Russia-Ukraine war: List of key events, day 665
As the war enters its 665th day, these are the main developments. Here is the situation on Wednesday, December 20, 2023. Fighting Ukraine’s military said Russia launched its fifth air attack this month on the capital, with air defence systems destroying all weapons on their approach to Kyiv. “According to preliminary information, there were no casualties or destruction in the capital,” Serhiy Popko, the head of Kyiv’s military administration, said on the Telegram messaging app. Russia’s Defence Ministry said it brought down a Ukrainian drone near the capital that led to restrictions on flights at Moscow’s main airports. No casualties were reported. Ukraine said its military was holding the line in the eastern Kharkiv region, despite being outgunned by Russian forces trying to take control of the town of Kupiansk. “The situation is complicated. We have to fight in conditions of superiority of the enemy both in weapons and in the number of personnel,” said Oleksandr Syrsky, the head of Ukraine’s ground forces. Russia’s Defence Ministry said it had repelled eight Ukrainian attacks around Kupiansk with artillery. Firefighters working at an apartment block in the Russian-occupied part of Ukraine’s Donetsk after the building was hit by shelling [AFP] Politics and diplomacy Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said the military had asked for the mobilisation of 500,000 more people in the fight to remove Russian forces from its territory and urged the United States and Kyiv’s other Western allies to maintain their support for his country. He said he also hoped prisoner swaps, which he said had been delayed as a result of unspecified “reasons” on the Russian side, would soon resume. The last exchange took place in early August. Russian President Vladimir Putin told defence and military chiefs that Moscow had the momentum in its war in Ukraine and was well-positioned to reach its goals, claiming that attempts to defeat it had failed. Putin also said Moscow was upgrading its nuclear arsenal and maintaining the military at its highest level of readiness. Italy’s cabinet passed a decree allowing it to supply “means, materials and equipment” to Ukraine in its fight against Russia until the end of 2024. Supplies will include not only weapons but also power generators and “everything needed to support military operations in defence of unarmed civilians”, a Defence Ministry statement said. Volker Turk, the United Nations’s human rights chief, said there were indications Russia had committed war crimes in Ukraine, including 142 cases of “summary executions” of civilians as well we enforced disappearances, torture and ill-treatment such as sexual violence against detainees. A court in Poland convicted 14 citizens of Russia, Belarus and Ukraine for being part of a spy ring preparing acts of sabotage on behalf of Moscow. They were given jail terms ranging from 13 months to six years. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy told the media the military was asking for the mobilisation of 500,000 more troops [Efrem Lukatsky/AP Photo] A former Russian soldier sought asylum in the Netherlands and said he wanted to testify at the International Criminal Court (ICC) about Russian war crimes he witnessed while fighting in Ukraine. A Dutch legal source told the Reuters news agency the man had been a member of Russian-backed separatist forces in eastern Ukraine since 2014 and had also worked as an instructor for the Wagner mercenary group there. Chuck Schumer, the majority leader in the US Senate, said the upper house aimed to pass an agreement to provide additional aid to Ukraine and bolster US border security as soon as it returns to Washington, DC in January after the Christmas and New Year holidays. Weapons Sergei Shoigu, Russia’s defence minister, said that since the country began its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, it had increased production of tanks by 5.6 times, drones by 16.8 times and artillery shells by 17.5 times. Speaking during Putin’s meeting with military chiefs, Shoigu said Russian forces had also laid 7,000sq km (2,703 square miles) of minefields in Ukraine – some of them as much as 600 metres (1,969 feet) wide – along with 1.5 million anti-tank barriers and 2,000km (1,243 miles) of anti-tank ditches. Zelenskyy said Ukraine planned to manufacture some 1 million drones next year for use on the battlefield. Ukraine and Russia use drones to scope out enemy positions, drop explosives and launch attacks on the enemy. Russian President Vladimir Putin (left) and Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu talked optimistically about Moscow’s chances of achieving its goals in Ukraine [Mikhail Klimentyev/Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photo via AP] The US charged Hossein Hatefi Ardakani, an Iranian, and Gary Lam, a Chinese national, with allegedly supplying dual-use US-manufactured microelectronics to Iran’s drone programme. “These very components have been found in use by Iran’s allies in current conflicts, including in Ukraine,” special agent Michael Krol said. Both men remain at large. The US Treasury Department, meanwhile, announced that it was imposing sanctions on a network of 10 Ardakani-linked entities as well as four individuals based in Iran, Malaysia, Hong Kong and Indonesia, for circumventing export bans to procure US components for Iranian-made attack drones. Adblock test (Why?)
Israel bombs charity building in Gaza’s Jabalia refugee camp
NewsFeed This is the aftermath of an Israeli air strike on the Al Salam Charitable Society building in northern Gaza’s Jabalia refugee camp, which killed and injured dozens of Palestinians. Civilians are searching under the rubble for survivors. Published On 20 Dec 202320 Dec 2023 Adblock test (Why?)
Aerial video shows volcano erupting in Iceland
NewsFeed A volcano in Iceland has started erupting after weeks of earthquake activity that forced the evacuation of a nearby town as a precaution. Published On 19 Dec 202319 Dec 2023 Adblock test (Why?)
Forget Australia’s referendum. Indigenous people make strides on their own
Shepparton, Australia – Brad Boon gestures towards the towering mural, one of many that dot the small rural town of Shepparton in Australia’s southeastern state of Victoria. The faces of Indigenous heroes William Cooper and Sir Douglas Nicholls stare defiantly across the smattering of shops under the glare of the midday Australian sun. Despite the onslaught of British colonisation and discrimination, Sir Douglas became the first Aboriginal person to be knighted and was made the governor of South Australia; he was also a talented Australian Rules football player. Cooper, meanwhile, long campaigned for Aboriginal rights and is also recognised for protesting against the Nazi regime, seeing correlations between Indigenous peoples’ treatment in Australia and that of the Jewish people under Nazi Germany. Both Cooper and Nicholls came from the Indigenous Yorta Yorta nation – the traditional area surrounding Shepparton. That their faces – along with other Indigenous heroes – are emblazoned on the walls around the town are testament not only to the Yorta Yorta peoples’ survival and resistance to brutal colonisation but also to their enduring legacy. Despite their long history of resistance and activism, however, the Yorta Yorta people are still fighting for their rights in 2023. Brad Boon has lived in Shepparton for 17 years and is proud of the success the local community has had, including the new netball courts at the Indigenous-run Rumbalara Football and Netball Club [Ali MC/Al Jazeera] In October, Australia held a referendum to decide whether to establish a constitutionally enshrined Indigenous “Voice to Parliament“. The proposal was to establish an advisory council in the federal government to advise on matters concerning Indigenous peoples and address the continued inequalities they face in Australia. Despite fierce advocacy from its supporters, the proposal was rejected. In Shepparton, the no vote resounded even louder. More than 76.2 percent of the population voted against the voice – far higher than the national average of 60.62 percent. It was a disappointment to many of the Yorta Yorta who make up one of the largest populations of Indigenous peoples in the state. While living in Shepparton for 17 years, Boon is originally from the Kurnai nation in southeast Victoria. However, he has a Yorta Yorta partner, has worked in the town’s Indigenous legal services and is a former player and now volunteer in the local Indigenous-run Rumbalara Football and Netball Club. The referendum was notable not only for the resounding defeat but also for the racism and negativity that typified the debate. Inside a replica of the houses built for the Yorta Yorta to replace the tin and hessian huts they’d been forced to live in on the Mooroopna Flats. On the table is a historical advertisement urging voters to ‘Keep Australia White’ [Ali MC /Al Jazeera] Well-known local Indigenous rapper Briggs – Brad Boon’s brother-in-law – was a strong advocate of the Voice to Parliament, even holding a free concert in Shepparton to gain more voter support. Despite the loss, Boon says there are many positive Indigenous-led outcomes in small towns like Shepparton that are rarely touted in the media or recognised in politics. “At the minute we’re just seeing bad stuff – domestic violence, sexual abuse, all the stuff that they want to get people up in arms about,” he said. “But they’re not talking about the good that’s happening around the state. And that’s what I think we need to do more of.” Pushed into slums Shepparton is a small town nestled in a riverine floodplain, just two hours north of Melbourne. Surrounded by fragrant gum trees, undulating native bush and once-flourishing river systems, the region has been home to the Yorta Yorta for tens of thousands of years and maintains a rich cultural history still present in the local community. Early colonialists established sheep farming in the region, forcing the Yorta Yorta first into a settlement called Cummeragunja in the 1880s and then into slum housing on the banks of the Goulburn River in 1939. Bushland around the Rumbalara Aboriginal Co-operative [Ali MC/Al Jazeera] The Yorta Yorta lived in huts made from tin and hessian sacks in an area subject to flooding, which was known as the Mooroopna Flats. Leaders – including Cooper and Nicholls – campaigned for better conditions at a time when Indigenous people across the nation were denied equal wages and were subject to punitive legislation that allowed for the removal of their children into white institutions, known as the Stolen Generations. In Victoria, the effects of colonisation were even more severe than in the rest of the country. At least 50 massacres are estimated to have occurred, with some killing up to 200 Indigenous peoples in what is often referred to by Indigenous scholars as a genocide. It is a history that underpins both the struggle and success the community has made since the days of Cooper and Nicholls, but racism still runs deep in the small town. Heidi Knowles says she regularly experiences racism, especially if she wears a T-shirt featuring an Aboriginal flag. She says shopkeepers assume she is going to steal something, perpetuating a stereotype of Indigenous people as criminals. “I might get followed around the supermarket and it makes me feel uncomfortable. Don’t get me wrong,” she said. “But I’ve got nothing to hide.” Knowles is proud of being an Indigenous woman. “I wear my Koori [Indigenous] top with pride and you will see me [in it] every single day,” she told Al Jazeera. Heidi Knowles is a Yorta Yorta woman who is the manager of operations and student success at the local Academy of Sport, Health and Education [Ali MC] The 39-year-old mother works as the manager of operations and student success at the local Academy of Sport, Health and Education (ASHE), a high achievement centre for predominantly Indigenous young people. She says that such a centre is vital for Indigenous students who may experience racism and discrimination at their local school or who simply do not fit into the mainstream education system. “Our
Over 100 killed and hundreds injured in China earthquake
NewsFeed An earthquake in northwest China has killed at least 118 people and left hundreds of others injured. Published On 19 Dec 202319 Dec 2023 Adblock test (Why?)
UN Security Council agrees to early withdrawal of DR Congo peacekeepers
Congolese authorities have long accused UN forces of failing to protect civilians from armed groups in the eastern DRC. The United Nations Security Council has voted unanimously in favour of gradually phasing out its peacekeeping operations known as MONUSCO in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The 15-member body voted on Tuesday to draw down peacekeeping forces in the Central African nation about a year earlier than originally scheduled despite continued concerns over violence. The decision was made as the DRC prepares for presidential and parliamentary elections on Wednesday, in which poverty and widespread insecurity are expected to be key issues for voters. Numerous armed groups, including the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF) and M23, are active in provinces such as North Kivu, South Kivu and Ituri in the eastern DRC, where civilians face violence and displacement. Despite concerns over security, Congolese authorities have persistently called for the UN to scale down its presence in the country, saying it has failed to protect civilians from armed groups. DRC President Felix Tshisekedi, who is running for re-election, said in remarks at the UN General Assembly in September that he had called on his government to accelerate the withdrawal of MONUSCO’s 14,000 soldiers so it would commence by the end of the year. UN forces operating in other African nations have faced similar criticism. In June, the UN voted to end a decade-old peacekeeping mission in Mali after calls to do so from the country’s military government. Wednesday’s elections are seen as a crucial test for democracy in the DRC, where only one peaceful transition of power has occurred in 63 years. Tshisekedi won the December 2018 presidential election, which was tainted by allegations of voting irregularities, and voters have expressed concerns that Wednesday’s vote could face similar issues or even an outbreak of violence. Adblock test (Why?)
AJ+ wins prestigious Emmy Award in Los Angeles
Eat This with Yara has been named Outstanding Lifestyle Program at the 50th Annual Daytime Emmy Awards. Los Angeles – The AJ+ show, Eat This with Yara, has won “Outstanding Lifestyle Program” at the 50th Annual Daytime Emmy Awards in Los Angeles. Launched in 2018 by senior producer and host Yara Elmjouie, Eat This with Yara is a short documentary programme exploring the intersection of food and society. The winning episode from the series is called, The Awful Truth About ‘No Trespassing’ Signs. With the help of TikTok star and expert forager Alexis Nikole Nelson – also known as “The Black Forager” – it tells the story of trespass laws which spread rapidly through the US following the abolition of slavery, in order to target newly freed Black Americans. It is the first AJ+ programme to win a national Emmy Award and was up against competition from Netflix, NBC and Magnolia Network at the ceremony on Saturday, December 16. Elmjouie accepted the award alongside his former co-producer Adrienne Blaine, who has since left AJ+, and executive producer Shadi Rahimi. In his acceptance speech, Elmjouie called for the world’s attention to focus on the humanitarian catastrophe unfolding in Gaza, on which Israel launched a war on October 7, and condemned the killing of his colleague, Al Jazeera Arabic cameraman Samer Abudaqa, who died during an Israeli drone attack on December 14, two days before the awards ceremony. Elmjouie also mentioned Al Jazeera Arabic’s Gaza bureau chief, Wael Dahdouh, who was injured in the same Israeli attack, as well as the late Al Jazeera Arabic correspondent, Shireen Abu Akleh, who was killed by Israeli snipers in 2022. Yara Elmjouie holds his award after the Los Angeles Emmy Awards ceremony on December 16 [Al Jazeera] While on stage, executive producer Shadi Rahimi displayed a henna tattoo on her palms that read “Save Gaza”. She also briefly held up a sign near the end of Elmjouie’s speech which read: “Killing Journalists Is A War Crime.” Following the ceremony, clips of Elmjouie’s speech have been shared widely on TikTok and Instagram. The winning episode of Eat This with Yara can be viewed on YouTube, Instagram and Facebook, but short viral clips of it have also been published on X, TikTok and Instagram Reels. In past years, Eat This with Yara has won a James Beard Award, two Webby Awards, and an award from the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS). Adblock test (Why?)
Israel signals readiness for new temporary truce in Gaza as pressure mounts
Hamas says it will not enter negotations over releasing captives until Israel ends its war on Gaza. Israeli President Isaac Herzog has said his country is willing to agree a new temporary truce with Hamas in Gaza to secure the release of more captives held by the Palestinian group. “Israel is ready for another humanitarian pause and additional humanitarian aid in order to enable the release of hostages,” Herzog told a gathering of ambassadors on Tuesday. The comments come amid growing international pressure on Israel to pause its assault on Gaza and to allow more humanitarian aid into the besieged territory. A previous Israel-Hamas agreement mediated by Qatar and Egypt led to a week-long truce at the end of November during which Hamas released 86 women and children it was holding in exchange for 240 Palestinian women and teenagers held in Israeli jails. Hamas also released 24 foreign nationals during the pause in fighting. Qatar’s Prime Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani, who also serves as the Gulf state’s foreign minister, Mossad Director David Barnea and CIA Director Bill Burns held talks in Poland on Monday to discuss a potential new deal to secure the release of hostages in exchange for Palestinians in Israeli prisons and a humanitarian pause in the fighting. “The talks were positive with negotiators exploring and discussing different proposals in an attempt to progress on negotiations,” a source briefed on the diplomatic efforts told the Reuters news agency. “An agreement is not expected imminently, however.” Hamas said in a statement on Tuesday that it rejects any forms of negotiations about prisoner exchanges “under the continuing Israeli genocidal war.” The Palestinian group said it is open to any initiative that contributes to “ending the aggression” and opening border crossings “to bring in aid and provide relief to the Palestinian people.” Al Jazeera’s Bernard Smith said the statements from Herzog and Hamas on Tuesday indicate some progression towards a potential truce. “The question will be whether it is just that, a pause – a humanitarian pause – as the Israelis would call it, or a full ceasefire,” Smith said, reporting from Tel Aviv. The war has flattened large parts of northern Gaza and driven most of the population to the southern part of the besieged territory, where many are in crowded shelters and tent camps. Some 1.9 million Palestinians – about 90 percent of Gaza’s population – have fled their homes. At least 19,667 people, mostly women and children, have been killed in the Israeli assault on Gaza since, according to Palestinian health authorities. Israel launched the assault on Gaza after Hamas fighters from the territory stormed into southern Israel on October 7, killing about 1,200 people and taking about 240 others hostage, according to Israeli officials. Israel is facing growing international pressure to scale back its offensive as the civilian death toll in Gaza continues to soar. France, the United Kingdom and Germany on Sunday added their voices to calls for a ceasefire, while US President Joe Biden last week called the bombing “indiscriminate”. The United Nations Security Council (UNSC) is expected to vote later on Tuesday on a resolution calling for a halt to the fighting in Gaza. Earlier, the head of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) said the war in Gaza is a “moral failure” of the international community, calling on Israel and Hamas to reach a new truce to halt the fighting. “I have been speaking of moral failure because every day this continues is a day more where the international community hasn’t proven capable of ending such high levels of suffering and this will have an impact on generations not only in Gaza,” ICRC president Mirjana Spoljaric told journalists in Geneva following trips to the Gaza Strip and Israel. Adblock test (Why?)
Can the US-led maritime force stop Yemen’s Houthi attacks during Gaza war?
The United States has announced the establishment of a new multinational maritime security force in response to attacks on ships launched by Iran-aligned Houthi rebels in Yemen. The initiative is aimed at ensuring ships can pass through busy waterways near Yemen safely as the Houthis have been targeting vessels in protest of Israel’s war on Gaza, which has killed more than 19,000 Palestinians. But what will the task force do, how will it work and how effective could it be? What is the new force? US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin announced the establishment of a 10-country force on Tuesday in Bahrain. In addition to the Arab nation, the United Kingdom, Canada, France, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, the Seychelles and Spain have agreed to join Washington in the new mission. Some of the countries are expected to conduct joint patrols in the southern parts of the Red Sea, the Bab al-Mandab Strait and the Gulf of Aden while others will support the force by providing intelligence. The mission will be coordinated by Combined Task Force 153 (CTF 153), an existing force under a US-led joint effort established in April 2022 with the aim of improving maritime security in the area. The existing framework has 39 member nations, and there are reports that other countries could join or have already agreed to join the newly formed 10-member maritime effort but don’t want it publicised. The Houthis have promised to stand up to any US-led efforts and only stop their attacks once Israel stops its war in Gaza. They have signalled they are open to talks, but diplomacy has so far failed to stop their attacks. For its part, Iran has warned Washington that its joint maritime effort will face “extraordinary problems”. [embedded content] How disruptive are the Houthi attacks? The Houthi group, also known as Ansarallah, started its operations against Israel by launching missiles and drones on the southern parts of Israel, including the port and tourist city of Eilat, in October soon after the war started. Most of the projectiles were intercepted by Israeli and US defences or fell short due to the roughly 2,000km (1,240-mile) distance between the two countries. So the Houthis changed tactics, instead focusing on ships near their shores. They have since been firing missiles and launching attack drones at commercial ships that they claim are linked to Israel and seized a vessel last month that they are still holding in a Yemeni port. Their attacks have stopped many ships from making their way to Israel. At least 12 shipping companies have suspended transit through the Red Sea due to these safety concerns. They include some of the largest in the world: Denmark’s AP Moller-Maersk, Germany’s Hapag-Lloyd, the Italian-Swiss Mediterranean Shipping Company and France’s CMA CGM. Is a new oil crisis brewing? Markets, including the oil and gas market, have increasingly reacted to the attacks, especially considering the volume of cargo being redirected. For instance, Maersk and Hapag-Lloyd together operate almost a quarter of the world’s shipping fleet. Bab al-Mandab, the narrow waterway that separates Eritrea and Djibouti on the Horn of Africa from Yemen on the Arabian Peninsula, is where 10 percent of the world’s seaborne crude oil travels. More than 17,000 ships pass through it each year. It is less than 20km (12 miles) wide, far narrower than the more than 200km (124 miles) of the northern parts of the Red Sea. The direct impact on oil prices has been relatively limited so far, but experts have warned that things could significantly escalate if the attacks continue and security remains an issue. Insurance premiums and prices of oil and gas products are expected to rise if the conflict is not resolved. How will the task force provide protection to ships? Some of the member nations of the task force have warships in the Red Sea. Two US navy destroyers, the USS Carney and USS Mason, are sailing through the Bab al-Mandab Strait. The idea is for the warships to serve as a deterrent to Houthi attacks and to stop them when possible. The naval ships won’t necessarily escort commercial vessels through the Red Sea but will be on standby to respond to attacks. Will the task force be able to stop Houthi attacks? It’s complicated. Houthi fighters landed a helicopter on a ship last month to capture it. The presence of task force military vessels nearby could make a repeat of such a move harder. The task force’s warships could also strike down incoming missiles from Yemen, just as they have intercepted rockets headed towards Israel. But even Israel’s much-touted Iron Dome missile defence system doesn’t have a 100 percent track record of stopping incoming rockets. So far, the US has not fired back at Yemen. At this point, the markets appear unconvinced that the task force will be able to protect shipments through the Red Sea. On Tuesday, Maersk said it was rerouting its ships around Africa to avoid sending them through the Bab al-Mandab Strait. [embedded content] Adblock test (Why?)
‘We have a duty’: US doctor says ceasefire an ‘ethical imperative’ in Gaza
Of all the doctors and medical personnel killed in Gaza this year, Dr Osaid Alser estimates he knew half personally. Alser, a researcher and resident at the Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center in the United States, grew up in Gaza City, Palestine’s largest city. He started his medical career there, starting as a student and eventually becoming a teacher himself. But since the start of the war in Gaza on October 7, Alser has watched as Israeli bombs have rained down on his hometown and military forces have stormed into medical centres. The result has been the near collapse of Gaza’s healthcare system. Only 11 hospitals — a third of those in the enclave — remain operational, with dwindling amounts of fuel and medical supplies. Faced with the death and destruction in Gaza, Alser felt compelled to speak up. “We have a duty to say: Stop the war and ceasefire now,” he told Al Jazeera. To him, calling for a ceasefire was an ethical imperative, not a political statement. But not all healthcare providers feel the same way. Many feel an obligation to avoid commenting on conflicts, as part of a tradition that views medical workers as above the fray. However, the intensity of the war — and its particular toll on Gaza’s health system — have spurred some to ask: When do medical professionals have a responsibility to speak out? Palestinians inspect the damage following an Israeli raid at the Kamal Adwan Hospital in the northern Gaza Strip [Fadi Alwhidifa/Reuters] Debating ‘medical neutrality’ The debate erupted last month with a meeting of the American Medical Association (AMA), the largest professional organisation for physicians in the US. Its House of Delegates, which sets the organisation’s policies, declined to debate a resolution that would have called for a ceasefire in Gaza. According to the publication MedPage Today, some of the delegates felt the resolution would force them to decide whether the conflict in Gaza was a “’just war’ or ‘unjust war’”. That, they said, was not their role. The concept of so-called “medical neutrality” stretches back to a history of civilian involvement in battlefield medical care, with some volunteer nurses tending to the sick and wounded on both sides of a conflict. International law has since developed to protect the roles healthcare workers have in warfare, making it a war crime to intentionally attack medical personnel. But “medical neutrality” does not necessarily mean impartiality. And some medical ethicists point out that the scale of the Gaza conflict has raised dire questions. “The concern that a lot of people are having is that this is not business as usual,” Harold Braswell, an associate professor of healthcare ethics at Saint Louis University, told Al Jazeera. “Israel has dropped an enormous amount of bombs on a highly condensed civilian area in a very, very short period of time. And that has created a very, very urgent situation.” A unique circumstance Gaza, a narrow strip only 11km (7 miles) wide and 40km (25 miles) long, is home to 2.3 million people. Palestinian health authorities estimate that at least 19,453 people have been killed, two-thirds of them women and children. A further 1.9 million have been displaced, with tens of thousands living in the streets of Rafah after Israel ordered civilians to flee south. Humanitarian organisations have warned of healthcare workers being killed, as bombs drop on hospitals and ambulance convoys. Alser, the doctor in Texas, has taken it upon himself to sketch out the scale of the impact. He and his brother, also a doctor, launched an initiative last month to track the number of healthcare workers killed. So far, they have documented 278 killed since the start of the war. That includes 104 physicians, 87 nurses and 87 others working in various medical roles. “That includes a lot of my friends, my mentors, even my own medical students that I taught back in 2017, who went on to become doctors and have been killed,” Alser said. 6.12.2023 Update: IOF murdered 278 healthcare workers and kidnapped 41 just in the past 60 days.#NotATarget #Palestine #Gaza #Gaza_Genocide #WarCrimes #CeasefireNOW #WestBank #freedom #freepalestine #Palestine_Genocide #Gaza_Holocaust pic.twitter.com/kykaAaK6SX — Healthcare Workers Watch – Palestine (@HCWWatch) December 7, 2023 “We’ve been documenting the names of course, because they’re not just numbers, and we’re posting their stories from people we know and trust on the ground.” In addition, Israel has detained more than 40 health workers, including Dr Muhammad Abu Salmiya — the director of Gaza’s largest hospital, al-Shifa — and Alser’s former student, Dr Saleh Eleiwa. The rising numbers left Alser feeling no choice but to speak out. “I just felt like we absolutely have to talk about this,” he said. “So that’s really the motivation: Seeing our colleagues, friends, family being killed — doctors, professionals who just work in medicine [and] go home after they work for many, many hours and they get killed.” Rising calls for a ceasefire Alser is not alone. The American Public Health Association (APHA), the largest professional body for public health workers in the US, issued an appeal last month for an immediate ceasefire, amid pressure from its members. Healthcare labour unions and advocacy groups have likewise called for a ceasefire. And more than 100 faculty members at public health and medical schools signed a letter this month urging the US government to support a ceasefire. US President Joe Biden has thus far avoided pressing for a ceasefire, citing Israel’s right to “defend itself” after the Hamas attack on October 7. But members of the medical community are divided over how much pressure to place on Israel and whether its acts of war have reached a threshold that demands a unified ethical stance. Much of that division has centred on whether the attacks on healthcare centres in Gaza amount to war crimes. In a widely circulated opinion piece published in the Journal of the American Medical Association, Dr Matthew Wynia argued that health professionals do indeed have a responsibility to speak out