RAFAH, Gaza Strip: Using two fans he picked up from a scrap market and rigged to some wires, teenager Hussam Al-Attar has created his own source of electricity to light up the tent where he and his family are living after being displaced by Israel’s assault on Gaza.
In recognition of his ingenuity, people in the surrounding tent camp have given him a nickname: Gaza’s Newton.
“They started calling me Gaza’s Newton due to the similarity between me and Newton,” said Al-Attar, who looks and sounds young for his 15 years.
“Newton was sitting under an apple tree when an apple fell on his head and he discovered gravity. And we here are living in darkness and tragedy, and rockets are falling on us, therefore I thought of creating light, and did so.”
English scientist Isaac Newton, who made immense advances in physics, mathematics and astronomy in the late 17th and early 18th century, stands out in the popular imagination due to the story of the apple.
More than half of Gaza’s 2.3 million people are now crammed into Rafah, on the southern edge of the strip by the fence separating it from Egypt.
The Al-Attar family have attached their tent to the flank of a one-story house, allowing Hussam to climb onto the roof and set up his two fans, one above the other, to act as tiny wind turbines capable of charging batteries.
He then connected the fans to wires traveling down through the house, and used switches, lightbulbs and a thin piece of plywood extending out into the tent to create a bespoke lighting system for his family.
He said his first two attempts failed and it took him a while to develop the system until he got it to work on the third try.
“I started developing it further, bit by bit, until I was able to extend the wires through the room to the tent that we are living in, so that the tent will have light,” he said.
“I was very happy that I was able to make this, because I eased the suffering of my family, my mother, my sick father, and my brother’s young children, and everyone here who is suffering from the conditions that we live in during this war.”
The war was triggered by militants from the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas who invaded southern Israel on Oct. 7, killing 1,200 people and abducting 253, according to Israel.
Vowing to destroy Hamas and free the hostages, Israel has responded with an all-out military assault on Gaza that has killed more than 27,000 people, according to local health officials, and caused mass displacement and hunger.
Amid the despair, Al-Attar was still holding on to his dreams and ambitions.
“I am very happy that people in this camp call me Gaza’s Newton, because I hope to achieve my dream of becoming a scientist like Newton and creating an invention that will benefit not only the people of the Gaza Strip but the whole world.”
Teenage ‘Newton of Gaza’ creates system to light up family tent
https://arab.news/gug99
Teenage ‘Newton of Gaza’ creates system to light up family tent
- In recognition of his ingenuity, people in the surrounding tent camp have given Hussam Al-Attar a nickname: Gaza’s Newton
Palestinian refugees’ health suffering crushing blow due to Israeli war in Gaza: UNRWA
- Destruction of infrastructure, transportation has affected healthcare delivery
LONDON: Palestinian refugees in Gaza are experiencing an unprecedented health crisis as a result of Israel’s war on the region, according to the annual UN Relief and Work Agency’s health report released on Tuesday.
Palestinian refugees’ health and well-being have suffered a “crushing blow,” the report said, with higher rates of injury, trauma, and mental health disorders.
The destruction of infrastructure and transportation has affected healthcare delivery, while congested living conditions and limited access to clean water have increased the risk of infectious disease.
Hepatitis and types of diarrhea are becoming more common. Malnutrition has also hit the region, with one out of every three children under the age of 2 in the northern Gaza Strip experiencing acute malnutrition.
Healthcare access declined in the fourth quarter of 2023 as 14 out of 22 health centers were forced to close, and power outages crippled telehealth systems.
UNRWA established 155 emergency shelters in response, deployed 108 mobile medical units, coordinated the shipment of critical medicines, and implemented disease outbreak surveillance.
Dr. Akihiro Seita, UNRWA’s director of health, said: “The health crisis among Palestine refugees can only be mitigated with immediate and sustained healthcare interventions and support.
“UNRWA remains committed to addressing these urgent needs and improving the health and well-being of Palestine refugees.
“Our staff (have) remained at the frontline in Gaza. As of May 2024, UNRWA has lost over 191 staff members, including 11 healthcare professionals. Our hearts go out to the affected families.
“This report underscores our gratitude for the dedication of our healthcare staff, who continue to deliver quality services despite their loss and being displaced several times.”
Increased restrictions of movement and rising violence have also created new challenges in the West Bank. UNRWA has adapted by finding temporary solutions to ensure patient access and uninterrupted delivery of medical supplies.
More than 2 million patients rely on UNRWA’s health services in Jordan, Lebanon, the West Bank (including East Jerusalem), Gaza, and Syria.
Despite operational challenges, including defunding, UNRWA managed to provide nearly 7 million primary healthcare consultations in 2023, maintaining high levels of immunization, particularly in Gaza, which has played a critical role in preventing outbreaks of vaccine-preventable diseases.
US-built pier in Gaza will need to be removed and repaired after damage from rough seas
- The pier is one of the few ways that food, water and other supplies are getting to Palestinians
WASHINGTON: The Pentagon says the US-built temporary pier taking humanitarian aid to starving Palestinians has been damaged in rough seas and weather and will be removed from the coast of Gaza to be repaired.
Pentagon spokeswoman Sabrina Singh told reporters Tuesday that over the next two days the pier will be pulled out and sent to the southern Israeli city of Ashdod, where US Central Command will repair it.
She says the fixes will take “at least over a week” and then the pier will need to be anchored back into the beach in Gaza.
The pier is one of the few ways that food, water and other supplies are getting to Palestinians who the UN says are on the brink of famine amid the nearly eight-month-old Israel-Hamas war in Gaza.
Arab League chief urges wider recognition of Palestinian state
- Ahmed Aboul Gheit issued the warning while taking part in a series of Arab League meetings with European foreign ministers
- The meetings in Brussels on Sunday and Monday discussed practical political solutions to end the fighting
CAIRO: The Arab League secretary-general said in Brussels that Israel’s aggression in the Gaza Strip could undermine any chance for peace and extinguish hopes of achieving a two-state solution, posing significant risks not only for the Middle East but also for international security.
Ahmed Aboul Gheit issued the warning while taking part in a series of Arab League meetings with European foreign ministers and other officials on the Palestinian-Israeli situation in light of the conflict in Gaza.
Hossam Zaki, Abdul Gheit’s assistant, said that the meetings in Brussels on Sunday and Monday discussed practical political solutions to end the fighting and subsequent steps to ensure peace.
During his discussions with European ministers, Aboul Gheit highlighted the need for more European countries to recognize an independent Palestinian state based on the June 4, 1967, borders, with East Jerusalem as its capital.
This would signal to Palestinian people that their right to independence is respected by Western countries, along with other nations in the world, he said.
Aboul-Gheit thanked the foreign ministers of Ireland, Norway, and Spain for their decision to recognize an independent Palestinian state.
Zaki said that the discussions revealed an increasing inclination toward addressing the situation collectively by convening an international conference to implement the two-state solution.
This approach is seen as the only way to save the region from prolonged and continuous violent conflict, he said.
Aboul Gheit, along with the foreign ministers of Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Jordan, Qatar, and Bahrain, urged European countries to move beyond merely discussing the feasibility of the two-state solution.
They advocated for clear and concrete steps to implement it on the ground, addressing the root causes of the conflict, Zaki said.
El-Sisi in Beijing to attend China-Arab cooperation forum
- The visit coincides with the 10th anniversary of relations between Egypt and China
- El-Sisi is also scheduled to meet the heads of several major Chinese companies
CAIRO: Egypt’s President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi arrived in Beijing on Tuesday on a state visit to China and to attend the China-Arab States Cooperation Forum after an invitation from President Xi Jinping.
El-Sisi will hold talks with Xi and senior Chinese officials focusing on ways to forge closer relations and unlock broader prospects for cooperation in several fields.
The visit coincides with the 10th anniversary of relations between Egypt and China being raised to the level of a comprehensive strategic partnership.
Ahmed Fahmy, spokesman for Egypt’s presidency, said the talks will also focus on regional and international issues of common interest, primarily the war in Gaza and ways to restore stability in the region and achieve the aspirations of its peoples for peace, security, and development.
El-Sisi is also scheduled to meet the heads of several major Chinese companies.
The meetings are expected to explore opportunities to attract more investment to Egypt in light of the state’s orientation toward enhancing mechanisms for the localization of industry and technology transfer.
Egypt is eager to collaborate closely with the private sector and encourage foreign direct investment.
El-Sisi will attend a meeting of the China-Arab States Cooperation Forum, to be held on May 30, with the participation of the Chinese president and a number of Arab leaders.
The forum will discuss various aspects of China-Arab relations and ways to further advance them.
Egypt’s government said the forum is a framework for dialogue and cooperation between Arab states and China. Its founding document was signed in September 2004 at the headquarters of the Arab League in Cairo following a visit by the Chinese president.
Mossad chief staged decade-long influence, intimidation campaign against ICC prosecutor
- Yossi Cohen sought to steer court away from investigating Israeli crimes in Occupied Territories
- ‘Despicable tactics’ used including ‘keen interest’ in prosecutor’s family, source tells The Guardian
LONDON: A former chief of Israel’s Mossad intelligence agency staged a years-long campaign of intimidation against a former International Criminal Court prosecutor in an attempt to sway war crimes investigations, The Guardian reported on Tuesday.
Fatou Bensouda, the former ICC prosecutor, became a target of Yossi Cohen in the years leading up to her opening a formal investigation into alleged war crimes in the Occupied Territories.
Launched in 2021, the investigation ended with the seeking of an arrest warrant for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu by Bensouda’s successor Karim Khan.
Israel has long feared the results of the investigation, including the threat of prosecution against its military personnel, which was used as justification for Cohen’s decade-long campaign to undermine the court.
As Mossad director, Cohen, a close ally of Netanyahu at the time, was acting as the prime minister’s “unofficial messenger,” a source told The Guardian.
In total, four sources told the newspaper that Bensouda had briefed top ICC officials about Cohen’s campaign, which one official described as “stalking” and involving intimidation.
On several occasions, Cohen had “put pressure” on Bensouda to avoid opening the Palestine case at the ICC.
“You should help us and let us take care of you. You don’t want to be getting into things that could compromise your security or that of your family,” Cohen told her, according to the account of one ICC official to The Guardian.
As part of the targeted campaign against Bensouda, Cohen used “despicable tactics,” including taking a “keen interest” in her family, one source said.
Mossad obtained secret recording transcripts as well as photographs of Bensouda’s husband, which Cohen personally showed her.
His campaign was helped by the former president of the Democratic Republic of Congo, Joseph Kabila, in an unlikely alliance that proved crucial to Cohen.
It is unclear why Kabila aided him, but his status as the leader of a country facing ICC investigation helped him set up a “chance” meeting between Bensouda and Cohen.
The ICC prosecutor and Cohen appear to have first met at the Munich Security Conference in 2017, two years after Bensouda opened a preliminary investigation into the Palestinian file.
A year later, Cohen “ambushed” her in a New York City hotel as she was due to meet Kabila to discuss the situation in his country, The Guardian reported. Cohen’s “surprise” appearance was said to have “alarmed” ICC officials at the time.
He had earlier made a series of trips to the DRC, relating to what was described by Israeli broadcaster Kan as an “extremely controversial plan.”
Following the New York meeting, Cohen repeatedly phoned Bensouda to request further talks in an attempt to “build a relationship” and “play good cop,” sources told The Guardian.
But the influence campaign failed when in 2019, Bensouda announced that she had grounds to open a full criminal investigation into war crimes allegations in the Occupied Territories.
She first requested a ruling from the pre-trial chamber of the ICC, confirming the court’s jurisdiction over Palestine.
At this stage, Cohen stepped up his campaign against Bensouda into “threats and manipulation,” fearing the results of an official investigation being launched.
Senior ICC officials had suspicions that Israel had cultivated sources within the court’s office of the prosecutor.
In 2021, the ICC’s pre-trial chamber confirmed that the court had jurisdiction over the Occupied Territories. A month later, Bensouda formally launched the criminal investigation.
She said at the time: “In the end, our central concern must be for the victims of crimes, both Palestinian and Israeli, arising from the long cycle of violence and insecurity that has caused deep suffering and despair on all sides.”
Her successor, Khan, has vowed to prosecute “attempts to impede, intimidate or improperly influence” ICC officials after a warrant for Netanyahu’s arrest was sought.
The recent results of the investigation first launched by Bensouda represent a heavy blow to Israel’s international standing, and mark a failure of Cohen’s decade-long campaign to influence the court.
“The fact they chose the head of Mossad to be the prime minister’s unofficial messenger to (Bensouda) was to intimidate, by definition,” one source told The Guardian.
In response to questioning by the newspaper, a spokesperson for the Israeli prime minister’s office said: “The questions forwarded to us are replete with many false and unfounded allegations meant to hurt the state of Israel.”
Khan’s move last week to seek arrest warrants against Netanyahu marked the first time the ICC has taken action against leaders of a country closely allied with the US and Europe.
Netanyahu’s alleged crimes pertain to the war in Gaza, and include directing attacks on civilians and using starvation as a method of warfare.
