Doctors who visited Gaza speak of ‘atrocities,’ collapsing health care

Palestinian children wounded in an Israeli strike rest as they receive treatment at a hospital, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas, in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip, February 12, 2024. (REUTERS)
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Palestinian children wounded in an Israeli strike rest as they receive treatment at a hospital, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas, in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip, February 12, 2024. (REUTERS)
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Updated 20 March 2024
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Doctors who visited Gaza speak of ‘atrocities,’ collapsing health care

Doctors who visited Gaza speak of ‘atrocities,’ collapsing health care
  • International experts have warned that Israel’s assault constitutes a genocide, accusations that the World Court is probing
  • Israel has killed over 31,000 Palestinians in Gaza, two-thirds of them women and children, according to the Gaza Health Ministry

GAZA: The health care system in Gaza has essentially collapsed, Western doctors who visited the Palestinian enclave in recent months told an event at the United Nations on Monday, speaking of “appalling atrocities” from Israel’s offensive.
The four doctors from the United States, United Kingdom and France have been working with teams in Gaza to support its health care system, which has been reeling since Israel began its military assault there last October.
The Israeli offensive has displaced nearly 2.3 million people, caused a starvation crisis, flattened most of the enclave, and killed over 31,000 people, according to Gaza’s health ministry.
Nick Maynard, a surgeon who was last in Gaza in January with British charity Medical Aid for Palestinians, recalled seeing a child who had been burned so badly that he could see her facial bones.
“We knew there was no chance of her surviving that but there was no morphine to give her,” Maynard, a cancer surgeon, told the event at the UN headquarters in New York. “So not only was she inevitably going to die but she would die in agony.”
Another seven-year-old child, Hiyam Abu Khdeir, arrived at the Gaza European Hospital with third-degree burns on 40 percent of her body, after an Israeli airstrike on her home killed her father and brother and injured her mother, said Zaher Sahloul, a critical care specialist with humanitarian group MedGlobal.
After weeks of delay, she was evacuated to Egypt for treatment but died two days later, Sahloul said.
Israel began bombing the Palestinian territory on Oct. 7 in retaliation for Hamas attacks that killed 1,200 people in southern Israel.
International experts have warned that Israel’s assault constitutes a genocide, accusations that the World Court is probing.
Israel denies accusations of genocide and has maintained that it is targeting Hamas, not civilians. It has accused the militant group of using civilians as human shields and says it has a right to defend itself.
The doctors also warned of a large death toll if Israel proceeds with its plan to invade the southern Gazan city of Rafah.
“If there’s a grand invasion of Rafah, it will be apocalyptic, the number of deaths we’re going to see,” said Maynard.

 


France confident Lebanon can form government representing the country’s diversity

France confident Lebanon can form government representing the country’s diversity
Updated 58 min 35 sec ago
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France confident Lebanon can form government representing the country’s diversity

France confident Lebanon can form government representing the country’s diversity
  • The spokesman said that France hopes the Lebanese prime minister will find a formula to resolve the impasse

PARIS: France has full confidence that Lebanese authorities can form a government that can bring together the Lebanese people in all their diversity, a French foreign ministry spokesman said on Friday.
Asked about US red lines over Hezbollah’s presence in the Lebanese government, he said that France hopes the Lebanese prime minister will find a formula to resolve the impasse.
The United States has set a “red line” that Shiite armed group Hezbollah should not be a member of Lebanon’s next government after its military defeat by Israel last year, USdeputy Middle East envoy Morgan Ortagus said in Lebanon on Friday.


Israeli victims will continue to work with ICC after US sanctions, says lawyer

Israeli victims will continue to work with ICC after US sanctions, says lawyer
Updated 07 February 2025
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Israeli victims will continue to work with ICC after US sanctions, says lawyer

Israeli victims will continue to work with ICC after US sanctions, says lawyer
  • Israeli families want to continue engaging with it as part of efforts to seek justice, said lawyer Yael Vias Gvirsman
  • “Victims are ever more committed to have direct contact with the court and to pursue the justice they deserve“

THE HAGUE: Israeli victims of the Hamas attack that triggered the Gaza war will still work with the International Criminal Court even after US President Donald Trump imposed sanctions on the tribunal, a lawyer for victims and victims’ families said on Friday.
The sanctions are in retaliation for the court’s issuing of arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his former defense chief Yoav Gallant, who are accused of war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza.
The ICC’s prosecutor is also investigating the Hamas-led Oct. 7, 2023 attacks that killed 1,200 people, according to Israeli tallies. Prosecutors sought arrest warrants for three Hamas leaders for the crimes, but they were all killed in the past 16 months of war in Gaza, according to Israel and Hamas.
While sanctions will complicate dealings with the ICC, the Israeli families want to continue engaging with it as part of efforts to seek justice, said Yael Vias Gvirsman, a lawyer who represents over 350 victims and families of victims.
“Sanctions could complicate the communications channels between Israeli citizens and the court, but victims are ever more committed to have direct contact with the court and to pursue the justice they deserve,” Gvirsman said in an interview with Reuters.
The Gaza conflict has killed more than 47,000 Palestinians since October 2023, the Gaza health ministry says.
The US sanctions, which focus on punishing the court for investigating Israeli officials, can also affect the prosecution’s probe into crimes committed by Hamas, says Vias Gvirsman.
“It will be a dilemma for the court how to engage with Israeli citizens and assess if contact with the court endangers them,” she said.


US has set ‘red line’ that Hezbollah not join Lebanese govt, envoy says

US has set ‘red line’ that Hezbollah not join Lebanese govt, envoy says
Updated 6 min 54 sec ago
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US has set ‘red line’ that Hezbollah not join Lebanese govt, envoy says

US has set ‘red line’ that Hezbollah not join Lebanese govt, envoy says
  • Morgan Ortagus first senior US official to visit Lebanon since US President Donald Trump took office

Beirut: The United States has set a “red line” that Shiite armed group Hezbollah should not be a member of Lebanon’s next government after its military defeat by Israel last year, US deputy Middle East envoy Morgan Ortagus said in Lebanon on Friday.
Ortagus is the first senior US official to visit Lebanon since US President Donald Trump took office and since Joseph Aoun was elected president in Lebanon.
Her visit comes amid a stalled cabinet formation process in Lebanon, where government posts are apportioned on sectarian lines. Hezbollah’s ally Amal has insisted on approving all Shiite Muslim ministers, keeping the process in deadlock.
Speaking to reporters after meeting President Aoun, Ortagus said she was “not afraid” of Iran-backed Hezbollah “because they’ve been defeated militarily,” referring to last year’s war between the group and Israel.
“And we have set clear red lines from the United States that they won’t be able to terrorize the Lebanese people, and that includes by being a part of the government,” she said.
Ortagus had been widely expected to deliver a tough message to Lebanese officials about Hezbollah, which was battered by months of Israeli air strikes and ground operations in southern Lebanon last year.
Fighting ended in late November with a ceasefire brokered by the United States and France that set a deadline of 60 days for Israel to withdraw from south Lebanon, Hezbollah to pull out its fighters and arms and Lebanese troops to deploy to the area.
That deadline was extended to Feb. 18. Ortagus referred to the new date on Friday but did not explicitly say the Israeli army (IDF) would withdraw from Lebanese territory.
“February 18 will be the date for redeployment, when the IDF troops will finish their redeployment, and of course, the (Lebanese) troops will come in behind them, so we are very committed to that firm date,” she said.
Ortagus is expected to meet Lebanese prime minister-designate Nawaf Salam, Lebanon’s parliament speaker Nabih Berri — who also heads Amal — and make a trip to southern Lebanon with the Lebanese army


Al-Qaeda in Yemen says senior official killed in blast

Al-Qaeda in Yemen says senior official killed in blast
Updated 07 February 2025
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Al-Qaeda in Yemen says senior official killed in blast

Al-Qaeda in Yemen says senior official killed in blast
  • Abu Yusuf Al-Muhammadi Al-Hadrami died when a motorcycle packed with explosives detonated near where he worked in Marib

Dubai: A senior member of Al-Qaeda in Yemen has been killed in a bomb blast, according to a statement from the extremist group behind a string of high-profile attacks.
Abu Yusuf Al-Muhammadi Al-Hadrami died when a motorcycle packed with explosives detonated near where he worked in Marib, east of the rebel-held capital Sanaa.
Washington regards the group, known as Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), as most dangerous branch of group
Born in 2009, AQAP grew and developed in the chaos of Yemen’s war.
It has been responsible for multiple attacks, including the deadly 2000 bombing of the USS Cole off the coast of Aden, which killed 17 US military personnel.
In 2015, AQAP claimed that two French gunmen who massacred 12 people in an attack on the Paris offices of the Charlie Hebdo magazine were acting on its behalf.


US aid freeze worsening Syria camp conditions: HRW

US aid freeze worsening Syria camp conditions: HRW
Updated 07 February 2025
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US aid freeze worsening Syria camp conditions: HRW

US aid freeze worsening Syria camp conditions: HRW
  • On January 24, four days after US President Donald Trump returned to power, NGOs linked to the US Agency for International Development (USAID) received a letter asking them to cease all activities

Beirut: Human Rights Watch warned Friday that US aid suspensions could worsen “life-threatening conditions” in camps holding relatives of suspected Daesh terrorists in northeast Syria, urging Washington to maintain support.
Kurdish-run camps and prisons in the region still hold around 56,000 people with alleged or perceived links to the Daesh group, years after the jihadists’ territorial defeat.
They include jihadist suspects locked up in prisons, as well as the wives and children of IS fighters held in the Al-Hol and Roj internment camps.
“The US government’s suspension of foreign aid to non-governmental organizations operating in these camps is exacerbating life-threatening conditions, risking further destabilization of a precarious security situation,” HRW said in a statement.
The rights group said the aid freeze could “limit provision of essential services for camp residents,” citing international humanitarian workers.
On January 24, four days after US President Donald Trump returned to power, NGOs linked to the US Agency for International Development (USAID) received a first letter asking them to cease all activities funded by the agency.
A week later, another letter, seen by AFP, authorized them to resume certain missions intended for “life-saving humanitarian assistance.”
The orders have left aid groups in the northeast “unsure how to proceed with deliveries of essential goods, like kerosene and water, further exacerbating pre-existing shortages,” the statement said.
“Secretary of State Marco Rubio should continue US assistance to organizations providing essential lifesaving assistance in northeast Syria,” the group said.
Following the January 24 order, HRW said Blumont, an organization responsible for camp management in Al Hol and Roj, suspended activities and withdrew all staff, including guards.
A few days later, the group received a two-week exemption allowing it to work.
Al-Hol is northeast Syria’s largest internment camp, with more than 40,000 detainees from 47 countries.
The vast majority of Al-Hol and Roj residents are women and children living in dire conditions.
HRW also said that “any political settlement in the region should include ending the arbitrary detention of those with alleged Daesh ties and their families.”
“Thousands of lives, many of them children, are hanging in the balance, and the indefensible status quo of the last six years should not be allowed to continue,” said Hiba Zayadin of Human Rights Watch.
The call comes amid talks between Syria’s new authorities and the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) over the group’s future and as clashes rage in the north between the Kurdish-led group and Turkish-backed factions.