UK billionaire Jim Ratcliffe to buy 25 percent stake in Manchester United
Ratcliffe will also provide $300m for future investment into the struggling football club’s Old Trafford stadium. INEOS Chief Executive Jim Ratcliffe has become a minority shareholder in Manchester United, buying a 25 percent stake at a price of $33 per share, says the Premier League club. Ratcliffe, the chairman of the petrochemicals giant, and United entered an agreement on Sunday under which he will acquire 25 percent of the Class B shares held by the owners, the Glazer family, and up to 25 percent of the Class A shares. Ratcliffe will also provide $300m for future investment into the club’s Old Trafford stadium. “As part of the transaction, INEOS has accepted a request by the board to be delegated responsibility for the management of the club’s football operations. This will include all aspects of the men’s and women’s football operations and academies, alongside two seats on the Manchester United PLC board and the Manchester United Football Club boards,” said a club statement. Qatar’s Sheikh Jassim bin Hamad Al Thani was also looking to buy the club but dropped out of the bidding process, saying he would not be raising his $6bn offer, leaving the British billionaire to strike a deal with the Glazer family. Ratcliffe, 71, said he wanted to see the struggling United “back where we belong, at the very top of English, European and world football”. He said he wanted to see the struggling 20-time English champions back on top of European football and committed himself for the long term. “As a local boy and a lifelong supporter of the club, I am very pleased that we have been able to agree a deal with the Manchester United board that delegates us management responsibility of the football operations of the club,” he said. “Whilst the commercial success of the club has ensured there have always been available funds to win trophies at the highest level, this potential has not been fully unlocked in recent times. “We will bring the global knowledge, expertise and talent from the wider INEOS Sport group to help drive further improvement at the club.” Sunday’s agreement ends more than 12 months of speculation over the ownership situation and heralds a new era at a club that has fallen well behind cross-town rivals Manchester City. Ratcliffe’s INEOS also owns French Ligue 1 club Nice, Swiss Super League side FC Lausanne-Sport, and works with Racing Club Abidjan of Ivory Coast Ligue One. It is also behind the Grenadiers, one of the world’s most successful cycling teams. Adblock test (Why?)
India suspends newly-elected wrestling body after top athletes protest
The suspension comes days after a new president replaced the old head who was charged with sexually harassing wrestlers. India’s Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports has suspended the newly-elected governing body of the scandal-hit wrestling federation, accusing it of ignoring rules by hastily announcing championships. The Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) has “been instructed to suspend all its activities until further orders”, the ministry said in a statement on Sunday. Following the suspension, the ministry asked the Indian Olympic Association (IOA) to create a temporary panel to govern the WFI, Indian media reports said. “Taking note of the compelling current situation arising out of the influence and control of the WFI’s former office bearers, serious concerns have arisen about the governance and integrity of the WFI,” said the letter, according to the reports. The suspension of WFI’s governing body comes days after Sanjay Singh was elected to replace his close ally Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh, a parliamentarian charged with sexually harassing women wrestlers. Many of India’s top wrestlers had led a noisy sit-in protest in New Delhi earlier this year, demanding Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh’s removal after the allegations came to light in January. The accused 66-year-old member of parliament from the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) denied all charges and claimed he was the victim of a conspiracy to force him out of parliament. A criminal case against him is ongoing and could see him sentenced to five years in prison if found guilty. Wrestling is hugely popular in rural northern India, and star athletes saw a wellspring of public support. Earlier this week, top female wrestler Sakshi Malik, also one of the accusers in the case against Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh, addressed an emotional news conference, announcing her decision to quit the sport over Sanjay Singh’s election. On Friday, Bajrang Punia, the first Indian wrestler to win four world championship medals, announced he will return his Padma Shri – India’s fourth highest civilian award – in protest over the election. The new president defeated Anita Sheoran, who won a gold medal at the 2010 Commonwealth Games and supported the campaign by athletes against his predecessor. She is also a witness in the case. The WFI election was supposed to have ended the federation’s suspension by United World Wrestling, the international governing body, but that is now unlikely with the government’s order. Sanjay Singh won the ballot on Thursday, and shortly after, he met with the former head before announcing that the national junior wrestling championships would be held before the end of the year. “The actions smack of complete arbitrariness on the part of the new president,” the statement by the Sports Ministry said, adding that the new board “appears to be in complete control of former office bearers”. Adblock test (Why?)
Muted Christmas as Palestinian Christians mourn for Gaza
In a traditional season of merriment, many Palestinian Christians – in Bethlehem and beyond – are gripped with helplessness, pain and worry amid Israel’s brutal war on Gaza. Some are mourning, lobbying for the war to end, scrambling to get relatives to safety or seeking comfort in the Christmas message of hope. In the occupied West Bank, Suzan Sahori, executive director of Bethlehem Fair Trade Artisans, an organisation selling crafts, will pray for peace and justice. She’s grateful she’s safe – but wonders if that could change. She’s also angry. “The joy in my heart is stolen,” she said. “I’m saying, ‘God, how are you allowing all these children to die?’ … I’m mad at God; I hope He forgives me.” In better times, she finds the Christmas spirit in the Bethlehem area unmatched: It’s in songs cascading into streets bedecked with lights, markets displaying decorations, and the enthusiasm of children, families and tourists snapping photos with towering Christmas trees. Now, it’s all quieter, sombre. Tree lighting ceremonies she attended last year have been scrapped. The heads of churches in Jerusalem have urged congregations to forgo “any unnecessarily festive activities”. They encouraged priests and the faithful to focus on Christmas’s spiritual meaning and called for “fervent prayers for a just and lasting peace for our beloved Holy Land”. More than 20,000 Palestinians have been killed in Israel’s ongoing offensive in Gaza, launched after Hamas’s October 7 attack that left nearly 1,200 people dead and Hamas taking more than 200 others captive. Days before Christmas, the Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem said two Christian women at a church compound in Gaza were killed by Israeli sniper fire. The Israeli military said troops were targeting Hamas fighters in the area. It said it was investigating the incident. There are 50,000 Christian Palestinians estimated to reside in the West Bank and Jerusalem, according to the US State Department’s international religious freedom report for 2022. Approximately 1,300 Christians lived in Gaza, it said. Some Christians are also citizens of Israel. Many Palestinian Christians live in diaspora communities. In Bethlehem, the Reverend Munther Isaac, pastor of the Evangelical Lutheran Christmas Church, said tears flow during Sunday services. Many are anxious; some have packed up and left. Isaac was part of a group who travelled to Washington to advocate for a ceasefire. “A comprehensive and just peace is the only hope for Palestinians and Israelis alike,” said a letter signed by several Christian pastoral leaders in Bethlehem. Addressed to President Joe Biden, it asked him to help stop the war. The signatories said they lamented all deaths, Palestinian and Israeli. “We want a constant and comprehensive ceasefire. Enough death. Enough destruction. … This is our call and prayer this Christmas.” Israel, whose forces have faced accusations by some of using excessive force, says it aims to destroy Hamas and accuses it of endangering civilians. Israel and its US ally are also increasingly facing international alarm over the scope of deaths, destruction and displacement in Gaza. Among those killed in Gaza, more than 80 percent are civilians, according to Palestinian authorities. Isaac’s church is displaying a nativity scene where a baby Jesus figure, wrapped in a black-and-white Palestinian keffiyeh, is lying in the rubble. Making the display was an emotional and spiritual experience, he said. “We see Jesus in every child that’s killed, and we see God’s identifying with us in our suffering.” Adblock test (Why?)
Ukraine picks new Christmas date in break with Russian tradition
For the first time in a century, Ukraine will celebrate the holiday on December 25 rather than January 7. Ukraine will formally mark Christmas Day on December 25 this year, in a symbolic shift away from Russia, which celebrates the holiday on January 7. It will be the first time in more than a century that Ukraine observes the date in line with the Gregorian calendar, along with most of the world’s Christians. Ukraine’s government passed legislation in July making the date change, in what was viewed as a snub to Russia and the Russian Orthodox Church, which follows the Roman-era Julian calendar for religious occasions. The law signed by President Volodymyr Zelenskyy noted that Ukrainians wanted to “live their own life with their own traditions and holidays”. It allows them to “abandon the Russian heritage of imposing Christmas celebrations on January 7”, it added. Christianity is the largest religion in Ukraine, with the Russian Orthodox Church historically dominating religious life. Battle over heritage Ukraine’s date change is part of a series of moves since Russia’s invasion to dispel any traces of the Russian and Soviet empires, such as renaming streets and removing monuments. A Christmas tree stands next to the grave of a Ukrainian soldier at Lychakiv cemetery, in the western Ukrainian city of Lviv [Yuriy Dyachyshyn/AFP] The Orthodox Church of Ukraine, a newly created independent church that held its first service in 2019, has also changed its Christmas date to December 25. It formally broke away from the Russian Orthodox Church over Moscow’s annexation of Crimea in 2014 and its support for separatists in eastern Ukraine. The political rift has seen priests and even entire parishes swap from one church to another, with the new Orthodox Church of Ukraine growing fast and taking over several Russia-linked church buildings in moves supported by the government. The historically Russia-linked Ukrainian Orthodox Church, meanwhile, is keeping the January 7 Christmas date. This church claims to have cut ties with Russia because of the war but many Ukrainians view this with scepticism. The country’s third Orthodox denomination, the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church, will also hold Christmas services on December 25. Ukraine had been under Moscow’s spiritual leadership since the 17th century at the latest. Under the Soviet Union and its profession of atheism, Christmas traditions such as trees and gifts were shifted to New Year’s Eve, which became the main holiday and still is for many families. Ukrainian Christmas traditions include a dinner on Christmas Eve with 12 meatless dishes, including a sweet grain pudding called kutya, and people decorate homes with elaborate sheaves of wheat called didukhy. In some areas, children go from house to house singing carols called kolyadky and performing nativity scenes. Children sing carols during a Christmas Eve performance in Lviv, Ukraine [Gleb Garanich/Reuters] Adblock test (Why?)
Iran summons Russia’s envoy again over islands dispute
This is the second time the Russian envoy to Tehran is being summoned over the same issue. Tehran, Iran – Iran has once more summoned the Russian envoy to Tehran after Moscow signed another joint statement with Arab nations calling for negotiations over three disputed islands that the United Arab Emirates claims as its own. The Russian envoy was summoned to the Iranian Ministry of Foreign Affairs to receive Tehran’s “strong protest” over the statement, the state-run IRNA news website said late on Saturday. At the Foreign Ministry, the Russian envoy was reportedly told that respect for the territorial integrity of nations is a fundamental tenet in relations between any two countries. IRNA also said the official was told the three disputed islands “forever belong to Iran” which renders any outside claims unacceptable. The islands in the strategic Strait of Hormuz, namely the Greater Tunb, Lesser Tunb and Abu Musa, have been governed by Iran since 1971 when its navy took control of them after British troops withdrew from what is today the UAE. The UAE claims them as part of its territory as well and has recently received increasing support on them from Russia and China, which Tehran also counts among its allies. Iran had summoned the Chinese envoy to Tehran over a similar joint statement with Arab nations of the region in December 2022 and had also summoned the Russian ambassador in July over an almost identical joint statement. Russia’s joint statement this week, signed during the sixth edition of the Russian-Arab Cooperation Forum in Morocco, supported “peaceful solutions and initiatives aiming to resolve the conflict through bilateral negotiations or the International Court of Justice, according to international law and the UN Charter”. The Foreign Ministry spokesman, Nasser Kanaani, had condemned it earlier this week, and Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian raised the issue with his Russian counterpart, Sergei Lavrov, who had led the delegation to Morocco. The Iranian Foreign Ministry said Lavrov told Amirabdollahian that Russia has always respected Iran’s territorial integrity and “this official policy by Moscow must never be doubted”. Maybe Russia should talk to Japan? The joint statement also irked some Iranian lawmakers, who took to social media to try to make it clear that the issue is non-negotiable. Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, Iran’s parliament speaker, wrote on X, formerly known as Twitter, that increasingly warming ties with Russia are based on mutual respect and any claims that threaten Iran’s territorial integrity will be met with a “serious response”. “Russia must be careful about the West taking advantage of its mistakes,” he wrote. Ghalibaf also pointed out that Iran has not remained idle on the islands, and has been undertaking a variety of efforts to populate and develop them. He promised that the parliament would legally back efforts to develop the islands. Other lawmakers had harsher words for both Moscow and Abu Dhabi. “It looks like the language of kindness must change, at least with the UAE,” Hadi Beiginejad wrote on X. Another MP, Ebrahim Rezaei, said “if they suggest negotiations, then we also invite the Russians to negotiate with Japan over the Kuril Islands”, in reference to a dispute over four islands between Russia and Japan. [embedded content] Adblock test (Why?)
‘Many more could die’: Urgent plea for Rohingya refugees trapped at sea
At least one passenger on a boat carrying 185 refugees has died, with dozens more in ‘critical condition’, warns UNHCR. Fears are growing for scores of Rohingya refugees believed to be stranded at sea in the Indian Ocean, after a boat they set off in from Bangladesh saw its engine fail. The group of some 185 Rohingya, mostly women and children, are in desperate need of rescue after falling into distress near the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) said on Saturday. The Rohingya were fleeing overcrowded refugee camps in Bangladesh, where they had taken shelter after escaping their homeland in Myanmar. More than 750,000 Rohingya were forced to flee Myanmar in 2017 after the military launched a crackdown on the Muslim minority, torching their homes and properties. The United States accused the military of committing genocide against the Rohingya people, while a genocide case against Myanmar is under way at the UN’s top court. The UN agency said at least one of the boat’s passengers had already died, with a dozen more in “critical condition”. “Many more could die under the watch of numerous coastal states without timely rescue and disembarkation to the nearest place of safety,” the UNHCR warned. “It is really a desperate situation.” Thousands of the mostly Muslim Rohingya, heavily persecuted in Myanmar, undertake risky sea journeys from their country and refugee camps in Bangladesh every year trying to reach Malaysia or Indonesia. More than 2,000 Rohingya are believed to have attempted the risky journey to Southeast Asian countries in 2022, according to UNHCR. Since last year, more than 570 people, including Rohingya refugees, have been reported dead or missing at sea in the region, it said. When it comes to the people currently adrift, the agency emphasised that “a bigger tragedy is preventable with timely efforts to save lives”. “This situation once again underlines the importance of all states in the region deploying their full search and rescue capacities to avoid human disasters happening at this scale.” Adblock test (Why?)
Israel-Hamas war: List of key events, day 79
Here’s how things stand on Sunday, December 24, 2023: The latest developments The United States said Iran launched a drone from its soil that struck a Liberia-flagged, Japanese-owned chemical tanker in the Indian Ocean. The US Central Command (CENTCOM) also said it downed several drones launched at vessels from Yemen by the Iran-aligned Houthi movement. The Houthis also fired two antiship ballistic missiles in the southern Red Sea, but no ships were hit. Pro-Palestinian marches continued in cities across the world, with some of the latest protests in Australia, Germany and Turkey. Heavy raids by the Israeli army continued in the occupied West Bank. A convoy led by bulldozers entered Tulkarem in the early hours of Sunday, and raids have also been reported in Bethlehem, the town of Beita just south of Nablus, and the towns of Sa’ir and Karma near Hebron. The representative for Hamas in Beirut, Osama Hamdan, said Israel has failed in its stated goal of “destroying” the group, and that it will have to stop the war if it wants the captives released. Human impact and fighting Thousands of Palestinians were again forced to flee their homes, this time after the Israeli military issued new evacuation orders in the central Gaza Strip. Since a United Nations Security Council resolution was passed on Friday without a clear call for a ceasefire, there has been a surge in aerial bombardments in central Gaza. Israeli air raids killed more than 400 people in Gaza in the past 48 hours. Gaza’s Government Media Office said more than 20,000 Palestinians have been killed in Israeli attacks since October 7. The death toll from Hamas’s attack on Israel stands at nearly 1,140, revised from 1,400. At least 101 journalists have been killed since October 7, according to the Government Media Office, which also said more than 50 media offices have been completely or partially destroyed by Israeli attacks. Al Jazeera Arabic’s cameraman Samer Abudaqa was among those killed in Israeli strikes. The Palestine Red Crescent Society said it continues to operate at its medical point in Jabalia, northern Gaza, despite incessant shelling of the area. UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres also said on X: “As the conflict intensifies and the horror grows, we will continue to do our part. We will not give up.” Diplomacy Yoav Gallant and Benny Gantz, Israel’s current and former defence ministers, respectively, who, along with Prime Minister Benyamin Netanyahu make up the Israeli war cabinet, visited northern Gaza and promised that more attacks would be forthcoming despite international pressure for an immediate ceasefire. US President Joe Biden had a “private” phone conversation with Netanyahu. He told reporters after that he “did not ask for a ceasefire”. Agnes Callamard, secretary-general of Amnesty International, said the UNSC resolution for humanitarian relief would only result in a “drop in the ocean of suffering” in Gaza. She said the White House “holds the key” for putting an end to the carnage. During a meeting in Doha, Qatari Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani and Jordanian Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi discussed the war in Gaza and called for an end to Israeli attacks. The head of Lebanon’s Hezbollah, Hassan Nasrallah, is set to give his third speech since the start of the war in the coming days to mark the January 3 assassination of Iran’s top general, Qassem Soleimani, by the US. [embedded content] Adblock test (Why?)
What are Palestine’s unique Christmas rituals, disrupted by Israel’s war?
Through carols, cookies and Christmas lights, December 25 is marked by jubilation and celebration of the birth of Jesus for more than 2 billion Christians worldwide. However, a silent night falls on the 50,000 Christians in Palestine – a number that is in rapid decline. The safety of Christians in Palestine was shaken by the bombardment of Gaza’s oldest Greek Orthodox Church of Saint Porphyrius in October, which killed at least 18 people including children. Israeli forces also shot and killed an elderly Christian mother and her daughter in a Catholic church in Gaza on Saturday. This year, the many gleeful rituals that characterise Christmas in Palestine will be replaced by simpler ceremonies, mourning and prayer, shining a harsh light on the current reality of the region. The Lutheran Church, for instance, has the Baby Jesus in a manger of rubble and destruction. Was Jesus Palestinian? Many Christian schools of thought believe that Jesus was born in Bethlehem, in the now Israeli-occupied West Bank. “Jesus was born on our side of the wall,” Palestinian pastor Reverend Munther Isaac told Al Jazeera. Isaac added that the narrative of the birth of Jesus in Bethlehem is backed by archaeology as well as scripture such as Luke’s Gospel. “It’s the year 2023, and you’ve got, on Christmas day, all over the world, millions of, so many, hundreds of millions, if not more, of Christians going to church, reading about Bethlehem, singing about Bethlehem and thinking maybe of Bethlehem as a mythical place, as a fairytale, not realising it’s a real place with people, with a Christian community that has kept the tradition alive for 2,000 years.” What is the story of Christmas? “While the family of Jesus lived in Nazareth back then, they travelled from Nazareth to Bethlehem for that [census] registration,” Isaac narrated, with thoughtful pauses between his sentences. Isaac drew parallels between the story of the birth of Jesus and the current situation in Palestine. “We’ve always been under empires. We’ve always been displaced,” said Isaac, explaining that Jesus was born when Palestine was under the Roman empire. An imperial decree of the empire ordered the family of Jesus to register for the census in Bethlehem, added Reverend Mitri Raheb, another Palestinian pastor from Bethlehem. King Herod ordered the massacre of infant boys, leading to the family of Jesus escaping to Egypt as refugees, explained Isaac. An Israeli border policeman stands guard on Christmas Eve December 24, 2004, at the checkpoint between Jerusalem and Bethlehem where a sign welcomes visitors to the biblical town of Jesus’s birth [David Silverman/Getty Images] According to the Bible, Jesus was born in Bethlehem and then placed in a manger. The Church of Nativity was built at this location and its grotto holds great religious significance, pulling Christians from all over the world into the city of Bethlehem every Christmas. The procession of the patriarchs One of the most important Christmas rituals in Palestine is the procession of the patriarch from Jerusalem. This procession takes place on December 24 for Catholics and January 6 for Orthodox patriarchs. The designated procession route that has been followed throughout the Ottoman Empire and the British mandate is now engraved in tradition, Isaac explained. The patriarch is received from Jerusalem in Bethlehem and then the procession walks through the streets of the old town in Bethlehem until it reaches the Church of Nativity, where prayers are held. Israeli authorities and Palestinian police escort the procession, depending on the territory the procession passes through. Palestinian Christian altar boys and Palestinian police wait for the arrival of the Latin Patriarch, Michel Sabbah, during the annual Christmas Eve procession December 24, 2003 in Manger Square in Bethlehem [David Silverman/Getty Images] The arrival of the procession is a celebrated festivity, welcomed by several scout groups and musical bands from all over Palestine. People leave their homes to walk around the city and witness the spirit of Christmas. This year, the bands and scouts will not be present, instead, the procession will be silent. A Palestinian man holds a golden crucifix as he waits alongside posters of Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat outside the Church of the Nativity in the West Bank town of Bethlehem December 24, 2001, during the traditional Christmas Eve procession [David Silverman/Getty Images] Midnight mass and Manger Square Once the procession reaches the church, prayers begin at 5pm local time and last until midnight, with the midnight mass being broadcast for the world to see, Raheb said. Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem Fuad Twal carries a doll of the baby Jesus following the Christmas midnight mass at the Church of the Nativity, December 25, 2008 in Bethlehem [Musa Al-Shaer-Pool/Getty Images] The Manger Square in Bethlehem is also decorated with a large Christmas tree and performances are held there. This year, there is no Christmas tree at Manger Square. Instead, “the civil society and some artists are working on a new kind of crib that is made out of rubble as a sign to what’s happening in Gaza”, said Raheb. He added that a video will be screened on the wall of the Nativity Church, showing what is happening in Gaza. This 2012 photo shows a crowd gathering around a brightly lit Christmas tree at the Manger Square [Ammar Awad/Reuters] As a child, Isaac would excitedly visit Jerusalem with his parents for Christmas shopping. Several markets sell festive clothes and decorations for the holiday season. It is a tradition to buy the best clothes from Jerusalem and save them for Christmas. “You know how in America you go to a big mall? We used to go to Jerusalem. We can’t any more,” Isaac said, alluding to the stringent permit rules in the region, which constrict the mobility of Palestinians. Christmas is a time when families meet, in Palestine and elsewhere. While family could mean a small group of immediate relatives in the West, “When I say ‘family’ in Bethlehem, I say all 200 or so members of the Isaac family in our town
Indonesia nickel plant hit by deadly explosion
At least 12 dead and 39 injured in the blast at the nickel processing facility, highlighting dangerous working conditions. An explosion at a nickel processing plant in eastern Indonesia has killed at least 12 people and injured 39, according to the facility. The blast at the Chinese-funded Morowali Industrial Park on Sulawesi Island took place at 5:30am on Sunday while workers were conducting furnace repairs. A spokesperson for the complex said those killed include seven Indonesians and five foreign workers, without stating their nationalities. An initial investigation showed the explosion occurred when a flammable liquid ignited and the subsequent blast caused nearby oxygen tanks to explode as well, spokesperson Dedy Kurniawan said on Sunday. The fire was successfully extinguished, according to the official. The firm that runs the industrial park said it was “deeply saddened” by the disaster and said the remains of several identified victims had been flown home. The island is a hub for the mineral-rich country’s production of nickel, a base metal used for electric vehicle batteries and stainless steel, and Beijing’s growing investment has stoked unrest over working conditions at its facilities. In January, two workers, including a Chinese national, were killed at a nickel smelting plant in the same industrial park after a riot broke out during a protest over safety conditions and pay. Adblock test (Why?)
Staying warm in Gaza: A battle for survival
Esraa Kamal al-Jamalan was nearly eight months pregnant when she, her husband and their five-year-old son were forced to flee their northern Gaza neighbourhood of Sheikh Radwan after it was bombed by Israel in late October. They walked more than three kilometres (1.86 miles) to al-Shifa Hospital, where many people were sheltering, taking with them only a few lightweight T-shirts and trousers as they expected to soon return home. Two months later, 28-year-old Esraa and her family are living in one of the hundreds of makeshift tents in Deir el-Balah in central Gaza with no means of protecting her newborn from the harsh winter — cold temperatures combined with rains. “When it first started raining here, I hadn’t given birth yet. Me and my husband were trying to find shelter from the rain, as the water kept seeping through here and there in the tent,” Esraa said, sitting with her daughter in her lap, her skin pale and yellow. “We’ve been through rough days. We have never seen something like this before.” Esraa al-Jamalan gave birth to her daughter on November 24 and now lives in a makeshift tent in Deir el-Balah in central Gaza [AbdelHakim Abu Riash/Al Jazeera] Being unhoused in rough weather conditions and without warm clothing and blankets, the couple are struggling to keep their newborn daughter warm inside their tent. They cannot take her outside either, close to the fires that people are burning for warmth as the smoke gives her breathing difficulties. “The other day, she kept coughing [from wood smoke] until she turned blue. We were terrified she could have died,” Esraa explained, her voice shaking. “I am worried the most about my daughter. She hasn’t even gotten vaccinated yet.” As Israel’s assault on Gaza enters its 12th week, Al Jazeera spoke to Palestinians in the Gaza Strip about the challenges brought on by the arrival of winter for the nearly two million people internally displaced in the enclave. Adblock test (Why?)