Author: Steven Sahiounie

Two young Palestinians were killed by Israeli forces near the city of Ramallah in the occupied West Bank, the Palestinian health ministry has said. Qais Shalash, 18, and Khalil Shalash, 16, were killed in the village of Shuqba, west of Ramallah. A witness told Al Jazeera that Israeli forces prevented paramedics from evacuating the two men to hospital for at least 20 minutes. The two men were shot in the heart and lungs respectively, said Raed al-Khatib, who is in charge of emergency services in the villages west of Ramallah. Source: AlJazeera

Israel will not allow humanitarian supplies into Gaza from the Israeli side of the border but will not block aid coming from Egypt, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office has said. “In light of President Biden’s demand, Israel will not thwart humanitarian supplies from Egypt as long as it is only food, water and medicine for the civilian population in the southern Gaza Strip or moving there,” Netanyahu’s office said in a statement. It also said that Israel: Source: AlJazeera

UN Under-Secretary-General Martin Griffiths reiterated there are rules of war “whatever the provocation” in an address to the Security Council after the US vetoed humanitarian pauses in the conflict. “All parties to armed conflict must protect civilians and civilian objects and take constant care to spare them from any attack. We have discussed this in almost every other conflict in this chamber around the world; this one is no different,” Griffiths said. “International law affords specific protections to medical personnel and facilities to ensure the wounded and sick receive the medical care they need. It was no coincidence that one…

President Joe Biden touched down in Israel on Wednesday for a diplomatic scramble to prevent the war with Hamas from spiraling into an even larger conflict, a challenge that became more difficult as outrage swept through the Middle East over an explosion that killed hundreds in a Gaza Strip hospital. Biden was originally scheduled to visit Jordan as well, but his meetings with Arab leaders were called off as he was leaving Washington, costing him an opportunity for the face-to-face conversations that he views as crucial for navigating this fraught moment. Now Biden’s only stop is Tel Aviv, where he’s…

The US secretary of state has called the Palestinian president to offer condolences and voice support for Palestinians’ “legitimate aspirations”, the State Department has said. Antony Blinken, who was in Amman on a regional tour, spoke late on Tuesday by phone with Mahmoud Abbas “to express profound condolences for the civilian lives lost in the explosion” at al-Ahli Arab Hospital. Source: AllJazeera

Amid the outrage following the bombing of Al-Ahli Hospital, an Israeli air raid has hit a bakery in central Gaza, according to Al Jazeera Arabic. There were no immediate details about casualties from the strike. A video posted on X by Al Jazeera Arabic showed an ambulance and people rushing towards a collapsed building with a visible sign that partly reads, “bakery”. Israel has imposed a total blockade of food, water, medicine and fuel into Gaza, and tens of thousands of Palestinians have been relying on places like bakeries for their limited sustenance. Source: AlJazeera

Maria Zakharova called on the United States to provide satellite images that would help clarify the situation and identify the perpetrator of the deadly attack Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova condemned Tuesday’s massive blast at a hospital in Gaza as a criminal act. “Naturally, we view such a <…> deadly attack as a crime,” Zakharova told Sputnik radio. She pushed for evidence of Israel’s non-involvement with the Gaza hospital attack. “[Israel] must not just comment in media outlets or on social media, it must produce the evidence,” she added. Zakharova also called on the United States to provide satellite…

Jordan on Tuesday announced the cancelation of a summit involving US President Joe Biden that it was hoped would breathe new life into the Middle East peace process following major fighting between Israel and Hamas. The summit will be held “when the decision to stop the war and put an end to these massacres has been taken,” said Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi. Biden said Tuesday he was “outraged” by a deadly explosion at a Gaza hospital and had told security advisers to gather more details. Hamas has blamed Israel for the strike, while Israel says a rocket misfired by Islamic…

Medical and local sources Wednesday said that more than 30 Palestinians were killed in artillery, air and sea bombardment on all areas of the Gaza Strip. The sources explained that about 30 Palestinians were killed after several homes were targeted in the northern Gaza Strip, while at least two were killed in a bombing that targeted a bakery in the Nuseirat camp in the central Gaza Strip. They indicated that the bakery provides bread to the people of the camp and to the displaced from the northern areas of the Gaza Strip. The sources added that at least two people were…

President Mahmoud Abbas today said that Israel’s bombing of the Baptist Hospital in Gaza City is a great calamity and a heinous war crime, which cannot be tolerated or allowed to pass without accountability. The President added while chairing the urgent leadership meeting he called for upon his return from Jordan that the occupation government has crossed all red lines, and “we will not allow it to escape accountability and punishment.” The President continued: “In light of this calamity that occurred tonight, and out of concern for our people, I decided to cut short my visit and return to the homeland…