Palestinians mourn near the bodies of loved ones following Israeli bombardment on Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip, at al-Najar hospital on February 16, 2024 (Photo by MOHAMMED ABED / AFP)
Doha, Qatar: Israel’s incursion into Khan Younis’ Nasser Hospital has led to the deaths of at least four patients after electricity was severed and oxygen supplies cut. Nasser Hospital director says ‘We stand helpless’.
Meanwhile, Doctors Without Borders is calling for an end to Israeli attacks on Nasser Hospital, which have killed a number of people and wounded others.
According to the Health Ministry in Gaza, at least 28,775 people have been killed in the Palestinian territory. The toll includes 112 fatalities over the past 24 hours.
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[11pm Doha Time] Palestinians forced to eat weeds to stave off hunger
Palestinians in Gaza are living in famine-like conditions. Desperate people, unable to feed themselves or their children, are being forced to eat weeds and leaves to stay alive, reported Al Jazeera.
The United Nations has warned that hundreds of thousands of people in Gaza are on the brink of starvation. About two million Palestinians are facing acute levels of hunger after many of them lost their homes and livelihoods. Read more.
[9:48pm Doha Time] Macron says recognising a Palestinian state 'not a taboo' for France
President Emmanuel Macron said on Friday that recognising a Palestinian state was "not a taboo for France" in his first such comments since the start of the war in Gaza. Read more.
[12:08pm Doha Time] Health ministry in Gaza says Friday at least 28,775 people have been killed in the Palestinian territory. The toll includes 112 fatalities over the past 24 hours, a ministry statement said, while 68,552 people have been wounded in Gaza since war erupted on October 7.
[11:45am Doha Time] ‘We can’t keep coming and going,’ Rafah refugee says
Hundreds of thousands of people in southern Rafah continue to wonder where to go if Israel launches a ground invasion despite growing international calls on its leaders to halt the “catastrophic” operation.
The southernmost city now hosts more than half of Gaza’s population with displaced people “crammed” into less than 20 percent of the territory, according to the UN humanitarian agency OCHA.
“We were displaced from Gaza City to the south,” said Ahlam Abu Assi. “They told us to go to Rafah so we went to Rafah. We can’t keep going and coming. There is no safe place for us.”
The White House said US President Joe Biden spoke by phone with Israel’s leader Netanyahu urging him not to carry out an attack on Rafah without a realistic plan to keep civilians safe. Britain, Australia, Canada and New Zealand have also urged Israel not to launch a ground offensive.
Displaced Palestinians camp near the border fence between Gaza and Egypt, on February 16, 2024 in rafah, in the southern Gaza Strip (Photo by MOHAMMED ABED / AFP)
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[11:45am Doha Time] Fate of MSF staffer unknown after deadly Israeli attacks on Nasser Hospital
Doctors Without Borders (Medecins Sans Frontieres, or MSF) is calling for an end to Israeli attacks on Nasser Hospital, which have killed a number of people and wounded others.
“After the bombing yesterday morning, our cadres reported an atmosphere of chaos, with an unknown number of dead and wounded. The fate of one of our colleagues remains unknown since the attack,” the organisation said on X.
MSF said its staff has been forced to flee and leave behind patients in the hospital, with complications arising even as they tried to evacuate.
“The Israeli forces set up a checkpoint for people as they left the compound, and one of our colleagues was arrested at this checkpoint. We call for preserving his safety and protecting his dignity,” it added
“We call on it to immediately stop this attack, as it threatens the medical staff and patients trapped inside the facility.”
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[10:49am Doha Time] Power outage claims lives of three patients at Nasser hospital in Khan Yunis
At least four patients in the intensive care unit at Nasser Hospital in Khan Yunis, southern Gaza, were martyred on Friday morning due to disruption in oxygen supply caused by a power outage, amid the continuing Israeli siege of the hospital.
Additionally, reports indicate two women have been forced to give birth in inhumane conditions without electricity, water, food, or heating within the hospital, medical sources told Palestinian news agency
Dr Nahed Abu Taima, director of Nasser Medical Complex in Khan Younis, tells Al Jazeera that the situation at the hospital is “catastrophic”.
“We stand helpless, unable to provide any form of medical assistance to the patients inside the hospital or the victims flooding into the hospital every single minute.” (WAFA). Read more
A displaced Palestinian boy hangs on a non functioning electricity cable as he plays near the border fence between Gaza and Egypt, on February 16, 2024 in Rafah, in the southern Gaza Strip
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[10:30am Doha Time] Israel’s destruction of universities ‘perpetuates crime of genocide’
The Israeli army’s “systematic and widespread” targeting of universities is eliminating the “last manifestations of life in the Gaza Strip”. The Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Observatory added such attacks “perpetuate the crime of genocide”.
The continuing Israeli assault on the besieged Strip has led to a “complete disruption” of the educational system, the rights organisation said in a statement.
Since Israel’s bombing began, three university presidents and more than 95 university deans and professors have been killed, according to Euro-Med. Some 88,000 students have been deprived of completing their university education
At least five universities are partially or completely destroyed.
“The Euro-Mediterranean Observatory stressed the crimes pursued by Israel – including the widespread and deliberate destruction of buildings designated for educational, artistic, scientific and religious purposes and historical monuments – constitute in themselves grave violations and war crimes in accordance with the Geneva Conventions and the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court.”
