This week, much of the world has watched aghast as Israeli forces followed their devastating urban bombing campaign in Lebanon with the beginning of a ground invasion of its vulnerable neighbour. The additional sight of Iranian ballistic missiles hurtling through international airspace to land on Israeli targets made it clear that the region is running the risk of a full-scale war.
For the long-suffering people of Gaza, however, such escalations are the backdrop to almost a year of unrelenting collective punishment through non-stop bombardment and displacement. On Wednesday, as the UN Security Council met to discuss the spiralling situation in Lebanon, Gazans were counting the cost of the latest Israeli attacks across the Palestinian enclave. At least 70 people were killed on Tuesday, including at a school sheltering the displaced.
The consequences of a military campaign that has reduced Gaza to rubble are felt most keenly by children, many of whom have suffered life-changing injuries. In an interview with The National, Gazan resident Shifaa Al Dogee described how her nieces Hanan and Misk, aged three and 18 months respectively, lost limbs in an Israeli air strike last month that killed their mother. “The situation is heartbreaking – Misk had just learnt to walk and now she can’t,” Ms Al Dogee said. Hanan, who lost both legs, “asks why other children have legs but she doesn’t”.
Such suffering is a particularly poignant reminder of the terrible cost Gaza’s civilians have paid for the Hamas attack a year ago that claimed more than 1,200 Israeli lives, many of them civilian. The pain of those communities is raw and real, and more than 100 Israelis are still being held hostage. Israeli society is using its resources to try to heal the physical and psychological hurt inflicted on its people by October 7, but despite the considerable aid efforts of Arab states and the international community, many Palestinians in Gaza lack essentials such as food, medicine and safe water, let alone long-term care.
Although the bombardment and invasion of Lebanon by Israel requires immediate attention, the situation in Gaza must not be overlooked
Gaza is pivotal to stopping the regional march to war; an immediate ceasefire there would help to reduce tensions and retaliatory attacks that now stretch from the Levant to Yemen. Diplomatic stunts such as banning UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres from Israel must not be allowed to distract from the catastrophe that continues to unfold in Gaza. Aside from Israeli strikes, Gazans continue to suffer from hunger, disease and homelessness. Aid workers and UN staff have been killed, and every red line laid down by international law breached. Even if a ceasefire were to be called tomorrow, the ruin visited on the enclave is so profound that it will take decades to rebuild.
Given Gaza’s centrality to the crises spreading across the Levant and wider Middle East, the international community cannot afford to become inured to the enclave’s suffering or be complacent, thinking this is a situation that can be managed. Although the bombardment and invasion of Lebanon by Israel requires immediate attention, the situation in Gaza, like in the West Bank, must not be overlooked. Too much is at stake.
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Key facilities
- Olympic-size swimming pool with a split bulkhead for multi-use configurations, including water polo and 50m/25m training lanes
- Premier League-standard football pitch
- 400m Olympic running track
- NBA-spec basketball court with auditorium
- 600-seat auditorium
- Spaces for historical and cultural exploration
- An elevated football field that doubles as a helipad
- Specialist robotics and science laboratories
- AR and VR-enabled learning centres
- Disruption Lab and Research Centre for developing entrepreneurial skills
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.
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
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The years Ramadan fell in May
Green ambitions
- Trees: 1,500 to be planted, replacing 300 felled ones, with veteran oaks protected
- Lake: Brown's centrepiece to be cleaned of silt that makes it as shallow as 2.5cm
- Biodiversity: Bat cave to be added and habitats designed for kingfishers and little grebes
- Flood risk: Longer grass, deeper lake, restored ponds and absorbent paths all meant to siphon off water
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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)
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
Zayed Sustainability Prize
The five pillars of Islam
The burning issue
The internal combustion engine is facing a watershed moment – major manufacturer Volvo is to stop producing petroleum-powered vehicles by 2021 and countries in Europe, including the UK, have vowed to ban their sale before 2040. The National takes a look at the story of one of the most successful technologies of the last 100 years and how it has impacted life in the UAE.
Read part four: an affection for classic cars lives on
Read part three: the age of the electric vehicle begins
Read part one: how cars came to the UAE
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