Texas Weekly Online

10 reasons the DOJ and FBI face backlash over Epstein files flop

10 reasons the DOJ and FBI face backlash over Epstein files flop

Department of Justice leaders are facing sharp criticism and resignation calls from a faction of their supporters after they ended their inquiry into Jeffrey Epstein’s sex trafficking case without releasing new files. The outrage, emanating largely from the right, can be tied to several past instances when those same leaders and other Republicans with large platforms once promoted the existence of incriminating, nonpublic Epstein case files, including a supposed list of sexual predators who were his clients. Attorney General Pam Bondi, FBI Director Kash Patel and FBI Deputy Director Dan Bongino now say they have nothing further to share with the public about Epstein’s case. In a joint, unsigned memo, the DOJ and FBI said Monday that after an exhaustive inquiry uncovering 300 gigabytes’ worth of material related to Epstein’s case, they found no signs of illegal activity by any new third parties.  BONDI UNDER SIEGE AFTER DOJ REVEALS NO EPSTEIN CLIENT LIST “We did not uncover evidence that could predicate an investigation against uncharged third parties,” the memo read. The memo stated that “much of the material” related to the Epstein case was subject to court-ordered seals, prohibiting the DOJ from releasing it. The client list, a point of significant discourse, does not exist, the memo said. Some of President Donald Trump‘s supporters and Patel’s and Bongino’s massive fan bases are now making it clear that they expected more. Below are 10 possible reasons for that. Right-wing commentator Benny Johnson asked Patel why the government had not released information about Epstein’s purported clients, according to a clip Johnson shared in December 2023, before Patel became FBI director. “Simple, because of who’s on that list,” Patel replied. “You don’t think that Bill Gates is lobbying Congress night and day to prevent the disclosure of that list?” Patel criticized the Republican-led House for failing to obtain “Epstein’s list.”  “What the hell are the House Republicans doing? They have the majority. You can’t get the list?” Patel asked, later adding, “We can’t even get basic documents out. This is why America hates Congress.” “Put on your big boy pants, and let us know who the pedophiles are,” Patel said. In an interview in December 2023, Patel addressed questions from BlazeTV host Glenn Beck about Epstein’s “black book.” Patel said the FBI had the book. “That’s under direct control of the director of the FBI,” the now-FBI director said. Patel added, “That’s a thing I think President Trump should run on. On day one, roll out the black book.” Epstein’s address books have long been a point of scrutiny. His house manager tried to sell one, according to a 2009 FBI affidavit. Gawker published one of the address books in 2015 with phone numbers redacted. That version contains hundreds of both well-known and obscure names. A judge allowed one of the address books to be entered under seal into the court record during his associate Ghislain Maxwell’s sex trafficking trial in 2021. When asked on “Fox & Friends Weekend” last year if Trump would “declassify the Epstein files” if he were elected president, Trump replied that he would. “Yeah, yeah I would. I guess I would,” Trump said. “I think less so because you don’t know, you don’t want to affect people’s lives if it’s phony stuff in there, because there’s a lot of phony stuff with that whole world, but I think I would.” On Tuesday during a Cabinet meeting, Trump brushed off the topic of Epstein when asked by a reporter about him. “Are people still talking about this guy, this creep?” Trump said. “That is unbelievable.” “What about her little black book? The 97-page book, contains the names and contact details of almost 2,000 people including world leaders, celebrities and businessmen,” Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene wrote this week on X. “No one believes there is not a client list.” The Miami Herald’s Julie Brown, who followed and reported on Epstein’s case for years, has said claims about the list are dubious. “There is no client list that I am aware of. My theory is it was something conspiracy theorists cooked up to monetize their podcasts online,” Brown wrote in response to social media users in 2024. Sen. Marsha Blackburn has made the release of the Epstein files one of her top priorities over the past couple of years. From promoting anticipated disclosures on the Senate floor to posting dozens of times about the matter on social media, Blackburn has vowed that “accountability for these predators is coming.” “Epstein’s client list and the information I requested to reveal his associates & business dealings are key to helping us crack this trafficking ring wide open,” Blackburn wrote on social media in February. Ahead of the DOJ releasing a small tranche of files in February, Blackburn said “this will be a ‘phase 1’ release. There will be more to come.” TRUMP SLAMS REPORTER FOR ASKING ABOUT ‘CREEP’ JEFFREY EPSTEIN DURING CABINET MEETING The Trump administration first released that batch of information, which contained no new revelations, in February to right-wing social media influencers. They appeared in photos at the White House with binders the Trump administration gave them that were labeled “classified” and “Epstein files: Phase 1.” Blackburn also secured a promise from Patel during his confirmation hearing this year that he would publish Epstein files. Bondi was asked by host John Roberts during a Fox News interview in February if she planned to release a “list of Epstein’s clients.” “It’s sitting on my desk right now to review,” Bondi said. “That’s been a directive by President Trump. I’m reviewing that.” Bondi clarified her remarks during the Cabinet meeting with Trump on Tuesday, saying she was referencing Epstein’s entire case file. “In February, I did an interview on Fox, and it’s been getting a lot of attention because I said, I was asked a question about the client list, and my response was, ‘It’s sitting on my desk to be reviewed,’ meaning the [Epstein] file along with the JFK and MLK files,

Massachusetts bill would force ICE agents to unmask

Massachusetts bill would force ICE agents to unmask

A new bill in Massachusetts aims to require U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents and other federal immigration enforcement officers to unmask.  The legislative proposal was introduced Wednesday by Democratic state Rep. James Hawkins.  It calls for a new section to the Massachusetts Penal Code that states, “A law enforcement officer shall not wear any mask or personal disguise while interacting with the public in the performance of their duties, except for medical grade masks that are surgical or N95 respirators designed to prevent the transmission of airborne diseases and masks designed to protect against exposure to smoke or toxins during a state of emergency.”  “A violation of this section shall be punishable as a misdemeanor,” the bill, which was co-sponsored by another 10 Democratic state representatives, said.  4 ARRESTED IN ALLEGED BORDER PATROL OPERATION SABOTAGE ATTEMPT NEAR LA AS ATTACKS ON IMMIGRATION AGENTS SURGE It says the intent of the legislature is to enact legislation “to require law enforcement officers to include their name or badge number on their uniforms,” as well as to enact legislation to “ensure that Special Weapons and Tactics (SWAT) team officers can utilize gear necessary to protect their faces from physical harm while they perform their SWAT responsibilities.”  ICE acting director Todd Lyons defended mask-wearing by his agents during a May press conference announcing an operation had resulted in nearly 1,500 arrests across Massachusetts.  “I’m sorry if people are offended by them wearing masks, but I’m not going to let my officers and agents go out there and put their lives on the line, their family on the line, because people don’t like what immigration enforcement is,” Lyons during a press conference in Boston. “Is that the issue here that we’re upset about, the masks? Or is anyone upset about the fact that ICE officers’ families were labeled terrorists?”  During an operation in Los Angeles weeks prior, Lyons said, ICE agents were “doxed” – having their personal information publicized – and people took photos of agents’ names and faces and posted them online “with death threats to their families and to themselves.” Most of those arrested in the Massachusetts operation had “significant criminality in the U.S. or abroad” and agents targeted “the most dangerous alien offenders in some of the most crime-infested neighborhoods of Massachusetts,” officials said.  “If sanctuary cities would change their policies and turn these violent criminal aliens over to us, into our custody, instead of releasing them to the public, we would not have to go out to the communities and do this,” Lyons added. “Boston’s my hometown, and it really shocks me that officials all over Massachusetts would rather release sex offenders, fentanyl dealers, drug dealers, human traffickers and child rapists back into the neighborhoods.”  TRUMP SEETHES THAT DEMS FLOATING BILL REQUIRING THE UNMASKING OF ICE, CBP AGENTS MUST ‘HATE’ AMERICA Hawkins cited the March arrest of Tufts University graduate student Rumeysa Ozturk by masked Department of Homeland Security (DHS) agents outside of her home in Somerville, Mass. ICE accused the 30-year-old Turkish national of supporting Hamas, and DHS later confirmed her student visa had been revoked. She was subsequently transported to ICE detention centers in New Hampshire, Vermont and Louisiana, until a judge approved her release and return to Massachusetts in May.  The bill is only the latest of a series of legislative proposals brought by Democrats seeking to unmask ICE agents.  U.S. Sens. Cory Booker, D-N.J., and Alex Padilla, D-Calif., introduced the “Visible Identification Standards for Immigration-Based Law Enforcement” or VISIBLE Act this week. They argue the bill would “strengthen oversight, transparency, and accountability for the Trump Administration’s indiscriminate and alarming immigration enforcement tactics that have terrorized communities across California and the nation.”  Reacting to the Senate bill, President Donald Trump noted how demonstrators protesting ICE and other Trump administration policies don masks and other face coverings regularly to hide their identities.  “It’s sort of funny when people picket in front of Columbia, in front of Harvard, and they have masks on – more than masks. I mean, you can’t see anything. Nobody complains about that. But when a patriot who works for ICE or Border Patrol puts a mask on so that they won’t recognize him and his family, so they can lead a little bit of a normal life after having worked so hard and so dangerously, there’s a problem with that,” Trump said Wednesday during a White House meeting with African leaders.  “This is the problem with the Democrats. They have a lot of bad things going on in their heads,” Trump added. “They’ve lost their confidence, number one. And they’re really – they’ve become somewhat deranged. I want to do whatever is necessary to protect our great law enforcement people. And they are right at the top of the list.”  The Justice Department told Fox News Digital on Wednesday it is actively tracking the recent uptick in “targeted assaults” against federal immigration enforcement agents and ICE facilities. 

‘Gut check time’: Dissent among Senate GOP ranks threatens to reduce Trump’s spending cut demand

‘Gut check time’: Dissent among Senate GOP ranks threatens to reduce Trump’s spending cut demand

Senate Republicans are gearing up to claw back billions of dollars in foreign aid and public broadcasting funding, but dissent is brewing among some who could eat into President Donald Trump’s cut request. A cohort of Senate Republicans are publicly and privately growing squeamish over the White House’s $9.4 billion rescissions package, which would slash $8.3 billion from the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) and over $1 billion from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB), the government-backed funding arm for NPR and PBS. ‘BAIT AND SWITCH’: SCHUMER WARNS OF BITTER FUNDING FIGHT OVER GOP CUTS PLAN The cuts stem from Trump’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), which was lauded by most Republicans for its mission to root out waste, fraud and abuse in the federal government. Still, concerns and calls for changes are being made, in particular to proposed slashes to the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) and the public broadcasting fund. Publicly, Sens. Susan Collins, R-Maine, Mike Rounds, R-S.D., and Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, have all aired their concerns about the House-passed bill and are eyeing changes that could see the cuts reduced. TRUMP’S PLAN TO SLASH ‘WOKE’ FOREIGN AID, NPR FUNDS CLEARS HOUSE AS SENATE BATTLE LOOMS “I don’t like it as it is currently drafted,” Murkowski said. “I’m a strong supporter of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, and our health programs are important.” Collins has raised issues with slashes to PEPFAR, an issue brought forth during a hearing with White House officials last month, while Rounds is worried about funding being slashed to rural radio stations, particularly for Native American populations in his state and others “and their ability to get good information during times of stress.” Senate Republican leadership already has plans for an amendment process on the bill, which will likely culminate in another marathon vote-a-rama amendment session — roughly two weeks after the grueling amendment process for Trump’s “big, beautiful bill.” Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., said that he intended to put the package on the Senate floor next week, likely ahead of the Friday deadline for lawmakers to advance the clawbacks. If the bill is amended, it would have to be sent back to the House before heading to Trump’s desk. Sen. Markwayne Mullin, R-Okla., told Fox News Digital that he expected the vote-a-rama to begin Wednesday, and said the hope was that leadership would be able to address as many concerns among Republicans as possible before bringing the bill to the floor. “Whatever it takes, we’re having those conversations,” he said. “The point is, once we get to the vote-a-rama, we want to have as much issues resolved so we know where we’re at on the floor without any surprises. And I think we can do that, maybe not, but I think we can. I think we got a good picture of where we’re at right now.” Other lawmakers see the package in its current form as a no-brainer to pass. Sen. John Kennedy, R-La., said that if amendments were offered to keep spending that he agreed with, he could find himself supporting tweaks to the package. But he challenged his colleagues to reject a spending cut package that ultimately amounted to less than half a percent of the nation’s entire budget. “This is gut check time for our Republican colleagues,” he said. “They either believe in reducing spending or they don’t. They either believe in spending porn or they don’t, and I’ve listened to my colleagues, especially in the last 100 plus days, talk about how great DOGE was. Well, now is the chance to show it.” 

Trump had very unexpected convo with Obama at Carter’s funeral: Book

Trump had very unexpected convo with Obama at Carter’s funeral: Book

President Donald Trump and former President Barack Obama chatted about golf during a viral moment of bipartisanship during former President Jimmy Carter’s funeral in January, just days before Trump’s return to the Oval Office, a new book detailing the unprecedented 2024 election cycle reported.  Trump and Obama were seen smiling and quietly chatting with one another in the pews of the Washington National Cathedral on Jan. 9, 2025, in a moment that spread like wildfire on social media as Americans sounded off with speculation over what the pair of presidents who had long traded political barbs were talking about.  “2024: How Trump Retook the White House and the Democrats Lost America,” which was released Tuesday, said that Trump arrived in Washington for Carter’s funeral as a “conqueror” following the November 2024 election and sat next to Obama for the funeral service.  “He’d attended Jimmy Carter’s funeral, walking into Washington not as a scourge but as a conqueror,” the book reported of Trump. “He could ignore the speech on character by the outgoing president, and the cold shoulder from the vice president he’d defeated.” “Instead he sat next to Barack Obama and invited him to play golf, enticing him with descriptions of Trump’s courses around the world,” the book continued of the pair’s conversation. “He was no longer an anomaly. He was being treated like an American president. He wanted to be remembered as a great one.” BIDEN AIDES PUSHED FOR EARLY DEBATE TO SHOW OFF BIDEN’S ‘STRENGTH,’ EXPOSE TRUMP’S ‘WEAKNESS,’ BOOK SAYS ART OF THE SURGE: BEHIND THE SCENES ON PRESIDENT TRUMP’S ROAD BACK TO WHITE HOUSE Trump and Obama were seated near other high-profile former U.S. leaders, including former President George W. Bush, former Vice President Mike Pence, former President Bill Clinton, former first lady and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, as well as then-President Joe Biden and then-Vice President Kamala Harris. Social media commenters at the time remarked that footage and video clips of the pair were unexpected, and others joked that Obama may have voted for Trump despite years of the pair trading political barbs.  “Trump and Obama sitting next to each other was not on the 2025 bingo card,” one social media user posted to X in January.  TRUMP: JIMMY CARTER DIED A HAPPY MAN BECAUSE BIDEN HOLDS TITLE FOR ‘WORST’ PRESIDENT IN HISTORY “Did Obama vote for Trump too?!” Clay Travis, founder of sports and politics commentary platform OutKick, joked at the time.  “We need lip readers to see what Trump said to make Obama laugh,” another person posted to X in January.  Trump was asked about the viral moment ahead of his inauguration, remarking that he “didn’t realize how friendly it looked.” “I said, ‘Boy, they look like two people that like each other.’ And we probably do,” Trump added at the time. “We have a little different philosophies, right? But we probably do. I don’t know. We just got along. But I got along with just about everybody.” Fox News Digital’s Kristine Parks contributed to this report. 

Ukrainian US ambassador, seen with head in hands during Oval Office meeting, is departing DC

Ukrainian US ambassador, seen with head in hands during Oval Office meeting, is departing DC

Ukrainian ambassador to the U.S. Oksana Markarova is departing Washington, D.C., according to Ukraine’s foreign ministry. The move comes as Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy looks to inject new blood into U.S.-Ukraine relations. Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha announced the change on Wednesday in a broadcast on Ukrainian radio. “She is extremely effective and charismatic, but every diplomat has a rotation cycle,” Sybiha said. Markarova made headlines for her reaction to President Donald Trump’s disastrous meeting with Zelenskyy inside the Oval Office in late February. Markarova could be seen holding her head in despair as Trump and Vice President JD Vance needled Zelenskyy. PUTIN REJECTS TRUMP’S VATICAN PUSH AS KREMLIN ACCUSES HIM OF BEING ‘EMOTIONAL’: ENVOY KELLOGG Markarova has also faced criticism from Republicans for being overly partisan in her dealings with Washington. House Speaker Mike Johnson called her out in September 2024 for hosting what he described as a campaign event for Democrats just weeks before the general elections. The event saw Zelenskyy visit a munitions factory in Pennsylvania alongside Democratic politicians and officials. Johnson noted that no Republicans were invited to the event and demanded Zelenskyy fire Markarova. Johnson said the tour “purposely excluded” Republicans, calling it “election interference.”  “The facility was in a politically contested battleground state, was led by a top political surrogate for Kamala Harris and failed to include a single Republican because — on purpose — no Republicans were invited,” Johnson wrote in a letter to Zelenskyy, noting the attendance of Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro. He said the “shortsighted and intentionally political move” prompted Republicans to “lose trust” in Markarova’s ability to fairly and effectively serve as a diplomat. “She should be removed from her post immediately,” Johnson wrote.

Russia-Ukraine war: List of key events, day 1,232

Russia-Ukraine war: List of key events, day 1,232

Ukrainian air defence units were defending Kyiv against Russian drones early on Thursday for the second night running, with officials reporting a fire in a city-centre apartment building and drone fragments landing in different districts. At least two people were injured in the latest attacks, according to the AFP news agency. A Russian air strike killed three people and injured one in the front-line town of Kostiantynivka in Ukraine’s east, national emergency service officials said. A post on Telegram said the strike also destroyed a one-storey administrative building. Firefighters also extinguished blazes in four buildings, according to officials. Vadym Filashkin, the governor of Ukraine’s Donetsk region, which encompasses Kostiantynivka, said on Telegram that it was time to “take a responsible decision. Evacuate to less dangerous regions of Ukraine!”, amid Russia’s latest offensive westward. A five-year-old boy died of burns sustained in a Ukrainian drone strike on a beach in the Russian city of Kursk, regional Governor Alexander Khinshtein said on Telegram, raising the death toll in the attack to four, including a member of Russia’s National Guard. Russian forces advanced at key points along the front in eastern Ukraine, defeating Ukrainian units in at least six regions, including Donetsk and Kharkiv, and using missiles and drones to strike ammunition depots and airfields, the Ministry of Defence in Moscow said. It also claimed Russia captured a village in Donetsk. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said he held a “substantive” conversation with Trump’s Ukraine envoy, Keith Kellogg, in Rome shortly after Trump pledged to send more defensive weapons to Kyiv. Zelenskyy met Pope Leo at the papal summer residence of Castel Gandolfo, where the pontiff told him that the Vatican was willing to host Russia-Ukraine peace talks. It was the Ukrainian leader’s second meeting with the pope in his two-month-old papacy. Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni will open the Rome conference on Ukraine on Thursday, with Zelenskyy and European Commission head Ursula von der Leyen in attendance. German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk, Dutch leader Dick Schoof and Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis are also expected to attend. Merz has announced that he will make an offer of air defence systems to Ukraine during the Rome conference. Ukraine said it detained a Chinese father and son, both suspected of spying on its prized Neptune antiship missile programme, a key part of Kyiv’s growing domestic arms industry critical to its defence against Russian invaders. Kyiv has accused Beijing of helping the Kremlin’s war effort. Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesperson Maria Zakharova said the Kremlin had evidence that Ukraine has repeatedly used antipersonnel mines that have injured civilians. Ukraine in June announced its withdrawal from the Ottawa Convention banning the production and use of antipersonnel mines. Russian Minister of Foreign Affairs Sergey Lavrov will visit North Korea this weekend, the latest in a series of high-profile visits by top Moscow officials as the two countries deepen military ties, according to Zakharova. US Secretary of State Marco Rubio will meet Lavrov on Thursday on the sidelines of the ASEAN meeting in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, a senior US State Department official said. Adblock test (Why?)

Trump assails ex-FBI, CIA heads amid reports of criminal probe

Trump assails ex-FBI, CIA heads amid reports of criminal probe

US president attacks John Brennan and James Comey amid reports two men are under investigation over Trump-Russia probe. United States President Donald Trump has suggested that former CIA director John Brennan and ex-FBI chief James Comey may have to “pay a price” amid reports that the two men are under criminal investigation. Asked about reports on Wednesday that Brennan and Comey are being investigated by the FBI, Trump said he did not know anything other than what he had read in the news, but he viewed both as “very dishonest people”. “I think they’re crooked as hell and maybe they have to pay a price for that,” Trump told reporters during a meeting with African leaders at the White House. “I believe they are truly bad people and dishonest people, so whatever happens happens.” Fox News, which first reported on the probe, said the two men were being scrutinised over unspecified “potential wrongdoing” related to investigations into the 2016 Trump campaign’s connections to Russia. Multiple other outlets, including CNN and The New York Times, confirmed the investigation. The FBI declined to comment. The US Department of Justice did not respond to a request for comment. In an interview with MSNBC, Brennan said he had not been contacted by the authorities, but any investigation was “clearly” politically biased. “I think this is, unfortunately, a very sad and tragic example of the continued politicisation of the intelligence community, of the national security process,” Brennan said. “And quite frankly, I’m really shocked that individuals are willing to sacrifice their reputations, their credibility, their decency.” Advertisement Comey did not respond to a request for comment sent through his website. Trump has repeatedly hit out at Brennan and Comey over their role in what he has dubbed the “Russia hoax”. A 2019 report released by special counsel Robert Mueller concluded that Russia interfered in the 2016 election to benefit Trump, but did not find that his campaign “conspired or coordinated” with Moscow. Adblock test (Why?)

More than 100 premature babies in Gaza at risk as hospitals run out of fuel

More than 100 premature babies in Gaza at risk as hospitals run out of fuel

Two of Gaza’s largest hospitals have issued desperate pleas for help, warning that fuel shortages caused by Israel’s siege could soon turn the medical centres into “silent graveyards”. The warnings from al-Shifa Hospital in northern Gaza City and Nasser Hospital in southern Khan Younis came on Wednesday, as Israeli forces continued to bombard the Palestinian enclave, killing at least 74 people. Muhammad Abu Salmiyah, the director of al-Shifa Hospital, Gaza’s largest facility, told reporters that the lives of more than 100 premature babies and some 350 dialysis patients were at risk. “Oxygen stations will stop working. A hospital without oxygen is no longer a hospital. The lab and blood banks will shut down, and the blood units in the refrigerators will spoil,” Salmiyah said. “The hospital will cease to be a place of healing and will become a graveyard for those inside,” he said. Abu Salmiyah went on to accuse Israel of “trickle-feeding” fuel to Gaza’s hospitals, and said that al-Shifa’s dialysis department had already been shut down to conserve power for the intensive care unit and operating rooms, which cannot be without electricity for even a few minutes. In Khan Younis, the Nasser Medical Complex said it, too, has entered “the crucial and final hours” due to the fuel shortages. “With the fuel counter nearing zero, doctors have entered the battle to save lives in a race against time, death, and darkness,” the hospital said in a statement. “Medical teams fight to the last breath. They have only their conscience and hope in those who hear the call – save Nasser Medical Complex before it turns into a silent graveyard for patients who could have been saved.” Advertisement Mohammed Sakr, a spokesman for the hospital, told the Reuters news agency that the facility needs 4,500 litres (1,189 gallons) of fuel per day to function, but it now has only 3,000 litres (790 gallons) – enough to last 24 hours. Sakr said doctors are performing surgeries without electricity or air conditioning, and the sweat from staff is dripping into patients’ wounds, risking infection. A video from Nasser Hospital, posted on social media, shows doctors sweating profusely as they perform a surgery. “Everything is turned off here. The air conditioning is turned off. No fans,” a doctor says in the video as he demonstrates conditions in the ward. “All the staff are exhausted, they are complaining [about the] high temperature.” Israel’s relentless bombardment has decimated Gaza’s healthcare system in the 21 months since it launched its assault on the Palestinian enclave in the wake of the Hamas-led attacks of October 7, 2023. Since then, there have been more than 600 recorded attacks on health facilities in Gaza, according to the World Health Organization (WHO). As of May this year, only 19 of Gaza’s 36 hospitals remain partially operational, with 94 percent of all hospitals damaged or destroyed. Israeli forces have also killed more than 1,500 health workers in Gaza, and detained 185, according to official figures. The WHO, meanwhile, has described Gaza’s health sector as being “on its knees”, with shortages of fuel, medical supplies and frequent arrivals of mass casualties from Israeli attacks. Marwan al-Hams, the director of field hospitals in Gaza, told Al Jazeera that “hundreds” of people could die in the territory if fuel supplies are not brought in urgently. This includes “dozens” of premature babies who could die within the next two days, he said. Dialysis and intensive care patients would also lose their lives, he said, adding that the injuries of the wounded were worsening amid deteriorating conditions, while diseases like meningitis were spreading. UNICEF spokesperson James Elder, who recently returned from Gaza, said, “You can have the best hospital staff on the planet”, but if they are denied medicine and fuel, operating a health facility “becomes an impossibility”. Israel’s war on Gaza has killed at least 57,575 people and wounded 136,879, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry. An estimated 1,139 people were killed in Israel during the October 7, 2023 attacks, and more than 200 were taken captive. Adblock test (Why?)