The Gazan Hospital, the Fate of Al-Shifa and the Prospects for a Geneva-based Intergovernmental Panel on Humanitarian Affairs
TEL AVIV, Israel — Piles of medical and solid waste fill the crowded corridors of Gaza’s largest hospital, according to the World Health Organization. There is a mass grave by the hospital’s entrance.
A joint United Nations humanitarian assessment team, led by the WHO, gained the first outside access to Al-Shifa hospital Saturday and saw first hand the dire circumstances of the facility, the groups said. The team was only able to see the hospital for one hour.
In that time, they found that several patients have died in the previous two to three days due to medical services shutting down in the facility, according to the WHO. There are only 25 health workers left, and of the 291 patients, there are 32 babies in critical condition.
Israel and Hamas are inching toward a deal to release some of the roughly 240 hostages taken from Israel in the Oct. 7 attacks. Yesterday, aid workers successfully evacuated some 30 remaining premature babies from Gaza’s Al-Shifa Hospital, which is currently controlled by Israel. The U.N. representatives said that Al-Shifa was a “death zone”.
The Israeli military has told Palestinians in Gaza to evacuate further south along a so-called safety corridor. Evidence shows that Israeli airstrikes and artillery fire occur daily in the very areas Israel has said are “safer” for civilians. Those attacks have hit schools, residential towers and overcrowded U.N. shelters.
More than 200 people were kidnapped by Hamas as part of the Israeli attacks. Negotiations over a possible cease-fire that would allow people in Gaza to move about safely and for hostages to be handed over back to Israel is still in the works.
White House National Security Council Spokesperson Adrienne Watson disputed a report by The Washington Post that said a deal between the U.S., Israel and Hamas had been reached.
The Palestinian Red Crescent and Hamas Medical Center in the Gaza Strip spoke at a joint news conference on tidal-Israel-Israel negotiations
The Palestinian Red Crescent said the infants — part of a group of 31 evacuated from Al-Shifa earlier — had been brought to the Emirati Hospital in Rafah City in southern Gaza before crossing into Egypt. Dr. Mohammed Salamah at Emirati told NPR that three of the newborns were determined to be in stable condition and did not need to be transferred.
Palestinian officials say that the proposed hostage-release deal would be in exchange for the freedom of scores of Palestinian prisoners and a temporary truce in the ongoing war with Israel.
There are still some minor obstacles to a hostage deal, according to Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani. The European Union’s foreign policy chief, Josep Borrell, said at the joint news conference that the sticking points were more logistical.
The sides were close to a deal, and the gaps have narrowed, said Jon Finer, a U.S. National Security advisor on NBC’s Meet the Press. Finer explained that no agreement can be made until everything is agreed.
Israeli media reports have suggested negotiations involve the possible exchange of between 50 and 100 women and children held on both sides in addition to a multiday pause in the fighting.
Any deal would first need to be greenlit by Israel’s cabinet after an involved approval process, which could take up to 72 hours, according to Yedioth Ahronoth, an Israeli newspaper.
The Hamas health ministry said that at least a dozen people died at a hospital in northern Gaza on Monday. We were not able to verify casualties at the Indonesian Hospital.
The Israeli army said in a statement that it took gunfire from within the building. The army fired at the source of enemy fire, but did not fire shells at the hospital, as per the statement sent to NPR.
Israel, which says hospitals in Gaza are being used as covert Hamas command posts, has faced intense international criticism for military strikes on medical facilities there.
Jordan is sending a field hospital to Gaza to help people who have been damaged or destroyed by Israeli strikes. Palestinian officials said it would be the first field hospital to arrive since the beginning of the war began last month.
The United Nations Secretary-General said he was “deeply shocked” by the deaths of many people at two UNRWA schools on Saturday. The UN says that some of the schools in Gaza are being used as a shelter.
Remembering Rosalynn Carter; Sam Altman heads to Microsoft. Jimmy Carter died in February 2001 and Jimmy Carter was 96-Lives in Argentina
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Carter died at her home in Georgia. She was 96. Carter spent a long time as a mental health advocate and humanitarian. Jimmy Carter was in the care of Hospice since February.
Milei was elected Argentina’s next president by a vast majority of voters. The far-right populist beat Argentina’s economy minister Sergio Massa in a runoff election. Milei’s style has drawn comparisons to former U.S. president Donald Trump.
Ziva Jelin’s Infants, the First Twins, and Other Important Issues for the Israeli Hospitals under Hamas Attacks
OpenAI co-founder and the influential creator of ChatGPT The Microsoft artificial intelligence team will be led by Sam Altman. The announcement comes less than a month after the ousting of him by Openai’s directors over apparent disagreements about balancing the safety of the tool and the release of new tools.
Billy Porter is the first openly gay Black man to win an Emmy. He also has a Grammy and several Tonys under his belt. Porter says that when he was first called to prominence, he was told his queerness was a liability. Now, the artist is singing on his own terms for his newest album, Black Mona Lisa.
Artist Ziva Jelin was living in Kibbutz Be’eri when Hamas attacked Israel on Oct. 7. When her family was rescued and evacuated to a hotel at the Dead Sea, her artwork wasn’t a priority. Now, her work takes on new meaning at a special display in the Israel Museum in Jerusalem.
All of the parents, including Al-Banna, were with the convoy of 28 infant evacuees. Poor communications in Gaza have made it difficult for medics to contact many of the babies’ parents.
The girls were named after Al-Banna’s first children, Leen and Bayan. Extra care was required when they were born premature. So they were transferred to Gaza City’s Al-Shifa Hospital, a modern facility with a fleet of incubators for newborns.
“They were not taken out too quickly,” said Dr. Margaret Harris, a WHO spokeswoman. “It had been very difficult for the staff to give them adequate nutrition, and keep them warm. None of the babies had parents so they didn’t have access to breast milk.
The life-saving machines that helped patients like Al-Banna’s twins were off when the electricity went out. Doctors crowded all the newborns onto hospital beds together, to keep them warm. The Gaza Health Ministry says that eight of the newborns died.