Heavy shelling has hit Gaza city after the Israeli army began mobilising more forces for an assault to reoccupy the enclave’s largest urban area.
“It was very difficult, the shelling came with all kinds of weapons from quadcopters, tanks, warplanes, from everywhere. It was like hell,” resident Madleen Abu Saif, 29, told The National on Wednesday.
“We tried to stay away from the windows and the street, and we stayed close to the house door so that we could evacuate immediately if necessary.”
Hospital officials said at least 24 people were killed in strikes overnight into Wednesday and 113 on Tuesday, more than half of them in Gaza city.
Waed Abu Zaher, 32, who lives in the city's Sheikh Ridwan neighbourhood, said “burning bombs” were falling from quadcopters every night. “Last night one of the bombs fell right in front of our home’s door,” she said.
“We were inside and we couldn’t do anything, just waiting for our last moment to come. The shelling was everywhere. It was truly a horrible night. I didn’t think we would survive.”
Like many in Gaza city she feels conflicted over whether to flee again. “It is humiliating to flee again, to live in a tent again. We are trying to stay in our home, I don’t know for how long. But in any case, we are preparing ourselves for the last moment of fleeing.”
Israeli officials claim Gaza city remains a Hamas stronghold above a vast underground tunnel network, even after significant ground assaults earlier in the war.
The Israeli military has intensified air and ground assaults on the outskirts of the city, particularly in western neighbourhoods, forcing people to flee towards the coast, humanitarian groups said.
The Site Management Cluster said on Wednesday that many families were trapped by the prohibitive cost of moving, logistical hurdles and a lack of safe places. “Palestinians are also reluctant to move due to the fear of not being able to return or exhaustion from repeated displacement,” it added.
The twin threats of combat and famine are becoming more acute, Palestinians and aid workers say, with most families in Gaza city displaced multiple times during the 23-month war.
Children pay price
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and military commanders told reservists on Tuesday that the assault on Gaza city was entering what they hoped would be a “decisive stage” of the war.
Army chief Lt Gen Eyal Zamir told reservists Israel was aiming for “decisive victory” in Gaza. “We are preparing for the continuation of the war. We are going to increase and enhance the strikes of our operation, and that is why we called you,” he said.
Campaign groups said hundreds of Israelis were ignoring call-ups in protest against the war. Israeli media said the call-up was the largest mobilisation of reservists since the war began, with 40,000 ready to report for duty. The military said last month that 60,000 reserve orders were being issued.
Since the war began on October 7, 2023, with a Hamas-led attack on Israel, more than 63,700 Palestinians have been killed, including more than 2,300 while seeking aid.
At least 21,000 children have been disabled in the war in Gaza, a United Nations committee said on Wednesday. Around 40,500 children have suffered “war-related injuries” in the nearly two years since the conflict began, and more than half of them have been left disabled, according to the UN Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.
Reviewing the situation in the Palestinian territories, it said Israeli displacement orders during the army’s assault on Gaza were “often inaccessible” to people with hearing or visual impairments, “rendering [forced] evacuation impossible”.
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UAE Tour 2020
Stage 1: The Pointe Palm Jumeirah - Dubai Silicon Oasis, 148km
Stage 2: Hatta - Hatta Dam, 168km
Stage 3: Al Qudra Cycle Track - Jebel Hafeet, 184km
Stage 4: Zabeel Park - Dubai City Walk, 173km
Stage 5: Al Ain - Jebel Hafeet, 162km
Stage 6: Al Ruwais - Al Mirfa, 158km
Stage 7: Al Maryah Island - Abu Dhabi Breakwater, 127km
Our legal consultant
Name: Dr Hassan Mohsen Elhais
Position: legal consultant with Al Rowaad Advocates and Legal Consultants.
More on Quran memorisation:
Williams at Wimbledon
Venus Williams - 5 titles (2000, 2001, 2005, 2007 and 2008)
Serena Williams - 7 titles (2002, 2003, 2009, 2010, 2012, 2015 and 2016)
Key findings
- Over a period of seven years, a team of scientists analysed dietary data from 50,000 North American adults.
- Eating one or two meals a day was associated with a relative decrease in BMI, compared with three meals. Snacks count as a meal. Likewise, participants who ate more than three meals a day experienced an increase in BMI: the more meals a day, the greater the increase.
- People who ate breakfast experienced a relative decrease in their BMI compared with “breakfast-skippers”.
- Those who turned the eating day on its head to make breakfast the biggest meal of the day, did even better.
- But scrapping dinner altogether gave the best results. The study found that the BMI of subjects who had a long overnight fast (of 18 hours or more) decreased when compared even with those who had a medium overnight fast, of between 12 and 17 hours.
Top 10 in the F1 drivers' standings
1. Sebastian Vettel, Ferrari 202 points
2. Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes-GP 188
3. Valtteri Bottas, Mercedes-GP 169
4. Daniel Ricciardo, Red Bull Racing 117
5. Kimi Raikkonen, Ferrari 116
6. Max Verstappen, Red Bull Racing 67
7. Sergio Perez, Force India 56
8. Esteban Ocon, Force India 45
9. Carlos Sainz Jr, Toro Rosso 35
10. Nico Hulkenberg, Renault 26
Company profile
Date started: January, 2014
Founders: Mike Dawson, Varuna Singh, and Benita Rowe
Based: Dubai
Sector: Education technology
Size: Five employees
Investment: $100,000 from the ExpoLive Innovation Grant programme in 2018 and an initial $30,000 pre-seed investment from the Turn8 Accelerator in 2014. Most of the projects are government funded.
Partners/incubators: Turn8 Accelerator; In5 Innovation Centre; Expo Live Innovation Impact Grant Programme; Dubai Future Accelerators; FHI 360; VSO and Consult and Coach for a Cause (C3)
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Mohammed bin Zayed Majlis
What is a robo-adviser?
Robo-advisers use an online sign-up process to gauge an investor’s risk tolerance by feeding information such as their age, income, saving goals and investment history into an algorithm, which then assigns them an investment portfolio, ranging from more conservative to higher risk ones.
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Investing in ETFs allows robo-advisers to offer fees far lower than traditional investments, such as actively managed mutual funds bought through a bank or broker. Investors can buy ETFs directly via a brokerage, but with robo-advisers they benefit from investment portfolios matched to their risk tolerance as well as being user friendly.
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Company profile
Company: Rent Your Wardrobe
Date started: May 2021
Founder: Mamta Arora
Based: Dubai
Sector: Clothes rental subscription
Stage: Bootstrapped, self-funded
Formula Middle East Calendar (Formula Regional and Formula 4)
Round 1: January 17-19, Yas Marina Circuit – Abu Dhabi
Round 2: January 22-23, Yas Marina Circuit – Abu Dhabi
Round 3: February 7-9, Dubai Autodrome – Dubai
Round 4: February 14-16, Yas Marina Circuit – Abu Dhabi
Round 5: February 25-27, Jeddah Corniche Circuit – Saudi Arabia
'Nightmare Alley'
Director:Guillermo del Toro
Stars:Bradley Cooper, Cate Blanchett, Rooney Mara
Rating: 3/5
Tank warfare
Lt Gen Erik Petersen, deputy chief of programs, US Army, has argued it took a “three decade holiday” on modernising tanks.
“There clearly remains a significant armoured heavy ground manoeuvre threat in this world and maintaining a world class armoured force is absolutely vital,” the general said in London last week.
“We are developing next generation capabilities to compete with and deter adversaries to prevent opportunism or miscalculation, and, if necessary, defeat any foe decisively.”
Low turnout
Two months before the first round on April 10, the appetite of voters for the election is low.
Mathieu Gallard, account manager with Ipsos, which conducted the most recent poll, said current forecasts suggested only two-thirds were "very likely" to vote in the first round, compared with a 78 per cent turnout in the 2017 presidential elections.
"It depends on how interesting the campaign is on their main concerns," he told The National. "Just now, it's hard to say who, between Macron and the candidates of the right, would be most affected by a low turnout."
'The Sky is Everywhere'
Director:Josephine Decker
Stars:Grace Kaufman, Pico Alexander, Jacques Colimon
Rating:2/5
The biog
Family: He is the youngest of five brothers, of whom two are dentists.
Celebrities he worked on: Fabio Canavaro, Lojain Omran, RedOne, Saber Al Rabai.
Where he works: Liberty Dental Clinic
'The Last Days of Ptolemy Grey'
Rating: 3/5
Directors: Ramin Bahrani, Debbie Allen, Hanelle Culpepper, Guillermo Navarro
Writers: Walter Mosley
Stars: Samuel L Jackson, Dominique Fishback, Walton Goggins
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Where to submit a sample
Volunteers of all ages can submit DNA samples at centres across Abu Dhabi, including: Abu Dhabi National Exhibition Centre (Adnec), Biogenix Labs in Masdar City, NMC Royal Hospital in Khalifa City, NMC Royal Medical Centre, Abu Dhabi, NMC Royal Women's Hospital, Bareen International Hospital, Al Towayya in Al Ain, NMC Specialty Hospital, Al Ain
