in the central city of Homs after a Sunni Muslim Bedouin couple were killed on Sunday, with sectarian graffiti found at the site.After accusations emerged that Alawites were behind the killings, shops and houses were vandalised in districts home to the community, before authorities imposed a curfew and later said the killings were “a criminal act and not sectarian in nature”.Protester Mona, 25, said that “what happened in Homs is unacceptable”.”We demand freedom and security, an end to the killings and to kidnappings,” she said, also declining to provide her surname.”We want federalism for the Syrian coast,” she added.The Observatory for Human Rights recorded 42 demonstrations on Tuesday.The sectarian violence that tore through Syria’s Alawite heartland in March killed at least 1,426 members of the minority community, according to authorities, who said it began with attacks on government forces by Assad supporters.The Observatory said more than 1,700 people were killed.A UN commission found in August that the violence was “widespread and systematic”, with some cases amounting to war crimes.Syria’s new Islamist-led rule stoked fears among minority communities. In July, deadly sectarian clashes in the Druze-majority Sweida province killed more than 2,000 people, according to the Observatory.

Israel said on Tuesday it had received the coffin of a hostage held in Gaza, with the remains undergoing forensic examination to determine their identity.Prior to this latest handover, the bodies of three deceased hostages were still being held in the Gaza Strip — those of two Israelis and one Thai national.Hamas and its allies have been handing over the final hostages as part of the US-brokered ceasefire deal with Israel that came into force on October 10.”Israel has received, via the Red Cross, the coffin of a fallen hostage,” Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said in a statement.The coffin was handed over to the Israeli military and security services inside the Gaza Strip, then transferred to Israel where it was received in a military ceremony.The coffin was then taken to the National Centre of Forensic Medicine in Tel Aviv.An AFP journalist saw a white van, escorted by police vehicles and motorcycle outriders, going through the gates of the forensic centre.Police officers, lined up outside the gates, saluted.- ‘Difficult hour’ -“Upon completion of the identification process, formal notification will be delivered to the family,” Netanyahu’s office said.”The families of the fallen hostages have been updated accordingly, and our hearts are with them in this difficult hour.”The effort to return our hostages is ongoing and will not cease until the last hostage is returned.”The International Committee of the Red Cross confirmed it had “facilitated the transfer of one deceased to Israeli authorities, acting as a neutral intermediary”. Islamic Jihad’s armed wing said it had located the body of a hostage on Monday during search operations in the central Gaza Strip.A source in the Palestinian militant group, who requested anonymity, said the remains belonged to one of the last three hostages.- Fragile truce -The war was sparked by Hamas’s October 7, 2023 attack on Israel, which resulted in the deaths of 1,221 people.Militants took 251 people hostage during the attack.Israel’s retaliatory assault on Gaza has killed at least 69,775 people, according to figures from the territory’s health ministry that the UN considers reliable.At the start of the ceasefire, militants were holding 20 living hostages and 28 bodies of deceased captives.All the living hostages were released early in the ceasefire, while the return of the deceased hostages has dragged on, with Hamas blaming difficulties in getting to the bodies under the rubble.In exchange, Israel has released nearly 2,000 Palestinian prisoners in its custody and returned the bodies of hundreds of dead Palestinians.- Trio ‘must come back’ -Prior to Tuesday’s handover, the bodies of three hostages were still in Gaza.Dror Or, 48, was killed in the October 7, 2023 attack on his home in Beeri kibbutz and his body taken to Gaza. He was head chef and cheesemaker in the kibbutz dairy.Sudthisak Rinthalak, 43, was from Nong Khai province in northeastern Thailand. He worked in agriculture in Beeri. He was killed in the attack and his body taken to Gaza.Ran Gvili, 24, an officer in the Yasam elite police unit in the southern Negev region, was on medical leave. When he heard of the attack he decided to leave his home with his own gun. He died in the fighting at the Alumim kibbutz and his body was taken to Gaza.The Hostages and Missing Families Forum said on X: “Dror, Ran and Sudthisak must come back. We will not stop until they return.”Gvili’s sister Shira added: “I miss my brother terribly and want him to come back. We are exhausted. The constant fear that it simply won’t happen is tiring.”

Israel said the Red Cross had on Tuesday handed over the coffin of a hostage held in Gaza, adding that the remains would soon be taken for forensic identification.Prior to this latest handover, the remains of three deceased hostages were still being held in the Gaza Strip — two Israelis and one Thai national.Hamas and its allies have been handing over the remains of hostages as part of the US-brokered ceasefire deal with Israel that came into force early last month.”Israel has received, via the Red Cross, the coffin of a fallen hostage,” handed over to the Israeli military and security services inside the Gaza Strip, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said in a statement.”From there, it will be transferred to Israel, where it will be received in a military ceremony.”It will then be transferred to the Health Ministry National Centre of Forensic Medicine. Upon completion of the identification process, formal notification will be delivered to the family.”The families of the fallen hostages have been updated accordingly, and our hearts are with them in this difficult hour.”The effort to return our hostages is ongoing and will not cease until the last hostage is returned.”The International Committee of the Red Cross confirmed it had “facilitated the transfer of one deceased to Israeli authorities, acting as a neutral intermediary”. “This was done at the request of the parties, and with their agreement,” the ICRC said, adding that it was not involved in the recovery of the deceased.- Fragile truce -A source in the Palestinian militant group Islamic Jihad, who requested anonymity, confirmed the remains belonged to one of the last three hostages held by militants in the territory.Islamic Jihad’s armed wing said it had located the body of a hostage on Monday during search operations in the central Gaza Strip.At the start of the ceasefire, which came into effect on October 10, militants were holding 20 living hostages and 28 bodies of deceased captives.All the living hostages have since been released, while Israel awaits the remains of the last dead hostages.In exchange, Israel has released nearly 2,000 Palestinian prisoners in its custody and returned the bodies of hundreds of dead Palestinians.Both Israel and Hamas have accused each other of repeatedly violating the terms of the ceasefire.Israel said earlier that the delay in handing over the remains since they were found on Monday was a “violation” of the truce.”Israel views with severity the delay in their immediate transfer,” Netanyahu’s office said in a statement. “This constitutes a further violation of the agreement,” it added.The war was sparked by Hamas’s October 7, 2023 attack on Israel, which resulted in the deaths of 1,221 people.Israel’s retaliatory assault on Gaza has killed at least 69,775 people, according to figures from the territory’s health ministry that the UN considers reliable.