Live updates: Follow the latest on Israel-Gaza
Moving patients from Gaza's besieged Kamal Adwan Hospital will be "next to impossible" due to a lack of ambulances and staff, the hospital's director has said.
On Sunday Israel's military told the hospital's staff they needed to leave as patients, their families and medics huddled in hallways in an attempt to protect themselves from Israeli tank fire, snipers and drone strikes, patients and Gaza's Ministry of Health told The National. But the hospital's director, Dr Hossam Abu Safiya, says the order is impossible to fulfil.
"We currently have nearly 400 civilians inside the hospital, including babies in the neonatal unit, whose lives depend on oxygen and incubators. We cannot evacuate these patients safely without assistance, equipment, and time," said Dr Abu Safiya told Reuters. He said bombing had been almost non-stop for days on end, calling for the international community to take action to stop the Israeli actions near the hospital "before it is too late".
“It is clear that we face daily, continuous threats. The shelling persists from all directions, affecting the building, departments and staff. This is an extremely dangerous and terrifying situation," he later told The National.
“The bombing continued throughout the night, destroying nearby homes and buildings. Since this morning, the hospital has been targeted again with bombs dropped in its courtyards and on its roof by drones, once more threatening our supplies of fuel and oxygen.” He added a generator had been struck, putting it out of action.
Eviction orders have become a core part of Israeli operations in Gaza, and spread to Lebanon when the war there escalated in October before a ceasefire was reached. Residents are informed of Israel's instructions for them to leave via social media, letter drops and announcements from drones hovering above them.
The UN's Office for the Co-ordination of Humanitarian Affairs estimates around 80.5 per cent of the Gaza Strip is under active Israeli-issued evacuation order, and 1.9 million people are displaced. Last week, aid groups Oxfam and ActionAid said the forced displacement orders Israel imposed on Lebanon were "woefully inadequate, unnecessarily dangerous and likely illegal".
The Israeli military did not respond to a request for comment from Reuters on Abu Safiya's remarks. It said that on Friday it had sent fuel and food to the hospital and helped evacuate more than 100 patients and caregivers to other Gaza hospitals, some in co-ordination with the Red Cross, for their own safety.
On Monday, Dr Abu Safiya posted a video filmed from an upper floor of the hospital purporting to show an Israeli tank placing a box marked "danger" outside the hospital gates, which he said was filled with explosives.
Before the war began last October, sparked by an attack on southern Israel by the Hamas group in which 1,200 were killed and more than 250 hostages taken into the enclave, Kamal Adwan was the largest hospital in Gaza's north, according to the Palestinian news agency, Wafa, serving around 400,000 people. More than 45,300 people have been killed in Gaza.
In the surrounding town of Beit Lahia, Gazans continued to shelter in what buildings still stand, terrified to leave in case they are picked off by Israeli forces, who say they are acting against Hamas in the area. "What is happening chills the bones," Ihab Ghaban, who is trapped in Beit Lahia, told The National. "The bodies of the martyrs are subjected to horrors beyond words, as stray dogs feed on human flesh in front of us, and we are powerless to stop it."
“During the day, someone is killed, and their body remains in the street because it is impossible to retrieve it. By the next morning, we find that stray dogs have devoured most of the corpse.” Over the last day, 58 people have been killed in Israeli fire across the strip.
“The daily scenes we witness in northern Gaza are horrifying – beyond what any human can bear. The entire world must act, for what we are enduring is a full-fledged crime. Had it not been for the complicity of the US and Western countries with the occupation, we would not have reached this state."
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
'Midnights'
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The smuggler
Eldarir had arrived at JFK in January 2020 with three suitcases, containing goods he valued at $300, when he was directed to a search area.
Officers found 41 gold artefacts among the bags, including amulets from a funerary set which prepared the deceased for the afterlife.
Also found was a cartouche of a Ptolemaic king on a relief that was originally part of a royal building or temple.
The largest single group of items found in Eldarir’s cases were 400 shabtis, or figurines.
Khouli conviction
Khouli smuggled items into the US by making false declarations to customs about the country of origin and value of the items.
According to Immigration and Customs Enforcement, he provided “false provenances which stated that [two] Egyptian antiquities were part of a collection assembled by Khouli's father in Israel in the 1960s” when in fact “Khouli acquired the Egyptian antiquities from other dealers”.
He was sentenced to one year of probation, six months of home confinement and 200 hours of community service in 2012 after admitting buying and smuggling Egyptian antiquities, including coffins, funerary boats and limestone figures.
For sale
A number of other items said to come from the collection of Ezeldeen Taha Eldarir are currently or recently for sale.
Their provenance is described in near identical terms as the British Museum shabti: bought from Salahaddin Sirmali, "authenticated and appraised" by Hossen Rashed, then imported to the US in 1948.
- An Egyptian Mummy mask dating from 700BC-30BC, is on offer for £11,807 ($15,275) online by a seller in Mexico
- A coffin lid dating back to 664BC-332BC was offered for sale by a Colorado-based art dealer, with a starting price of $65,000
- A shabti that was on sale through a Chicago-based coin dealer, dating from 1567BC-1085BC, is up for $1,950
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
If you go
Flights
Emirates flies from Dubai to Phnom Penh with a stop in Yangon from Dh3,075, and Etihad flies from Abu Dhabi to Phnom Penh with its partner Bangkok Airlines from Dh2,763. These trips take about nine hours each and both include taxes. From there, a road transfer takes at least four hours; airlines including KC Airlines (www.kcairlines.com) offer quick connecting flights from Phnom Penh to Sihanoukville from about $100 (Dh367) return including taxes. Air Asia, Malindo Air and Malaysian Airlines fly direct from Kuala Lumpur to Sihanoukville from $54 each way. Next year, direct flights are due to launch between Bangkok and Sihanoukville, which will cut the journey time by a third.
The stay
Rooms at Alila Villas Koh Russey (www.alilahotels.com/ kohrussey) cost from $385 per night including taxes.
Honeymoonish
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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
The National in Davos
We are bringing you the inside story from the World Economic Forum's Annual Meeting in Davos, a gathering of hundreds of world leaders, top executives and billionaires.
Players Selected for La Liga Trials
U18 Age Group
Name: Ahmed Salam (Malaga)
Position: Right Wing
Nationality: Jordanian
Name: Yahia Iraqi (Malaga)
Position: Left Wing
Nationality: Morocco
Name: Mohammed Bouherrafa (Almeria)
Position: Centre-Midfield
Nationality: French
Name: Mohammed Rajeh (Cadiz)
Position: Striker
Nationality: Jordanian
U16 Age Group
Name: Mehdi Elkhamlichi (Malaga)
Position: Lead Striker
Nationality: Morocco
LEAGUE CUP QUARTER-FINAL DRAW
Stoke City v Tottenham
Brentford v Newcastle United
Arsenal v Manchester City
Everton v Manchester United
All ties are to be played the week commencing December 21.
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Killing of Qassem Suleimani
MOUNTAINHEAD REVIEW
Starring: Ramy Youssef, Steve Carell, Jason Schwartzman
Director: Jesse Armstrong
Rating: 3.5/5
How to watch Ireland v Pakistan in UAE
When: The one-off Test starts on Friday, May 11
What time: Each day’s play is scheduled to start at 2pm UAE time.
TV: The match will be broadcast on OSN Sports Cricket HD. Subscribers to the channel can also stream the action live on OSN Play.
More coverage from the Future Forum
Some of Darwish's last words
"They see their tomorrows slipping out of their reach. And though it seems to them that everything outside this reality is heaven, yet they do not want to go to that heaven. They stay, because they are afflicted with hope." - Mahmoud Darwish, to attendees of the Palestine Festival of Literature, 2008
His life in brief: Born in a village near Galilee, he lived in exile for most of his life and started writing poetry after high school. He was arrested several times by Israel for what were deemed to be inciteful poems. Most of his work focused on the love and yearning for his homeland, and he was regarded the Palestinian poet of resistance. Over the course of his life, he published more than 30 poetry collections and books of prose, with his work translated into more than 20 languages. Many of his poems were set to music by Arab composers, most significantly Marcel Khalife. Darwish died on August 9, 2008 after undergoing heart surgery in the United States. He was later buried in Ramallah where a shrine was erected in his honour.
AUSTRALIA SQUAD
Aaron Finch (captain), Ashton Agar, Alex Carey, Pat Cummins, Glenn Maxwell, Ben McDermott, Kane Richardson, Steve Smith, Billy Stanlake, Mitchell Starc, Ashton Turner, Andrew Tye, David Warner, Adam Zampa
