Israeli soldiers in southern Gaza. Rafah residents have reported intense artillery shelling and gunfire. AFP
Israeli soldiers in southern Gaza. Rafah residents have reported intense artillery shelling and gunfire. AFP
Israeli soldiers in southern Gaza. Rafah residents have reported intense artillery shelling and gunfire. AFP
Israeli soldiers in southern Gaza. Rafah residents have reported intense artillery shelling and gunfire. AFP

Palestinian medics killed as Israeli air strikes hit Gaza


Nada AlTaher
  • English
  • Arabic

Live updates: Follow the latest on Israel-Gaza

Israeli strikes killed at least nine Palestinians across Gaza and injured several more on Thursday, the Wafa news agency reported.

Israeli aircraft struck a house at Nuseirat Camp in central Gaza, killing four and injuring 15. Three others were shot dead by Israeli snipers in the Tel Al Hawa neighbourhood, near Gaza city.

In Rafah, Israeli forces bombed buildings and artillery shelling hit an area west of the city.

The Palestine Red Crescent said two of its paramedics were killed in an Israeli air strike on an ambulance in the Tal Al Sultan area of Rafah. The two medics were identified as Haitham Tubasi and Suhail Hassouna.

Gaza's Ministry of Health condemned the attacks on the ambulance.

“This ensures that Israel is intentionally wiping out the medical system in Gaza,” the ministry said on Thursday. Israel said it carried out 50 air strikes across the enclave on Thursday, which it claimed had killed two militants.

Fighting was also being reported in Jabalia refugee camp, a severely damaged town in northern Gaza that has been pummelled by the biggest bombs in Israel's inventory, weighing 900kg. Israel's military claimed to have cleared Hamas out of northern Gaza after the first stage of its offensive, but soldiers returned and fought street battles with Palestinian militants in the streets of Jabalia this month.

While Israel's leadership has said it is fighting the war to eliminate Hamas after the group led attacks on southern Israel that killed about 1,200 people on October 7, Gaza's civilians have paid a heavy price.

More than 36,200 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza since then, the Ministry of Health said.

The ministry said 75 per cent of those killed were women, children and the elderly. At least 15,328 children are thought to have lost their lives. About 10,000 people are feared buried under rubble, "including more than 5,000 children", the ministry said.

Israel seizes border

On Wednesday, Israel said it took over the 14km Philadelphi Corridor, on the border between Gaza and Egypt, an area that Israel said was being used to smuggle weapons and artillery.

Egypt has rejected claims of weapons smuggling through tunnels beneath the border and said a takeover of the corridor would breach the 1979 peace agreement between Egypt and Israel.

Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El Sisi has called for an end to Israel's siege on Gaza and said the international community must ensure Palestinians were not displaced from the enclave.

“I call on the international community to immediately provide for long-term humanitarian assistance to the Gaza Strip and to end the Israeli siege, and to stop any attempt at forcing Palestinians to forcibly flee their land,” Mr El Sisi said at a forum in Beijing.

His comments came after the Israeli army said on Wednesday that it gained “operational control” over the Philadelphi Corridor. Israeli troops patrolled the area until 2005, when they were withdrawn as part of a broader disengagement from the Gaza Strip.

Its seizure comes weeks after Israeli forces took control of the Rafah border crossing with Egypt on May 7.

A displaced Palestinian displays some goods for sale at a makeshift camp along the Philadelphi Corridor. AFP
A displaced Palestinian displays some goods for sale at a makeshift camp along the Philadelphi Corridor. AFP

Gaza has been blockaded since 2007, after Hamas seized control following its conflict with Fatah for control of the Palestinian territories.

Before the outbreak of the war, the blockade was jointly administered by Israel and Egypt, both of which controlled the entry of food, fuel and other essential goods into the enclave.

Since October 7, Israel has limited the amount of aid allowed into Gaza while devastating vast swathes through bombardment and ground fighting.

Israel seized the Rafah border crossing with Egypt as it launched its offensive on the city this month, giving it full control of all the entry points into Gaza.

Humanitarian groups and the UN have repeatedly accused Israel of placing Gaza under siege and deliberating preventing aid from reaching Palestinians, which Israel denies.

The head of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) for the GCC, Mamadou Sow, said International Humanitarian Law (IHL) declares that a siege should be directed only against enemy forces.

"IHL prohibits attacking, destroying, removing, rendering useless objects indispensable to survival of civilians," he said.

"Even if used in direct support of enemy military action, operations against them are prohibited if they leave civilians so short of food and water as to cause starvation."

The UN said this month there is a "full-blown famine" in northern Gaza.

On Sunday, 70 human rights organisations sounded the alarm on high levels of malnutrition and the spread of famine, particularly among children, which doctors have said is a contributing factor to exacerbating otherwise preventable complications due to injury.

In a joint statement, the organisations accused Israel of intentionally starving Gazans as thousands of aid lorries are lined up outside Gaza on the Egyptian side of the Rafah border, unable to pass through.

How%20to%20avoid%20getting%20scammed
%3Cul%3E%0A%3Cli%3ENever%20click%20on%20links%20provided%20via%20app%20or%20SMS%2C%20even%20if%20they%20seem%20to%20come%20from%20authorised%20senders%20at%20first%20glance%3C%2Fli%3E%0A%3Cli%3EAlways%20double-check%20the%20authenticity%20of%20websites%3C%2Fli%3E%0A%3Cli%3EEnable%20Two-Factor%20Authentication%20(2FA)%20for%20all%20your%20working%20and%20personal%20services%3C%2Fli%3E%0A%3Cli%3EOnly%20use%20official%20links%20published%20by%20the%20respective%20entity%3C%2Fli%3E%0A%3Cli%3EDouble-check%20the%20web%20addresses%20to%20reduce%20exposure%20to%20fake%20sites%20created%20with%20domain%20names%20containing%20spelling%20errors%3C%2Fli%3E%0A%3C%2Ful%3E%0A
ELIO

Starring: Yonas Kibreab, Zoe Saldana, Brad Garrett

Directors: Madeline Sharafian, Domee Shi, Adrian Molina

Rating: 4/5

Benefits of first-time home buyers' scheme
  • Priority access to new homes from participating developers
  • Discounts on sales price of off-plan units
  • Flexible payment plans from developers
  • Mortgages with better interest rates, faster approval times and reduced fees
  • DLD registration fee can be paid through banks or credit cards at zero interest rates
Labour dispute

The insured employee may still file an ILOE claim even if a labour dispute is ongoing post termination, but the insurer may suspend or reject payment, until the courts resolve the dispute, especially if the reason for termination is contested. The outcome of the labour court proceedings can directly affect eligibility.


- Abdullah Ishnaneh, Partner, BSA Law 

Four tips to secure IoT networks

Mohammed Abukhater, vice president at FireEye in the Middle East, said:

- Keep device software up-to-date. Most come with basic operating system, so users should ensure that they always have the latest version

- Besides a strong password, use two-step authentication. There should be a second log-in step like adding a code sent to your mobile number

- Usually smart devices come with many unnecessary features. Users should lock those features that are not required or used frequently

- Always create a different guest network for visitors

COMPANY PROFILE
Name: Kumulus Water
 
Started: 2021
 
Founders: Iheb Triki and Mohamed Ali Abid
 
Based: Tunisia 
 
Sector: Water technology 
 
Number of staff: 22 
 
Investment raised: $4 million 
WHAT IS A BLACK HOLE?

1. Black holes are objects whose gravity is so strong not even light can escape their pull

2. They can be created when massive stars collapse under their own weight

3. Large black holes can also be formed when smaller ones collide and merge

4. The biggest black holes lurk at the centre of many galaxies, including our own

5. Astronomers believe that when the universe was very young, black holes affected how galaxies formed

The biog

Simon Nadim has completed 7,000 dives. 

The hardest dive in the UAE is the German U-boat 110m down off the Fujairah coast. 

As a child, he loved the documentaries of Jacques Cousteau

He also led a team that discovered the long-lost portion of the Ines oil tanker. 

If you are interested in diving, he runs the XR Hub Dive Centre in Fujairah

 

Updated: May 30, 2024, 1:34 PM`