SPECIAL REPORTS

Dec wk5 -- Dec wk4 P2 -- Dec wk4 -- Dec Wk3 P3 -- Dec Wk3 P2 -- Dec Wk 3 -- Dec Wk 2 P3 -- WK2 P 2 -- wk2 -- wk1 P 3 -- wk1 P 2 -- wk1 -- Nov wk5 P3 -- wk5 P2 -- wk5 -- wk4 P3 -- wk4 P2 -- Nwk4
 Click here for an overview by week in 2024

Special reports: Updates December 27 and earlier, 2024: 'Broken': Domestic violence impacts women, children in Gaza & Gaza toddlers got the polio vaccine, then an Israeli bomb took their legs & Millions in bonds for Israel put US states at odds with investment policies Previous reports:  As Gaza war rages israel supportive outlets under fire & EU research funds flow to Israel & My mother's shattered dream of family reunion in Gaza & Gaza's libraries will rise from the ashes & The genocide kills dreams, not just people and earler stories  Overview special reports

November 28 - 24 and earler stories, 2024 Is Netanyahu immune from ICC arrest warrant-NO!   TRIBUTES TO MOTHERS AND CHILDREN

Shireen Abu Akleh In commemoration of Shireen Abu Akleh, the 'voice of Al Jazeera' killed while revealing the true face of israel Updated: December 6, 2024: Attacks, arrests, threats, censorship: The high risks of reporting the Israel-Gaza war   Click here for earlier stories/news

UPDATE: December 30 - 26, 2024 'Betrayed' and 'abandoned' Sixth baby dies from severe cold Dec 31 - 27, 2024 ........................................ ............................................ ................................................. just read the actual and fact-finding news

December 27 - 24, 2024 Food for thought: Is Israel using starvation as a war tactic in its genocidal war in Gaza?... and 'The war in Gaza is beyond anything'... Yes they are! Gino d'Artali Read more and decide for yourself

December 10 - 7, 2024 Food for thought: 'The next one' as seen by an Iranian activist cartoonnist and yes, with the fall of assad it most likely is a matter of time before the next ones, netanyahu, khamenei, erdogan and others, will follow. Gino d'Artali Read more and decide for yourself

 When one hurts or kills a women
one hurts or kills hummanity and is an antrocitie.
Gino d'Artali
and: My mother (1931-1997) always said to me <Mi figlio, non esistono notizie <vecchie> perche puoi imparare qualcosa da qualsiasi notizia.> Translated: <My son, there is no such thing as so called 'old' news because you can learn something from any news.>
Gianna d'Artali.


Another baby freezes to death

Al Jazeera - Dec 31 2024 - Al Jazeera Live - By Zaheena Rasheed
<<LIVE: Israel pounds north Gaza as seventh Palestinian freezes to death
This video may contain light patterns or images that could trigger seizures or cause discomfort for people with visual sensitivities.
Israeli forces have killed four Palestinians in an attack on besieged Jabalia in North Gaza after a day of bombings that killed at least 27 people across the Strip. At least seven Palestinians have died of hypothermia in Gaza as temperatures plummet and Israel continues to severely restrict the entry of aid and humanitarian supplies.
Read more/video: https://www.aljazeera.com/news/liveblog/2024/12/31/live-seventh-palestinian-freezes-to-death-in-gaza-amid-israeli-siege

Al Jazeera - Dec 30 2024
<<What's behind Israel's siege of north Gaza and is Gaza City next? Israel carries out hospital attacks in northern Gaza and Gaza City. Read more/video>>
https://www.aljazeera.com/program/inside-story/2024/12/30/whats-behind-israels-siege-of-north-gaza-and-is-gaza-city-next

Al Jazeera - Dec 30 2024
<<Winter rains worsen horrors faced by displaced Palestinians in Gaza
International aid agencies say Israeli forces have been hampering aid deliveries, making the humanitarian crisis even worse. In the second year of an Israeli genocide in Gaza, weather has added an extra element of suffering to hundreds of thousands of Palestinians forcibly displaced, often multiple times, while efforts to agree a ceasefire go nowhere. Jumaa al-Batran, just 20 days old, died of hypothermia, one of six Palestinian infants who have died of exposure and cold during recent days in Gaza, according to doctors - their deaths underlining the severity of the situation before vulnerable families. International aid agencies say Israeli forces have been hampering aid deliveries, making the humanitarian crisis even worse. "Since I am an adult, I may take this and endure it, but what did the young one do to deserve this?" Jumaa's mother, Noura al-Batran said. "He could not endure it, he could not endure the cold or the hunger and this hopelessness." Dozens of tents, many already tattered from months of use, have been blown away or flooded by the strong winds and rain, leaving families struggling to repair the damage, patching torn sheets of plastic and piling up sand to hold back the water. It is another aspect of the humanitarian crisis facing Gaza’s 2.3 million population, caught by the relentless Israeli bombings, which have killed more than 45,500 Palestinians, according to Gaza officials, and turned the enclave into a wasteland of rubble. The United Nations relief agency for Palestinians, UNRWA, on Sunday, said aid is nowhere near enough and a ceasefire was desperately needed to deliver as famine loomed. Earlier this month, Israeli and Hamas leaders expressed hopes that talks brokered by Egypt, Qatar and the United States could lead to an agreement to halt the fighting. But optimistic talk of a deal before the end of the year has faded.>>
View photos: https://www.aljazeera.com/gallery/2024/12/30/winter-rains-worsen-horrors-faced-by-displaced-palestinians-in-gaza


Hussam Abu Safia
Al Jazeera - Dec 30 2024
<<Gaza Kamal Adwan Hospital chief Abu Safia held at Israeli army base: Report
The director of Gaza's Kamal Adwan Hospital, whose whereabouts have been unknown since he was detained by Israel after a raid on the facility last week, is allegedly being held at an army base doubling as a detention facility, says a CNN report. Hussam Abu Safia, 51, is reportedly being held in the Sde Teiman base in Israel’s Negev desert, according to former Palestinian prisoners cited by the network, who had been released over the weekend from the controversial facility known for its extreme abuse of detainees. "Two Palestinian prisoners released this weekend from the facility said they saw Abu Safia at the prison, and another former detainee said he heard Abu Safia’s name being read out," said the CNN report, published on Monday. The World Health Organization (WHO) and authorities in Gaza said they lost contact with Abu Safia after the raid on Friday, which saw the Israeli military set fire to Kamal Adwan and forcefully expel dozens of medical staff and patients - shutting down the only partially functioning hospital in northern Gaza. The Israeli army confirmed on Saturday that it arrested the director as he was <suspected of being a Hamas terrorist operative> and the hospital was used as a <command and control centre> without providing evidence for its claims. When asked if Abu Safia had been transferred to Israeli territory for further questioning, the military did not offer an immediate comment. On Monday, Israeli media circulated a video of the moments before Abu Safia was detained by Israeli forces, the footage capturing his efforts to move hundreds of patients and medical staff to safety after the Israeli military issued a 15-minute warning to evacuate the hospital.
'Brutality and torture'
On Sunday, Israel's military said that its forces had killed approximately 20 Palestinians and apprehended <240 terrorists> in the raid, calling it one of its <largest operations> conducted in the territory. Abu Safia had refused multiple Israeli orders to leave Kamal Adwan after the Israeli military imposed a devastating blockade on the northern Gaza Strip on October 5. The director general of the Health Ministry in Gaza said the medic, who had documented the cruel impact of Israel's offensive on his hospital, was severely beaten with batons and sticks by Israeli forces during the raid, forced to strip and put on clothes meant for prisoners. Abu Safia's family told CNN: "Sde Teiman is known for brutality and torture, we can't imagine what our father is going through in that place and if he is well or not, warm or cold ... hungry or in pain." Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, head of WHO, called for Abu Safia’s release in a post on X on Monday, saying that hospitals in Gaza had become "battlegrounds" and that the health system was "under severe threat". Tedros said the patients in critical condition at Kamal Adwan had been moved to the Indonesian Hospital, "which is itself out of function". "Amid ongoing chaos in northern Gaza, WHO and partners today delivered basic medical and hygiene supplies, food and water to Indonesian Hospital and transferred 10 critical patients to al-Shifa Hospital," he said. "We urge Israel to ensure their healthcare needs and rights are upheld." He said seven patients along with 15 caregivers and health workers remained at the "severely damaged" Indonesian Hospital.>>
SOURCE: AL JAZEERA AND NEWS AGENCIES>> https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2024/12/30/gaza-kamal-adwan-hospital-chief-abu-safia-held-at-israeli-army-base-report

Al Jazeera - Dec 30 2024 - Al Jazeera Live - By Maram Humaid
<<'Global silence and abandonment' as Gaza's Kamal Adwan Hospital destroyed
Northern Gaza's last operational major health facility is being destroyed by Israeli forces.
The sound of tanks rumbling through the streets outside of Kamal Adwan Hospital woke everyone up, they were already on edge after enduring months of direct Israeli attacks. Then came the loudspeakers ordering everyone to evacuate - the sick, the wounded, medical staff, and displaced people seeking shelter - early on Friday morning. It was clear that the medical complex in northern Gaza's Beit Lahiya was about to face an Israeli raid, like so many had before it as Israel seemed to systematically destroy all healthcare in Gaza. It didn't matter that, according to the World Health Organization, the hospital was the last major health facility operational in northern Gaza, an area that has been suffocatingly besieged and decimated by Israel in its ongoing war. Nor that it was a refuge for hundreds of Palestinians whose homes had been destroyed by Israel and had nowhere else to go.
Numbers written on their chests
At about 6am, patient Izzat al-Aswad heard Israeli forces summoning Dr Hussam Abu Safia, the hospital director, over their loudspeakers. Dr Abu Safia came back and told people in the hospital they had been ordered to evacuate. Abu Safia himself, who was a rare voice exposing what Israel was doing to the hospital, was taken by Israel, which has refused to release him despite calls to do so from the UN, humanitarian NGOs and international health organisations. A little later, al-Aswad said Israeli soldiers demanded that all the men strip down to their underwear to be allowed to leave. Shivering, frightened, many of them injured, the men were ordered to walk to a checkpoint the Israelis had set up about two hours away, al-Aswad recounted by phone. At the checkpoint, they gave their full names and had their photographs taken. Then a number was scrawled on their chest and neck by a soldier, indicating they had been searched. Some of the men were taken for interrogation. "They beat me and the men around me," al-Aswad said. "They hit the injured people like me directly on our injuries." Shorouq al-Rantisi, 30, a nurse in Kamal Adwan's laboratory department, was among the women taken from the hospital. The women were told to walk to the same checkpoint, which was in a school, and then waited for hours in the cold. "We could hear the men being beaten and tortured. It was unbearable."
Then the searches started.
"The soldiers were dragging the women by the head towards the search area," al-Rantisi said. "[They] shouted at us, demanding we remove our headscarves. Those who refused were beaten badly." "The first girl called for searching was told to strip. When she refused, a soldier beat her and forced her to lift her clothes. A soldier dragged me by the head and then another soldier ordered me to lift the top of my clothes, then the bottom, and checked my ID," she said. Al-Rantisi said the women were eventually taken, left at a roundabout, and told they could not go back to Beit Lahiya.
"How could we leave and abandon the patients? None of us ever thought of leaving until we were forced to," she said on the phone. Israel assaulted the hospital for many weeks before the raid. "The hospital and its courtyard were bombed relentlessly, day and night, as if it was normal," al-Aswad said. "Quadcopters fired at anyone moving in the courtyard ... they targeted generators and water tanks, while medical staff were struggling to care for patients." The night before the raid was "terrifying", al-Aswad added, with Israeli attacks all around, including on the 'al-Safeer' building.
"Witnesses say about 50 people were in there, including nurses from the hospital. No one could rescue them or retrieve their bodies, they’re still there," he recounted. Al-Aswad and the men who were not taken for interrogation were released after a full day of abuse and humiliation. "The soldiers ordered us to go west of Gaza City and never come back," he said. "We walked through destruction and rubble, freezing, until people came to meet us near Gaza City, offering help and blankets."
'Betrayed' and 'abandoned'
Israel's raid merely compounded "the global silence and abandonment" Palestinians in Gaza have been faced with throughout more than a year of relentless Israeli attacks that killed more than 45,000 people, al-Rantisi said. "Over 60 days of relentless shelling - quadcopters, artillery, and targeted strikes on generators," she said. Dr Hussam's pleas went unanswered until the hospital was stormed and emptied. How does the world allow this to happen?" "I feel we were all betrayed," Fadi al-Atawneh, 32, said bitterly on the phone. "I was wounded, so I stayed in the hospital, hoping that the World Health Organization would evacuate or protect us, but it never happened," al-Atawneh said.
"I am deeply saddened by what happened to us and the fate of Dr Abu Safia. We’re left alone in the face of this aggression." >>
SOURCE: AL JAZEERA>> https://www.aljazeera.com/features/2024/12/30/global-silence-and-abandonment-as-gazas-kamal-adwan-hospital-destroyed


Jinha - Womens News Agency - December 30, 2024
<<'Siege for over 80 days on North Gaza puts the lives of the 75,000 Palestinians'
The siege imposed by Israel for over 80 days on North Gaza puts the lives of the 75,000 Palestinians remaining in the area at risk, the World Health Organization (WHO) warned on Saturday.
News Center- Since October 7, 2023, the Israeli forces have been attacking the Gaza Strip, targeting health facilities. The siege imposed by the Israeli forces for over 80 days on North Gaza puts the lives of the 75,000 Palestinians remaining in the area at risk, the World Health Organization (WHO) warned in a statement on Saturday. "WHO is appalled by yesterday's raid on Kamal Adwan Hospital, which put the last major health facility in North Gaza out of service," the statement said, adding: "Initial reports indicate that some areas of the hospital were burnt and severely damaged during the raid, including the laboratory, surgical unit, engineering and maintenance department, operations theatre, and the medical store. Earlier in the day, twelve patients and a female health staff were reportedly forced to evacuate to the destroyed and non-functional Indonesian Hospital where it is not possible to provide any care, while the majority of the staff, stable patients and companions were moved to a nearby location. Additionally, some people were reportedly stripped and forced to walk toward southern Gaza. Over the last two months, the area around the hospital has remained highly volatile and attacks on the hospitals and on health workers have occurred almost daily. This week, bombardments in its vicinity reportedly killed 50 people, including five health workers from Kamal Adwan Hospital."
'Kamal Adwan is now empty'
On Friday evening, the remaining 15 critical patients, 50 caregivers and 20 health workers in Kamal Adwan Hospital were transferred to Indonesian Hospital, which lacks the necessary equipment and supplies to provide adequate care. "Kamal Adwan is now empty. WHO is deeply concerned for their wellbeing, as well as for the Kamal Adwan Hospital director who has been reportedly detained during the raid. WHO lost contact with him since the raid began." Since early October 2024, WHO has verified at least 50 attacks on or near the Kamal Adwan Hospital. "Despite the increasingly dire needs for emergency and trauma services and supplies, only 10 out of 21 WHO missions to Kamal Adwan have been partially facilitated between early October and December." In the statement, WHO called for urgently ensuring that hospitals in North Gaza can be supported to become functional again. "Hospitals have once again become battlegrounds, reminiscent of the destruction of the health system in Gaza City earlier this year." >>
Source: https://jinhaagency.com/en/actual/siege-for-over-80-days-on-north-gaza-puts-the-lives-of-the-75-000-palestinians-36254?page=1 

Jinha - Womens News Agency - December 30, 2024 - by RAFIF ESLEEM
<<Palestinian journalist Najlaa Al-Skafi: We strive to rise like a phoenix from the ashes
"They took our hopes away. But we still strive to rise like a phoenix from the ashes," said Palestinian journalist Najlaa Al-Skafi, one of the winners of the Qarib Journalism Awards 2024.
Gaza- Palestinian journalist Najlaa Al-Skafi won the Qarib Journalism Awards 2024 on the category of "Best Coverage of Women Affected by Conflict and Crises" for her article titled "Climate Shocks Women Face in Displacement Camps", drawing attention to the challenges and difficult living conditions faced by displaced women in tents. Najlaa Al-Shafi told NuJINHA how she applied for Qarib, a regional program funded by the French Development Agency (French: Agence Française de Developpement-AFD) and implemented by the French Media Development Agency (French: Agence Française de Developpement Medias- CFI).
'Women carry heavy burdens on their shoulders'
Palestinian women carry heavy burdens on their shoulders; however, their efforts are invisible in the media," said Najlaa Al-Shafi. "The media outlets only report on the death toll in the Gaza Strip without reporting on the difficult living conditions suffered by women in shelter centers. Many displaced women living in shelter centers are widows and the only breadwinners of their families." Qarib Journalism Awards are among the most important international journalism awards, Najlaa Al-Skafi told us. "I applied for the awards to break the international silence against the humanitarian crisis suffered by marginalized groups, especially women, in the Gaza Strip. The Qarib is a program supporting media outlets operating in Jordan, Lebanon, Iraq and Palestine in order to boost social cohesion, promote the integration of communities and encourage public debate."
Women's role in documenting the war in Gaza
Speaking about the challenges faced by women journalists in war zones, she said, "Women journalists continue to work despite all the challenges. They play an important role in documenting and reporting the war in the Gaza Strip." Najlaa Al-Shafi wrote her article by interviewing seven displaced women living in shelter centers in Gaza. "They told me what they face in tent camps due to extreme heat in summer and freezing temperatures in winter. My article focuses on women’s health issues, analyzing the negative consequences of lack of health facilities on women's health."
'They struggle to survive'
Najlaa Al-Shafi also had to leave her home and then her city due to Israeli attacks. "We were displaced to the south of the Gaza Strip and waited in lines for hours to get a piece of bread. We had no safe place, like other women fleeing their homes not to be killed. Displaced Palestinian women struggle to survive in shelter centers without food, water, hygienic supplies and privacy."
'We should not lose our hope'
The award motivates Najlaa Al-Shafi to do journalism despite all the difficult living conditions. “As women journalists, we struggle against many challenges. Palestinian people are also human beings, having dreams, hopes and goals. However, our dreams, hopes and goals have been attacked for over 435 days. They took our hopes away. But we still strive to rise like a phoenix from the ashes." >>
Video: https://jinhaagency.com/en/actual/palestinian-journalist-najlaa-al-skafi-we-strive-to-rise-like-a-phoenix-from-the-ashes-36252?page=1

Al Jazeera - Dec 30 2024 - Al Jazeera Live - In Pictures - Gallery
<<No privacy, constant struggles for women in Gaza's crowded tent camps. With much of Gaza levelled by Israel, Palestinian women try to preserve their modesty and dignity in displacement camps. In Gaza's crowded tent camps, women wrestle with a life stripped of privacy. For Gaza's women, the hardships of life in the territory’s sprawling tent camps are compounded by the daily humiliation of never having privacy. Women displaced from their homes by Israel's ongoing bombardment struggle to dress modestly while crowded into tents with extended family members, including men, and with strangers only steps away in neighbouring tents. Alaa Hamami has dealt with the modesty issue by constantly wearing her prayer shawl, a cloth that covers her head and upper body. "Our whole lives have become prayer clothes, even to the market we wear it," said the young mother of three. "Dignity is gone." Normally, she would wear the shawl only when performing her daily Muslim prayers. But with so many men around, she keeps it on all the time, even when sleeping - just in case an Israeli attack hits nearby in the night and she has to flee quickly, she said. Israel's war on Gaza has driven more than 90 percent of its 2.3 million population from their homes. Hundreds of thousands now live in squalid tent camps packed close together over large areas - where sewage runs into the streets and food and water are hard to obtain. Access to toilets and hygiene products is also limited, and many women now cut up sheets or old clothes to use as sanitary pads. Wafaa Nasrallah, a displaced mother of two, says life in the camps makes even the simplest needs difficult, and she cannot afford to buy sanitary pads. She has tried using pieces of cloth and even nappies, but they have also increased in price. For a toilet, Nasrallah uses a hole in the ground, surrounded by blankets propped up by sticks. These makeshift toilets must also be shared with dozens of other people in the camps. As winter sets in, the challenges grow and women feel constantly exposed. Many say they have to choose between buying pads and buying food and water. The United Nations says more than 690,000 women and girls in Gaza require menstrual hygiene products, as well as clean water and toilets, as stocks of hygiene kits have run out and prices are exorbitant. But aid workers have been unable to meet demand, with supplies piling up at border crossings, and Israel continuing to block aid and supplies from entering the besieged and battered Strip.>>
View gallery here: https://www.aljazeera.com/gallery/2024/12/30/no-privacy-constant-struggles-for-women-in-gazas-crowded-tent-camps

Al Jazeera - Dec 29 2024 - By Maziar Motamedi and Urooba Jamal
<<LIVE: Baby in Gaza 'freezes to death' as Israeli attack on hospital kills 7
Israeli military's attack on the upper floor of al-Wafaa Hospital in Gaza City has killed at least seven people and wounded others, some critically, according to Gaza's civil defence. Al Jazeera's Hind Khoudary reports that a baby in central Gaza died this morning, marking the fifth infant to die from hypothermia in the Strip.>>
Read more here: https://www.aljazeera.com/news/liveblog/2024/12/29/live-israeli-forces-kill-36-in-gaza-kamal-adwan-hospital-empty


Hussam Abu Safiya
Al Jazeera - Dec 29 2024
<<Calls for the release of Gaza hospital director detained by Israel
Palestinians and campaigners express concern after Abu Safia and others from Kamal Adwan Hospital are detained by Israel.
Calls have been made for the release of Hussam Abu Safia, the director of Kamal Adwan Hospital, who was detained on Saturday with dozens of others by the Israeli military during a raid on the facility in northern Gaza. Fears are growing over the safety of Abu Sufia, whose whereabouts remain unknown since he was detained from the last barely functioning medical facility in northern Gaza, which has been pulverised by relentless Israeli bombings during a weeks-long military siege of the area. MedGlobal, a humanitarian NGO providing healthcare in disaster areas, has demanded Abu Safia’s immediate release, while the World Health Organization (WHO) said it was "appalled" by the raid on the hospital. The last picture of Abu Safia, widely shared on social media, showed him walking towards an Israeli tank near the Kamal Adwan Hospital, which was burned down by Israeli forces during the violent raid on Friday. The Israeli military said on Saturday that Abu Safia was held for questioning, on suspicion of "being a Hamas terrorist operative". It arrested more than 240 people from the hospital premises. Since October 6, Israel’s operations in Gaza have focused on the north, where the military says its land and air offensive aims to prevent Hamas from regrouping.
Location unknown
Zaher Sahloul, the president of MedGlobal, said in a statement that Abu Safia's arrest was "unjust and a violation of international humanitarian law".
"His arrest is not only unjust - it is a violation of international humanitarian law, which upholds the protection of medical personnel in conflict zones. MedGlobal urgently calls for the immediate and unconditional release of Dr Abu [Safia]." Agnes Callamard, the secretary-general of Amnesty International, said Abu Safia is considered a human rights defender by Front Line Defenders, an Irish-based organisation that works to protect people who are "at risk for their peaceful and legitimate human rights work". The raid was also the latest on a hospital during the war, in which Israel targeted healthcare complexes. "The systematic dismantling of the health system and a siege for over 80 days on north Gaza puts the lives of the 75,000 Palestinians remaining in the area at risk," the UN health agency said in a statement. Dr Ali Elaydi, an orthopaedic surgeon originally from Gaza, says Israel's raid on Kamal Adwan Hospital and the arrest of Dr Abu Safia are aimed at emptying the north of the enclave of its residents.
"It essentially robs the entire population of northern Gaza of any sustainable medical care. I believe this is truly intentional to force the people out of northern Gaza," Elaydi told Al Jazeera from the US city of Dallas. "It is systematic. [The Israelis] have decided that without medical care, they [the Palestinians in north Gaza] would have to evacuate." "It is a warning to every other physician to not speak out for their patients." On Friday, Hamas dismissed Israel's assertion that its fighters had operated from the hospital throughout the 15-month Gaza war, saying no fighters had been in the hospital. WHO said the Kamal Adwan Hospital's remaining 15 critical patients, 50 caregivers and 20 health workers were transferred on Friday to the nearby Indonesian Hospital, which it described as "destroyed and non-functional". It said WHO would undertake an urgent mission to the Indonesian Hospital on Sunday, partly to move the critical patients to Gaza City. On Sunday, an Israeli attack on the upper floor of al-Wafaa Hospital in Gaza City killed at least seven people and wounded others, some critically, according to Gaza's civil defence. "The seven Palestinians who were killed in al-Wafaa Hospital are obviously patients because the hospital treats the elderly," Al Jazeera's Hind Khoudary said from Deir el-Balah in central Gaza.
"And after the war started, it started admitting people with chronic diseases and functioned as a rehabilitation centre." The Israeli military claimed the attack on the hospital targeted a Hamas <command and control centre>.
Killing of Adnan al-Bursh
Abu Safia, who is a paediatrician by training, has refused multiple Israeli orders to evacuate Kamal Adwan Hospital. He was briefly arrested and released when Israeli forces stormed Kamal Adwan in late October. During that same operation, Israeli forces killed Abu Safia's son, Ibrahim, in a drone attack on the gate of the hospital. Abu Safia was wounded by shrapnel from another Israeli attack on the hospital on November 23, but he continued his work, keeping the world informed on the developments in the hospital. This is not the first time the Israeli forces have attacked a hospital and medical professionals. Adnan al-Bursh, a prominent Palestinian orthopaedic surgeon and the head of orthopaedics at al-Shifa, Gaza's largest medical facility before it was destroyed, was killed reportedly due to torture in an Israeli prison. He was working at the al-Awda Hospital in northern Gaza in December when he and other medics were arrested by the Israeli army.>>
SOURCE: AL JAZEERA AND NEWS AGENCIES:
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2024/12/29/calls-for-the-release-of-gaza-hospital-director-detained-by-israel

Al Jazeera - Dec 29 2024
<<LIVE: Israel attacks Gaza hospital as calls grow for Abu Safia's release
Israeli forces are shelling the Baptist Hospital in Gaza City, days after raiding and setting fire to the Kamal Adwan Hospital in Beit Lahiya. The military confirmed arresting 240 people in that assault. International aid groups call on Israel to immediately release Dr Hussam Abu Safia, the director of Kamal Adwan, who was arrested during Friday's attack.>>
Read more: https://www.aljazeera.com/news/liveblog/2024/12/29/live-israeli-forces-kill-36-in-gaza-kamal-adwan-hospital-empty

Al Jazeera - Dec 28 2024
<<Israel detains director of key north Gaza hospital as WHO condemns raids
Israeli forces storm Kamal Adwan Hospital, putting the last remaining medical facility in northern Gaza out of service.
Israel's army has detained the director of one of the last functioning hospitals in northern Gaza, as the World Health Organization said Israeli assaults on medical facilities are a "death sentence" for thousands of Palestinians. An Israeli military assault on the Kamal Adwan Hospital on Friday put the last major health facility in northern Gaza out of service, the WHO said. "Initial reports indicate that some key departments were severely burned and destroyed during the raid," the WHO said in a statement on X on Friday evening. The Israeli military said in a statement that it had launched a raid on the Kamal Adwan Hospital as it <serves as a Hamas terrorist stronghold>, but failed to provide any evidence for this claim. Hamas said it "categorically" denied the allegation. Gaza health officials said on Saturday that Israeli forces had detained the director of the hospital. "The occupation forces have taken dozens of the medical staff from Kamal Adwan Hospital to a detention centre for interrogation, including the director, Hussam Abu Safia," the Palestinian Health Ministry in Gaza said in a statement. The ministry had earlier quoted Abu Safia as saying the military had "set on fire all surgery departments of the hospital" and that there were "a large number of injuries" among the medical team. As of Friday morning, the hospital housed about 350 people, including 75 patients and 180 medical staff. The WHO said 25 patients in critical condition, including those on ventilators, reportedly remain with 60 health workers in the hospital. The patients in moderate to severe condition were forced to evacuate to the destroyed and non-functional Indonesian Hospital, the United Nations health agency said, adding it was "deeply concerned for their safety".
The WHO reiterated its call for a ceasefire.
"This raid on Kamal Adwan Hospital comes after escalating restrictions on access for WHO and partners, and repeated attacks on or near the facility since early October," the agency said. "Such hostilities and the raids are undoing all our efforts and support to keep the facility minimal[ly] functional. The systematic dismantling of the health system in Gaza is a death sentence for tens of thousands of Palestinians in need of healthcare.
This horror must end and healthcare must be protected." Israel's military began a renewed ground offensive in northern Gaza in October and has claimed that the hospital had become <a key stronghold for terrorist organisations and continues to be used as a hideout for terrorist operatives>.
Before initiating the latest attack on the hospital, the Israeli military said its soldiers had <facilitated the secure evacuation of civilians, patients, and medical personnel>. Hamas denied its fighters were present in the hospital and urged the UN to set up an investigation committee "to examine the scale of crime being committed in northern Gaza". "We categorically deny the presence of any military activity or resistance fighters in the hospital," Hamas said in a statement. "The enemy's lies about the hospital aim to justify the heinous crime committed by the occupation army today, involving the evacuation and burning of all hospital departments as part of a plan for extermination and forced displacement." Al Jazeera's Hamdah Salhut said the Israeli military has often accused Hamas fighters of operating from medical facilities but has never proven these claims. "Most notable was the raid on al-Shifa Hospital back in 2023 when the military said Hamas was using al-Shifa as a command and control centre, claims that to this day have never been proven," she said, reporting from Amman, Jordan, because Al Jazeera has been banned from operating in Israel and the occupied West Bank. "Now, Kamal Adwan was the last functioning hospital in northern Gaza, but again, it was barely functioning because of the siege that was put forward by Israeli forces - a siege on food, water, and all sorts of medical supplies." The hospital's director had repeatedly raised concerns about its situation in recent days.
"The world must understand that our hospital is being targeted with the intent to kill and forcibly displace the people inside," Abu Safia said in a statement on Monday.
Israel's assault has killed more than 45,300 Palestinians since October last year, mostly children and women, according to health officials in the enclave. The majority of Gaza's 2.3 million people have been displaced and much of Gaza is in ruins.>>
SOURCE: AL JAZEERA AND NEWS AGENCIES:
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2024/12/28/this-horror-must-end-who-condemns-israeli-assault-on-key-gaza-hospital


IFJ
Jinha - Womens News Agency - December 27, 2024
<<At least 147 journalists and media workers killed in Gaza
At least 147 Palestinian journalists and media workers have been killed, several have been injured and others are missing during the war in Gaza, the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) said in a statement on Friday.
News Center- At least 147 Palestinian journalists and media workers have been killed, several have been injured and others are missing during the war in Gaza, the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) said in a statement on Friday, calling for an immediate investigation into the deaths of journalists. "The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) and the Palestinian Journalists Syndicate (PJS) condemn the killings and continued attacks on journalists." On December 26, 2024, five Palestinian journalists working for the satellite channel Al-Quds Today were killed in front of al-Awda Hospital in the al-Nuseirat refugee camp when an Israeli missile targeted the broadcasting vehicle.>>
Source: https://jinhaagency.com/en/actual/at-least-147-journalists-and-media-workers-killed-in-gaza-36247
 

Women's Liberation Front 2019/cryfreedom.net 2024