Four Gaza patients dead as oxygen cut off during Israel raid on Nasser hospital, doctors say - latest

Rafah in southern Gaza was also hit by Israeli airstrikes ahead of a planned ground invasion into the city

Thousands of pro-Palestine protesters rally outside Downing Street

At least four patients in intensive care died because their oxygen supply was cut off when Israeli troops stormed Gaza’s main hospital, according to the doctors.

Israeli special forces have stormed the last major hospital in southern Gaza, with the military saying it is a limited operation to seeking the remains of hostages taken by Hamas.

The raid came a day after the army sought to evacuate thousands of displaced people who had taken shelter at the Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis.

The southern city has been the main target of Israel's offensive against Hamas in recent weeks. The military said it had "credible intelligence" that Hamas had held hostages at the hospital and that the remains of hostages might still be inside.

This comes after the UN warned that an Israeli ground invasion into Rafah could lead to slaughter as more tha one million Palestinians shelter there.

UN aid chief Martin Griffiths said Benjamin Netanyahu’s planned offensive could leave an “already fragile humanitarian operation at death’s door.”

Key points

• Four patients dead as Israeli troops storm hospital in Gaza, doctors say
• Israeli special forces inside Khan Younis hospital
• Israel launches 'extensive' strikes in Lebanon
• Rafah invasion could ‘lead to slaughter’, UN warns

[16 February 2024 23:00 · Matt Mathers]

ICYMI: Israel should ‘stop and think very seriously’ before further action in Rafah, says David Cameron

[17 February 2024 00:00 · Matt Mathers]

A small business in war-time Gaza sews padded cloth diapers, creating jobs and helping weary parents

Their scissors move quickly, shearing pieces of white cloth to be stitched together with cotton pads and taken to market in battered cardboard boxes.

Before the day is done, the Palestinian seamstresses will have sewn 500 diapers and distributed them to war-weary parents in Gaza for about $4 per package of eight, half of what mass-produced disposable diapers cost in the besieged enclave.

Full report:

[17 February 2024 01:00 · Matt Mathers]

UNHCR says Spillover of refugees from Gaza to Egypt would be a ‘disaster’

The UN’s High Commissioner for Refugees said on Friday that a spillover of refugees from Gaza’s Rafah into Egypt’s Sinai would be a disaster.

“It would be a disaster for the Palestinians ... a disaster for Egypt and a disaster for the future of peace,” Filippo Grandi told Reuters.

When asked whether Egyptian authorities had contacted the UNHCR about possible contingency plans he said: “The Egyptians said that people should be assisted inside Gaza and we are working on that.”

Filippo Grandi (AP)

[17 February 2024 02:00 · Matt Mathers]

The horrors of 7 October did not happen in a vacuum – so why has it become unsayable?

Real and vile antisemitism is rife, and there are bigots who will believe any nutjob conspiracy theory about Israel. Condemn them, suspend them, marginalise them, writes Alan Rusbridger.

But can’t we also acknowledge that the current Israeli government is one which includes criminals, extremists and despots who have no interest in a peaceful solution to the Israel-Palestine question?

Read Alan’s piece in full here:

[17 February 2024 03:00 · Matt Mathers]

ICYMI: Patients die as oxygen runs out in Gaza hospital seized by Israeli forces, health officials say

The storming by Israeli troops of southern Gaza‘s main hospital brought chaos to hundreds of staff and patients inside, as health officials said four people in intensive care died after their oxygen cut off.

Troops were searching the facility, where the military said it believes the remains of hostages abducted by Hamas might be located.

Full report:

[17 February 2024 04:00 · Matt Mathers]

Southern Israel was filled with blood and death. Brilliant red wildflowers now bloom among the ashes

Each year as spring approaches, wildflowers erupt across Israel, a splash of color before the punishing Middle Eastern summer. Nowhere is the show more dramatic than in southern Israel, near Gaza, where brilliant red anemones burst forth with such intensity that rolling hills seem to be covered in red carpets.

Along the Gaza border, the flowers, which look like poppies, have been crowned with their own festival, Darom Adom, or Scarlet South. It’s been a major economic engine and source of local pride for nearly two decades, bringing hundreds of thousands to a little-visited and conflict-scarred part of Israel.

Full report:

[17 February 2024 05:00 · Matt Mathers]

ICYMI: Biden warns Israel not to attack Rafah without plan to protect civilians

In a phone call Thursday, President Joe Biden again cautioned Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu against moving forward with a military operation in Rafah without a “credible and executable plan” to protect civilians.

Early the next day, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed to reject “international dictates” on a long-term resolution of Israel’s conflict with the Palestinians.

[17 February 2024 06:00 · Matt Mathers]

US investigators visit homes of two Palestinian-American teens killed in the West Bank

The families of two Palestinian-American teenagers killed in separate but eerily similar incidents in the West Bank say investigators from the American Embassy have visited their homes to look into the shootings.

The launch of American probes into the killings of Mohammad Khdour and Tawfic Abdel Jabbar reflects what appears to be a lack of confidence in the Israeli justice system to properly investigate the cases. Rights groups have long said that Israeli investigations into killings of Palestinians rarely lead to prosecutions, and the State Department has previously called for an “expeditious and thorough” Israeli investigation into Abdel Jabbar’s killing.

Full report:

[17 February 2024 07:00 · Matt Mathers]

Israel is urging the top UN court to reject a new South African request on Gaza provisional orders

Israel on Thursday urged the United Nations’ highest court to reject an urgent South African request to consider whether Israel’s military operations targeting the southern Gaza city of Rafah breach provisional orders the court handed down last month in a case alleging genocide.

South Africa asked the International Court of Justice to decide whether Israel’s strikes on Rafah, and its intention to launch a ground offensive on the city where 1.4 million Palestinians are sheltering, breaches both the U.N. Genocide Convention and preliminary orders handed down by the court last month in a case accusing Israel of genocide.

Full report: