Israeli strikes in Gaza kill at least 13, destroy al-Shifa’s cardiac ward - Al Jazeera English

Israeli troops are closing in on al-Shifa Hospital, where hundreds of medics, patients and displaced people are trapped.

Israeli air strikes in Gaza have killed more than a dozen people and destroyed the main hospital’s cardiac ward, Gaza officials say, as fighting continues in the besieged strip for the 37th consecutive day.

At least 13 people were killed in an Israeli air strike on a home in Khan Younis, Gaza officials reported on Sunday.

The day before, at least “several people” were killed and wounded in a strike at a UN compound in Gaza City where hundreds had sheltered, the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) said.

“The ongoing tragedy of death and injury to civilians ensnared in this conflict is unacceptable and must stop,” the UNDP said in a statement.

Al-Shifa Hospital surrounded

The strikes continue as Israel steps up its offensive near Gaza’s main hospital, al-Shifa, where health officials say thousands of medics, patients and displaced people are trapped with no electricity and dwindling supplies.

The hospital has repeatedly come under fire as Israeli forces close in on the facility, which it accuses Hamas fighters of using as cover for a command centre – charges Hamas denies. Israel has not provided proof for its claims.

Witnesses inside al-Shifa Hospital told the AFP news agency that “violent fighting” had raged around the hospital all Saturday night.

One air strike destroyed the hospital’s cardiac ward, Gaza officials said, while electricity cuts shut off incubators in the neonatal unit hosting around 40 babies and ventilators for others receiving urgent care.

Doctors Without Borders surgeon Mohammed Obeid said in an audio message posted on social media that two babies died in the al-Shifa neonatal unit after power to their incubators depleted and a man also died when his ventilator cut off.

The Israeli military pledged on Saturday to aid the evacuation of babies from the hospital, noting that “staff of the al-Shifa Hospital has requested that tomorrow”.

Al-Shifa, one of the 16 operating hospitals left in Gaza, was also out of reach for the newly wounded, said Mohammad Qandil, a doctor at the Nasser hospital in Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip, who is in touch with colleagues there.

“Al-Shifa Hospital now isn’t working, no one is allowed in, nobody is allowed out, and if you are wounded or injured around Gaza area you can’t be evacuated by our ambulance to al-Shifa Hospital, so al-Shifa Hospital now is out of service”, he told the Reuters news agency.

Israel has waged a devastating bombing campaign and ground incursion in the besieged Gaza Strip since October 7, killing at least 11,000 Palestinians, more than a third of them children, Gaza officials say. The UN’s agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) says at least 100 of its employees have been killed in the war.

The Israeli campaign has also displaced some 1.6 million Palestinians, over 70 percent of the enclave’s total population, and wrecked much of its infrastructure.

Palestinians forced from their homes now live in dire conditions, often sheltering in overcrowded outdoor camps and in desperate need of food, water and medicine. Humanitarian workers say what little aid has been allowed into the enclave is a “drop in the bucket” compared to what is needed.

Hamas killed more than 1,200 Israelis and took some 240 hostages during its surprise attack on October 7, Israeli officials say.

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2023-11-12 14:05:50Z
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Warning volcanic eruption 'could obliterate Grindavik' as residents flee - latest - The Independent

Earthquake interrupts Grindavik mayor’s interview

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An Icelandic volcano ‘could obliterate the entire town of Grindavik’ as 3,000 residents have been evacuated from the southwestern town due to the growing threat of an eruption.

If the Fagradalsfjall volcano erupts on the Reykjanes peninsula, it could be worse than the Vestmannaeyjar eruption 50 years ago which destroyed the town, volcanologist Ármann Höskuldsson told RUV.

Ragga Ágústdóttir who lives close to Grinvadik warned of the possibility the ‘town could be destroyed’.

“The scenario on the table now is that it will happen in or just north of the town of Grindavik. There’s no good option here,” she said.

The residents endured a less shaky night as 880 earthquakes below magnitude three were recorded overnight compared to the previous 1,485 earthquakes which rocked the country within 48 hours.

The Icelandic Meteorological Office said there was a “considerable” risk of an eruption due to the size of the underground magma intrusion and the rate at which it was moving.

“I don’t think it’s long before an eruption, hours or a few days. The chance of an eruption has increased significantly,” Thorvaldur Thordarson, professor of volcanology at the University of Iceland, told state broadcaster RUV.

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Town of Grindavik ‘could be obliterated’ if volcanic eruption strikes

The country has been shaken by more than 2,000 small earthquakes in the past few days prompting fears the tremours could disrupt the Fagradalsfjall volcano on the Reykjanes peninsula in the southwest of the country.

If an eruption occurs in or close to the town, the consequences will be devastating, volcanologist Ármann Höskuldsson warned.

Lydia Patrick12 November 2023 17:00

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Earthquakes mapped around Grinvadik

Seismic activity mapped around Grindavik

(Provided)

Lydia Patrick12 November 2023 16:00

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Residents allowed home to collect essentials

Grinvadik residents will be allowed to temporarily return home to collect necessities, report RUV.

Experts from the Icelandic Met Office and the University of Iceland came to the decision in a meeting this morning, say the state broadcaster.

Lydia Patrick12 November 2023 15:00

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Resident shares her petrifying evacuation journey

A resident who lives closeby to Grinvadik evacuated with her girlfriend as they escaped by car along the quake cracked roads.

Danielle Rodriguez remarked on the terrifying journey out of town, she said: “In that moment I felt the most scared for my life I have ever been, the ground started shaking so much I had to grab a hold of the car and honest to god for a good 30 seconds I felt as though the ground was going to crack open and take us both.”

Lydia Patrick12 November 2023 14:00

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‘The situation in Grinvadik seems to be more grave than before'

An Icelandic MP has shared an update on the impending eruption as the country prays the ‘worst case scenarios do not happen.’

Gisli Olafssonshared on X: “The situation in Grinvadik continues to become even more grave than before. The town has already suffered considerable damage from the earthquakes and from the shifts in the ground as the magma thrusts itself upwards.

He explained the possibility of the 15km magma intrusion turning into a fissure vent eruption as the magma chamber beneath the area is two times larger than previous eruptions in Reykjanes over the past few years.

There is a chance the eruption will occur under the ocean, resulting in an explosive eruption and extensive ash clouds.

He added: “Scientists have warned that they may not be able to give any further warning og when the magma reaches the surface, making it quite dangerous to go in there.”

Lydia Patrick12 November 2023 13:00

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Residents worried about their abandoned pets

When 3,000 Grindavik residents evacuated, they were forced to leave their animals behind.

Animal rights charities are compiling lists of the pets and livestock left behind as thousands of residents of Grindavik were ordered to evacuate on Saturday.

According to Iceland’s public broadcaster RUV, the list includes cats, horses, rabbits, sheep, and a large number of birds, including chickens.

There are currently no plans for anyone to be allowed to enter Grindavik on Sunday, meaning the animals will be left without food and water as well as being exposed to the ongoing threat of an eruption.

Lydia Patrick12 November 2023 12:30

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Town of Grinvadik ‘could be destroyed'

If the Fagradalsfjall volcano erupts on the Reykjanes peninsula, it could be worse than the Vestmannaeyjar eruption 50 years ago which destroyed the town, volcanologist Ármann Höskuldsson told RUV.

Ragga Ágústdóttir who lives close to Grinvadik warned of the possibility the ‘town could be destroyed’.

“The scenario on the table now is that it will happen in or just north of the town of Grindavik. There’s no good option here,” she said.

“We are really concerned about all the houses and the infrastructure in the area,” Vidir Reynisson, head of Iceland’s Civil Protection and Emergency Management told AFP.

Thousands evacuated as fears of volcano eruption grow

Lydia Patrick12 November 2023 11:57

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Thousands evacuated as fears grow of volcano eruption in Iceland

Thousands evacuated as fears grow of volcano eruption in Iceland

Alisha Rahaman Sarkar12 November 2023 11:30

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Mapped: Iceland earthquake locations revealed as volcano eruption alert issued

Iceland is experiencing a seismic swarm as 1,485 earthquakes have hit the country in just 48 hours prompting fears of a volcanic eruption.

Most tremours have been felt in the Reykjanes peninsula in the southwest of the country where small earthquakes have been felt every day for more than two weeks due to a build-up of volcanic magma three miles underground.

Thousands have been told to evacuate the town of Grindavik as a precautionary measure as a magma tunnel stretches below the surface.

Lydia Patrick has more.

Alisha Rahaman Sarkar12 November 2023 11:00

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Thousands of earthquakes leave a trail of damage in Grindavik

Thousands of earthquakes have left behind a trail of destruction in the Icelandic town of Grindavik.

Large cracks have formed on the concrete roads and on golf courses, according to the local media.

Alisha Rahaman Sarkar12 November 2023 10:30

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2023-11-12 16:00:42Z
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Herzog: 'Mein Kampf' found at Hamas stronghold - Ynetnews

President Isaac Herzog revealed in an interview with the British BBC network's Laura Kuenssberg that IDF forces found Adolf Hitler's book "Mein Kampf" in a children's room in a civilian home that served as a terrorist base for Hamas in the Gaza Strip.

Inside the home the troops found weapons and explosives laboratories. Herzog presented this finding as further proof of the activity of Hamas from the heart of the civilian population in Gaza.

“This is Adolf Hitler's book, "Mein Kampf," translated into Arabic. This is the book that led to the Holocaust and the book that led to World War II. This book was found a few days ago in northern Gaza," Herzog said. "In a child's room, which became a base used for terrorist activities by the terrorist organization Hamas. The terrorist wrote notes, marked the sections, and studied again and again, the ideology of Adolf Hitler to hate the Jews, to kill the Jews, to burn and slaughter Jews wherever they are. This is the real war we are facing.”

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2023-11-12 11:39:09Z
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Putin ally chillingly outlines how Russia could kickstart horror nuclear war with NATO - Express

The retired Russian Army officer argued growing tensions in the Baltic were far more likely to contribute to the start of a new war.

He noted Sweden is following in the footsteps of Finland which, after years on the fence, applied and became the newest member of the cross-Atlantic organisation following Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

Khodaryonok, in a clip taken from Russian state TV and translated by Ukrainian government adviser Anton Gerashchenko, said the addition of a further country to NATO would cause serious imbalance.

He said: "Nonetheless, this would, in fact, lead to a conflict between the Russian Federation and NATO.

"And this conflict can only be nuclear. This is why the inhabitants of Stockholm and Tallinn can be asked, 'Do you need it?' Do you need it?

"Do you even imagine an underwater nuclear explosion on the roadstead of Tallinn or Stockholm, which will sweep away your city with a wave?

"Do you even imagine that the entire Baltic Sea could be loaded with our mines? We might dump so many mines that it would take you 10 years to de-mine it, if you still had the capacity and means to do so."

Sweden has been trying to join NATO since the start of 2023 but faced initial opposition from Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.

Most Scandinavia and Baltic nations, including the former Russian republics of Estonia and Latvia plus Poland, have already been members of the organisation for more than a decade.

Russia initially claimed its invasion of Ukraine was a response to NATO's expansionistic plans – but Putin's plans to deter nations from joining or applying for membership have failed so far.

Experts have suggested Sweden's admission to NATO would effectively turn the Baltic Sea into a "NATO lake" and severely impede Moscow's ability to operate.

Additionally, membership in the organisation would guarantee protection under Article 5 of the NATO agreement - which states that an attack on a member would immediately result in a unified response from all members.

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2023-11-12 09:13:00Z
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Main Gaza hospital ‘totally surrounded’, director says as Netanyahu rejects ceasefire calls - The Guardian

The biggest hospital in Gaza is “totally surrounded”, its director has said as fighting raged around it and Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed to press on with Israel’s advance in the territory with “full force”.

Heavy fighting between Israeli forces and Hamas has trapped thousands of people in Gaza’s hospitals, and medics and aid workers have warned patients will die in the crippled facilities unless there is a pause in the battle.

However Netanyahu rejected growing international calls for a ceasefire late on Saturday. “The war against (Hamas) is advancing with full force, and it has one goal, to win. There is no alternative to victory,” he said in televised comments.

Al-Shifa hospital in Gaza City, the biggest in the territory, is “totally surrounded and bombardments are going on nearby”, the hospital’s director, Mohammad Abu Salmiya, said in a statement late on Saturday.

“The medical team cannot work and the bodies, in their dozens, cannot be managed or buried,” he said. Two newborns had already died on Saturday after the hospital’s fuel ran out and dozens more were at risk, officials said.

The World Health Organisation expressed “grave concern” for the safety of everyone trapped in al-Shifa by the fighting and said it had lost communications with its contacts there.

“As horrifying reports of the hospital facing repeated attacks continue to emerge, we assume our contacts joined tens of thousands of displaced people and are fleeing the area,” the organisation said on X, formerly Twitter, late Saturday.

“There are reports that some people who fled the hospital have been shot at, wounded and even killed.”

Israel believes that Hamas has its headquarters beneath the hospital, claims which the hospital and Hamas have denied.

Ashraf Al-Qidra, who represents the health ministry in Hamas-controlled Gaza, said the hospital had suspended operations after fuel ran out on Saturday. He said Israeli shelling killed a patient in intensive care and that Israeli snipers on rooftops fired into the medical complex from time to time, limiting people’s ability to move.

Israel’s military said it was ready to evacuate babies from al-Shifa on Sunday. “The staff of the Shifa hospital has requested that tomorrow we help the babies in the pediatric department to get to a safer hospital,” chief Israeli military spokesperson rear admiral Daniel Hagari said on Saturday. “We will provide the assistance needed.”

As the humanitarian situation worsened, Gaza’s border authority said the Rafah crossing into Egypt would reopen on Sunday for foreign passport holders after closing on Friday.

Hamas said it had completely or partially destroyed more than 160 Israeli military targets in Gaza, including more than 25 vehicles in the past 48 hours. An Israeli military spokesperson said Hamas had lost control of northern Gaza.

Netanyahu announced the deaths of five more Israeli soldiers in Gaza. The Israeli military said 46 had been killed since its ground operations there began.

Israel said rockets were still being fired from Gaza into southern Israel, where it has said about 1,200 people were killed and more than 200 taken hostage by Hamas last month.

Palestinian officials said on Friday that 11,078 Gaza residents had been killed in air and artillery strikes since 7 October, around 40% of them children.

In Tel Aviv, thousands joined a rally to support families of the hostages late Saturday while Israel’s three major TV news channels, without citing named sources, said there had been some progress toward a deal to free hostages held by Hamas in Gaza.

Netanyahu said he would not discuss details of any possible deal, which according to N12 News would involve 50 to 100 women, children and elderly being released in stages during a three to five day pause in fighting.

According to the reports, Israel would release women and minor Palestinian prisoners and consider letting fuel in to Gaza, while reserving the right to resume fighting.

Israel has said doctors, patients and thousands of evacuees who have taken refuge at hospitals in northern Gaza must leave so it can tackle Hamas gunmen who it says have placed command centres under and around them.

Hamas denies using hospitals this way. Medical staff say patients could die if they are moved and Palestinian officials say Israeli fire makes it dangerous for others to leave.

Ahmed al-Mokhallalati, a senior plastic surgeon at al-Shifa, told Reuters on Saturday there had been continuous bombardment for more than 24 hours. He said most hospital staff and people sheltering there had left, but 500 patients remained.

“It’s totally a war zone. It’s a totally scary atmosphere here in the hospital,” he said.

The military wing of Hamas ally Islamic Jihad, the Al-Quds Brigades, said it was “engaged in violent clashes in the vicinity of Al Shifa Medical Complex, Al Nasr neighbourhood, and Al Shati camp in Gaza.“

Al Nasr is home to several major hospitals.

In London, at least 300,000 pro-Palestinian demonstrators marched on Saturday and police arrested over 120 people as they sought to stop far-right counter-protesters ambushing the rally. Over 20,000 people joined a pro-Palestinian rally in Brussels.

Meeting in Saudi Arabia, Muslim and Arab countries called for an immediate end to military operations in Gaza, rejecting Israel’s justification of self-defence. A communique issued at the summit urged the International Criminal Court to investigate “war crimes and crimes against humanity that Israel is committing.”

Reuters and Agence France-Presse contributed to this report

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2023-11-12 10:52:00Z
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Iceland declares state of emergency over escalating earthquakes and volcano eruption fears - Euronews

Iceland has 33 active volcanic systems, the highest number in Europe, and thousands of tremors have been recorded since the end of October.

Authorities in Iceland have declared a state of emergency after a series of earthquakes rocked the Reykjanes peninsula in the south-west of the country, raising fears of a volcanic eruption in the region.

"The head of the national police force (...) has declared a state of emergency for civil defence due to intense seismic activity in Sundhnjukagigar, north of Grindavik," the civil defence authority said in a statement late Friday.

"The earthquakes may become more significant" and "this series of events could lead to an eruption", the administration warned.

According to the Icelandic Meteorological Office (IMO), an eruption could occur "within a few days".

Town of Grindavik being evacuated

Evacuation plans have been put in place for the town of Grindavik, with a population of around 4,000, located three kilometres south-west of the area where the seismic swarm was recorded on Friday.

The civil protection authority also announced that it was sending the Thor patrol boat to Grindavik "for safety purposes".

On Thursday, the Blue Lagoon, a tourist site near Grindavik famous for its geothermal spas, was closed as a precaution.

Friday evening earthquakes

Early on Friday evening two earthquakes, the strongest of which had a magnitude of 5.2 according to the IMO's initial assessments, were felt as far away as the capital Reykjavik, some forty kilometres away, and along a large part of the country's southern coast.

Some 24,000 tremors have been recorded on the peninsula since the end of October, according to the IMO, with a "dense swarm" of almost 800 earthquakes recorded between midnight and 14:00 GMT on Friday.

The IMO noted an accumulation of magma at a depth of five kilometres, which, if brought to the surface, would trigger a volcanic eruption.

Since 2021, three eruptions have taken place on the Reykjanes peninsula, in March 2021, August 2022 and July 2023, all far from infrastructure or populated areas.

Iceland has 33 active volcanic systems, the highest number in Europe.

During its last eruption in 2010, Eyjafjallajökull blocked European skies and led to the cancellation of 100,000 flights, with ten million passengers stranded.

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2023-11-12 10:55:26Z
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Middle East leaders hold emergency summit amid strikes on Gaza hospital - The Guardian

Leaders from across the Middle East and surrounding region are meeting in Saudi Arabia for an emergency summit on Gaza, as the enclave’s largest hospital remains tightly encircled by Israeli forces, without power, and with strikes “on everything moving inside the complex”, according to staff trapped inside.

“We are totally cut off from the whole world, we are minutes away from imminent death,” Mohammad abu Salmiya, the head of Dar al-Shifa hospital in Gaza City, told Al Jazeera.

The hospital is the largest in the Gaza Strip and the linchpin of the medical system in the besieged enclave, as well as now providing vital shelter to an estimated 15,000 people.

Tens of thousands more people previously fled the compound overnight, some walking miles to the south of Gaza, following a campaign of strikes that drew closer to the large complex in the west of Gaza City as Israeli forces increasingly encircled the area with tanks and snipers.

“The hospital compound is cordoned off and the buildings of the hospital are targeted. Any moving person within the compound is targeted,” said Abu Salmiya. Israeli forces remained directly outside the complex, preventing those inside from fleeing, he said.

Hospital officials said they no longer had access to water, power or medical supplies, leaving the facility without the ability to sustain vital life support systems. One baby inside the intensive care unit in al-Shifa hospital had died due to a lack of oxygen supplies, according to statements from the Palestinian health ministry spokesperson, Ashraf al-Qidra, with 39 more at risk of death inside incubators.

Health ministry staff including Qidra remained trapped inside al-Shifa along with medics and patients. Israeli forces, he said, were “firing on people moving inside the complex, which is limiting our ability to move from one department to another. Some people tried to leave the hospital and they were fired at.

“The situation is worse than anyone can imagine. We are besieged inside the al-Shifa medical complex, and the occupation has targeted most of the buildings inside,” he told Reuters.

A spokesperson for the Israel Defence Forces, Lt Col Richard Hecht, denied that Israeli forces had targeted the hospital in a press briefing on Friday. Israeli officials have maintained that Hamas operates from bunkers underneath al-Shifa, accusations that staff at the hospital and members of Hamas strenuously deny.

“The IDF does not fire on hospitals … we are aware of the sensitivity of the hospitals and I am aware of the dynamic at the hospitals,” Hecht said. “We are aware that Hamas are operating within the hospitals … We are not dropping bombs on al-Shifa.”

Israeli officials on Friday revised the death toll from a deadly assault by Hamas militants on Israeli towns and kibbutzim near the Gaza border to 1,200 dead, with an estimated 240 people held hostage in the Gaza Strip since 7 October.

Israeli bombardments on the besieged enclave have killed over 11,000 people with at least 25,000 more wounded, according to Palestinian officials. Barbara Leaf, the highest-ranking US state department official on the Middle East, told Congress last week the true death toll was likely “higher than is being cited”.

“Gaza is not an arena for words. It should be for action,” the Iranian president, Ebrahim Raisi, said in remarks at Tehran airport before his departure for Saudi Arabia, his attendance at the meeting a fresh sign of cooperation between the two countries.

The Saudi news channel Al Ekhbariya showed images of the Syrian president, Bashar al-Assad, landing in Saudi Arabia on Friday night, amid criticism of his attendance linked to accusations of war crimes committed in Syria, including airstrikes on hospital facilities.

On Saturday morning, the same channel showed the Palestinian president, Mahmoud Abbas, the Lebanese caretaker president, Najib Mikati, the Turkish president, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, and the Egyptian president, Abdel Fatah al-Sisi, landing in the Saudi capital, Riyadh, or arriving at the entrance to an opulent royal palace.

“We are [facing] a humanitarian catastrophe that [shows] the failure of the UN security council and international community,” said Saudi crown prince, Mohammed bin Salman, at the summit. He called for an “immediate” ceasefire in Gaza.

He added that “Israeli occupation authorities” bore responsibility for the crimes committed against civilians in the enclave.

Abbas also called on the security council to “live up to its responsibility and obligation to put an end to this belligerent war on our people without further delay.” He also demanded that the Biden administration “put an end to Israel’s aggression, the occupation, violation and desecration of our holy sites”, and ensure protection for civilians.

“No military and security solutions are acceptable as they have all failed.”

Mohammad al-Hindi, the deputy secretary general of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad, told a press conference in Beirut on Friday that the militant group did not “expect anything” to come from the meeting, and criticised leaders for taking so long to host talks on the matter.

“We are not placing our hopes on such meetings, for we have seen their results over many years … The fact that this conference will be held after 35 days [of war] is an indication of its outcomes,” he said.

Humanitarian organisations appealed to the international community for urgent protection of medical facilities across Gaza, particularly those in Gaza City and across the north which are increasingly unable to operate or coming under fire. According to the Palestinian health ministry, 20 out of 35 hospitals in Gaza are no longer able to function.

“The information coming from the al-Shifa hospital is distressing. It cannot continue like this. Thousands of wounded, displaced people and medical staff are at risk. They need to be protected in line with the laws of war,” said Fabrizio Carboni, the regional director for the near and Middle East at the International Committee of the Red Cross, said on X, formerly known as Twitter.

“Over the last few hours, the attacks against al-Shifa hospital have dramatically intensified,” said Médecins Sans Frontières. “We are currently unable to contact any of our staff inside al-Shifa, and we are extremely concerned about the safety of patients and the medical staff. Patients are still in the hospital, some in critical condition and unable to move. We urgently reiterate our calls to stop the attacks against hospitals and for the protection of medical facilities, medical staff, and patients.”

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2023-11-11 12:39:20Z
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