Author: Steven Sahiounie

A smaller group of anti-government protesters defied a crackdown on anti-war voices and demanded a ceasefire. Thousands of people have rallied in Tel Aviv, asking for the release of Israeli and foreign captives being held by Hamas in the Gaza Strip and criticising the Israeli government for the way it is dealing with the crisis. Many of the protesters on Saturday were friends and family members of the captives and demanded their immediate return. “Mr Prime Minister, cabinet members, do not talk to me about conquering, do not talk to me about flattening [Gaza]. Do not talk at all. Just take action…

By Aisyah Llewellyn Medan, Indonesia – At this time of the year, it should be strawberry season in the Gaza Strip. Instead, the fields traditionally planted with strawberries in September and harvested from November are now battlefields. One of the most fertile regions for Palestine’s renowned strawberries is Beit Lahia, with its good climate, rich soil and high-quality water supplies. Located in north Gaza, Beit Lahia is also the home of the Indonesia Hospital where medical volunteer from Indonesia Fikri Rofiul Haq is based with the Indonesian humanitarian organisation the Medical Emergency Rescue Committee (MER-C). “The Israeli forces have been bombing fields across the…

By Lyndal Rowlands and John Power Source: Al Jazeera

Moataz Matar has been put on a watch list, which means he will be unable to return to the UK. An exiled Egyptian television presenter has reportedly had his visa revoked by the United Kingdom for allegedly supporting Hamas amid government efforts to crack down on support for the Palestinian armed organisation it considers a “terrorist” group. The Home Office cancelled Moataz Matar’s visa for, among other things, taking part in pro-Palestinian protests in London and supporting Hamas, according to the London-based Telegraph news website. The 49-year-old has also been put on a watch list, which means he will be unable…

People were allowed a two hour window to flee the clashes which killed 14 Palestinians Dim torchlights began to flicker as it got dark at 6pm on Thursday – the electricity had cut out in the afternoon. Families carrying children picked their way through the streets of the Jenin refugee camp, attempting to evade crossfire during eight hours of non-stop shooting and drone attacks that had begun that morning when Israeli soldiers forced their way in with a large convoy of armoured vehicles. After the Israeli army announced via loudspeaker that it would allow a window of just two hours…

No place is safe in Gaza, as continuous bombardment triggers mass evacuations in the besieged enclave. The Israeli military has pounded Rafah in southern Gaza, levelling residential buildings and camps, leaving no place safe in the blocked-off enclave. The mass movement towards Gaza’s south, accelerated under intense fighting and through evacuation corridors, has seen tens of thousands of people flee in recent days. But on Saturday, attacks were hitting buildings in Rafah, the area of the densely populated territory to which civilians have been urged to evacuate. An estimated 30,000 additional Palestinians went southwards through a corridor opened by the Israeli…

Across the world, demonstrators call for an immediate ceasefire and urgent humanitarian action in Gaza. Demonstrators the world over have rallied in solidarity with Palestinians in Gaza, condemning the high rate of civilian casualties in Israeli attacks and calling for an immediate ceasefire. Major cities, including New York, London, Paris, Baghdad, Karachi, Berlin and Edinburgh, witnessed large marches on Saturday. Calls for a ceasefire to protect civilians in Gaza have grown more than a month into the war sparked when Palestinian group Hamas attacked southern Israel on October 7. Israeli authorities have put the fatalities at about 1,200, and say…

Neonatal intensive care unit stops working at under-siege facility with power outages and no fuel. Two premature babies have died at Gaza’s al-Shifa Hospital after the neonatal intensive care unit stopped working due to a lack of electricity, the facility’s director has said. Thirty-seven other babies, also in the neonatal intensive care unit, are at risk of losing their lives as the hospital runs out of fuel to power their incubators, Director Mohammed Abu Salmiya told Al Jazeera on Saturday. “Unfortunately, we’ve lost two out of 39 babies because of the power outage,” Abu Salmiya, the head of the largest medical complex in…

Palestinian health officials say babies in incubators are fighting for their lives as Israel lays siege to the hospital compound. Israel’s military has brought the war to the front gates of al-Shifa Hospital, Gaza’s biggest hospital complex, where thousands of injured and displaced people are trapped amid ferocious bombardment. “We are minutes away from imminent death,” Muhammad Abu Salmiya, al-Shifa Hospital’s director, told Al Jazeera from inside the besieged facility on Saturday, where operations had to be suspended after it ran out of power and fuel. Abu Salmiya said al-Shifa’s buildings are being targeted and any person moving within the hospital…

By Usaid Siddiqui and Virginia Pietromarchi Source: Al Jazeera