GAZA: Nine months pregnant, Ola Al-Kurd could not wait to hold her baby and bring new life to Gaza during a war which has killed over 39,000 fellow Palestinians and razed much of the enclave.
That special moment never came.
An Israeli airstrike smashed into the family home in Al-Nuseirat in central Gaza on July 19, according to her father Adnan Al-Kurd. The blast threw Ola down several floors to her death in the house, whose inhabitants included women, children and the elderly, he said.
Somehow, her baby survived, as did her husband, who was hospitalized.
“It’s a miracle that the fetus stayed alive inside of her when she was martyred (died),” Adnan Al-Kurd said, contemplating a photo of his daughter’s graduation.
The explosion, like many others, killed several members of a single family, a daily tragedy across Gaza since Israel began its offensive in Gaza in response to a devastating cross-border attack by Palestinian Hamas militants on Oct. 7 last year.
Mediators from the United States, Qatar and Egypt have failed in multiple attempts to secure a ceasefire. So it is highly unlikely that Israeli airstrikes and shelling will end anytime soon.
“She wanted to hold her child and fill our home with his presence,” Al-Kurd said. “She would say, ‘Mom, hopefully, this will make up for the loss of my martyred brothers and bring life back to our home’.”
Entirely against the odds, surgeons at Al Awda hospital in Nuseirat — where Ola was first taken after the strike — managed to deliver the newborn, Malek Yassin. He was then transferred to Al Aqsa Hospital in Deir Al-Balah, where an aunt touched the baby’s face as he lay in an incubator.
“Thank God, this baby’s life was saved and he is now alive and well,” doctor Khalil Al-Dakran said at the hospital, where many medical facilities have been destroyed in over nine months of war.
Al-Kurd gazes at photos of his three late children killed in the Gaza war. He said baby Yassin is blond like his deceased uncle Omar. “I go visit him everyday. He is a part of me,” he said.
Babies who survive frequent Israeli bombardment get no relief as the conflict inflicts more destruction in the heavily built-up, densely populated Gaza Strip.
“We are in fact facing very great difficulties in the nursery department,” said Al-Dakran, due to a lack of sufficient medication and supplies and fears that the hospital generator could stop at any moment due to fuel shortages.
Hospitals across impoverished Gaza have been demolished or seriously damaged during the war, which began when Hamas-led fighters attacked Israel, killing 1,200 people and taking over 250 hostages according to Israeli tallies.
Israel responded with an air and ground offensive that has killed more than 39,000 Palestinians, according to Gaza’s Hamas-run health ministry, and levelled much of the coastal territory.
“What is the fault of this child to start his life under difficult and very bad circumstances, deprived of the most basic necessities of life?” said Dakran.
‘Miracle’ baby born in Gaza after airstrike kills heavily pregnant mother
https://arab.news/246bu
‘Miracle’ baby born in Gaza after airstrike kills heavily pregnant mother
- Mother fell through several floors of bombed family home
- Families face daily tragedy as Israel battles Hamas in Gaza
Israel army issues new evacuation call for Lebanon’s Baalbek region
- The latest evacuation call came as the military’s Home Front Command activated sirens at regular intervals along the border
- Israel and the Lebanese armed movement Hezbollah have been locked in a deadly war since September 23 that has killed more than 1,900
Jerusalem: The Israeli military on Sunday called for the evacuation of the Baalbek area in eastern Lebanon, warning that it was ready to strike Hezbollah targets there and in nearby Douris.
The latest evacuation call came as the military’s Home Front Command activated sirens at regular intervals along the border as dozens of projectiles were identified crossing from Lebanon into Israeli territory since Sunday morning.
“You are currently located near the facilities and assets associated with Hezbollah, which the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) will be targeting in the near future,” the Israeli military’s Arabic-language spokesman Avichay Adraee said in a post on X addressed to residents of Baalbek and Douris.
The Israeli air force intercepted several projectiles that were fired from Lebanon into Israeli territory, while some fell in open areas, the military said in a statement.
On Thursday, rocket fire from Lebanon killed seven people in the town of Metula in northern Israel, including four Thai farmers.
Israel and the Lebanese armed movement Hezbollah have been locked in a deadly war since September 23 that has killed more than 1,900 people in Lebanon, according to an AFP tally of Lebanese health ministry figures.
Israel’s military says 38 soldiers have been killed in the Lebanon campaign since it began ground operations on September 30.
Clashes between Israeli forces and Hezbollah militants first erupted on October 8 last year when the Lebanese group began firing rockets into Israel in support of its ally Hamas, a day after the Palestinian militant group launched an unprecedented attack on Israel from Gaza.
Hamas’s October 7 attack on Israel resulted in 1,206 deaths, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally of Israeli official figures.
Israel’s sweeping military response against Hamas has led to the deaths of 43,314 Palestinians in Gaza, a majority of them civilians, according to figures from the Hamas-run territory’s health ministry which the United Nations consider to be reliable.
Turkiye seeks deeper Africa ties at summit
- Fourteen African countries attended the latest ministerial meeting in the tiny Horn of Africa nation of Djibouti
- Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan, who presided over the summit, said trade with the continent surpassed $35 billion last year
Nairobi: Turkiye on Sunday said it was committed to deepening relations with Africa, which it and called on to back diplomatic support for Palestinians, as it held its latest African summit in Djibouti.
Turkiye has invested heavily across Africa in recent years, with President Recep Tayyip Erdogan carrying out 50 visits to 31 countries during his two decades in power.
Fourteen African countries attended the latest ministerial meeting in the tiny Horn of Africa nation of Djibouti this weekend.
They included Angola, Chad, Comoros, Republic of Congo, Egypt, Equatorial Guinea, Ghana, Libya, Mauritania, Nigeria, South Sudan, Zambia and Zimbabwe.
Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan, who presided over the summit, said trade with the continent surpassed $35 billion last year and Turkiye’s direct investments now totalled $7 billion.
“Turkiye is employing a comprehensive and holistic approach in terms of enhancing our trade and economic partnership with the continent,” Fidan said in a speech.
Turkiye has become the fourth largest arms supplier to sub-Saharan Africa and helped train armed forces in many countries.
In recent months, it has attempted to mediate a feud between Ethiopia and Somalia, and struck a mining deal with Niger.
Fidan reiterated support for the African Union to become a permanent member of the G20, and for reform of the United Nations Security Council.
“We should continue our efforts to make the UN more relevant and capable of confronting the complex challenges of the century. Security Council reform is critical in this sense,” he said.
Fidan also called for greater African involvement in the Israel-Palestinian conflict.
“We believe that Africa can play an instrumental role in supporting the Palestinian cause and in stopping Israel,” he said.
“We appreciate the African countries that stand with Palestine,” he added, highlighting South Africa’s recent move to file evidence of “genocide” committed by Israel to the International Criminal Court.
The next Turkiye-Africa Summit is due to be held in 2026.
Palestinians say Israel struck a Gaza clinic during a polio campaign. The army denies it
- The alleged strike occurred Saturday in northern Gaza, which has been encircled by Israeli forces and largely isolated for the past year
- Israel has been carrying out another offensive there in recent weeks that has killed hundreds of people and displaced tens of thousands
CAIRO: Palestinian officials say an Israeli drone strike on a clinic in northern Gaza where children were being vaccinated for polio wounded six people, including four children. The Israeli military denied responsibility.
The alleged strike occurred Saturday in northern Gaza, which has been encircled by Israeli forces and largely isolated for the past year. Israel has been carrying out another offensive there in recent weeks that has killed hundreds of people and displaced tens of thousands.
It was not possible to resolve the conflicting accounts. Israeli forces have repeatedly raided hospitals in Gaza over the course of the war, saying Hamas uses them for militant purposes, allegations denied by Palestinian health officials.
Dr. Munir Al-Boursh, director general of the Gaza Health Ministry, told The Associated Press that a quadcopter struck the Sheikh Radwan clinic in Gaza City early Saturday afternoon, just a few minutes after a United Nations delegation left the facility.
The World Health Organization and the UN children’s agency, known as UNICEF, which are jointly carrying out the polio vaccination campaign, expressed concern over the reported strike.
“The reports of this attack are even more disturbing as the Sheikh Radwan Clinic is one of the health points where parents can get their children vaccinated,” said Rosalia Bollen, a spokesperson for UNICEF.
“Today’s attack occurred while the humanitarian pause was still in effect, despite assurances given that the pause would be respected from 6 a.m. to 4 p.m.”
Lt. Col. Nadav Shoshani, an Israeli military spokesman, said that “contrary to the claims, an initial review determined that the (Israeli military) did not strike in the area at the specified time.”
A scaled-down campaign to administer a second dose of the polio vaccine began Saturday in parts of northern Gaza. It had been postponed from Oct. 23 due to lack of access, Israeli bombings and mass evacuation orders, and the lack of assurances for humanitarian pauses, a UN statement said.
The administration of the first dose was carried out in September across the Gaza Strip, including areas of northern Gaza that are now completely sealed off. Health officials said the campaign’s first round, and the administration of the second dose across central and southern Gaza, were successful.
At least 100,000 people have been forced to evacuate from areas of north Gaza toward Gaza City in the past few weeks, but around 15,000 children under the age of 10 remain in northern towns, including Jabaliya, Beit Lahiya and Beit Hanoun, which are inaccessible, according to the UN
The final phase of the polio vaccination campaign had aimed to reach an estimated 119,000 children in the north with a second dose of oral polio vaccine, the agencies said, but “achieving this target is now unlikely due to access constraints.”
They say 90 percent of children in every community must be vaccinated to prevent the spread of the disease.
The campaign was launched after the first polio case was reported in Gaza in 25 years — a 10-month-old boy, now paralyzed in the leg. The World Health Organization said the presence of a paralysis case indicates there could be hundreds more who have been infected but aren’t showing symptoms.
The war began on Oct. 7, 2023, when Hamas-led militants stormed into southern Israel, killing some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and abducting another 250. Israel’s offensive has killed over 43,000 Palestinians, according to Gaza health authorities, who do not say how many were combatants but say more than half were women and children.
UAE, Qatari leaders discuss ties, regional developments
DUBAI: UAE President Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al-Nahyan on Saturday had a phone call with Qatar’s Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thani to review ties between the two nations and the latest regional developments.
They also discussed ways to strengthen cooperation to advance the shared ambitions of both countries and their peoples, WAM news agency reported.
The two leaders exchanged views on regional and international issues, and underscored the need for concerted efforts to prevent further escalation in the Middle East and avoid additional crises.
Giga-projects are here to stay, but AI likely to change future conception, say industry experts
- AI might reject tall structures, advise ‘greater square footage,’ predicts one expert
- Machine-learning still a long way to go before replacing human decision-making
SAN DIEGO, USA: Twenty years ago when a major project was being conceived, it would be built and then the real estate representatives would take over, working to fill the colossal buildings.
But today the physical completion of a development is just an initial part of the process. New technology is now being used to collect vast amounts of valuable data that can determine the success of both giga-projects and megaprojects.
In some cases this will mean the downscaling of an initiative such as The Line, while others will be accelerated to meet strict deadlines such as the Saudi Expo 2030 project.
In April 2024, Saudi Arabia’s Finance Minister Mohammed Al-Jadaan said some of the Kingdom’s projects would be adapted to current economic and geopolitical challenges.
“I think that what we will see is a new rationalization of dates,” Naji Atallah, head of construction and manufacturing, EMEA Emerging Markets at Autodesk, told Arab News.
Speaking on the sidelines of the recent Autodesk University 2024: The Design and Make Conference in San Diego, US, he said decisions would be based on new priorities.
“Something like a new entertainment city won’t get the same prioritization as the Saudi Expo or projects for the World Cup, should Saudi Arabia win the bid, that have a definite deadline. But I think these projects will still be happening,” he added.
On the reduction of Saudi Arabia’s The Line, Atallah said: “Being able or just having the vision of building something that big is the limit of our means … The new scale is more manageable.”
But he said despite the change of size, it did not take away from the ambition. “The scale is smaller, but the ambition is still really large with what we are seeing now.”
He said that projects like the Red Sea islands might not have the same scale of one aspect, but as a giga-project it is broken down into many different parts.
“Part of the mandate of the Red Sea islands project is to create new tourism opportunities,” Atallah explained. “AI will help in the better decision-making to help set new targets that are not necessarily about immediate financial return.”
And in the case of the Red Sea project, a key example was the introduction of scuba diving in the area.
There is still a lot of work to be done on AI — it is only as good as the information it receives. But as the data banks continue to grow, the technology will learn and become more knowledgeable about future and existing projects.
Change is most likely with giga-projects, said Autodesk CEO and president Andrew Anagnost, in an interview with Arab News. “I don’t think giga-projects are going to go away … but I do think that more often than not AI is going to advise against these projects.”
Anagnost said he believed AI was more likely going to advise against massively tall structures and instead suggest “greater square footage.”
AI would also possibly suggest different kinds of capabilities inside, such as sustainable energy generation, or multiple-use buildings that could serve as a home and workspace.
“I think AI is definitely going to challenge some of these projects,” he added.
But the capabilities of AI are only as great as the data it receives, and we remain a long way away from computers taking over the world.
Also there remains a lot of mistrust in the collection of data, but the more information companies have, the more cost-effective and reliable their products become.
Design and construction are not new concepts; humans have been creating tools, shelter, and the means to build for millions of years.
However, there is surprisingly little information available on the physical structures that exist around the world.
The US cloud-based security and management company noted that its clients in the architecture, engineering and construction industry have quadrupled their data storage from 0.9 terabytes in 2017 to 3.5 TB in 2021.
But according to the investment banking firm FMI Corp., 95.5 percent of the data that is being gathered by AEC firms is not being used.
And this is information that could tell governments, designers and architects of today and the future how to more successfully develop existing and new products — whether a chair, or new city.
AI is very much dependent on the information that he described as 3D data and which is still lacking. “It’s kind of a paradox. We live in a 3D world, but the 3D data is scarce,” Ousama Lakhdar-Ghazal, director of trusted AI at Autodesk, explained.
“When we look around and see all these 3D objects around us, we can easily picture them, but to have that represented in a digital world is actually very .”
The collection of the data continues, but there remains a lot to be learned and that can only happen as the amount of data is gathered.
This information can help with predicting the flow of a flood, or the fuel consumption of a new, existing or future building.
“Like humans function better the more information they have, AI operates the same way, it needs to learn,” Lakhdar-Ghazal said.
And the learnings of AI are entirely reliant on the information it is given, so it is still influenced by human input.
“We are hoping that AI might at some point be able to maybe help solve some of the societal problems we face — that’s the driver,” he added.
On concerns over the evolution of AI, Lakhdar-Ghazal acknowledged that society tends to fear what it does not know.
“Most of the people working on AI are at a level (of a) Ph.D. (graduate), but for laypeople there’s a lot of unknown, there’s a lot of not understanding how it actually works.”
While fear of technological advances is not new, he said it would take time to educate people to accept that the benefits outweigh potential drawbacks.
“The point of AI is to help solve tangible problems. But it would still be up to humans to make the decision. AI can help identify labor-intensive, high-cost, low-return tasks, and help cut overheads.”
But the practice of saving time has its own limitations and at some point optimization is reached — there is no more time that can be saved.
But Lakhdar-Ghazal said the focus can always be shifted to improve areas including fuel efficiency, or other working practices, to cut overheads.
