Israel intensified pressure on Palestinians to leave Gaza city on Wednesday as troops advanced towards its centre.
The Israeli military said an "evacuation of Gaza city is inevitable" as it encouraged residents to flee south. It claimed there were "vast empty areas" in places such as Al Mawasi that already house many displaced Palestinians.
"Every family that relocates to the south will receive the most generous humanitarian aid, which is currently being worked on," said army spokesman Avichay Adraee. Israel is blamed by the UN for causing a famine in Gaza by denying entry to aid lorries.
Israeli troops "have begun efforts to bring in tents, prepare areas for establishing humanitarian aid distribution complexes, lay water pipelines and more", Mr Adraee said.
Gaza authorities said on Wednesday 10 more people had starved to death in the strip, including two children, raising the death toll of Israel's war to 62,895.
Defying international outcry, Israel is pursuing plans to seize Gaza city and remove Hamas from power in the strip. Arab countries have repeatedly warned against attempts to empty Gaza of its Palestinian inhabitants.
Residents of the city said tanks entered the Ebad-Alrahman neighbourhood and began shelling houses late on Tuesday. "If no truce is reached, we will see the tanks outside our homes," former construction worker Saad Abed, 60, told Reuters.
The Israeli army said troops were "engaged in combat" on the outskirts of the city. It said they found a weapons storage site where Hamas had planned attacks on Israeli soldiers.
Their operations on the fringes of Gaza city "enable the expansion of operations deeper into the area", the military said.
Gaza officials also raised the death toll to 22 from an Israeli strike on Nasser Hospital on Monday, after two more people died of their injuries. Five journalists were killed in the attack, which was widely condemned.
One of the dead was photographer Mariam Dagga, whose 13-year-old son Ghaith paid tribute by saying she was his "whole life". The teenager lives in the UAE having left Gaza in the early months of the war.
“There is nothing in this world that can ever replace Mama, her tenderness, her care, or her constant concern for me in every part of my life," he told The National.
Israel has shown no sign it will agree to a 60-day truce proposed by Egypt and Qatar in a last-ditch effort to stop the latest offensive. Steve Witkoff, a White House envoy who has been involved in ceasefire negotiations, said the US merely expects the Gaza war to be settled "before the end of this year".
He told Fox News the US was putting together a "very comprehensive plan" for post-war Gaza. The White House did not give details.
Samir Hulileh, a Palestinian businessman who has been approached as a possible interim governor of Gaza, criticised what he said were Israeli efforts to frighten Palestinians in the occupied West Bank, after troops raided a currency exchange on Tuesday.
“Of course, a money changer could be doing something wrong, but to tackle the problem properly you don’t destabilise the market. You don’t raid violently, injuring and killing people,” he said.
Dozens were injured in the raid in Ramallah. In another Israeli operation in the West Bank city of Nablus on Wednesday, troops lay siege to the area for nine hours, Palestinian news agency Wafa reported.
Israel's UN envoy Danny Danon, meanwhile, told The National that sustained military pressure was the only way to ensure Hamas is excluded from any future role in Gaza.
“I saw the statements of many leaders speaking about the future of Gaza and they say that Hamas will not be part of that,” Mr Danon said. “We will deliver that.”
Questioning alternative approaches, he added: “Who is going to convince Hamas to disarm? I think the pressure we are putting now is the only way to make sure that Hamas will not be part of the game.”
Tips to avoid getting scammed
1) Beware of cheques presented late on Thursday
2) Visit an RTA centre to change registration only after receiving payment
3) Be aware of people asking to test drive the car alone
4) Try not to close the sale at night
5) Don't be rushed into a sale
6) Call 901 if you see any suspicious behaviour
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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
UAE v Gibraltar
What: International friendly
When: 7pm kick off
Where: Rugby Park, Dubai Sports City
Admission: Free
Online: The match will be broadcast live on Dubai Exiles’ Facebook page
UAE squad: Lucas Waddington (Dubai Exiles), Gio Fourie (Exiles), Craig Nutt (Abu Dhabi Harlequins), Phil Brady (Harlequins), Daniel Perry (Dubai Hurricanes), Esekaia Dranibota (Harlequins), Matt Mills (Exiles), Jaen Botes (Exiles), Kristian Stinson (Exiles), Murray Reason (Abu Dhabi Saracens), Dave Knight (Hurricanes), Ross Samson (Jebel Ali Dragons), DuRandt Gerber (Exiles), Saki Naisau (Dragons), Andrew Powell (Hurricanes), Emosi Vacanau (Harlequins), Niko Volavola (Dragons), Matt Richards (Dragons), Luke Stevenson (Harlequins), Josh Ives (Dubai Sports City Eagles), Sean Stevens (Saracens), Thinus Steyn (Exiles)
Real estate tokenisation project
Dubai launched the pilot phase of its real estate tokenisation project last month.
The initiative focuses on converting real estate assets into digital tokens recorded on blockchain technology and helps in streamlining the process of buying, selling and investing, the Dubai Land Department said.
Dubai’s real estate tokenisation market is projected to reach Dh60 billion ($16.33 billion) by 2033, representing 7 per cent of the emirate’s total property transactions, according to the DLD.
Infiniti QX80 specs
Engine: twin-turbocharged 3.5-liter V6
Power: 450hp
Torque: 700Nm
Price: From Dh450,000, Autograph model from Dh510,000
Available: Now
Specs
Engine: 51.5kW electric motor
Range: 400km
Power: 134bhp
Torque: 175Nm
Price: From Dh98,800
Available: Now
Game Of Thrones Season Seven: A Bluffers Guide
Want to sound on message about the biggest show on television without actually watching it? Best not to get locked into the labyrinthine tales of revenge and royalty: as Isaac Hempstead Wright put it, all you really need to know from now on is that there’s going to be a huge fight between humans and the armies of undead White Walkers.
The season ended with a dragon captured by the Night King blowing apart the huge wall of ice that separates the human world from its less appealing counterpart. Not that some of the humans in Westeros have been particularly appealing, either.
Anyway, the White Walkers are now free to cause any kind of havoc they wish, and as Liam Cunningham told us: “Westeros may be zombie land after the Night King has finished.” If the various human factions don’t put aside their differences in season 8, we could be looking at The Walking Dead: The Medieval Years.
INFO
Everton 0
Arsenal 0
Man of the Match: Djibril Sidibe (Everton)
Company profile
Company: Verity
Date started: May 2021
Founders: Kamal Al-Samarrai, Dina Shoman and Omar Al Sharif
Based: Dubai
Sector: FinTech
Size: four team members
Stage: Intially bootstrapped but recently closed its first pre-seed round of $800,000
Investors: Wamda, VentureSouq, Beyond Capital and regional angel investors
The specs: 2018 GMC Terrain
Price, base / as tested: Dh94,600 / Dh159,700
Engine: 2.0-litre turbocharged four-cylinder
Power: 252hp @ 5,500rpm
Torque: 353Nm @ 2,500rpm
Transmission: Nine-speed automatic
Fuel consumption, combined: 7.4L / 100km
Our family matters legal consultant
Name: Hassan Mohsen Elhais
Position: legal consultant with Al Rowaad Advocates and Legal Consultants.
EXPATS
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UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
How to wear a kandura
Dos
- Wear the right fabric for the right season and occasion
- Always ask for the dress code if you don’t know
- Wear a white kandura, white ghutra / shemagh (headwear) and black shoes for work
- Wear 100 per cent cotton under the kandura as most fabrics are polyester
Don’ts
- Wear hamdania for work, always wear a ghutra and agal
- Buy a kandura only based on how it feels; ask questions about the fabric and understand what you are buying
Wicked: For Good
Director: Jon M Chu
Starring: Ariana Grande, Cynthia Erivo, Jonathan Bailey, Jeff Goldblum, Michelle Yeoh, Ethan Slater
Rating: 4/5
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Other ways to buy used products in the UAE
UAE insurance firm Al Wathba National Insurance Company (AWNIC) last year launched an e-commerce website with a facility enabling users to buy car wrecks.
Bidders and potential buyers register on the online salvage car auction portal to view vehicles, review condition reports, or arrange physical surveys, and then start bidding for motors they plan to restore or harvest for parts.
Physical salvage car auctions are a common method for insurers around the world to move on heavily damaged vehicles, but AWNIC is one of the few UAE insurers to offer such services online.
For cars and less sizeable items such as bicycles and furniture, Dubizzle is arguably the best-known marketplace for pre-loved.
Founded in 2005, in recent years it has been joined by a plethora of Facebook community pages for shifting used goods, including Abu Dhabi Marketplace, Flea Market UAE and Arabian Ranches Souq Market while sites such as The Luxury Closet and Riot deal largely in second-hand fashion.
At the high-end of the pre-used spectrum, resellers such as Timepiece360.ae, WatchBox Middle East and Watches Market Dubai deal in authenticated second-hand luxury timepieces from brands such as Rolex, Hublot and Tag Heuer, with a warranty.
Sholto Byrnes on Myanmar politics
Another way to earn air miles
In addition to the Emirates and Etihad programmes, there is the Air Miles Middle East card, which offers members the ability to choose any airline, has no black-out dates and no restrictions on seat availability. Air Miles is linked up to HSBC credit cards and can also be earned through retail partners such as Spinneys, Sharaf DG and The Toy Store.
An Emirates Dubai-London round-trip ticket costs 180,000 miles on the Air Miles website. But customers earn these ‘miles’ at a much faster rate than airline miles. Adidas offers two air miles per Dh1 spent. Air Miles has partnerships with websites as well, so booking.com and agoda.com offer three miles per Dh1 spent.
“If you use your HSBC credit card when shopping at our partners, you are able to earn Air Miles twice which will mean you can get that flight reward faster and for less spend,” says Paul Lacey, the managing director for Europe, Middle East and India for Aimia, which owns and operates Air Miles Middle East.
