Tag: Hamas

  • 29 premature babies evacuated from Gaza arrive in Egypt: media

    29 premature babies evacuated from Gaza arrive in Egypt: media

    AFP – Cairo, Egypt: Twenty-nine premature babies arrived in Egypt on Monday, Egyptian media said, after they were evacuated from Gaza’s largest hospital which has become a focal point of Israel’s war with Hamas.

    The infants were evacuated Sunday from the Al-Shifa hospital, which the World Health Organization has described as a “death zone” as Israel seeks to uncover what it says are Hamas bases in tunnels underneath the facility.

    An initial 31 babies were reported evacuated from Al-Shifa to another Gaza clinic and it was not immediately clear why only 29 arrived in Egypt.

  • Al Shifa hospital forcefully evacuated within hours on Israeli orders

    After days of attacking Al Shifa hospital in Gaza and raiding it room by room, the Israeli military has now forcefully evacuated premises on Saturday.

    The hospital’s Director, Mohammed Abu Salmiya, told Al Jazeera that the hospital is now “completely deserted” while the few patients and victims left are lying in corridors.

    He added that those in dire conditions, including newborns and kidney patients, “will die imminently if they are not evacuated,” further stating that Israeli soldiers “are in total control” and that the remaining medical staff “cannot move freely”.

    Earlier today,the Israeli military had ordered everyone — including doctors, patients and displaced people — to evacuate in an hour.

    This, as reported by Al Jazeera, created a sense of panic as it is impossible to flee Al Shifa in such a brief period. A Palestinian health official said that evacuees were “ordered at 9am [7:00 GMT] to leave while waving a white handkerchiefs and walk in a single-file line.”

    Medical staff and others present at Al Shifa revealed that there are patients who cannot be abandoned, including those who cannot walk.

    Munir al-Barsh, director-general of Gaza’s Health Ministry reported that about “450 patients were evacuated, while about 120 patients were left behind with five doctors, including the director and a few nurses, because they were immobile.”

    Additionally, a list of critical patients has been given to the Red Cross so they can be taken to Egypt for treatment.

    Adnan al-Barsh, head of orthopaedics at al-Shifa Hospital, stated that Israeli snipers are in and around the hospital compound, saying that “We were adamant on not leaving without our patients … we were forced to leave at gunpoint.”

    The Israeli army denied issuing the evacuation order, however, all officials and other people at Al Shifa have described the total opposite of Israeli claims.

  • From north to south, now south to where? Palestinians warned to flee southern Gaza

    From north to south, now south to where? Palestinians warned to flee southern Gaza

    In a recent development, on Thursday, Israeli forces reportedly dropped flyers on some areas of Khan Younis, the largest city in south Gaza, warning the residents to clear the region since Israel is likely to increase attacks in southern Gaza as well.

    Previously, Israeli military bombed northern Gaza relentlessly and are also conducting ground operations.

    Khuzaa, Abassan, Bani Suhaila and Al Qarara in eastern Khan Younis, had a population of 100,000 “in peacetime” and is currently accommodating tens of thousands more who fled from the north.

    “For your safety, you need to evacuate your places of residence immediately and head to known shelters,” the leaflets said. “Anyone near terrorists or their facilities puts their life at risk, and every house used by terrorists will be targeted.”

    Already, hundreds of thousands of Palestinians in the besieged Gaza strip with a population of 2.3 million, have fled south as north has been under heavy Israeli attacks.

    It has also been claimed that people in eastern Khan Younis are unsure where they can flee because Israel has also been attacking the south where Palestinians were previously directed to move for their protection.

    “We have been absolutely clear that at the current moment, we do not consider any part of Gaza to be safe,” UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Turk said on Thursday.

  • Israel raids Gaza’s al-Shifa Hospital: Day two

    Israel raids Gaza’s al-Shifa Hospital: Day two

    Al Jazeera reports that a building for specialised surgeries at al-Shifa Hopital in Gaza has been fully wrecked from the inside while Israeli forces bombed a warehouse containing medicine and medical equipment inside the hospital.

    Reportedly the Israeli military “literally tore it apart – all the partitions, walls between the rooms, and all the medical equipment inside the building have been completely destroyed”, writes Al Jazeera.

    It has also been revealed that 200 people were “blindfolded and interrogated and taken to unknown areas; their fate is unknown.”

    Witnesses present inside the hospital informed Al Jazeera that Israeli soldiers stripped 30 people, leading them to the courtyard of the hospital.

    Al-Shifa hospital was surrounded by Israeli armed forces for the past few days, and is now being raided by Israeli soldiers.

    Israeli bulldozers have also fully knocked down the southern entrance to al-Shifa Hospital and all vehicles in its courtyard.

    Yesterday, BBC spoke to a journalist inside Al Shifa hospital who said that Israeli soldiers are checking through all the areas and interrogating people.

    Al Jazeera also reported that the Israeli military has stormed into the hospital’s main buildings “under the cover of heavy gunfire and tank shells”. They are reportedly inside the emergency department, the specialised surgeries department and the maternity ward.

  • Canada’s Trudeau tells Israel to end ‘killing of women, of children, of babies’

    Canada’s Trudeau tells Israel to end ‘killing of women, of children, of babies’

    Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has called for Israel to “stop killing of women, of children, of babies” in the besieged Gaza Strip. However, he did not mention the word ceasefire.

    Trudeau has received flak for his silence on civilian deaths at the hands of Israeli forces. In a video that emerged from a public meeting at Vancouver, Trudeau can be seen surrounded by protestors chanting, “Ceasefire Now”.

    In other videos, it can be seen that people were calling him out for his lack of conscience as protestors were shouting about him “having blood on his hand”

    In a conference in the western province of British Columbia Prime Minister Trudeau said, “The world is witnessing this killing of women, of children, of babies. This has to stop.” He further made his tone harder and said, “I urge the government of Israel to exercise maximum restraint, The world is watching, on TV, on social media – we’re hearing the testimonies of doctors, family members, survivors, kids who have lost their parents.”

    The statement has gained him the ire of Israel’s Netanyahu who addressed Trudeau in a post on X, “It is not Israel that is deliberately targeting civilians but Hamas that beheaded, burned and massacred civilians in the worst horrors perpetrated on Jews since the Holocaust, the forces of civilization must back Israel in defeating Hamas barbarism.”

    While Trudeau has maintained that Israel has the right to defend itself, Trudeau’s statement is seen as a major shift in the country’s stance, even though a complacent one. “The price of justice cannot be the continued suffering of all Palestinian civilians,” Trudeau said on Tuesday. “All wars have rules. All innocent life has equal worth. Israeli and Palestinian.”

    Last week, Trudeau called for a significant humanitarian pause in the conflict to allow for the release of all hostages and the delivery of enough aid to address civilian needs in Gaza.

    After France’s Macron, he has become the second leader from the West to call out Israel as a major shift of stance.

  • Israeli soldiers going door to door in Shifa Hospital for patient interrogation 

    Israeli soldiers going door to door in Shifa Hospital for patient interrogation 

    Al Shifa hospital in Gaza, which was surrounded by Israeli armed forces for the past few days, is now being raided by Israeli soldiers.

    BBC spoke to a journalist inside Al Shifa hospital who has told that Israeli soldiers are checking through all the areas and interrogating people.

    Al Jazeera also reported that the Israeli military has stormed into the hospital’s main buildings “under the cover of heavy gunfire and tank shells”. They are reportedly inside the emergency department, the specialised surgeries department and the maternity ward.

    Israeli soldiers are doing search operations “room by room, corridor by corridor, interrogating doctors and medical staff individually.”

    Israel is basing and justifying their operation on the claims that al-Shifa Hospital is being used by Hamas, however, this has not been proven with any evidence as yet.

    The Israeli army has also set up electronic checkpoints at multiple doors of the main buildings of the hospital and they are calling people inside including medical team, patients, the injured — to “officially” interrogate everyone in the premises.

    Gaza’s health ministry has reported that there are about 2,500 people inside the hospital at the moment. Apart from medical teams and patients, there are 600 wounded people and 36 neonates as well as displaced people seeking shelter.

  • Gaza’s embattled main hospital buries patients in ‘mass grave’

    Gaza’s main hospital has been forced to bury dozens of dead patients in a mass grave, its director said Tuesday, while thousands of Palestinians were trapped inside by fierce combat.

    Israeli forces were at the gates of the sprawling Al-Shifa hospital they say sits atop an underground Hamas command base, but the militants deny the charge while doctors say patients and people seeking shelter were stranded in horrific conditions.

    “There are bodies littered in the hospital complex and there is no longer electricity at the morgues,” said Al-Shifa hospital director Mohammad Abu Salmiya, adding that 179 bodies had been interred so far.

    “We were forced to bury them in a mass grave,” he said, adding that seven babies and 29 intensive care patients were among those who had died after fuel for the hospital’s generator ran out.

    A witness said the stench of decomposing bodies was everywhere in the Gaza City facility as bombardment and gunfire echoed constantly in the area.

    The United Nations estimates that at least 2,300 people — patients, staff and displaced civilians — are inside and may be unable to escape because of fierce fighting from the facility where supplies are nearly exhausted.

    Israel says it is not targeting the hospital, but has vowed to destroy Hamas in response to the attacks of October 7, which killed an estimated 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and saw 240 hostages being taken to Gaza.

    The health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza says Israel’s relentless assault has killed 11,320 people, also mostly civilians, including thousands of children.

    Israel’s military says 47 of its troops have been killed in Gaza.

    Al-Shifa’s fate has become a major focus of the more than five week war that has stirred international criticism of the suffering and death inflicted on civilians in the besieged territory.

    Israel’s Foreign Minister Eli Cohen acknowledged in a statement shared by his spokesman Monday that his nation has “two or three weeks until international pressure really steps up”. 

    ‘Completely soaked’

    The situation in Gaza’s other hospitals is also dire, with the UN saying 22 of 36 are not functional due to lack of generator fuel, damage and combat.

    “The 14 hospitals remaining open have barely enough supplies to sustain critical and life-saving surgeries and provide inpatient care, including intensive care,” said the World Health Organization in the Palestinian Territories.

    But the humanitarian crisis in the territory also includes the hundreds of thousands of people who have fled south at Israel’s urging to get away from the most intense fighting.

    On Tuesday displaced Palestinians in the south woke up to yet another scourge: rain, soaking their meagre belongings and threatening to bring waterborne diseases to their places of shelter.

    “We are completely soaked, all of our clothes are soaked, our mattresses, our blankets too, even a dog could not live like this,” said Ayman al-Jueidi, who has set himself up in the courtyard of a UN school in Rafah at the southern extremity of the Gaza Strip.

    Even escaping the fighting is dangerous and wounded Palestinians told AFP how they were hit by a strike on their way south.

    “I walked around three to four kilometres (around two miles) while I was bleeding,” said Hasan Baker, whose head and left hand were bandaged. “There was no possibility for any ambulance to enter the area.”

    Hostage talks

    Israeli leaders have so far insisted there will be no ceasefire until hostages are released, but Qatar is mediating talks on a possible deal to free captives.

    Abu Obeida, a spokesman for Hamas’s military wing, said Monday that Israel asked for the release of 100 hostages while the militants want 200 Palestinian children and 75 women freed from Israeli prisons.

    “We informed the mediators we could release the hostages if we obtained five days of truce… and passage of aid to all of our people throughout the Gaza Strip, but the enemy is procrastinating,” Abu Obeida said in an audio statement.

    Qatari foreign ministry spokesman Majed bin Mohammed Al-Ansari told a news conference in Doha that the “deteriorating” situation in Gaza was hampering mediation efforts.  

    “We believe that there is no other chance for both sides other than for this mediation to take place,” he said. 

    Relatives of hostages set out Tuesday on a five-day protest march to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office to demand “the immediate release of all the hostages”, the Hostages and Missing Families Forum said.

    Netanyahu responded in a statement that the government was “working relentlessly for the release of the hostages, including using increased pressure since the start of the ground incursion”.  

    As security officials and diplomats continued negotiations, Hamas’s military wing issued a video of captive Israeli soldier Noa Marciano.

    The Israeli army on Tuesday confirmed she was dead.

    Abu Obeida claimed Marciano was killed in an Israeli strike. The Israeli army did not say how she died.

    West Bank violence

    The Israeli army said it had captured Gaza’s parliament, the government building, the police headquarters and other government institutions run by Hamas in Gaza City, as its forces deepened their offensive in the Palestinian territory.

    The army also showed images of a discarded baby bottle, makeshift toilet and bullet-scarred motorbike as evidence Hamas held hostages in the basement of Al-Rantisi children’s hospital in Gaza City.

    AFP was not able to independently confirm the allegation.

    The video narrated by army spokesman Daniel Hagari also shows neatly arranged assault rifles, grenades and what he said were “vests with explosives”.

    The Hamas health ministry described the Israeli video as “poor staging” with “not a single piece of evidence” backing the Israeli army claims.

    The war in Gaza has also spurred violence on other fronts.

    In the occupied West Bank, eight Palestinians were killed in clashes with Israeli troops, seven during an army raid on the northern city of Tulkarem and one near the southern city of Hebron, the Palestinian health ministry said on Tuesday.

    At least 180 Palestinians and three Israelis have been killed across the West Bank since October 7, according to officials on both sides.

    The Israeli police said they were investigating “several cases” of alleged sexual violence against women by Hamas militants in the attack that triggered the conflict.

    Since the attacks, police have been gathering evidence about allegations of sexual violence from witnesses, surveillance footage and the interrogations of Palestinian militants arrested in the aftermath. 

    Police had “multiple witnesses” but no “living victims”, investigator David Katz said without giving the precise number of cases.

  • Deadly attacks, decomposing bodies, lack of services: What we know about day 39

    Deadly weapons used against Gaza

    The Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor has revealed that Israel has dropped more than 25,000 tonnes of explosives on the Gaza Strip since October 7, equivalent to two nuclear bombs.

    In comparison, the United States dropped the Little Boy nuclear bomb on Hiroshima during World War II, yielding 15,000 tonnes of high explosives and wrecking everything within a 1.6km (1-mile) radius.

    Plan to bury decomposing bodies in Al Shifa compound

    Reuters reported that a doctor Ahmed Al Mokhallalati and Gaza health ministry spokesman Ashraf Al-Qudra have claimed in separate telephone interviews that more than 100 dead bodies are presently unburied and have begun to decompose, “creating an acute sanitary crisis”.

    “We are planning to bury them today in a mass grave inside the Al Shifa medical complex. It is going to be very dangerous as we don’t have any cover or protection from the ICRC (International Committee of the Red Cross), but we have no other options, the corpses of the martyrs began to decompose,” said Qidra. “The men are digging right now as we speak.”

    Qidra claims the number of bodies accumulated at Al Shifa at about 100 whereas Mokhallalati said it was about 120.

    More than half of Gaza hospitals non operational

    According to the World Health Organization, 22 of 36 hospitals in Gaza are out of service “due to lack of fuel, damage, attacks and insecurity”.

    While calling for an immediate ceasefire, the UN’s health agency also warned that the remaining 14 hospitals “have barely enough supplies to sustain critical and life saving surgeries and provide inpatient care, including intensive care”.

    Water supplies on hold due to lack of fuel

    The United Nations reported that infrastructure for the operation of water and waste management in southern Gaza is no longer functioning.

    “Due to lack of fuel, public sewage pumping stations, 60 water wells in the south, the two main desalination plants in Rafah and the Middle Area, the two main sewage pumps in the south, and the Rafah wastewater treatment plant have all ceased operations,” the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) stated, citing the organisation’s Palestinian relief agency UNRWA.

    “Coupled with the shutdown of municipal sanitation work, this is posing a serious threat to public health, increasing the risk of water contamination and the outbreak of diseases.”

    At least 42 journalists killed since October 7

    The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has revealed that at least 42 journalists and media workers have been killed since October 7 as Israel intensified its attacks, stating that the period was the most deadly for journalists since the CPJ’s data collection began in 1992.

    Credits: Al Jazeera

  • Al-Shifa staff unable to bury 100 decomposing bodies: What we know about day 38

    There are presently around 650 patients, 500 healthcare workers, and an estimated 2,500 displaced people inside al-Shifa Hospital, reports Mohammed Zaqout, director of hospitals in Gaza.

    Al-Shifa staff unable to bury 100 decomposing bodies

    Wafa news agency has reported that according to Gaza’s Minister of Health Mai al-Kaila, the staff of Al-Shifa Hospital are not able to bury the remains of at least 100 people who were killed in recent days as Israel continued its attacks in Gaza.

    hospital workers also have to deal with increasing medical waste accumulation inside the hospital compound. Now, Al-Shifa Hospital is not allowing in new patients, “even as it continues to deal with thousands of refugees who are also taking shelter there”, reports Al Jazeera.

    It has also been revealed that Israeli snipers have been firing at anyone near the hospital.

    At least 32 al-Shifa patients dead

    Over the past three days, at least 32 hospital patients in al-Shifa Hospital have died, claims Palestinian Health Ministry spokesperson Ashraf Al Qidra.

    Among the dead are three premature babies whose incubators were shut off after fuel stocks finished. 

    After the hospital ran out of fuel on Saturday, operations were also suspended.

    Credits: Al Jazeera

  • New survey: Large number of Pakistanis boycotting pro-Israel brands

    New survey: Large number of Pakistanis boycotting pro-Israel brands

    People across the world have been calling for a boycott of brands and companies affiliated with Israel as the onslaught on Gaza continues.

    The purpose of boycotting the Israel-affiliated brands is to economically hurt its government that is committing what many experts have now termed a genocide.

    Pulse Consultant conducted a survey to deduce the response of Pakistanis towards the boycott — to judge how many are willing to stop buying such products.

    Titled the ‘Consumer Sentiments Sway Towards Boycott’, the survey revealed that eight out of 10 respondents (83%) in the top 12 cities of Pakistan “agreed with the appeal of boycotting brands of those companies who are allegedly supporting the occupied army”.

    Amongst those who agreed to boycott, 79% claimed that they did it. Additionally, the females (85%) ratio is higher than males (78%).

    The survey is based on more than 1200 respondents, both genders, with age groups of 16-55+.

    The interviews were conducted through Computer Assisted Telephonic facility, from November 5th to 11th.