Page 71 - Gaza

Israeli forces raid Gaza's largest hospital; hundreds of patients stranded

Israeli forces on Wednesday raided Gaza's largest hospital, a beleaguered facility filled with hundreds of patients, including newborns, that is at the heart of clashing narratives around the war and a potent symbol of Palestinian suffering. Israel viewed Shifa Hospital as a key target in a conflict that has killed thousands of Palestinians and unleashed widespread destruction in Gaza. The war between Israel and Hamas erupted after the militant group killed some 1,200 people and seized around 240 captives in a surprise October 7 attack. Israel says Shifa is a Hamas command post nestled under civilians, without providing visual evidence part of its broader accusation that the militants use Palestinians as human shields. Hamas and Gaza health officials deny militants operate in Shifa, and Palestinians and rights groups say Israel has recklessly endangered civilians as it seeks to eradicate Hamas. A worsening fuel shortage, meanwhile, threatened to paralyse the delivery of humanitaria

ASEAN defence chiefs call for Gaza ceasefire; struggle to tackle Myanmar

Southeast Asian defence ministers called Wednesday for the fighting in Gaza to cease immediately and for the world to collaborate on setting up humanitarian aid corridors in Gaza, but they struggled on how to address the prolonged civil strife in Myanmar. The Myanmar crisis was high on the agenda when defence chiefs from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations met in Indonesia's capital, Jakarta. The 10-nation bloc includes Myanmar, but its defense minister was again barred from attending this week's meetings due to the military government's failure to comply with a five-point emergency plan drafted to ease the violence. We are saddened with a deteriorating situation in Myanmar, Indonesia's Defense Minister Prabowo Subianto said in an opening speech. Indonesia encourages other ASEAN member states to support Myanmar to find a peaceful and durable solution to the current situation. ASEAN has been trying to enforce the plan it forged with Myanmar's top general in 2021, which calls f

Israeli forces begin 'targeted operation' at Gaza's main Al-Shifa hospital

The scale of Israel's move wasn't immediately clear. The IDF said its forces included medical teams and Arabic speakers.

We have intelligence that Hamas militants shelter in Gaza hospitals: US

The US said Tuesday that it has unspecified intelligence that Hamas and another Palestinian militant group use some hospitals in the Gaza Strip including Shifa Hospital and tunnels underneath them, to hide and support their military operations, and to hold hostages. The White House's national security council spokesperson, John Kirby, said the US does not support strikes against hospitals. We do not support striking a hospital from the air, Kirby told reporters accompanying President Joe Biden aboard Air Force One to San Francisco for a summit with Asia-Pacific leaders. Hospitals and patients must be protected. Kirby said the US also does not want to see a firefight in a hospital where innocent people, helpless people, sick people are simply trying to get the medical care that they deserve. When asked about evidence to support the claim, Kirby said it comes from a variety of intelligence sourcing. He wouldn't be more specific.

Nearly 102 staff members killed in Gaza in Israel-Hamas war: UN aid agency

In the statement, UNRWA said, "This is the highest number of United Nations aid workers killed in a conflict in the history of the United Nations," CNN reported

Is Hamas hiding in Gaza's hospital? Israel's claim a key point in stalemate

Gaza's Shifa Hospital has become the focus of a dayslong stalemate in Israel's war against the Hamas militant group. Shifa is Gaza's largest and best-equipped hospital. Israel, without providing visual evidence, claims the facility also is used by Hamas for military purposes. It says Hamas has built a vast underground command complex centre below the hospital, connected by tunnels, something Gaza health officials and Hamas deny. Since Israel declared war against Hamas in response to a deadly cross-border attack by Hamas on October 7, its forces have moved in on Shifa. While Israel says it is willing to allow staff and patients to evacuate, Palestinians say Israeli forces have fired at evacuees and that it is too dangerous to move the most vulnerable patients. Meanwhile, doctors say the facility has run out of fuel and that patients are beginning to die. Here is a closer look at the Shifa standoff. A HOSPITAL AND A SHELTER Shifa is the leading hospital in a health care system that

Working around the clock to release hostages held in Gaza, says US

"The United States continues to work round the clock to support efforts to rescue and reunite hostages held by Hamas with their families where they belong," said Sullivan, US NSA

Gaza hospital encircled by Israeli forces 'must be protected', says Biden

President Joe Biden Monday said that Gaza's largest hospital must be protected, and called for less intrusive action by Israeli forces. Fighting between Israeli forces and Palestinian militants has encircled the sprawling medical facility, Shifa Hospital, prompting thousands to flee. Shifa has been without electricity and water for three days, and gunfire and bombings outside the compound have made the situation more difficult. It is my hope and expectation that there will be less intrusive action, Biden said in the Oval Office. Battles between Israel and Hamas around hospitals forced thousands of Palestinians to flee from some of the last perceived safe places in northern Gaza, stranding critically wounded patients, including newborns, and their caregivers with dwindling supplies and no electricity, health officials said Monday. The Israeli military has urged Palestinians to flee south on foot through what it calls safe corridors. But its stated goal of separating civilians from

Thousands flee Gaza's main hospital but hundreds still trapped by fighting

Thousands of people appear to have fled from Gaza's largest hospital as Israeli forces and Palestinian militants battle outside its gates, but hundreds of patients, including dozens of babies at risk of dying because of a lack of electricity, remained inside, health officials said Monday. With only intermittent communications, it was difficult to reconcile competing claims from the Israeli military, which said it was providing a safe corridor for people to move south, and Palestinian health officials inside the hospital, who said the compound was surrounded by constant heavy gunfire. The military also said it had placed 300 litres (79 gallons) of fuel near the hospital to help power its generators, but that Hamas militants had prevented staff from reaching it. The Health Ministry in Hamas-ruled Gaza disputed that, and said the fuel would have provided less than an hour of electricity. World Health Organisation Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said Shifa has been without .

Shame on govts supporting destruction: Priyanka as death toll in Gaza rises

Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra on Monday termed as "deplorable and disgraceful" the killing of over 10,000 people in Gaza, and said it is a "shame on the governments supporting this destruction". The Congress general secretary said still there is no shock to the conscience of those supporting this "genocide" In a post on X, Gandhi said, "What a deplorable and disgraceful milestoneover 10,000 people killed in Gaza of which almost half are children. One child is being killed every ten minutes according to the WHO, and now tiny babies had to be removed from their incubators due to lack of oxygen and were left to die." "Still, no shock to the conscience of those supporting this genocide, no ceasefirejust more bombs, more violence, more killings and more suffering," she said. Shame on the governments supporting this destruction, Gandhi said. When is it going to be enough, she asked. More than 1,200 Israelis, mostly civilians, were killed when Hamas fighters launched a surprise

Danish Foreign Minister Lars Lokke makes solidarity visit to Israel

Israel's Foreign Minister Eli Cohen met in Jerusalem with his Danish counterpart Lars Lokke Rasmussen who came to express Denmark's solidarity with Israel

Even if Israel has to stand against world: Netanyahu vows to defeat Hamas

On October 7, over 2000 Hamas terrorists breached Israeli borders and carried out a horrific terror attack killing over 1400 people

Israel offers to evacuate babies from crippled Gaza City hospital

Palestinian officials said on Friday that 11,078 Gaza residents had been killed in air and artillery strikes since Oct. 7, around 40% of them children

Fighting rages near main Gaza hospital as PM dismisses calls for cease-fire

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu pushed back Saturday against growing international calls for a cease-fire, saying Israel's battle to crush Gaza's ruling Hamas militants will continue with "full force". A cease-fire would be possible only if all 239 hostages held by militants in Gaza are released, Netanyahu said in a televised address. The Israeli leader also insisted that after the war, now entering its sixth week, Gaza would be demilitarized and Israel would retain security control there. The position appears to run counter to post-war scenarios floated by Israel's closest ally, the United States, which has said it opposes an Israeli reoccupation of the territory. Asked what he meant by security control, Netanyahu said Israeli forces must be able to enter Gaza when necessary to hunt down militants. Pressure was growing on Israel after frantic doctors at Gaza's largest hospital said the last generator had run out of fuel, causing the death of a premature baby, another child in an

WHO loses communication with Al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City amid attacks

Sharing this on X, the WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, said that according to the latest reports, the hospital was surrounded by tanks

Arab countries oppose measures against Israel despite fighting in Gaza

Other Arab countries demanded that moderate Arab states suspend their economic relations with Israel

Introducing new weapons in ongoing wars with Israeli troops: Hezbollah

The leader of Lebanon's militant Hezbollah group said Saturday his fighters have introduced new weapons, including a missile with a heavy warhead in the ongoing fighting along the Lebanon-Israel border, adding that they will keep using the tense frontier to pressure Israel. Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah also blasted the United States over the Israel-Hamas war, saying it is the only country that can stop Israel's wide offensive on the Gaza Strip but doesn't do so. He said attacks on U.S. troops in Iraq and Syria, that Washington says have reached more than 40 rockets and suicide drone attacks, will continue until the war in Gaza comes to an end. Nasrallah's comments came as the situation along Lebanon's southern border continues to escalate. Hezbollah on Friday attacked northern Israel with three suicide drones after an Israeli strike in central Syria killed seven Hezbollah fighters. Nasrallah did not claim responsibility for a suicide drone attack that hit the Israeli Red Sea town of Eila

Israel occupation responsible for crimes against Palestinians: Saudi Prince

He pointed to the 'double standards' in applying international humanitarian law, condemning the international community's silence towards the violations against the Palestinian civilians

Islam's struggle with nationalism

By reigniting West Asia just when we had begun to believe it had gone into deep sleep, Hamas has underlined the many contradictions within, and questions about, the Islamic world

IDF gains control of Hamas territory in northern Gaza, kills 150 terrorists

Among the terrorists eliminated were Ahmed Musa, commander of the Nakba unit and Omar Alhandi, commander of a terror platoon entrenched in western Jabalia