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Tag: Southern Gaza

  • MSF halts non-critical operations in Gaza’s Nasser hospital amid sightings of armed men, weapons

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    “Patients and MSF personnel have seen armed men, some masked, in different areas of the large compound of the hospital,” Doctors Without Borders said in a statement.

    Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) announced the suspension of all non-critical medical operations in the Nasser hospital, Southern Gaza, after reports of armed men using the facility to move weapons and interrogate patients on Saturday.

    “In recent months, in Nasser hospital in Khan Younis, patients and MSF personnel have seen armed men, some masked, in different areas of the large compound of the hospital,” said the non-profit organization in a statement published on its website.

    They also specified that these situations occurred in parts of the medical compound where MSF has is not conducting activities.

    “With an uptick since the ceasefire, MSF teams have reported a pattern of unacceptable acts, including the presence of armed men, intimidation, arbitrary arrests of patients, and a recent situation of suspicion of movement of weapons. These incidents pose serious security threats to our teams and patients,” MSF explained.

    “MSF formally expressed our strong concern to the relevant authorities, and emphasised the incompatibility of such violations with MSF’s medical mission. Hospitals must remain neutral, civilian spaces, free from military presence or activity, to ensure the safe and impartial delivery of medical care,” the statement added.

    A Palestinian woman helps a burn victim, Maria Abu Aawad, at a Doctors Without Borders (MSF) hospital, amid severe shortages of medical equipment, medicines and essential materials needed for burn treatment, in Zawaida, in the central Gaza Strip, January 26, 2026. (credit: REUTERS/Mahmoud Issa)

    According to a report by Reuters, this directive was also applied to several other hospitals in southern Gaza where armed men were spotted.

    The Reuters report also included a statement by the Hamas-run Gaza Interior Ministry, which claimed that it was committed to preventing any armed presence inside hospitals, and that legal action would be taken against violators.

    Israel to terminate MSF activity in Gaza after org. fails to provide staff list

    MSF has been under scrutiny recently after failing to provide a staff list that would confirm it has no links to terrorist organizations.

    On January 30, the organization announced it would not provide the staff lists requested by Israel to maintain access to Gaza and the West Bank, citing the inability to secure assurances about the safety of its teams as the reason for its decision.

    As a result of the decision, Israel moved to terminate MSF’s presence in Gaza, announcing that all operations would cease on February 28, 2026.

    “Unfortunately, MSF is once again demonstrating a lack of transparency and acting out of irrelevant interests,” said Diaspora Affairs and Combating Antisemitism Minister Amichai Chikli. “The organization abruptly changed its position after publicly committing to act according to procedure.”

    “We are aware that MSF employs individuals active in terrorist organizations, which is why it hides its employee lists. The organization operates in coordination with the Hamas Ministry of Health, and not by coincidence, its statements were published in proximity to similar statements from elements within the Strip.”

    Shoshana Baker and The Jerusalem Post Staff contributed to this report.

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  • Israel’s justification for Gaza hospital attack false, Reuters probe finds

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    Israel’s justification for bombing a Khan Younis hospital in southern Gaza, claiming it targeted a Hamas camera, is false, according to an investigation by the news agency Reuters.

    Israeli forces planned the August 25 attack on Nasser Hospital using drone footage that, a military official said, showed a Hamas camera that was the target of the strike. But a Reuters review of visual evidence and interviews with witnesses established that the camera in question actually belonged to the news agency and had long been used by one of its own journalists.

    The “double-tap” attack killed 22 people, including five journalists – one of whom worked for Al Jazeera. Their deaths bring the number of journalists killed in Israeli attacks on Gaza to more than 200 since the genocidal war began nearly two years ago.

    A day after the hospital strike, the army said troops had fired on a “suspicious” camera draped in cloth, claiming it was operated by Hamas. Drone footage later showed the device on a hospital stairwell, covered with a prayer rug belonging to Reuters journalist Hussam al-Masri – who was killed in the strike – not Hamas, Reuters found.

    At least 35 times since May, al-Masri had positioned his camera on the same stairwell to record live broadcasts distributed worldwide. He often used the rug to shield it from heat and dust.

    “The claim that Hamas was filming Israeli forces from Nasser Hospital is false and fabricated,” said Ismail al-Thawabta, head of Gaza’s Government Media Office. “Israel is trying to cover up a full-fledged war crime against the hospital, its patients and medical staff.”

    Reuters said it reviewed more than 100 videos and photos from the scene and interviewed more than two dozen people to reconstruct the events of the attack.

    Al Jazeera’s Ali Hashem described the stairwell as “a makeshift newsroom” where journalists had gathered before the strike. Al-Masri’s live broadcast froze moments before the blast, which killed him along with several civil defence workers. A second explosion struck as rescuers rushed in.

    “We were rescuing the martyrs and wounded … then a huge explosion among us,” said Reuters cameraman Hatem Khaled.

    Israel has repeatedly targeted hospitals and other sites protected under international humanitarian law, including schools, shelters, mosques and churches. Its attacks have also killed journalists, medical staff, first responders and humanitarian workers. Despite repeated global calls for investigations, Israel continues to act with impunity while carrying out genocide in Gaza.

    The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) says Israel has never published the results of a formal investigation nor held anyone accountable for the killings of journalists.

    “None of these incidents prompted a meaningful review of Israel’s rules of engagement, nor did international condemnation lead to any change in the pattern of attacks on journalists over the past two years,” said Sara Qudah, CPJ’s regional director for the Middle East and North Africa.

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  • As Gaza deaths top 25,000, Hamas defends attacks that sparked war

    As Gaza deaths top 25,000, Hamas defends attacks that sparked war

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    Palestinian militant group Hamas on Sunday defended its October 7 attacks on Israel but admitted to “faults” and called for an end to “Israeli aggression” in Gaza, where the health ministry said the death toll passed 25,000.

    Southern Gaza is the latest focus of Israel’s battle to destroy the Islamist group responsible for the deadliest attack in the country’s history.

    In its first public report on the attacks that began the war, Hamas said they were a “necessary step” against Israeli occupation of Palestinian territories, and a way to secure release of Palestinian prisoners.

    Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu later vowed “complete victory” and said his government would not accept Hamas’s conditions for releasing hostages still held in Gaza.

    Hamas’s 16-page report admitted “some faults happened… due to the rapid collapse of the Israeli security and military system, and the chaos caused along the border areas with Gaza”.

    The report did not make clear why it was issued now, more than three months into the war that began when militants broke through Gaza’s militarised border to attack Israelis and foreigners in the streets, in their homes and at an outdoor rave party.

    This resulted in the deaths of about 1,140 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official Israeli figures.

    With the border fence broken during the attacks, anybody could enter Israel.

    Accounts of sexual violence emerged but the scarcity of survivor testimonies and the lack of forensic evidence made it difficult to assess their scale.

    – Naval bombardment –

    Militants seized about 250 hostages during the attacks, and Israel says around 132 remain in Gaza. At least 28 of them are believed to have been killed, according to an AFP tally based on Israeli figures.

    Hamas — considered a “terrorist” group by the United States and European Union — said in the report its fighters were committed to “Islamic values”, and if civilians were targeted “it happened accidently and in the course of the confrontation with the occupation forces.”

    In response to the attacks, Israel has launched a military offensive that has killed at least 25,105 people in Gaza, mostly women and children, according to the latest toll issued on Sunday by the health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza.

    In early January, Israel’s military said the Hamas command structure in northern Gaza had been dismantled, leaving only isolated fighters.

    But witnesses told AFP Israeli vessels were bombarding Gaza City and other areas in the north early Sunday. Hamas has also reported heavy combat in the north.

    The Israeli army said it “eliminated a number of terrorists” in the main southern city of Khan Yunis and killed 15 militants in northern Gaza over the past day.

    Netanyahu is under intense pressure to return the hostages and account for security failings surrounding the October attacks.

    In a video statement released after the Hamas report, he said that “in exchange for the release of our hostages, Hamas demands an end to the war, the withdrawal of our forces from Gaza”, the release of Palestinian prisoners and guarantees that Hamas would stay in power.

    “If we accept this, our soldiers have fallen in vain,” Netanyahu said. “If we accept this, we won’t be able to guarantee the safety of our citizens.”

    The United Nations says about 1.7 million people have been displaced in Gaza, with about one million crowded into the Rafah area of Gaza’s south near Egypt.

    – Donkey carts –

    UN agencies have warned better aid access is needed urgently as famine and disease loom. Gazans are also struggling with shortages of water, medical care and other essentials.

    With fuel scarce, they have increasingly turned to donkey carts for transport.

    “Anyone who used to own a car now uses a donkey. Even businessmen or officials try to collect money just to buy a donkey,” said Badr al-Akhras, a trader of the beasts.

    Diplomatic efforts have sought to secure scaled-up aid deliveries for Gaza and a truce, after a week-long cessation of hostilities in November saw Hamas release dozens of hostages in exchange for Palestinian prisoners held by Israel.

    Hamas’s Qatar-based chief Ismail Haniyeh held a meeting with the Turkish foreign minister, diplomatic sources said on Sunday, in the first official contact between the two for more than three months.

    Among their discussion was “a two-state solution for a permanent peace,” one of the sources said.

    The United States and Arab countries are also seeking such a solution involving Palestinian statehood, but Netanyahu has rejected it, saying “Israel must retain security control over Gaza”.

    Britain’s Defence Secretary Grant Shapps on Sunday called it “disappointing actually, to hear that from the Israeli prime minister.”

    Hamas in its report rejected any international and Israeli efforts to decide Gaza’s post-war future.

    Israel’s northern border with Lebanon has seen near-daily exchanges of fire between Israeli forces and the Iran-backed Hezbollah movement.

    On Sunday an Israeli drone strike on a car in southern Lebanon killed a Hezbollah fighter, a security official and a source close to the group told AFP. Israel said its warplanes bombed Hezbollah targets in southern Lebanon.

    Also adding to fears of wider conflict, a strike on Saturday killed Iran’s Revolutionary Guards’ (IRGC) Syria spy chief in Damascus, Iran’s Mehr news agency said. Iran blamed Israel.

    The White House said it was taking “extremely seriously” a weekend attack by Iran-backed militants using “multiple ballistic missiles and rockets” against a base hosting US forces in Iraq.

    Dozens of such attacks in Iraq and Syria have taken place since mid-October and most have been claimed by militants opposing US support for Israel, but the use of ballistic missiles marked an escalation.

    bur-it/ami

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