WHO deplores medical emergency in Gaza

Middle East - WHO deplores medical emergency in Gaza

Israel's army has extended its military operation in the Gaza Strip to other areas. While ground troops continued to advance into the central area of the coastal strip on Thursday, according to the army, rockets once again flew into Israeli areas. Muffled explosions could be heard in the metropolis of Tel Aviv. The news website ynet reported that around 30 rockets had been fired from the Gaza Strip.

The armed wing of the Islamist Hamas organization, the Kassam Brigades, spoke in a statement of a "reaction to the Zionist massacres of civilians" in the Gaza Strip. According to Hamas, at least 20,000 Palestinians have been killed in the Gaza Strip since the start of the war.

The Gaza war was triggered by the worst massacre in Israel's history, carried out by terrorists from Hamas and other extremist groups on October 7 in Israel near the Gaza border. More than 1200 people were killed on the Israeli side.

Israeli army claims control over Hamas stronghold of Shejaiya

According to the Israeli armed forces, they have established "operational control" over the Gaza district of Shejaiya, which is considered a Hamas stronghold. "Troops will continue to carry out limited operations in the neighborhood to destroy remaining Hamas infrastructure and kill militants who are hiding," the military said in a statement on Thursday.

Shejaiya in the north of the coastal strip was until recently the scene of fierce fighting between Israeli soldiers and terrorists from the Islamist Hamas. At the end of last week, the military accidentally shot dead three Israeli hostages who had escaped from their kidnappers.

During the fighting in the neighborhood, the Israeli military killed numerous Hamas fighters and destroyed dozens of entrances to Hamas tunnels, according to the statement. Nine Israeli soldiers, including two senior officers, were killed in an ambush by the Islamists.

Still rocket fire from the Gaza Strip

Despite massive bombardments, for which Israel's army is internationally criticized due to the high number of civilian casualties, Hamas is still firing rockets. According to Israeli media, this is also due to the large number of launch sites in the Gaza Strip. According to estimates by the Israeli Institute for National Security Studies (INSS), Hamas' rocket arsenal comprised around 20,000 projectiles. According to Israeli figures from Wednesday, around 12,500 rockets have been fired at the Jewish state since the start of the war.

WHO: Patients in the northern Gaza Strip are "starving and dying of thirst"

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), there are no longer any functioning hospitals in the northern Gaza Strip. Patients are not only dying because of a lack of medical care, said WHO aid coordinator Sean Casey on Thursday. "They are starving and dying of thirst," he reported in a video broadcast from Rafah.

According to WHO representative Richard Peeperkorn, only 9 of the 36 health facilities in the entire Gaza Strip are still partially operational. Hospitals in the northern part of the Palestinian coastal strip are no longer able to carry out operations and care for their patients, but they are still accommodating thousands of people - including many refugees.

Great Britain urges aid deliveries by ship to Gaza

British Foreign Secretary David Cameron urged more aid deliveries by ship to Gaza. Cameron said after a meeting with Egyptian Foreign Minister Samih Shukri that work was underway to enable British ships to bring aid supplies to Gaza from Cyprus. "Humanitarian aid is the absolute priority." Israel's Foreign Minister Eli Cohen had stated during a visit to Cyprus that the details were currently being clarified.

Israeli army: search dog camera recorded hostages' voices

During the deployment of an Israeli army search dog in the Gaza Strip, calls for help were recorded from three hostages who were accidentally shot dead by soldiers five days later. The dog was sent into a building with a body camera during a battle, said Israeli army spokesman Daniel Hagari, according to a published transcript.

"The terrorists shot at the dog, and from that point on we heard the voices of the hostages," Hagari said. The camera on the body of the dog, which was killed in the operation, was only found and analyzed on Tuesday.

Israeli soldiers had accidentally shot the three Israeli hostages in Shejaiya in the north of the sealed-off coastal strip. They were not wearing shirts, one was holding a stick with a white piece of cloth in his hand. The army explained that the soldiers had acted against the rules of engagement when they opened fire anyway.

New water pipeline supplies Gaza Strip from Egypt

A new pipeline is to supply the Gaza Strip with water from Egypt. According to the official news agency of the United Arab Emirates (WAM), around 2270 cubic meters of seawater from the Mediterranean are to be treated daily by three desalination plants. This could supply up to 300,000 people in the Gaza Strip with water.

The desalination plants are connected to the Gaza Strip via a 900-meter-long pipeline, WAM reported. The plants were financed by the United Arab Emirates. The children's charity Unicef reported a catastrophic water supply for hundreds of thousands in the Gaza Strip.

Israeli police investigate the death of a Palestinian prisoner

Following the death of a Palestinian prisoner in Israel, the police are investigating the alleged use of force by guards. According to the police, a total of 19 prison guards were interrogated in the affair and then released under certain conditions. The newspaper "Israel Hajom" reported that the 38-year-old prisoner from the West Bank was allegedly beaten with sticks in his cell a month ago and seriously injured. He was later found dead in his cell. An autopsy had not produced any clear results.

According to the information, the prisoner was a member of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas' Fatah organization. He had been sentenced to 20 years in prison for attempted murder, among other things.