AP PHOTOS: Girls will be part of St. Paul's Cathedral choir on Christmas Day for first time

LONDON (AP) — For the first time in its 900-year history, girls will form part of the choir performing at the Christmas Day service on Wednesday at London’s majestic St. Paul’s Cathedral.

The choir, which is made up of both adult and child choristers, will perform at services on Christmas Day under the 365-foot (111-meter) dome of the cathedral, designed by architect Christopher Wren after the 1666 Great Fire of London destroyed its medieval predecessor and much of the surrounding old city.

The first two girls to become full choristers officially joined the choir in June.

Completed in 1711, Wren’s massive Portland Stone cathedral — inspired by St. Peter’s in Rome — sits atop Ludgate Hill in London’s financial district. Its huge dome can be seen from miles away, and by law, no new buildings are allowed to block the view from several distant vantage points.

During World War II, its survival during night after night of German bombing became a symbol of London’s endurance.

The cathedral has been the site of numerous state events, including the wedding of Prince Charles, now the king, and Diana Spencer in 1981, and the funerals of former prime ministers Winston Churchill, in 1965, and Margaret Thatcher, in 2013.

Many of Britain’s greatest figures are buried in the cathedral, including Adm. Horatio Nelson, the Duke of Wellington and Wren himself. The architect’s grave is covered by a simple marble slab, with a nearby plaque that reads, in Latin: “If you seek his monument, look around.”

The Associated Press was present Monday as the choir rehearsed for the service.

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The Choristers of St Paul's choir, including girls for first time in 900-year history, rehearse for the Christmas services in St Paul's Cathedral, in London, Monday, Dec. 23 2024. (AP Photo/Kin Cheung)

The Choristers of St Paul's choir, including girls for first time in 900-year history, rehearse for the Christmas services in St Paul's Cathedral, in London, Monday, Dec. 23 2024. (AP Photo/Kin Cheung)

The Choristers of St Paul's choir, including girls for first time in 900-year history, rehearse for the Christmas services in St Paul's Cathedral, in London, Monday, Dec. 23 2024. (AP Photo/Kin Cheung)

The Choristers of St Paul's choir, including girls for first time in 900-year history, rehearse for the Christmas services in St Paul's Cathedral, in London, Monday, Dec. 23 2024. (AP Photo/Kin Cheung)

The Choristers of St Paul's choir, including girls for first time in 900-year history, rehearse for the Christmas services in St Paul's Cathedral, in London, Monday, Dec. 23 2024. (AP Photo/Kin Cheung)

The Choristers of St Paul's choir, including girls for first time in 900-year history, rehearse for the Christmas services in St Paul's Cathedral, in London, Monday, Dec. 23 2024. (AP Photo/Kin Cheung)

The Choristers of St Paul's choir, including girls for first time in 900-year history, rehearse for the Christmas services in St Paul's Cathedral, in London, Monday, Dec. 23 2024. (AP Photo/Kin Cheung)

The Choristers of St Paul's choir, including girls for first time in 900-year history, rehearse for the Christmas services in St Paul's Cathedral, in London, Monday, Dec. 23 2024. (AP Photo/Kin Cheung)

The Choristers of St Paul's choir, including girls for first time in 900-year history, rehearse for the Christmas services in St Paul's Cathedral, in London, Monday, Dec. 23 2024. (AP Photo/Kin Cheung)

The Choristers of St Paul's choir, including girls for first time in 900-year history, rehearse for the Christmas services in St Paul's Cathedral, in London, Monday, Dec. 23 2024. (AP Photo/Kin Cheung)

The Choristers of St Paul's choir, including girls for first time in 900-year history, rehearse for the Christmas services in St Paul's Cathedral, in London, Monday, Dec. 23 2024. (AP Photo/Kin Cheung)

The Choristers of St Paul's choir, including girls for first time in 900-year history, rehearse for the Christmas services in St Paul's Cathedral, in London, Monday, Dec. 23 2024. (AP Photo/Kin Cheung)

The Choristers of St Paul's choir, including girls for first time in 900-year history, rehearse for the Christmas services in St Paul's Cathedral, in London, Monday, Dec. 23 2024. (AP Photo/Kin Cheung)

The Choristers of St Paul's choir, including girls for first time in 900-year history, rehearse for the Christmas services in St Paul's Cathedral, in London, Monday, Dec. 23 2024. (AP Photo/Kin Cheung)

Israeli airstrikes on the Gaza Strip overnight killed at least 20 people, Palestinian medics said Monday.

One of the strikes hit a tent camp in the Muwasi area, an Israel-declared humanitarian zone, killing eight people, including two children, according to Nasser Hospital in the southern city of Khan Younis, which received the bodies.

The Israeli military says it only strikes militants, accusing them of hiding among civilians. It said late Sunday that it had targeted a Hamas militant in the humanitarian zone.

The war began when Hamas-led militants attacked southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, killing some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and taking around 250 hostage. Around 100 captives are still inside Gaza, at least a third of whom are believed to be dead.

Israel’s air and ground offensive has killed over 45,200 Palestinians, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry. The ministry says women and children make up more than half the dead but does not distinguish between civilians and combatants in its tally. The military says it has killed over 17,000 militants, without providing evidence.

Here’s the latest:

JENIN, West Bank — The Palestinian Authority says a second member of its security forces has been killed in the West Bank town of Jenin during clashes with Palestinian militants.

Brig. Gen. Anwar Rajab, the spokesman for PA security forces, said 1st Sgt. Mehran Qadoos was killed on Monday by “outlaws” in the volatile northern town, where the security forces launched a rare crackdown earlier this month. A member of security forces also was killed on Sunday.

An Associated Press reporter in Jenin heard heavy gunfire and explosions, apparently from a battle between the security forces and Palestinian militants. There was no sign of Israeli forces in the area.

Militant groups had earlier called for a general strike across the territory, accusing the security forces of trying to disarm them in support of Israel’s half-century occupation of the territory.

The Western-backed Palestinian Authority is internationally recognized but deeply unpopular among Palestinians, in part because it cooperates with Israel on security matters. Israel accuses the authority of incitement and of failing to act against armed groups.

The Palestinian Authority exercises limited authority in population centers in the West Bank. Israel captured the territory in the 1967 Mideast War, and the Palestinians want it to form the main part of their future state.

Israel’s current government is opposed to Palestinian statehood and says it will maintain open-ended security control over the territory. Violence has soared in the West Bank following Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023 attack out of Gaza, which ignited the war there.

JENIN, West Bank — Palestinians in the volatile northern West Bank town of Jenin are observing a general strike called by militant groups to protest a rare crackdown by Palestinian security forces.

An Associated Press reporter in Jenin heard gunfire and explosions, apparently from clashes between militants and Palestinian security forces. It was not immediately clear if anyone was killed or wounded. There was no sign of Israeli troops in the area.

Shops were closed in the city on Monday, the day after militants killed a member of the Palestinian security forces and wounded two others.

Militant groups called for a general strike across the territory, accusing the security forces of trying to disarm them in support of Israel’s half-century occupation of the territory.

The Western-backed Palestinian Authority is internationally recognized but deeply unpopular among Palestinians, in part because it cooperates with Israel on security matters. Israel accuses the authority of incitement and of failing to act against armed groups.

The Palestinian Authority blamed Sunday’s attack on “outlaws.” It says it is committed to maintaining law and order but will not police the occupation.

The Palestinian Authority exercises limited authority in population centers in the West Bank. Israel captured the territory in the 1967 Mideast War, and the Palestinians want it to form the main part of their future state.

Israel’s current government is opposed to Palestinian statehood and says it will maintain open-ended security control over the territory. Violence has soared in the West Bank following Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023 attack out of Gaza, which ignited the war there.

BEIRUT — Lebanon’s caretaker prime minister has begun a tour of military positions in the country’s south, almost a month after a ceasefire deal that ended the war between Israel and the Hezbollah group that battered the country.

Najib Mikati on Monday was on his first visit to the southern frontlines, where Lebanese soldiers under the U.S.-brokered deal are expected to gradually deploy, with Hezbollah militants and Israeli troops both expected to withdraw by the end of next month.

Mikati’s tour comes after the Lebanese government expressed its frustration over ongoing Israeli strikes and overflights in the country.

“We have many tasks ahead of us, the most important being the enemy's (Israel's) withdrawal from all the lands it encroached on during its recent aggression,” he said after meeting with army chief Joseph Aoun in a Lebanese military barracks in the southeastern town of Marjayoun. “Then the army can carry out its tasks in full.”

The Lebanese military for years has relied on financial aid to stay functional, primarily from the United States and other Western countries. Lebanon’s cash-strapped government is hoping that the war’s end and ceasefire deal will bring about more funding to increase the military’s capacity to deploy in the south, where Hezbollah’s armed units were notably present.

Though they were not active combatants, the Lebanese military said that dozens of its soldiers were killed in Israeli strikes on their premises or patrolling convoys in the south. The Israeli army acknowledged some of these attacks.

Palestinians pray over the bodies of the victims of an Israeli strike on a home late Saturday before the funeral outside the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in Deir al-Balah Sunday, Dec. 22, 2024. At least eight people were killed according to the hospital which received the bodies.(AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)

Relatives and neighbors, two of them holding guns, walk during the funeral procession of a victim of an Israeli strike on a home late Saturday that killed at least eight people, in Deir al-Balah, central Gaza Strip, Sunday, Dec. 22, 2024. Some families in Gaza are armed to protect their homes from thieves in the camps.(AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)