Author: Steven Sahiounie

Nissim Vaturi has argued his country is “too humane” towards Palestinians A senior lawmaker in Israel has urged the military to “burn” Gaza and not allow any fuel into the Palestinian enclave unless all hostages held by Hamas are released. The comments made on Friday by Nissim Vaturi, deputy speaker of the Knesset, are the latest in a string of incendiary remarks by Israeli politicians on the deadly fighting with Hamas. “All of this preoccupation with whether or not there is internet in Gaza shows that we have learned nothing. We are too humane,” Vaturi, a member of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud party, wrote on…

Earlier we reported that Israeli forces had given everyone at al-Shifa Hospital – including doctors, patients and displaced people, one hour to leave the medical compound. Omar Zaqout says he and others have been forced to leave the hospital by Israeli forces, and that scenes outside the facility were “appalling”. “We were told to leave through al-Wehda road. Dozens of dead bodies are scattered on the road,” he told Al Jazeera. “Many homeless people who cannot walk are left out in the open.” Zaquot said the water supply at al-Shifa has been out for more than a week, leading to…

Ankara has condemned the “ugly attack” on a Turkish team working in East Jerusalem in which a camera was smashed Reporters with a Turkish broadcaster have accused Israeli police of assaulting a member of their team, with footage of the incident appearing to show an officer smashing a journalist’s camera with the barrel of his rifle. Working for Türkiye’s TRT news outlet, the camera crew was reporting from East Jerusalem’s Old City, where Israeli security forces clashed with Palestinians near Al Aqsa Mosque on Friday. “The Israeli police physically interfered with the TRT news team, breaking their camera with the…

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has called on the leaders of developing countries to unite in the face of challenges resulting from the Israel-Hamas war. “This is the time when the countries of the Global South should unite for the greater global good,” Modi said in a speech to a virtual summit of more than 100 countries on Friday. India, which has positioned itself as a leader of the Global South, convened the Voice of Global South Summit to follow up on decisions made during the Group of 20 (G20) top world economies meeting in September. In his speech, Modi…

In phone call with Safadi, Blinken voices concern for Jordanian medical staff injured in Gaza Jordanian Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi and his American counterpart Antony Blinken discussed over on Thursday the ongoing conflict in the Gaza Strip. According to a statement by the Jordanian Foreign Ministry, Blinken voiced concern for the Jordanian medical staff injured in Gaza, and reiterated that civilians and medical personnel must be protected. Seven staffers of a Jordanian field hospital in the Gaza Strip were injured in Israeli bombardment on Wednesday, according to officials. Blinken also expressed gratefulness for Jordan’s partnership in providing humanitarian assistance to…

The medical aid group says it has been trying to evacuate 137 members of its staff and their families – including 65 children – from the hospital complex in Gaza City to no avail. MSF said bullets were fired into its guesthouse on Tuesday, with no injuries reported. Two days later, its office building also was hit by shrapnel and the water tank on its guesthouse was shelled. The fighting has been getting closer, the group said, and thousands of other trapped civilians face the same dangers. “Our colleagues hear the constant sounds of gunfire, shelling, and drones. We can…

The health facilities in Khan Younis in southern Gaza also have not had any electricity over the same period, PRCS said. Source: AlJazeera

Aid convoy of 11 trucks loaded with medical supplies sent by Humanitarian Relief Foundation The Turkish Humanitarian Relief Foundation (IHH) on Friday delivered an aid convoy to the Gaza Strip, the Palestinian enclave under Israeli bombardment for over 40 days now. According to the charity, the convoy of 11 trucks loaded with medical supplies, organized in response to the escalating crisis triggered by Israel’s attacks, passed through the Rafah Border Crossing with Egypt. In collaboration with the Egyptian Red Crescent and international organizations, the IHH is providing essential medical materials to address deprived civilians in Gaza. The aid was delivered…

Al Jazeera’s Hani Mahmoud, reporting from Khan Younis in southern Gaza, says the Israeli military seems to be trying to push from the western side of Gaza City towards the neighbourhoods of Shujayea and Zeitoun. “There are confrontations going on, in what seems to be an attempt of the [Palestinian] groups on the ground to push back those tanks and armoured vehicles,” Mahmoud reported. “But due to disabled communications, we are unable to know exactly to what extent and to what capacity the fighting is going on.” Source: AlJazeera

Pedro Arrojo Agudo, the UN special rapporteur on water and sanitation, has warned that lack of access to clean drinking water in Gaza could have just as devastating a humanitarian toll as the bombing of civilians. “At present, people have no clean water for drinking, so they have a small quantity of salinised and contaminated water,” he told Al Jazeera. “That means – particularly for children – [that] we can expect, and I’m sure there are, thousands of [cases of diarrhea] and other diseases.” He added that Article 7 of the Rome Statute stipulates that “cutting off civilians from basic…