AL-ARISH, Egypt: On a floating hospital near Gaza, doctors aren’t just treating physical wounds — they’re providing emotional support too for children and adults haunted by months of terrifying war.
Child amputees and elderly people in wheelchairs are among the patients on the converted ship off Arish, northern Egypt, funded and operated by the United Arab Emirates.
About 2,400 people have been treated at the temporary facility, whose rows of tents below deck hold about 100 patients at a time, says deputy medical director Abdullah Al-Zahmi.
If that only scratches the surface of the needs of Gaza, it reflects the difficulty of providing aid for the sealed and bombarded territory.
More than 38,000 Palestinians, mostly civilians, have been killed in Gaza since the Israel-Hamas war broke out nearly nine months ago, according to the health ministry in the Hamas-run territory.
The war was sparked by Hamas’s October 7 attack on southern Israel that resulted in the deaths of 1,195 people, also mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official Israeli figures.
Nine-year-old Yazan is one of those traumatized by the war, after being brought to the hospital about 40 kilometers (25 miles) from Gaza without his parents and having a leg amputated because of his wounds.
Zahmi jokes with the boy, asks how his parents are doing in Gaza and assures him he will soon have a prosthetic leg fitted.
“The traditional relationship between the patient and the doctor” has dissolved, the doctor tells AFP.
“Every day we see each other, we speak comfortably, and we care about their needs, problems, and psychological pain.”
Yazan’s parents were not allowed to accompany him through the Rafah crossing into Egypt, Zahmi says, without giving further details. The route was closed by Israeli forces in early May.
The boy’s condition “was initially a concern for us, as dealing with him was difficult because he was emotional and in need of his mother and father.”
“But as days passed, we began to include Yazan as one of our family... and now he has become an icon for us because of his clinging to life, his constant smile, and everyone’s love for him,” Zahmi says.
The child is undergoing psychological and social rehabilitation and communicates daily with his family, Zahmi adds.
Smiling as he sits inside one of the tents, Yazan shows the doctor a picture of him with his father before the outbreak of war last October.
After his artificial leg is fitted, Yazan says he wants to “walk and play football,” adding that his “favorite player is (Cristiano) Ronaldo.”
“I would like to return to Gaza and live with my father and mother,” he says.
Zahmi says more than 840 operations have been carried out at the hospital, which has a surgical department, an intensive care and anaesthesia unit, X-ray facilities, a pharmacy and laboratory.
Its 60 staff span specialities including orthopaedics, internal care, neurosurgery and dentistry.
The hospital also provides communal spaces and communications with relatives in Gaza or elsewhere, Zahmi says.
“We provide them with high-speed Internet, outdoor areas for playing and resting, and a place for prayer,” he says.
In the main loading area of the 200-meter ship, ambulances are preparing to transfer patients to a plane to the UAE, where they will receive further treatment.
According to Zahmi, they are among those chosen as part of a UAE initiative to receive 1,000 wounded children and 1,000 cancer-sufferers from the Gaza Strip.
Other patients discharged from the hospital are taken to housing designated for them by Egyptian authorities.
For any patients who need further treatment but who are not being flown to the UAE, the Emirates Red Crescent will cover their costs at an Egyptian hospital.
Fadia Al-Madhun, 44, is on the floating hospital with her husband, who was injured in a bombing that targeted their Gaza home.
“We left the house. It was bombed. We did not take clothes or anything else,” says Madhun, wearing a floral hijab.
“They gave us everything (including) psychological support for our children,” she adds.
Zahmi says the hospital staff have seen “many families who lost their children and people who lost their fathers and mothers, and therefore we understand the tragedies.”
“We listen a lot and try to accept, but in the end, no matter how much we console them, the wound runs deep and remains in the memory,” he adds.
Psychological wounds hard to heal for Gaza war victims
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Psychological wounds hard to heal for Gaza war victims
- Child amputees and elderly people in wheelchairs are among the patients on the converted ship off Al-Arish funded and operated by the UAE
- If that only scratches the surface of the needs of Gaza, it reflects the difficulty of providing aid for the sealed and bombarded territory
Iraq exhibits ancient artifacts returned by US and other countries
- Iraqi authorities have been trying to retrieve thousands of archaeological relics missing since the invasion
- More ‘rare archaeological collections’ would be returned by Switzerland and Japan this month
BAGHDAD: Iraq on Monday exhibited several ancient artifacts that it said had been returned by the United States and other countries, long after they were looted and smuggled out following the 2003 US invasion.
Iraqi authorities have been trying to retrieve thousands of archaeological relics missing since the invasion, which was followed by widespread looting in the country that some historians regard as the cradle of civilization.
Foreign Minister Fuad Hussein handed the recently recovered relics over to Culture, Tourism and Antiquities Minister Ahmed Al-Badrani at a ceremony in Baghdad.
Most of the artefacts on display at the foreign ministry headquarters were returned by the US after a visit by Prime Minister Mohammed Shia Al-Sudani to Washington in April, Badrani said.
He said other relics had been returned by other states, but gave no details.
Hussein said more “rare archaeological collections” would be returned by Switzerland and Japan this month.
New UK PM demands Gaza ceasefire during Netanyahu talks
- Keir Starmer warns Israel against escalating tensions with Hezbollah
- British FM to begin reviewing arms sales to Israel, UNRWA funding this week
LONDON: UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer has told his Israeli counterpart Benjamin Netanyahu that there must be a ceasefire in Gaza, while warning him to act with “caution” over escalating tensions with Hezbollah in Lebanon.
Starmer “said the situation on (the) northern border of Israel (with Lebanon) was very concerning, and it was crucial all parties acted with caution,” a spokesman for 10 Downing Street said.
The Times reported that Starmer reiterated his commitment to “continuing the UK and Israel’s vital co-operation to deter malign threats,” but there is a “clear and urgent need for a ceasefire in Gaza, the return of hostages and an immediate increase in the volume of humanitarian aid reaching civilians.”
The Guardian reported that he had impressed upon Netanyahu “that it was also important to ensure the long-term conditions for a two-state solution were in place, including ensuring the Palestinian Authority had the financial means to operate effectively.”
It comes amid reports that the UK’s new Labour government is set to drop a bid brought by its Conservative predecessor to delay an International Criminal Court decision on whether to bring charges against Netanyahu over alleged war crimes in Gaza.
The Conservatives had claimed that neither the court nor any Palestinian body have jurisdiction over Israeli citizens, despite a 2021 ICC decision that it did have power to prosecute violations of the Rome Statute in Gaza, Jerusalem and the West Bank.
Labour officials, however, briefed The Guardian that the new government would not uphold the challenge.
Starmer also spoke to PA President Mahmoud Abbas as part of a series of introductory conversations after the former’s general election victory on Thursday, in which he stated his support for the “undeniable right” of the Palestinian people to have a state of their own.
He said his government would look to increase financial assistance to the PA and pressure Israel to withdraw fully from Gaza.
The UK government’s spokesman said: “Discussing the importance of reform, and ensuring international legitimacy for Palestine, the prime minister said that his longstanding policy on recognition to contribute to a peace process had not changed, and it was the undeniable right of Palestinians.”
Labour had pledged in its manifesto to take immediate action on UK recognition of a Palestinian state after the party lost support over its stance on Gaza during Britain’s regional elections in May.
Starmer had said Israel had a right to defend itself following the Oct. 7 Hamas attack, but has subsequently softened his position.
Despite this shift, Labour still lost five seats in Thursday’s election to pro-Palestine independent candidates.
Foreign Secretary David Lammy, meanwhile, said he will look at restoring funding for the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East, as well as reviewing issues including UK arms sales to Israel.
The UK suspended funding for UNRWA after Israel claimed that staff members had participated in the Oct. 7 attack.
Most other countries that took similar action have since restarted their funding, but the previous UK government said it would await the outcome of a UN investigation before taking a decision.
Lammy said: “We did raise issues about the funding … and real concerns that (we) did not want the situation where the UK was contributing to tremendous hardship already in Gaza.”
On arms sales, he added: “I made the solemn undertaking in parliament that I would look at the legal assessments, and I will begin that process, of course, as soon as I’m able to. I expect that to begin next week as I sit down with officials.”
Lammy continued: “I have been crystal clear on the international humanitarian law. There will be no resiling from that, because it’s important that we are all seen to uphold the rules-based order at a time particularly when authoritarian states are discarding it. It’s on that basis that I enter into this role and I take that very, very seriously.”
Stranded aid trucks in Egypt deepen Gaza’s humanitarian crisis
- Aid groups warn there is a high risk of famine across the besieged coastal territory
- Talks involving Egypt, the United States and Israel have failed to reopen Rafah
AL-ARISH, Egypt: Hundreds of trucks loaded with food and water have been stranded on a scorching Egyptian road, some for nearly two months, awaiting permission to deliver the much needed humanitarian supplies to war-torn Gaza.
About 50 kilometers from the Gaza border, trucks carrying flour, water and other aid line a dusty road in both directions. The drivers say they have been waiting for several weeks in the searing Egyptian summer heat.
The standstill is exacerbating Gaza’s dire humanitarian crisis after nine months of war between Israel and Palestinian militant group Hamas. Aid groups warn there is a high risk of famine across the besieged coastal territory.
The truck drivers, parked on the outskirts of the Egyptian city of Al-Arish in the Sinai Peninsula, say they have been unable to deliver humanitarian supplies ever since Israel expanded its offensive on the Gaza-Egypt border in May.
Some food has had to be discarded, they said.
“I swear to God, before this load, we came here and stood for more than 50 days and eventually the load was returned because it had expired,” said truck driver Elsayed El-Nabawi.
“We had to turn around and return it. We loaded another batch, and here we are standing again and only God knows if this load will make it before it expires or what will happen to it.”
The Israeli military started its assault on the southern Gazan city of Rafah in May. The Rafah crossing between Gaza and Egypt, a lifeline to the outside world for Gazans, allowing the delivery of aid and the evacuation of patients, has been shut since then.
Talks involving Egypt, the United States and Israel have failed to reopen Rafah, where Egypt wants a Palestinian presence restored on the Gazan side of the border. Israeli flags now fly over Gazan buildings destroyed along the border with Egypt.
“We’ve been stranded here for over a month waiting to deliver this load. We’ve waiting for our turn but nothing yet” said Ahmed Kamel, another of the truck drivers, who sit by their vehicles drinking tea and smoking cigarettes.
“We don’t know our fate — when we will be able to enter? Today? Tomorrow? The day after tomorrow? Only God knows. Will the stuff we’re carrying hold up or most of it will go bad?”
Aid and commercial supplies have still entered Gaza through other land border crossings, through air drops and by sea, but aid groups and Western diplomats say the supplies are far below needs. The drivers say they are waiting for Israeli permission.
‘DIFFICULTIES’
Distribution of aid in Gaza was difficult even before Israel’s assault on Rafah. Israel has enforced restrictions on goods entering the enclave, saying it wants to prevent them reaching Hamas. Some aid convoys have also been hit in Israeli military strikes, resulting in deaths of aid workers.
Palestinian gangs inside Gaza have also reportedly sought to steal aid and commercial supplies entering the territory of some 2.3 million Palestinians. Desperate Palestinians have also overwhelmed trucks, taking much needed humanitarian supplies.
A senior official at the Israeli foreign ministry said the backlog of aid in Egypt was due to humanitarian aid that has piled up on the Gazan side of the Kerem Shalom crossing point, creating a backlog of around 1,200 truckloads worth of aid.
The official said that while Israel continued to facilitate the entry of supplies into Gaza, the distribution network inside Gaza run by international groups had been “disrupted” in recent months, blaming local Palestinian criminal gangs and Hamas.
The Israeli military, which oversees coordination of aid in Gaza, has said that it is letting in enough food in from Israel and Egypt for the entire population. It has also acknowledged that aid agencies face “difficulties” in transporting food once it has entered through crossing points, including from Israel.
OIC condemns in ‘strongest terms’ Israeli attack on UNRWA school
- Egypt and Jordan have similarly issued statements condemning the attack
- School was housing thousands of displaced Palestinians seeking shelter from Israel’s war
LONDON/JEDDAH: The Organization of Islamic Cooperation strongly condemned what it described as the ‘continuation of crimes of genocide being committed by the Israeli occupation in the Gaza Strip’ with the attack on a UN school in the Nuseirat refugee camp.
The attack killed 16 people and injured scores more.
Located in the Nuseirat refugee camp, the school was housing thousands of displaced Palestinians seeking shelter from Israel’s assault on the enclave. The majority of those killed were women and children.
“These crimes constitute a flagrant violation of the provisions of international humanitarian law, the Geneva Conventions, and resolutions issued by the International Court of Justice,” the OIC said in a statement reported by news agency SPA.
OIC also call for an investigation of the ‘crime and all war crimes committed by the Israeli occupation in the Gaza Strip, including targeting UNRWA employees and facilities, displaced persons in its headquarters, and health and humanitarian workers, and holding perpetrators accountable and prosecuting them.’
Egypt and Jordan have similarly issued statements condemning the Israeli attack on the school affiliated with the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in Gaza.
Sufian Qudah, spokesperson for the Jordanian Foreign Ministry, reiterated Amman’s strong condemnation of what it defined as Israel’s “ongoing war crimes and genocide” against Palestinians in the Gaza Strip.
He described the attack as a blatant violation of international humanitarian law and a defiance of global calls for an end to the violence.
Qudah criticized Israel’s repeated assaults on shelters and humanitarian facilities, adding that such actions violate international law and display a clear intention to perpetuate violence, reject peace and terrorize civilians.
He urged the international community, particularly the UN Security Council, to take immediate and decisive action to halt these crimes and provide protection for Palestinian civilians.
Meanwhile, the Egyptian Foreign Ministry called for an immediate ceasefire, highlighting the need to uphold human rights in Gaza and end violations against Palestinian women, children and civilians.
The ministry demanded that Israel cooperate with international efforts by allowing the unhindered entry of humanitarian relief and aid into Gaza.
Israel’s war on Gaza has so far killed 38,193 people, mostly women and children since it launched its offensive in October, the Gaza Health Ministry said on Monday.
Israeli tanks storm Gaza City districts, residents report heavy fire
- Ongoing offensives in Daraj and Tuffah in the east and Tel Al-Hawa, Sabra, and Rimal further west
- Heavy armor push comes as Egypt, Qatar and the US step up efforts to mediate a ceasefire pact
CAIRO: Israeli forces pounded Gaza City early on Monday and columns of tanks advanced into the heart of the city from different directions in what residents said was one of the heaviest attacks since Oct 7.
The Gaza Civil Emergency Service said it believed dozens of people were killed but emergency teams were unable to reach them because of ongoing offensives in Daraj and Tuffah in the east and Tel Al-Hawa, Sabra, and Rimal further west.
Israeli tanks had so far been stationed in some areas of Tel Al-Hawa and Sabra but hadn’t advanced deep into the three other districts, which residents said had been bombed throughout the night into the early morning hours. Several multi-floor buildings have been destroyed, they added.
One of the Israeli tank thrusts, residents said, was from an eastern direction, pushing people toward the western road near the Mediterranean.
“The enemy is behind us and the sea is in front of us, where we will we go?” said Abdel-Ghani, one Gaza City resident, who did not give his full name.
“Tank shells and missiles from the planes are falling on the roads and houses like hell from a volcano. People are running in all directions and no one knows where to go,” Abdel-Ghani told Reuters via a chat app.
The Israeli military said in a statement it had been mounting an operation against militant infrastructure in the Gaza Strip, and that it had taken out of action more than 30 fighters who posed a threat to Israeli troops.
The new Israeli offensive comes as Egypt, Qatar and the United States stepped up efforts to mediate a ceasefire agreement between Israel and the Palestinian militant group Hamas as the Gaza war entered its tenth month.
Gaza residents said tanks advanced from at least three directions and reached the heart of Gaza City, backed by heavy Israeli fire from the air and ground. That forced thousands of people out of their homes to look for safer shelter, which for many was impossible to find, and some slept on the roadside.
Medics at the Al-Ahli Arab Baptist Hospital in Gaza City had to evacuate patients to the already crowded and under-equipped Indonesian Hospital in the northern Gaza Strip, Palestinian health officials said.
The war was triggered on Oct. 7 when fighters led by Hamas, which controlled Gaza, attacked southern Israel, killing 1,200 people and taking around 250 hostages, according to Israeli figures.
More than 38,000 Palestinians have been killed in Israel’s military offensive, according to Gaza health officials.
Hopes among Gaza residents of a pause in the fighting had revived after Hamas accepted a key part of a US ceasefire proposal, prompting an official in the Israeli negotiating team to say there was a real chance of a deal.
Hamas has dropped a demand that Israel first commit to a permanent ceasefire before it would sign an agreement. Instead, the militant group said it would allow negotiations to achieve that throughout the six-week first phase, a Hamas source told Reuters on Saturday.
But Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu insisted the deal must not prevent Israel from resuming fighting until its war objectives are met. Those goals were defined at the start of the war as dismantling Hamas’ military and governing capabilities, as well as returning Israeli hostages.
US Central Intelligence Agency Director William Burns is to meet with the Qatari prime minister and the Israeli and Egyptian intelligence chiefs on Wednesday in Doha, said a source familiar with the issue who asked not to be further identified.
