‘Multiple people’ hit in shooting during Kansas City Superbowl celebrations
DEVELOPING STORYDEVELOPING STORY, Police take two armed people into custody for investigation after shooting during parade. Shots have been fired at a parade to celebrate the Kansas City Chiefs’ Superbowl victory, with local police declaring that “multiple people” had been struck. Kansas City Police added that two armed people had been taken into custody “for more investigation” following the shooting near the US city’s Union Station on Wednesday. “Anyone nearby needs to leave the area as quickly and safely as possible to facilitate treatment of the shooting victims,” the Kansas City, Missouri Police Department said in a social media post. “We are still trying to determine the number of shooting victims,” the police also said. Fire Department Battalion Chief Michael Hopkins told the Associated Press that eight to 10 people had been injured after the shooting, but declined to give further comment, saying that more information would be released soon. Kansas City Chiefs players and fans had been supporting the team’s second successive victory in American football’s most prestigious event, after the franchise defeated the San Francisco 49ers on Sunday. Fans had filled the centre of Kansas City, with cannons firing confetti at the crowds, and DJs playing music. However, that mood of celebration quickly turned into fear, with police officers rushing towards the area where the shooting took place with their guns drawn, and ambulances quickly arriving. Kansas City police said that “child reunification stations” were set up at the main entrance to Union Station, and at 2301 Main Street. “We still have several needing reunification,” the department. Police also asked witnesses to the shooting to go to a corner near Union Station. Adblock test (Why?)
Indonesians vote for a new president as Joko Widodo era comes to an end
Counting is under way in Indonesia after millions of people turned out to vote for a successor to Joko Widodo, the hugely popular president known as Jokowi, who is barred from running for a third term under the constitution. The frontrunner is Prabowo Subianto, the only general ever to be given a dishonourable discharge from the country’s armed forces. Widodo’s archrival in the last two elections, 72-year-old Prabowo later became his defence minister and has sought to soften his strongman image throughout the two-month campaign. He’s been helped by a cartoon portraying him as a “cuddly grandpa” and having Gibran Rakabuming Raka, Jokowi’s eldest son, as his running mate after a controversial Constitutional Court ruling on age limits last year. While the president has not formally endorsed the pair, his unofficial support has boosted their bid for office. “Jokowi is the single most important person not running for office in this campaign,” Greg Fealy, an emeritus professor at the Australian National University and an expert in Indonesian politics, told Al Jazeera. “Jokowi is extraordinarily popular, with a more than 80 percent approval rating, and Prabowo is the main beneficiary of that.” The other candidates are academic turned education minister and Jakarta governor Anies Baswedan, and Central Java Governor Ganjar Pranowo from the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P), the biggest party in parliament and Jokowi’s party in 2014 and 2019. Heavy overnight rain caused flooding in some places and led to the temporary closure of some polling stations, but voting generally went smoothly. In a country that celebrates election day as a “festival of democracy”, some polling stations were decorated with pink and red hearts for Valentine’s Day. Queues of voters were enthusiastic. Turnout was more than 80 percent at the last election in 2019. Some polling stations were decorated for Valentine’s Day [Firdia Lisnawati/AP Photo] Young voters In the beach town of Sanur on the island of Bali, 18-year-old Gunghar was voting for the first time. His heart “pounded,” as he placed his vote, he said. “Young people want major changes in Indonesia,” he told Al Jazeera without revealing which candidate he had backed. “We want Indonesia to be the most impactful country in the world.” Young people make up just over half the total number of voters and are expected to have a substantial impact on the result. In Jakarta, Marcellina Pujowati was concerned about unemployment which stands at just under 20 percent for those aged 15-24. “The job situation is most important to us young voters because nowadays it is hard to find a job,” she said. Before casting her ballot, Marcellina said she also wanted a president who would “make Indonesia better” by improving the political and economic situation in the country. Over in Beijing, 20-year-old Maria Jessica Fernanda Santoso was voting for the first time. She said she had decided to back Prabowo and Gibran because they offered the best chance of a continuation of Jokowi’s policies. “I feel it is important to continue and finalise the milestones that President Jokowi has achieved during his administration,” she told Al Jazeera. “I am confident that [Prabowo-Gibran] has the potential to continue these efforts better.” Prabowo Subianto is seen as the frontrunner in this election, his third attempt at the country’s top job [Yasuyoshi Chiba/AFP] The pair have promised to continue with Jokowi’s controversial plan to relocate the country’s capital to a site on the island of Borneo, as has the PDI-Ps Ganjar. Anies, meanwhile, is seen as a candidate for change and has said he will stop the move. Students and civil society groups have raised concerns about Prabowo’s dark past. A former Kopassus special forces commander, the 72-year-old is the only candidate with links to the hardline regime of former leader Soeharto, once his father-in-law. He was dishonourably discharged in 1998 after Kopassus soldiers kidnapped and tortured Soeharto’s political opponents. Of 22 activists kidnapped that year, 13 remain missing. And while Prabowo never faced trial, several of his men were tried and convicted. He has also been accused of human rights abuses in East Timor, which won independence from Indonesia amid the collapse of the Soeharto regime, and its troubled eastern region of Papua. For all that, most Indonesian voters seemed unconcerned. Ben Bland, the head of the Asia Pacific programme at Chatham House in London, said that probably reflects Indonesians’ growing confidence in their democracy and institutions’ ability to constrain an autocratically inclined president. At an online election discussion last week, he also noted the “tendency in Indonesia for grand coalitions” to be formed after elections, further limiting a president’s power. “Whoever wins will be looking to build a big tent coalition,” he said. As the count progresses, all eyes will be on the 50 percent threshold to avoid a run-off in June. Ten years ago, Jokowi and Prabowo were bitter rivals. With Jokowi’s son now by his side, he appears to be facing his best-ever chance to become president. “It’s quite a turn of fate,” political analyst Tobias Basuki told Al Jazeera. “It could be third time’s the charm for Prabowo. With reporting by Madeline Coad in Sanur, and Adam Hancock and Randy Mulyanto in Jakarta Adblock test (Why?)
Biden slams Trump criticism of NATO as ‘shameful’ and ‘un-American’
The Republican frontrunner had questioned the United States’ willingness to support its NATO allies if they were attacked. United States President Joe Biden has condemned comments about NATO by his likely 2024 election opponent and former President Donald Trump as “dangerous” and “un-American”, and said they raised the stakes for the US Congress to approve new funding to support Ukraine. Speaking at the White House, the Democratic president on Tuesday criticised Trump’s comment over the weekend calling into question the US’s willingness to support members of the Western defence alliance if they were attacked. Biden said the comments by Trump, the Republican frontrunner in the presidential race, made it more urgent that Congress pass his long-stalled funding request to support Ukraine in its war against Russia. “The stakes were already high for American security before this bill was passed in the Senate,” he said. “But in recent days, those stakes have risen. And that’s because the former president has sent a dangerous, and shockingly, frankly un-American signal to the world.” At a rally in the state of South Carolina on Saturday Trump blasted what he called “delinquent” payments by NATO members and recounted what he said was a past conversation with the head of “a big country” about a potential attack by Russia. “No, I would not protect you. In fact I would encourage them [Russia] to do whatever the hell they want. You gotta pay,” Trump claimed he told the unnamed leader. Biden said Trump’s remarks amounted to an invitation to Russia to invade US allies. “Can you imagine a former president of the United States saying that? The whole world heard it. And the worst thing is he means it,” Biden said. “No other president in our history has ever bowed down to a Russian dictator. Well, let me say this as clearly as I can: I never will.” In remarks calling for Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson to bring a Senate-passed $95.34bn military aid package for Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan to a vote in the House of Representatives, Biden said of Trump’s comments: “For God’s sake, it’s dumb, it’s shameful, it’s dangerous, it’s un-American.” Failing to support Ukraine war funding would amount to support for Vladimir Putin, Biden said, adding that the Russian president’s attacks may move beyond Ukraine’s borders deeper into Europe. NATO, a military alliance of 29 European and two North American countries, has a provision in its statute that says it must defend any member that is attacked. This is not the first time Trump has criticised the alliance. When president, Trump threatened to pull the US out of NATO. He also suggested he could cut Washington’s funding of the organisation, and repeatedly complained that the US pays more than it should. As the war in Ukraine nears its second year, concerns have mounted over the ramifications of a potential Trump victory in November. While Ukraine is not a NATO member, the alliance has served as a key contributor to the US-organised effort to support Kyiv’s military defences. Adblock test (Why?)
In Gaziantep, love bloomed in the midst of earthquake rubble
Gaziantep, Turkey – A few hours after the first massive earthquake that struck southern Turkey and northern Syria last year, Ahmad Nached decided to marry his partner, Anna Rudnichenko. Ahmad, 30, and Anna, 23, were asleep in their old eighth-floor apartment when the first tremors woke them from a deep sleep. The two massive earthquakes, which struck a few hours apart, killed more than 50,000 people in both countries.The couple, who hail from Syria and Ukraine respectively, assumed that the noise and destruction were an air raid, a familiar occurrence for them. It took them a few minutes to realise it was an earthquake, which neither of them had ever experienced in their lives. From their cosy home in Gaziantep, as they talk about the last details of their first Valentine’s Day as husband and wife, they explain they had never talked about marriage before the tragedy. Rudnichenko decided to move to Turkey from her native Zaporizhia in 2021, seeking independence after graduating from university. “I always had this affinity for Turkey because, when I was little, I lived here for a few years,” she told Al Jazeera. She chose Gaziantep, a city famous for its cuisine, where she found part-time jobs in hotel management and teaching English. What for her was a choice was forced on Ahmad by the conflict ravaging his country. In 2012, after taking part in the protests in his native Aleppo that, over time, led to clashes with the government and a war, his parents sent him and his sister to safety in Gaziantep, just across the border. Since then, Nached has been working with Syrian humanitarian organisations in Turkey while cultivating his passion for electronic music at Room41, a collective of Syrian and Turkish DJs trying to brighten up Gaziantep’s nights. A proposal, a sunset, and a ring [Courtesy of Anna Rudnichenko] Initially disappointed by Gaziantep’s lack of nightclubs, Rudnichenko ended up attending one of Room41’s parties. “All I remember of that night is that the music suddenly turned off at what, according to me, was quite early – around 1am,” Rudnichenko recalls. “So I went to the console, quite angry, complaining to the DJ and asking him why the party was already over,” she laughs from the couch, sipping a hot cup of Turkish tea. Nached remembers being confused by the way she approached him, but he had had a feeling all day that he would meet someone that night. It took time, but eventually, their friendship evolved into something more. Nached says dating someone from a different background makes the relationship richer. Rudnichenko had never met a Syrian refugee and was fascinated by Nached’s story. Little did she know that in less than a year, she, too, would become a refugee. When the war in Ukraine started, Nached knew the exact words to comfort his partner because he had been through it. “We now had something more in common drawing us closer,” he says. “We both were very upset for our countries, but as a Syrian with a decade-worth background in war trauma management, I knew how to pass on the skill of keeping calm while your loved ones are stuck in a war zone.” While the unusual couple shared a tragic backstory, it also highlighted the significant differences in their displacement. As a Syrian in Turkey, Nached says he experiences a lot of racism. “I’ve always felt like I had to hide my identity, trying not to speak Arabic in the streets or portraying the best version of me to not be labelled as ‘the bad one’,” he explains. Turkey hosts more than three million Syrian refugees, and there have been tensions between them and the local population since 2012, highlighted by the earthquake fallout and national elections characterised by a ferocious campaign against Syrians. Anna and Ahmad married on Christmas Day [Courtesy of Anna Rudnichenko] On the other hand, since early 2022, Turkey has also welcomed thousands of Ukrainian refugees, who feel a lot more welcome and integrated. In Gaziantep, both refugee communities live together but are treated differently. “When I say I’m Ukrainian, I get a lot of compassion and sympathy,” says Rudnichenko. “But the same doesn’t happen to Ahmad.” In February 2023, Nached and Rudnichenko spent a couple of days in a shelter in the city before being evacuated to a hotel in Ankara through Nached’s workplace. They were so shocked they decided to leave Gaziantep. They looked into Canada resettlement programmes, but eventually opted for Germany, a common destination for Syrian and Ukrainian refugees. Rudnichenko left first, hopeful to find assistance upon arrival. “But since I was not coming directly from Ukraine, I could not qualify as a refugee, even though I could not return to my country, which is the description of a refugee,” she explains. The same went for Nached, as the Syrian crisis is no longer considered an emergency in Europe that entitles Syrian asylum seekers to be accepted for resettlement. In Germany, Rudnichenko finally experienced the same kind of racism that Syrians experience daily in Gaziantep. “Only then, I could really empathise with what Ahmad had lived through for over 10 years,” she says. After five months, they decided to give up and stay in Turkey. In the meantime, life had gone back to normal in the earthquake zone and they felt safe enough to return to Gaziantep together. Last September, during a trip to Istanbul’s Princes Islands, Nached proposed to Rudnichenko, and the two got married in Gaziantep on Christmas Day. After the last year, they never imagined they would be spending Valentine’s Day in Gaziantep. But they say the city – despite the tragedy it witnessed – remains their perfect refuge. “Whatever the future is hiding for us, spending it with the right person just makes the world and this life a little less traumatic,” Nached says. [embedded content] Adblock test (Why?)
Mother, two children among Lebanese killed by Israel in air raids
Others wounded in attacks on Lebanon towns of Souaneh and Aadchit while a woman was killed in Israel. Israeli air raids in southern Lebanon have killed at least four people, including two children, the Lebanese Civil Defence says. At least 11 people were wounded in the raids on the towns of Souaneh and Aadchit. One woman and her two children were killed in Souaneh while a Hezbollah fighter, named by the group as Hassan Ali Najm, was killed in Aadchit. Wednesday’s attacks targeted several towns in southern Lebanon, including areas in Nabatieh governorate. The strikes occurred deep inside Lebanese territory, raising fears of a new escalation. The Israeli army said Wednesday that it had launched an “extensive wave” of air strikes in Lebanon. The attacks came after a barrage of rockets from southern Lebanon hit a military base in Safed in northern Israel, killing an Israeli solder named by the army as Sergeant Omer Sarah Benjo. “It is being described as the biggest escalation in the ongoing confrontations between the Israeli army and the Lebanese armed group Hezbollah,” Al Jazeera’s Zeina Khodr said, reporting from Beirut. She added, however, that the escalation was still “controlled” and both sides were “sending messages” to the other party with their attacks. While the “battleground” has been along the 120km (75-mile) border, about 4km to 5km (2.5 to 3 miles) deep on both sides, Israel “struck deeper” this time, she said. In Israel, a rocket fired from Lebanon killed an Israeli woman, a government spokesperson said. The barrage hit a military base and wounded several other people on Wednesday, the spokesperson said. Military and political analyst Elijah Maginer said Israel has targeted villages that are considered “very sensitive”, such as those in Nabatieh. It is “attacking villages that have not been hit before”, Maginer told Al Jazeera. “So it is an escalation, and I think Hezbollah will respond by the same intensity of the bombardment but without enlarging too much the war,” he said. This means Hezbollah would likely respect “more or less the limit of the engagement” and not opt for an all-out war, which is also not in the interests of the Israelis, Maginer added. Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah said on Tuesday that his armed group’s cross-border shelling into Israel would end only when Israel’s “aggression” on the Gaza Strip stops. The group has been trading fire with the Israeli military across Lebanon’s southern border in support of its Palestinian ally Hamas, which launched a cross-border assault from the Gaza Strip into Israel on October 7, which was followed by heavy Israeli bombardment of Gaza from the land, air and sea. There are growing fears of another full-blown conflict between Israel and Hezbollah with tens of thousands displaced on both sides of the border and regional tensions soaring. Cross-border attacks have killed at least 200 people in Lebanon, including more than 170 Hezbollah fighters, as well as 10 Israeli soldiers and five Israeli civilians. Adblock test (Why?)
Prabowo Subianto claims victory in Indonesian presidential election
Sample counts show defence minister winning about 58 percent of the vote in first round of presidential election. Indonesian Defence Minister Prabowo Subianto has declared victory in the presidential election after unofficial vote counts showed him with a significant lead ahead of his rivals. The 72-year-old former special forces commander, who had run for president twice before, had about 58 percent of the votes, according to four pollsters, based on “quick count” ballots at samples of voting stations nationwide. The number of ballots tallied ranged from about 86 to 95 percent as of 14:00 GMT on Wednesday. Rivals Anies Baswedan and Ganjar Pranowo trailed with about 25 percent and 17 percent, respectively, according to the independent pollsters conducting the counts, which have provided an accurate picture of the results of previous presidential elections held in the country since it began direct voting in 2004. A preliminary count by the election commission was far slower and showed Prabowo securing 57.7 percent of votes, with about 6 percent of ballots recorded. Prabowo addressed his supporters after announcing his success and said he was “grateful” for the quick results. “We should not be arrogant, we should not be proud, we should not be euphoric, we still have to be humble, this victory must be a victory for all Indonesian people,” he said in a speech broadcast on national television. Ganjar and Anies urged the public to await the official result, which is expected by March 20 at the latest. Their campaign teams said they were investigating reports of electoral violations, both calling it “structural, systematic and massive fraud” without providing evidence to back up their claim. To win in a single round, a candidate needs more than 50 percent of votes cast and at least 20 percent of the ballot in half of the country’s provinces. If no candidate wins a majority, a run-off between the top two finishers will be held in June. The election pitted the two popular former governors against the pre-election frontrunner, Prabowo, who crucially had the backing of the popular incumbent Joko Widodo. Widodo bet on Prabowo as a continuity candidate to preserve his legacy, including a role for his son Gibran Rakabuming Raka as the defence minister’s running mate. Now, his successor will inherit an economy with impressive growth and ambitious infrastructure projects, including transferring capital from Jakarta to the island of Borneo. Indonesian presidential candidate Prabowo Subianto (L) addresses supporters next to vice presidential candidate Gibran Rakabuming Raka [Bay Ismoyo/AFP] However, some critics have accused Widodo of trying to build a political dynasty despite him being the first president to emerge from outside the political and military elite since the 1998 end of the dictatorial rule of Suharto, whom Prabowo served as military commander for. Prabowo was discharged as commander of the army’s special forces, called Kopassus, in 1998 after claims that the group kidnapped and tortured political opponents of the former dictator. Ian Wilison, a senior political lecturer at Murdoch University’s Indo-Pacific Research Centre in Australia, told Al Jazeera that the former commander changed his approach during this election. “He targeted a younger demographic by remaking his image through cartoon figures, as a cuddly uncle, casting a kind of a doubt over his human rights record, which for a younger generation is sort of an ancient history for the most part,” he said. Adblock test (Why?)
Addis summit raises questions about AU’s muted stance on Ethiopia rifts
From Thursday, African leaders will gather in the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa, home of the African Union (AU), for the continental body’s annual summit. According to AU Commission Chairperson Moussa Faki Mahamat, regional integration and “maintaining momentum in addressing issues of peace and security” is high on the agenda. But in an ironic twist, the host of the summit has either initiated or been involved in multiple conflicts in the last three years. Ethiopia’s two-year civil war with the state of Tigray may have ended in November 2022 after a Pretoria pact, but federal troops are currently upping drone strikes against rebels known as Fano militia in the state of Amhara, next door to Tigray. This week, the Ethiopian Human Rights Council said “at least 45 civilians” had been killed by federal troops in Amhara. Within the Horn of Africa, Addis Ababa’s relations with neighbouring Mogadishu are frosty after Abiy Ahmed’s government announced a port deal this January with the autonomous region of Somaliland in return for recognition of its statehood – a development that has immensely angered Somalia. Last month, Mahamat addressed a presummit session of the AU’s Permanent Representative’s Committee, stressing the importance of continent-wide solidarity and unity, citing conflicts in Sudan and Chad. He also called for a humanitarian ceasefire to end the war in Gaza. But there was no mention of Ethiopia. For years, AU officials have refrained from addressing atrocities in their host nation, maintaining a somewhat passive stance – or even supporting it. Two months after Prime Minister Abiy sent troops into Tigray in 2020 – the advent of a war some researchers are now calling the deadliest of the 21st century due to an estimated 600,000 civilian deaths – Mahamat seemingly applauded the deployment, describing it as a bold step “to preserve the unity, stability, and respect for the constitutional order of the country”. The comments came shortly after the AU dismissed a Tigrayan serving the bloc as a security adviser, acquiescing to a request by Abiy’s government that he be fired for “disloyalty to the country”. Nearly a year later, in a post it deleted and apologised for, the AU’s official X account (then Twitter) slammed the United States for urging the warring factions to consider dialogue. “We’ve documented lots of massacres and worked to inform the outside world about such events,” explains Jan Nyssen, a geographer at Ghent University who led its research into the war’s casualties. “But the reaction of the African Union was very weak. The only [African leader] to express concern was Rwanda’s President Paul Kagame who had asked the international community to prioritise the Tigray war in early 2021.” No scrutiny Formally established in 2002, the AU’s precursor, the Organisation for African Unity (OAU) was founded in Addis Ababa in 1963 to lobby for the independence of African states from European colonial powers – and economic empowerment. Ethiopia had long been identified as a home for Pan-Africanism, as the only African country to have fended off European colonisation, militarily. The OAU’s founders, Ethiopian Emperor Haile Selassie and Ghana’s President Kwame Nkrumah are widely credited as visionaries for an integrated Africa, and statues commemorating both men are outside the AU’s Chinese-built headquarters in Addis Ababa today. Their ideals were passed onto the AU when it launched in the 2000s, with the added objective of fostering democracy. But the body has been frequently criticised for propping up ageing dictators, often at the expense of the civil liberties of millions of young Africans. Indeed, Ethiopia, enshrined in African history for its 19th-century battlefield victories over invading Italy, its role in the OAU’s establishment, and key diplomatic influence on the continent, has rarely come under scrutiny of any kind from the AU. This, despite a history of domestic turmoil: for example mass arrests of street hawkers and the homeless in Addis Ababa, to keep out of view of visiting dignitaries and release after their departure, has gone unnoticed. In the hotly contested 2005 elections, then-Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi declared victory for his Ethiopian People’s Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF) party amid opposition complaints of vote rigging. Despite allegations of fraud and killings of opposition demonstrators, AU observers declared the election results valid, much to the chagrin of observers from the European Union and human rights researchers. In 2016, following a year of antigovernment demonstrations and police killings of hundreds of unarmed protesters in the Oromia and Amhara regions, home to two-thirds of the country’s 119 million people, the then AU Chairperson Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma issued a muted call for restraint while shying away from condemning the violence. Strategic alignment Indeed Ethiopia has often gotten a pass from the international community despite several human rights violations and questionable foreign policies. In the post-9/11 counterinsurgency era, Ethiopia gained influence as a strategic partner to the US and some analysts say that may have contributed to a reluctance within and outside the continent to confront Addis Ababa on domestic matters. It was one of only two African countries to support US President George W Bush’s 2003 invasion of Iraq. The US returned the favour a few years later, offering air support for Ethiopia’s 2006 military incursion into neighbouring Somalia to eliminate rebels of the Islamic Courts Union. Reports of war crimes by Ethiopian troops in Somalia resulted in no diplomatic repercussions: instead, within a few years, the US was operating a drone base from Ethiopia for counterinsurgency operations against Somalia-based al-Qaeda affiliate al-Shabab; in 2013, reports emerged that the United Kingdom was funding an Ethiopian paramilitary force, despite its implication in war crimes in Ethiopia’s Somali region. In 2015, US President Barack Obama visited the country and praised its democratic process, which helped the governing party win 100 percent of contested seats in elections marred by irregularities that year. Proximity to China enhanced Ethiopia’s infrastructural development and led to its emergence as one of the world’s fastest-growing economies. That, its strategic alignment with the West on security issues, and its status as a leading
The toddler amputees of Israel’s war on Gaza – Hoor Nusseir
Hoor Nusseir has lost her parents, brothers and her hands in an Israeli bombing on Deir el-Balah. Deir el-Balah, Gaza – Little Hoor Nusseir, with her fearful, bewildered eyes, sits on a bed at Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital, looking around. She is being treated after she was the sole survivor rescued from beneath the rubble of her family’s home. Her family, including her father, mother, and three brothers, were killed when an Israeli bomb landed near their home in Deir el-Balah on January 27. Hoor is only a year and a half old, and she has a lot to recover from, as her tragedy extends beyond losing her family. Doctors have had to amputate her left hand entirely and the fingers of her right hand. She also has a lot of wounds to her head and legs. She has started crying and trembling as she looks at the people gathered around her and her aunt, Fatima Nusseir, tries to comfort her. “She’s in severe shock and is afraid of unfamiliar faces,” Fatima tells Al Jazeera. The 24-year-old has been staying with Hoor in the hospital to take care of her as she is being treated. “Hoor cries for her mother all night long. She says a lot of things I can’t understand, but I do understand when she says: ‘Mama! Mama!’” Fatima says tearfully. Doctors had to amputate Hoor’s left hand entirely, and the fingers on her right hand. She also has numerous injuries to her legs and head [Abdelhakim Abu Riash/Al Jazeera] “I take care of her all day, but nobody can replace her mother and father. My heart aches with grief for her.” The doctors at Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital say Hoor needs additional surgeries and treatment, some of which cannot be found in Gaza, so she may need to travel to, among other things, be fitted for a prosthetic limb to replace her missing hand. “What she’s endured is unbearable for any adult, let alone a child,” Fatima says. It is hard to distract or console the child, given the nature of her injuries. “Hoor can’t grab a toy, because of her amputations,” her aunt explains, trying to find a way to distract her. “Losing a hand at her tender age, along with her family, especially her mother, is devastating.” Hoor used to be a cheerful, sociable toddler, Fatima says. But now, her mental health has suffered a great deal and she has a hard time with the presence of others around her. She cries almost incessantly, and it is difficult to calm her. “Hoor wasn’t weaned yet, so she relied on her mother even more. “Why should this child suffer such a loss when she needs her parents desperately?” Fatima lamented. Fatima has spent weeks in the hospital with Hoor [Abdelhakim Abu Riash/Al Jazeera] Adblock test (Why?)
Israel’s unrelenting war on Gaza healthcare requires urgent action
In late December, South Africa filed a landmark case at the International Court of Justice alleging that Israel has committed multiple “genocidal acts” against Palestinians in Gaza, including an “assault on Gaza’s healthcare system, which renders life unsustainable”. Destruction of a healthcare system is indeed an act of genocide – especially in a besieged territory where over two million displaced, desperate, starving people are facing relentless, indiscriminate bombardment and sniper fire. Once the health system is destroyed, injuries cannot be treated, primary care cannot be delivered, and famine cannot be managed – in other words, life cannot be sustained. While the ICJ will likely take some years to issue a final verdict on the case against Israel, it should be clear to anyone paying any attention to the situation of healthcare in Gaza that the Strip is on a scandalous pathway to complete ethnic cleansing. Since October 7, Israeli forces have been blocking the entry of essential medical supplies and medicines to the Strip, bombing hospitals and other medical facilities, killing and kidnapping healthcare staff, and targeting ambulances. Even Gaza’s sole paediatric cancer ward has been attacked and destroyed by the Israeli military. It is difficult to see these sustained, deliberate attacks on healthcare in Gaza as anything other than an ethnic cleansing strategy aimed at creating a major health crisis that would kill thousands of Palestinians and deem the territory uninhabitable for the survivors. Since the beginning of its latest war on Gaza, Israel conducted more than 400 attacks on healthcare facilities in the Strip, including on every single one of its hospitals, leaving the majority non-functional. As of February 13, only 11 out of 36 hospitals in Gaza are partially functioning – five in the north and six in the south. According to the WHO, hospital bed capacity across all of Gaza has now been reduced from 3,500 to just 1,400. In many cases, the Israeli authorities tried to justify these attacks by claiming, without providing any independent, conclusive evidence, that hospitals are being used by Hamas, or that there are “Hamas command centres” under them. At this point in the conflict, the few partially functioning hospitals are only able to deliver desperately needed trauma care and there is no treatment for other critical primary care needs, such as chronic illnesses. In addition to attacks on health facilities, we know of 374 health workers that have already been killed, some in targeted assassinations. By late December, the number of health workers killed in Gaza had already exceeded the total number of all health worker deaths recorded across all other conflicts globally last year, and in any single year since 2016. Many health workers have also been kidnapped, including Dr Muhammad Abu Salmiya, the director of Gaza’s largest hospital, al-Shifa, who remains missing. Ambulances have also faced attacks in Gaza, with about 120 of them completely destroyed. There have been many incidents in which ambulances have been prevented from reaching critically injured patients. In one case, an Al Jazeera journalist injured from Israeli bombardment bled to death after the ambulance trying to reach him came under fire. In another, Israeli forces bombed the Palestine Red Crescent ambulance trying to rescue a six-year-old child trapped in a car with the dead bodies of her family members, killing the two paramedics onboard. Later, it was revealed that Israeli forces also killed the child they tried to rescue. Antenatal and maternity care across the territory – care that is crucial for the long-term survival of the Palestinian population in Gaza – is also extremely limited. It is estimated that 183 women give birth in Gaza every day, but access to care for a safe pregnancy is dependent on reaching a facility still able to deliver antenatal care. Few women are able to do so and those facilities that still offer care for pregnant women are hugely overcrowded and subject to conditions described as catastrophic – lacking basic hygiene necessities, fuel, water, anaesthetics, drugs, blood products, and other supplies. With no fully functioning maternal hospitals, many women are forced to give birth in one of the few healthcare facilities that are still partly operational. However these are not geared for maternal care, and the risk of complications is very high for all mothers and babies. In November 2023, al-Hilo Hospital, which was serving as a designated maternity hospital after the collapse of all other specialist facilities, was shelled by Israeli forces. A Palestinian doctor then reported that “[f]ear is the common condition of every pregnant woman” in Gaza. The looming famine in Gaza – caused by the near complete siege imposed on the territory by Israel since the beginning of the war – is also posing a threat to pregnant women. Today, half of all pregnant women in Gaza are suffering from anaemia and at least 50,000 pregnant women are facing extreme hunger, affecting not just the current generation of people living in Gaza, but the next. There are reports of an increased number of miscarriages, too. Health workers in Gaza are working under immense stress and hardship, having to carry out amputations, c-sections and other procedures without anaesthesia, electricity, and most basic medical supplies. UN experts have framed the war on the Gaza health system as one that has resulted in the complete obliteration of healthcare infrastructure. Presented with evidence for all this and more, on January 26, the ICJ issued a preliminary ruling in the genocide case against Israel, explaining that it has seen sufficient evidence of dispute for the case to proceed, and ordering Israel to take action to prevent acts of genocide in Gaza and provide humanitarian aid to Palestinians. And yet, despite the ICJ’s provisional order, Israel’s military assault on the health system has continued unabated. In fact, the attacks on remaining healthcare facilities in Gaza intensified significantly in the past few weeks. On January 27, just one day after the ICJ announced its provisional orders, Doctors Without Borders (Medecins Sans Frontieres, or MSF) announced that “amid
Turkey rescuers battle to save workers trapped in landslide-hit gold mine
Disaster highlights country’s poor safety record, as previous calls to shut down Copler mine went unheeded. Turkey is under pressure to shut down a gold mine buried by a massive landslide, as hundreds of rescuers battle to save at least nine trapped workers. The Union of Chambers of Turkish Engineers and Architects said on Wednesday that the government should close the Copler mine in the eastern town of Ilic “immediately”. The union said its past warnings about a looming disaster had gone unheeded. “All those responsible for the disaster should be held accountable before the judiciary,” it said in a statement. “All environmental impact reports should be cancelled and the plant should be closed immediately.” Rescuers were deployed to search through cyanide-saturated soil to save the workers, trapped when 10 million cubic metres of sludge rolled over their open pit on Tuesday. Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya said on Wednesday that some 1,700 search and rescue personnel, including police and military teams, mine rescuers and volunteers, were deployed to find the mine workers. Of the nine missing, five people were believed to be in a container hut, three in a vehicle and one in a truck, he said at the disaster site. Relatives of missing miners arrive after a landslide hit a gold mine operated by Anagold Mining in the Ilic district of Erzincan province, Turkey, January 14, 2024 [Ugur Yildirim via Getty Images] An investigation has been launched and the authorities said on Wednesday that four people, including the pit’s field manager, had been arrested. The mine is run by private company Anagold, which has been extracting gold in the region since 2010. Eighty percent of Anagold is owned by SSR Mining, which is based in Denver in the United States, and Turkey-based Lidya Madencilik and Calik Holding. The mine produced 56,768 ounces (1,609kg) of gold in the third quarter of last year and is SSR’s second-largest producing gold mine. Cyanide Rescuers have been searching through a cyanide-laced field in the area, located in Turkey’s mountainous Erzincan province, to find the workers. Environmentalists fear that cyanide and sulphuric acid used in the gold extraction process could spread into the Euphrates River, which runs from Turkey to neighbouring Syria and Iraq. The Ministry of Environment, Urbanisation and Climate Change said in a statement that a stream leading to the Euphrates was closed to prevent water pollution. Erzincan Governor Hamza Aydogdu said there was no leakage into the waterway. But the Ilic Nature and Environment Platform, a local pressure group, said the stream had already mixed with the Euphrates. “Don’t seal off [the stream], seal off the mine,” the group said. Poor safety record The mine was closed down in 2020 following a cyanide leak caused by a burst pipe into the river. It reopened two years later after the company was fined and a cleanup operation was completed. A Turkish court then fined the company 16.5 million Turkish lire ($537,000 at the current exchange rate). But local efforts to shut it down failed. Turkey has a poor mine safety record. In 2022, an explosion at the Amasra coal mine on the Black Sea coast killed 41 workers. The country’s worst mining disaster took place in 2014 at a coal mine in Soma, western Turkey, where 301 people were killed. In the wake of those incidents, engineers warned that safety risks were frequently ignored and inspections not adequately carried out. Adblock test (Why?)