UN laments rising death toll in Gaza, says children ‘attacked by rodents and insects’ at night 

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Palestinians bury the body of a relative killed in an Israeli raid in Khan Younis, southern Gaza Strip, on August 15, 2024. The grave is on a cemetery where many displaced Palestinians have sought shelter as the Israel-Hamas war continues. (Reuters)
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Palestinians prepare graves in a cemetery in Khan Younis, southern Gaza Strip, on August 15, 2024, as the Israeli-Hamas war rages on. (REUTERS)
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A displaced Palestinian woman and a child shelter in a cemetery in Khan Younis, southern Gaza Strip, on August 15, 2024, as the Israeli-Hamas war rages on. (REUTERS)
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Displaced Palestinians shelter in a cemetery in Khan Younis, southern Gaza Strip, on August 15, 2024, as the Israeli-Hamas war rages on. (REUTERS)
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Updated 16 August 2024
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UN laments rising death toll in Gaza, says children ‘attacked by rodents and insects’ at night 

  • ‘Grim milestone’ of 40,000 Palestinians killed is ‘overwhelmingly’ the result of Israel’s failure to respect rules of war, says human rights chief 
  • UN officials warn that because so many victims could be buried under rubble, ‘this number may if anything be an undercount’ 

NEW YORK CITY: The UN’s high commissioner for human rights on Thursday lamented the loss of Palestinian lives in Gaza, after reports that the death toll in the conflict between Israel and Hamas has reached 40,000, most of them women and children. 

This “unimaginable” toll, reported by the Gazan Health Ministry, is “overwhelmingly” the result of the failure of the Israeli Defense Forces to respect the rules of war, Volker Turk added. 

“Today marks a grim milestone for the world,” he said. “On average, about 130 people have been killed every day in Gaza over the past 10 months. 

“The scale of the Israeli military’s destruction of homes, hospitals, schools and places of worship is deeply shocking.” 

UN spokesperson Farhan Haq said UN officials are aware “this number is an approximation” and “given the large number, and disturbing number, of people who remain unaccounted for, who may be trapped or dead under the rubble, this number may if anything be an undercount.” 

The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said on Thursday that grieving Palestinian families have no time to mourn their dead, as survivors face “death, pain, hunger and thirst on a daily basis.” 

The hostilities and recurrent Israeli evacuation orders are driving a “seemingly endless cycle of displacement” that is making it difficult for people in Gaza to access the humanitarian assistance they need to survive. 

A humanitarian team that was able to reach two sites in Khan Younis on Thursday and talk with displaced families found that in addition to shortages of food and high prices for what little is available, a lack of cleaning and hygiene products is causing cases of skin infections to spread, with children particularly badly affected. 

Displaced families have to construct their own shelters “with whatever fabric, pieces of wood, cartons they find,” the team said. “Children are attacked by rodents and insects at night due to poor shelter conditions. And yet they might have to leave again and start it all over again.” 

Turk said: “International humanitarian law is very clear on the paramount importance of the protection of civilians, and civilian property and infrastructure.” 

His office has documented serious violations of these laws by both the Israeli military and armed Palestinian groups, including Hamas, he added. 

“As the world reflects on and considers its inability to prevent this carnage, I urge all parties to agree to an immediate ceasefire, lay down their arms and stop the killing once and for all,” Turk said. 

“The hostages must be released. Palestinians arbitrarily detained must be freed. Israel’s illegal occupation must end and the internationally agreed two-state solution must become a reality.” 


Gaza carpenter crafts wooden sandals for daughters as war rages

Updated 8 sec ago
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Gaza carpenter crafts wooden sandals for daughters as war rages

“When we were displaced, we started running and the sandals broke,” said Heba
“I threw them off and started running. Our feet became very hot. So, we had to make sandals from wood,” she said, walking on hot sand with her new footwear

KHAN YOUNIS, Gaza: Twelve-year-old Heba Dawas lost her footwear in the chaos while fleeing Israel’s military offensive in Gaza.
So, her carpenter father made wooden-soled sandals for her so she can tread more safely through the tons of rubble, hot sand and twisted metal of the besieged Palestinian enclave.
“When we were displaced, we started running and the sandals broke,” said Heba, who lives in a tent camp with her family in the southern Gaza city of Khan Younis.
“I threw them off and started running. Our feet became very hot. So, we had to make sandals from wood,” she said, walking on hot sand with her new footwear.
Her father Saber Dawas, 39, came up with the idea after finding the price of sandals too expensive. Now his daughter does not have to go barefoot amid the ruins of Gaza.
“I had to make a tailored size for each daughter,” he said.
SANDALS IN DEMAND
Soon enough, his neighbors noticed him making the sandals and started asking him to make some for their children.
Using basic carpentry tools, he made them for “a symbolic price,” he says.
The sandals have a wooden sole and a strap made of a rubber strip or fabric. But there was a challenge in finding more wood because Palestinians needed it for cooking and fires.
“Everything here in Gaza is difficult to find,” Dawas said, rubbing the base of a sandal with one of his young daughters watching by his side.
Making wooden sandals may ease the pressure of the war but life is still fraught with challenges in Gaza, where the Israeli offensive against Hamas has killed more than 41,000 Palestinians, according to the Gaza health ministry.
Nearly 2 million people have been displaced, often repeatedly, Gazan health officials say.
Hamas triggered the war on Oct. 7 when the Palestinian militant group attacked Israel, killing 1,200 people and taking over 250 hostage, according to Israeli tallies.
A humanitarian crisis has gripped Gaza since then with Palestinians struggling to find food, water and fuel as they move up and down the territory seeking a safe place to shelter.
The United States, Qatar and Egypt have failed to secure a ceasefire through mediation after many attempts.
The border crossing with Egypt has been shut, bringing the flow of aid and basic goods such as shoes to a halt.
“People now are walking around with mismatched shoes,” said Momen Al-Qarra, a Palestinian cobbler repairing old shoes in a little market in Khan Younis.
“If the situation continues like this for two weeks or a month at the most, without the opening of the border, people will be barefoot.”

Casbah building collapse kills woman in Algiers

Updated 6 min 4 sec ago
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Casbah building collapse kills woman in Algiers

  • The uninhabited building fell shortly after midnight onto a neighboring home

ALGIERS: A building collapse in the UNESCO-listed Casbah of Algiers killed a woman and injured three of her family members on Wednesday, emergency services said.
The uninhabited building fell shortly after midnight onto a neighboring home where the woman lived, said the civil defense agency in the Algerian capital.
The Casbah, a historic city built on a hill overlooking the Mediterranean, has suffered multiple building collapses in recent years.
In 2019, five people, including a baby, died when their home collapsed in the old city. Following that incident, the mayor of Algiers was sacked.
Originally fortified under Ottoman rule in the 16th century, the Casbah played a key role during Algeria’s 1954-1962 war for independence.
Despite ongoing conservation efforts, many structures remain at risk, propped up solely by wooden and metal supports.


Tunisia jails critic of president for eight months: lawyer

Updated 11 September 2024
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Tunisia jails critic of president for eight months: lawyer

  • Sonia Dahmani, 56, was arrested on May 11 when masked police raided Tunisia’s bar association, where she had sought refuge

TUNIS: A Tunisian appeals court sentenced a lawyer and media figure to eight months in prison, her lawyer said Wednesday, over comments deemed critical of President Kais Saied.
Sonia Dahmani, 56, was arrested on May 11 when masked police raided Tunisia’s bar association, where she had sought refuge, following her remarks made on television.
Initially sentenced to one year in prison on July 6, she appealed.
Her lawyer, Pierre-Francois Feltesse, said the eight-month sentence was issued late Tuesday without her legal representatives being able to enter a plea, after the hearing was suspended.
The defense team said in a statement to AFP that Dahmani had been “subjected a disgraceful body search” in custody and forced to wear a “long white veil” usually reserved for women prosecuted for sexual offenses, despite no legal basis for it.
Feltesse said her case would be referred to the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention.
The charges stemmed from comments Dahmani made on TV, sarcastically questioning Tunisia’s state of affairs in response to claims sub-Saharan migrants were settling in the country.
“What extraordinary country are we talking about?” she said at the time.
A judicial report said her comments referenced a speech by Saied, who said Tunisia would not become a resettlement zone for migrants blocked from going to Europe.
Saied, democratically elected in 2019, has ruled Tunisia by decree since a 2021 power grab.
He leads the race for an October 6 presidential election, after several hopefuls were barred. One of his two challengers, Ayachi Zammel, is in prison.
Decree 54, enacted by Saied in 2022, criminalizes “spreading false news.”
The National Union of Tunisian Journalists says it has been used to prosecute more than 60 journalists, lawyers and opposition figures.
Human Rights Watch has said at least eight prospective candidates had been prosecuted, convicted or imprisoned in the run-up to the election.
“Holding elections amid such repression makes a mockery of Tunisians’ right to participate in free and fair elections,” said the New York-based advocacy group.


Jordan’s Islamists bounce back in election clouded by Gaza war

Updated 11 September 2024
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Jordan’s Islamists bounce back in election clouded by Gaza war

  • The Islamist Action Front (IAF), the political arm of the Muslim Brotherhood, won up to a fifth of the seats under the revamped electoral law
  • Under Jordan’s constitution, most powers still rest with the king who appoints governments and can dissolve parliament

AMMAN: Jordan’s moderate Islamist opposition made significant gains in Tuesday’s parliamentary election, initial official results showed on Wednesday, boosted by anger over Israel’s war in Gaza.
The Islamist Action Front (IAF) also benefited from a new electoral law that encourages a bigger role for political parties in the 138-seat parliament, though tribal and pro-government factions will continue to dominate the assembly.
The IAF, the political arm of the Muslim Brotherhood, won up to a fifth of the seats under the revamped electoral law, which for the first time allocated 41 seats for parties, according to preliminary figures seen by Reuters and confirmed by independent and official sources.
“The Jordanian people have given us their trust by voting for us. This new phase will increase the burden of responsibility for the party toward the nation and our citizens,” Wael al Saqqa, head of the IAF, told Reuters.
The election represents a modest step in a democratization process launched by King Abdullah as he seeks to insulate Jordan from the conflicts at its borders, and speed up the slow pace of political reforms.
Under Jordan’s constitution, most powers still rest with the king who appoints governments and can dissolve parliament. The assembly can force a cabinet to resign by a vote of no confidence.
Turnout among Jordan’s 5.1 million eligible voters in Tuesday’s poll was low at 32.25 percent, initial official figures showed, up slightly from 29 percent at the last election in 2020.
Jordanian officials say the fact that elections are being held at all while the war in Gaza and other regional conflicts are raging demonstrates their country’s relative stability.
The Muslim Brotherhood has been allowed to operate in Jordan since 1946.
 


Biden seeks ‘full accountability’ after death of US citizen in West Bank

Updated 11 September 2024
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Biden seeks ‘full accountability’ after death of US citizen in West Bank

  • Turkish and Palestinian officials say Israeli troops shot 26-year-old Aysenur Ezgi Eygi, who had been taking part in a protest against settlement expansion

WASHINGTON: US President Joe Biden on Wednesday said Israel must do more to ensure that incidents like the fatal shooting of an American protester against settlement expansion never happen again, calling her death “totally unacceptable.”
In a statement, Biden said while Israel has taken responsibility for her death, the US government expects continued access as the investigation continues over the circumstances of the shooting. Israel has said her death was accidental.
Turkish and Palestinian officials said on Friday that Israeli troops shot 26-year-old Aysenur Ezgi Eygi, who had been taking part in a protest against settlement expansion.
Palestinian news agency WAFA said the incident took place during a regular protest march by activists in Beita, a village near Nablus that has seen repeated attacks on Palestinians by Jewish settlers.
Israel’s military said it was looking into reports that a female foreign national “was killed as a result of shots fired in the area. The details of the incident and the circumstances in which she was hit are under review.”
A rise in violent attacks by Israeli settlers on Palestinians in the West Bank has stirred anger among Western allies of Israel, including the United States, which has imposed sanctions on some Israelis involved in the settler movement.
Since the 1967 Middle East war, Israel has occupied the West Bank of the Jordan River, which Palestinians want as the core of an independent state.
Israel has built settlements there that most countries deem illegal. Israel disputes that assertion, citing historical and biblical ties to the land.