Hamas health ministry says more than 80 dead in refugee camp strikes

Hamas health ministry says more than 80 dead in refugee camp strikes
Palestinians inspect the site of Israeli strikes on houses in Jabalia refugee camp, in northern Gaza, on Nov. 14, 2023. (Reuters)
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Updated 20 November 2023
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Hamas health ministry says more than 80 dead in refugee camp strikes

Hamas health ministry says more than 80 dead in refugee camp strikes
  • Online videos showed bodies covered in blood and dust on the floor of a building
  • Separate strike on another building in the camp killed 32 people from the same family, 19 of them children

GAZA STRIP, Palestinian Territories: A Hamas health official said more than 80 people were killed Saturday in twin strikes on a northern Gaza refugee camp, including a UN school used as a shelter for people displaced by the Israel-Hamas war.
Social media videos verified by AFP showed bodies covered in blood and dust on the floor of a building, where mattresses had been wedged under school tables in Jabalia, the Palestinian territory’s biggest refugee camp.
Israel has vowed to destroy Hamas in response to the October 7 attacks which Israeli officials say killed about 1,200 people, most of them civilians in southern Israel, and saw about 240 people taken hostage.
The army’s relentless air and ground campaign has since killed 12,300 people, more than 5,000 of them children, according to the Hamas government which has ruled Gaza since 2007.
“At least 50 people” were killed in a dawn strike on the UN-run Al-Fakhura school in the camp, which has been converted into a shelter for displaced Palestinians, a health ministry official in Hamas-controlled Gaza told AFP.
According to UN figures, some 1.6 million people have been displaced inside the Gaza Strip by six weeks of fighting.
UN humanitarian chief Martin Griffiths denounced the “tragic news of the children, women and men killed.”
“Shelters are a place for safety,” he posted on X, formerly Twitter. “Civilians cannot and should not have to bear this any longer.”
Egypt called the bombing of the UN-run school a “war crime” and “a deliberate insult to the United Nations.”
A separate strike Saturday on another building in Jabalia camp killed 32 people from the same family, 19 of them children, the Hamas official said.
Without mentioning the strikes, the Israeli army said “an incident in the Jabalia region” was under review.
Israel has told Palestinians to move from north Gaza for their safety, but deadly air strikes continued to hit central and southern areas of the coastal enclave.
On Saturday, hundreds of people fled on foot after the director of Gaza’s main hospital said the Israeli army ordered the evacuation of the facility where some 2,000 people were trapped.
Columns of sick and injured — some of them amputees — were seen making their way out of Al-Shifa hospital toward the seafront without ambulances along with displaced people, doctors and nurses, as loud explosions were heard around the complex.
On the way, an AFP journalist saw at least 15 bodies, some in advanced stages of decomposition, along a road lined by heavily damaged shops and overturned vehicles.
The health ministry said 120 wounded, along with an unspecified number of premature babies, were still at Al-Shifa hospital.
Israel has been pressing military operations inside the hospital, searching for the Hamas operations center it says lies under the sprawling complex — a charge Hamas denies.
In Gaza City, Israeli troops had called over loudspeakers to evacuate Al-Shifa “in the next hour,” an AFP journalist at the hospital reported.
They also called the hospital’s director, Mohammed Abu Salmiya, telling him to ensure “the evacuation of patients, wounded, the displaced and medical staff,” he said.
But Israel’s army denied ordering the evacuation, saying instead it had “acceded to the request of the director” to allow more civilians to leave.
According to Ahmed El Mokhallalati, a doctor at the hospital, “most of the medical staff and patients had left” but he was staying at Al-Shifa along with five other doctors.
“Many patients cannot leave the hospital as they are in the ICU beds or the baby incubators,” Mokhallalati said on X.
Israel has imposed a siege on Gaza, allowing just a trickle of aid in from Egypt but barring most shipments of fuel over concerns Hamas could divert supplies for military purposes.
A first consignment of fuel entered the territory after Israel’s war cabinet bowed to pressure from its ally the United States and agreed to let in two tankers of diesel a day.
A two-day blackout caused by fuel shortages ended after a first delivery arrived from Egypt late Friday, but UN officials continued to plead for a cease-fire, warning no part of Gaza is safe.
A strike on a residential building in southern Gaza killed 26 people, the director of the Nasser hospital in Khan Yunis said.
“I was asleep and we were surprised by the strike. At least 20 bombs were dropped,” Imed Al-Mubasher, 45, told AFP.
The UN said Israel had agreed to allow in 60,000 liters (16,000 gallons) of fuel a day from Saturday, but warned it was little more than a third of what is needed to keep hospitals, water and sanitation facilities running.
US President Joe Biden’s chief adviser for the Middle East said more fuel deliveries and a potential “significant pause” in the fighting both depend of the release of hostages.
“The surge in humanitarian relief, the surge in fuel, the pause... will come when hostages are released,” Brett McGurk told a security conference in Bahrain.
The military says it has found rifles, ammunition, explosives and the entrance to a tunnel shaft at the Al-Shifa hospital complex, claims that cannot be independently verified.
Israel has not recovered hostages at the hospital but said it found not far away the bodies of two kidnapped women including a soldier.
Those held hostage range from infants to octogenarians, and there has been little information on their fate despite ongoing negotiations mediated by Qatar and Egypt to secure releases.
Waving Israeli flags and placards depicting the hostages, thousands of people reached Jerusalem Saturday on the fifth and final day of a march calling for their release.
As Israel says it would not allow Hamas to hold on to power in Gaza, Biden argued the coastal enclave and the occupied West Bank — nominally under the control of the Palestinian Authority — should eventually come under a single “revitalized” administration.
“As we strive for peace, Gaza and the West Bank should be reunited under a single governance structure, ultimately under a revitalized Palestinian Authority, as we all work toward a two-state solution,” Biden wrote in an opinion piece in the Washington Post.


Israel army issues new evacuation call for Lebanon’s Baalbek region

Israel army issues new evacuation call for Lebanon’s Baalbek region
Updated 03 November 2024
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Israel army issues new evacuation call for Lebanon’s Baalbek region

Israel army issues new evacuation call for Lebanon’s Baalbek region
  • The latest evacuation call came as the military’s Home Front Command activated sirens at regular intervals along the border
  • Israel and the Lebanese armed movement Hezbollah have been locked in a deadly war since September 23 that has killed more than 1,900

Jerusalem: The Israeli military on Sunday called for the evacuation of the Baalbek area in eastern Lebanon, warning that it was ready to strike Hezbollah targets there and in nearby Douris.
The latest evacuation call came as the military’s Home Front Command activated sirens at regular intervals along the border as dozens of projectiles were identified crossing from Lebanon into Israeli territory since Sunday morning.
“You are currently located near the facilities and assets associated with Hezbollah, which the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) will be targeting in the near future,” the Israeli military’s Arabic-language spokesman Avichay Adraee said in a post on X addressed to residents of Baalbek and Douris.
The Israeli air force intercepted several projectiles that were fired from Lebanon into Israeli territory, while some fell in open areas, the military said in a statement.
On Thursday, rocket fire from Lebanon killed seven people in the town of Metula in northern Israel, including four Thai farmers.
Israel and the Lebanese armed movement Hezbollah have been locked in a deadly war since September 23 that has killed more than 1,900 people in Lebanon, according to an AFP tally of Lebanese health ministry figures.
Israel’s military says 38 soldiers have been killed in the Lebanon campaign since it began ground operations on September 30.
Clashes between Israeli forces and Hezbollah militants first erupted on October 8 last year when the Lebanese group began firing rockets into Israel in support of its ally Hamas, a day after the Palestinian militant group launched an unprecedented attack on Israel from Gaza.
Hamas’s October 7 attack on Israel resulted in 1,206 deaths, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally of Israeli official figures.
Israel’s sweeping military response against Hamas has led to the deaths of 43,314 Palestinians in Gaza, a majority of them civilians, according to figures from the Hamas-run territory’s health ministry which the United Nations consider to be reliable.


Turkiye seeks deeper Africa ties at summit

Turkiye seeks deeper Africa ties at summit
Updated 03 November 2024
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Turkiye seeks deeper Africa ties at summit

Turkiye seeks deeper Africa ties at summit
  • Fourteen African countries attended the latest ministerial meeting in the tiny Horn of Africa nation of Djibouti
  • Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan, who presided over the summit, said trade with the continent surpassed $35 billion last year

Nairobi: Turkiye on Sunday said it was committed to deepening relations with Africa, which it and called on to back diplomatic support for Palestinians, as it held its latest African summit in Djibouti.
Turkiye has invested heavily across Africa in recent years, with President Recep Tayyip Erdogan carrying out 50 visits to 31 countries during his two decades in power.
Fourteen African countries attended the latest ministerial meeting in the tiny Horn of Africa nation of Djibouti this weekend.
They included Angola, Chad, Comoros, Republic of Congo, Egypt, Equatorial Guinea, Ghana, Libya, Mauritania, Nigeria, South Sudan, Zambia and Zimbabwe.
Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan, who presided over the summit, said trade with the continent surpassed $35 billion last year and Turkiye’s direct investments now totalled $7 billion.
“Turkiye is employing a comprehensive and holistic approach in terms of enhancing our trade and economic partnership with the continent,” Fidan said in a speech.
Turkiye has become the fourth largest arms supplier to sub-Saharan Africa and helped train armed forces in many countries.
In recent months, it has attempted to mediate a feud between Ethiopia and Somalia, and struck a mining deal with Niger.
Fidan reiterated support for the African Union to become a permanent member of the G20, and for reform of the United Nations Security Council.
“We should continue our efforts to make the UN more relevant and capable of confronting the complex challenges of the century. Security Council reform is critical in this sense,” he said.
Fidan also called for greater African involvement in the Israel-Palestinian conflict.
“We believe that Africa can play an instrumental role in supporting the Palestinian cause and in stopping Israel,” he said.
“We appreciate the African countries that stand with Palestine,” he added, highlighting South Africa’s recent move to file evidence of “genocide” committed by Israel to the International Criminal Court.
The next Turkiye-Africa Summit is due to be held in 2026.


Palestinians say Israel struck a Gaza clinic during a polio campaign. The army denies it

Palestinians say Israel struck a Gaza clinic during a polio campaign. The army denies it
Updated 03 November 2024
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Palestinians say Israel struck a Gaza clinic during a polio campaign. The army denies it

Palestinians say Israel struck a Gaza clinic during a polio campaign. The army denies it
  • The alleged strike occurred Saturday in northern Gaza, which has been encircled by Israeli forces and largely isolated for the past year
  • Israel has been carrying out another offensive there in recent weeks that has killed hundreds of people and displaced tens of thousands

CAIRO: Palestinian officials say an Israeli drone strike on a clinic in northern Gaza where children were being vaccinated for polio wounded six people, including four children. The Israeli military denied responsibility.
The alleged strike occurred Saturday in northern Gaza, which has been encircled by Israeli forces and largely isolated for the past year. Israel has been carrying out another offensive there in recent weeks that has killed hundreds of people and displaced tens of thousands.
It was not possible to resolve the conflicting accounts. Israeli forces have repeatedly raided hospitals in Gaza over the course of the war, saying Hamas uses them for militant purposes, allegations denied by Palestinian health officials.
Dr. Munir Al-Boursh, director general of the Gaza Health Ministry, told The Associated Press that a quadcopter struck the Sheikh Radwan clinic in Gaza City early Saturday afternoon, just a few minutes after a United Nations delegation left the facility.
The World Health Organization and the UN children’s agency, known as UNICEF, which are jointly carrying out the polio vaccination campaign, expressed concern over the reported strike.
“The reports of this attack are even more disturbing as the Sheikh Radwan Clinic is one of the health points where parents can get their children vaccinated,” said Rosalia Bollen, a spokesperson for UNICEF.
“Today’s attack occurred while the humanitarian pause was still in effect, despite assurances given that the pause would be respected from 6 a.m. to 4 p.m.”
Lt. Col. Nadav Shoshani, an Israeli military spokesman, said that “contrary to the claims, an initial review determined that the (Israeli military) did not strike in the area at the specified time.”
A scaled-down campaign to administer a second dose of the polio vaccine began Saturday in parts of northern Gaza. It had been postponed from Oct. 23 due to lack of access, Israeli bombings and mass evacuation orders, and the lack of assurances for humanitarian pauses, a UN statement said.
The administration of the first dose was carried out in September across the Gaza Strip, including areas of northern Gaza that are now completely sealed off. Health officials said the campaign’s first round, and the administration of the second dose across central and southern Gaza, were successful.
At least 100,000 people have been forced to evacuate from areas of north Gaza toward Gaza City in the past few weeks, but around 15,000 children under the age of 10 remain in northern towns, including Jabaliya, Beit Lahiya and Beit Hanoun, which are inaccessible, according to the UN
The final phase of the polio vaccination campaign had aimed to reach an estimated 119,000 children in the north with a second dose of oral polio vaccine, the agencies said, but “achieving this target is now unlikely due to access constraints.”
They say 90 percent of children in every community must be vaccinated to prevent the spread of the disease.
The campaign was launched after the first polio case was reported in Gaza in 25 years — a 10-month-old boy, now paralyzed in the leg. The World Health Organization said the presence of a paralysis case indicates there could be hundreds more who have been infected but aren’t showing symptoms.
The war began on Oct. 7, 2023, when Hamas-led militants stormed into southern Israel, killing some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and abducting another 250. Israel’s offensive has killed over 43,000 Palestinians, according to Gaza health authorities, who do not say how many were combatants but say more than half were women and children.


Bangladeshi killed in air strike in Lebanon: govt

Bangladeshi killed in air strike in Lebanon: govt
Updated 03 November 2024
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Bangladeshi killed in air strike in Lebanon: govt

Bangladeshi killed in air strike in Lebanon: govt

DHAKA: A Bangladeshi worker died in a air strike in Lebanon, Dhaka’s foreign ministry said Sunday, as the Israeli bombardment hampered efforts to repatriate citizens.
The foreign ministry estimates that between 70,000 and 100,000 of its nationals are working in Lebanon, many as laborers or domestic workers.
The first flights, organized by Dhaka’s government with the UN’s International Organization for Migration, brought home scores of Bangladeshis from Beirut last month.
Mohammad Nizam, 31, was killed on Saturday afternoon in a reported strike as he stopped at a coffee shop on the way to work in Beirut, Bangladesh’s ambassador to Lebanon, Javed Tanveer Khan said in a statement.
Mohmmad Jalaluddin said his younger brother Nizam had lived in Beirut for more than a decade, and had not been among the estimated 1,800 Bangladeshis who had registered for an evacuation flight home.
“We want to bury him in our ancestral home, and are now waiting for the government’s response,” Jalaluddin told AFP.
But senior Bangladeshi foreign ministry official Shah Mohammad Tanvir Monsur said it was challenging to arrange a flight into Beirut.
“With the ongoing war, there are hardly any flights from Lebanon to Bangladesh,” Monsur said.
“It’s becoming increasingly difficult to repatriate our citizens who have registered to return home.”
Israel drastically escalated its air campaign against Lebanon’s Hezbollah group in September, displacing hundreds of thousands of people.
It has since launched a ground offensive intended to push the group back from its northern border.
Hezbollah has been firing thousands of projectiles into Israel over the last year, displacing tens of thousands of Israelis.
The war has killed at least 1,930 people in Lebanon, since it began on September 23, according to an AFP tally of health ministry figures, though the real number is likely higher due to data gaps.
Israel’s military says 38 soldiers have been killed in the Lebanon campaign since it began ground operations on September 30.


UAE, Qatari leaders discuss ties, regional developments

UAE, Qatari leaders discuss ties, regional developments
Updated 03 November 2024
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UAE, Qatari leaders discuss ties, regional developments

UAE, Qatari leaders discuss ties, regional developments

DUBAI: UAE President Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al-Nahyan on Saturday had a phone call with Qatar’s Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thani to review ties between the two nations and the latest regional developments.

They also discussed ways to strengthen cooperation to advance the shared ambitions of both countries and their peoples, WAM news agency reported.

The two leaders exchanged views on regional and international issues, and underscored the need for concerted efforts to prevent further escalation in the Middle East and avoid additional crises.