الكاتب: kafej

No explanation yet as to why the occupation army removed a video from X and reposted a shorter, edited version the next day.

It has been nearly five days since the Israeli army deleted a social media post that alleged Gaza’s al-Shifa Hospital was used as a control and command centre by Hamas before it was occupied.

The army removed the original post on Wednesday, replacing it with a shorter version reposted with an edit the next day. No explanation for the deletion of the post was given by the Israeli military.

“We are going to do a one-shot video, one shot, no editing of all the evidence that we have found just now in this building of al-Shifa Hospital,” army spokesman Jonathan Conricus said at the beginning of both versions of the video.

However, it is clearly visible that the footage was edited in the frame that is six minutes and 26 seconds into the latest and shorter version of the video.

In the video, Conricus walks the viewers through what the Israeli military says is evidence of the presence of Hamas fighters in Gaza’s largest health facility, featuring combat gear and weapons among other items.

Plastic bags purportedly containing what the army describes as “hospital equipment” are among the items displayed in the video.

In this Fact Check, Al Jazeera’s @KhalidMajzoub takes a look at a video in which an alleged nurse in al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza claims that the hospital was controlled by Hamas ⤵️ pic.twitter.com/c0C4l8wcJX

— Al Jazeera English (@AJEnglish) November 18, 2023

However, a close analysis of the contents of the plastic bags shows that what the Israeli army referred to as “hospital equipment” are actually bandages and ointments.

Their presence at the hospital, according to the Israeli military spokesman, renders Gaza’s dire need for medical supplies and equipment a fabrication. He also shows the viewers a laptop along with a few CDs, claiming they contain valuable intelligence.

In the new version of the video, however, the same laptop is blurred. In the original video, one could see its screen in focus, revealing the computer’s model: Lenovo ThinkPad L460, a laptop that comes without a CD reader.

TV reports reveal more issues

Television footage published by BBC and Fox News reporters, embedded with the Israeli army in Gaza, reveal further inconsistencies, documenting how the scene at the hospital was apparently altered.

The reporters were escorted to the facility’s MRI room and filmed what they were told was evidence that Hamas fighters had been there.

In their videos, one can see two AK-47 rifles at the scene – instead of the one AK-47 in the original video shared by the Israeli army.

The BBC’s own fact-checking analysis also highlighted that its reporter was only allowed into the scene a few hours after the Israeli army recorded its video – as was evident from the time on the Israeli army’s spokesman’s wristwatch.

In a statement reported by Israel’s national media, the military denied claims that it had manipulated the scene at al-Shifa.

“In certain areas, explosives had to be relocated, managed and mines and charges had to be taken away. Only after that could they be brought back to the same room to show the international media,” it said.

The inconsistencies in the videos raise serious questions over alleged changes made to the scene. It is vital that these questions are answered as Israel uses such so-called evidence as justification to target hospitals in its war on Gaza.

Furthermore, the so-called evidence still falls short of confirming the Israeli army’s claim of a Hamas command-and-control headquarters inside al-Shifa Hospital.

In a speech delivered on November 6, United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres declared that “Gaza is becoming a graveyard for children”. While his comments garnered immediate media attention, they somehow still understated the reality for Palestinian children.

In Gaza, Israeli forces are killing Palestinian children at a previously unfathomable rate. Over the past 40 days, Israeli forces have murdered more than 5,000 children in Gaza – with an additional 1,800 children missing under the rubble of destroyed buildings, most of them presumed dead. That is more than 6,800 Palestinian children killed over a period of 40 days. That amounts to over 170 children killed each day.

In the West Bank, Israeli forces have killed 54 Palestinian children since October 7, according to documentation collected by Defence for Children International–Palestine (DCIP). This includes 38 Palestinian children killed in October alone, the highest number of Palestinian children killed in a single month since Israel’s military occupation of the West Bank began in 1967.

As in previous Israeli military offensives on Gaza, Israeli attacks the DCIP has investigated have been overwhelmingly indiscriminate and disproportionate. The Israeli army has targeted civilians and civilian infrastructure in densely populated civilian areas with wide-area-effect explosive weapons. In other words, every bomb the Israeli army drops on Gaza potentially constitutes a war crime.

Make no mistake, Guterres was sounding the alarm because he knows that Palestinian children are living and dying in an unrivaled moment. Israeli forces killed more children in the first month of the war than state and non-state actors did in other armed conflicts over the past two years combined, according to the UN chief’s own annual reports.

Nearly 50 percent of the 2.3 million Palestinians living in the Gaza Strip are children. This incredibly youthful population has experienced 16 years of Israeli siege, which amounts to collective punishment. Palestinian children have faced repeated Israeli military offensives where direct, indiscriminate, and disproportionate attacks against civilians and civilian infrastructure and systemic impunity have been the norm.

Guterres knows the death toll is expected to rise dramatically as Israeli authorities have cut off Palestinians in Gaza from food, water, electricity, medical supplies, and fuel, catapulting a captive civilian population into what he described as a “nightmare” that “is a crisis of humanity”.

Among Gaza’s population are an estimated 50,000 pregnant people. This means there are 160 deliveries on average taking place daily.

Pregnant people struggle to access essential health services as the healthcare system has collapsed. People in the postnatal period and babies in neonatal units are at grave risk due to dangerous fuel shortages as the Israeli authorities have prohibited the entry of fuel desperately needed to operate generators to run life-saving equipment.

Survivors of Israeli bombardment face escalating food insecurity and lack of clean water, which puts pregnant women and children particularly at risk of disease, malnutrition and health complications.

British humanitarian organisation Oxfam has declared that, due to Israeli authorities’ near complete denial of humanitarian access, starvation is being used as a weapon of war against civilians in Gaza. The UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) has noted conditions are inhumane and continue to deteriorate as days go by for more than 717,000 internally displaced people sheltering in 149 UNRWA facilities.

Israeli officials, including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, have repeatedly rejected increasing calls and pressure for a ceasefire in Gaza. Instead, Israeli forces have intensified indiscriminate and direct attacks against residential buildings and civilian infrastructure including hospitals, schools, bakeries, and solar panels.

As Israeli officials are seemingly undeterred in their attempt to depopulate Gaza and create conditions that eliminate Palestinian life, world leaders show, day after day, that they lack the courage to force an end to the bombardment and instead are actively supporting the Israeli onslaught.

The administration of US President Joe Biden has recently approved a $320m deal with Israel for the purchase of United States precision bombs and has allowed the sale of thousands of assault rifles to Israeli authorities despite concerns that they could land in the hands of Israeli settlers in the occupied West Bank. This is apart from the $14bn emergency funding for Israel requested from the US Congress.

These arms sales and funding make Washington even more complicit in the apparent mass atrocities the Israeli army is committing in Gaza.

For decades, the international community has supported and justified Israeli war crimes and the denial of the Palestinian people’s right to self-determination, prioritising the security of the Israeli people at the expense of Palestinian life. Palestinian children are bearing the brunt of that complicity and the failure of international law, protection, and accountability mechanisms.

It is paralysing to think that around 9 to 10 classrooms of students are being obliterated from the Earth each and every day by the Israeli army’s intensive bombardment of residential buildings and civilian infrastructure in Gaza.

The Biden administration’s endorsement of Israel’s actions and the genocidal green light it has given must be opposed. World leaders need to heed the UN chief’s call for an immediate ceasefire and help put an end to the slaughter of Palestinian children.

The views expressed in this article are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect Al Jazeera’s editorial stance.

Central Gaza Strip – Thousands of displaced Palestinians have been forced to leave Gaza City and northern Gaza, making their way to the central region of the coastal territory under attack by Israel.

But many Palestinians described the so-called “safe corridors” that Israel announced to allow for their evacuation as replete with horror.

Ahmad al-Ruweishi had been staying at Al Fakhoura school in the Jabalia refugee camp when the Israeli army bombed it on Saturday, killing at least 100 civilians.

He said he helped move the remains of at least 20 people killed, as their bodies were torn into pieces.

“I had to leave to protect my family,” he said. “It was a tough journey and the soldiers shot at me just because I was pushing my mother in her wheelchair.”

Al-Ruweishi said the Israeli soldiers made the men strip naked and arrested some of them.

“You could not look behind you, and if you dropped anything, they would shoot if you bent down to pick it up,” he said.

The United Nations says at least 1.6 million Palestinians have been internally displaced, with a majority of them staying at UN-run schools. Others are staying with host families or in hospitals.

For weeks, the Israeli military has called on the Palestinians in northern Gaza to flee to the south, but has continued to target and bomb civilians even there.

“We saw death in every colour on Salah al-Din Street,” said Mahmoud al-Madhoun, referring to the main arterial road that connects the north with the south.

“We saw burned-out cars and dead bodies on the road, with dogs eating away at their flesh,” he said. “We couldn’t even dignify them by covering them up with blankets.”

Al-Madhoun was staying at al-Shifa Hospital before he managed to leave on Saturday. He narrated the terror that patients and displaced people at the hospital felt when Israeli soldiers raided the complex and targeted it with bombs.

“When we were able to finally leave the hospital, there were Israeli snipers stationed at the roads,” he said.

“They had erected dirt barriers and used surveillance technology that took our eye print. It was frightening. We never thought we would see the soldiers in the heart of our city where we lived and worked.”

As there were no cars or even ambulances for the sick and injured, al-Madhoun said, they covered the long journey on foot. He said the Israeli soldiers ordered them to hold their IDs in hand.

He also saw men, women and children being taken away by the soldiers, their fate unknown.

“These are not ‘safe corridors’, these are ‘deception corridors,’” he said. “They humiliate us, take us away, or shoot at us.”

The black beaver felt hat, sold at a record price, belonged to the ruler of the French empire in the 19th century.

A hat belonging to Napoleon Bonaparte when he was French emperor has sold for a record of nearly two million euros at a French auction.

The black beaver felt hat went for 1.932 million euros ($2.1 million) on Sunday at the Drouot auction house, breaking the previous record for a Napoleonic hat held by the same auction house: 1.884 million euros in 2014.

The hat, known as a bicorne, is in Napoleon’s trademark colours – black, with the French flag’s colours blue-white-red as insignia – and attracted collectors “from the world over”, auctioneer Jeane-Pierre Osenat said, declining to give the identity or nationality of the eventual buyer.

The hat was last owned by businessman Jean-Louis Noisiez, who died last year.

The final price was more than double the estimate of 600,000 to 800,000 euros ($655,00 to $873,000), and nearly four times the reserve price, said the auction house based in Fontainebleau, south of Paris.

Napoleon is believed to have owned around 120 such hats in total, most of which are now lost.

“One million four hundred fifty thousand [euros] to my left, 1.5 million, we have 1.5 million in the room, 1.5 million for Napoleon’s hat. We’re leaving it at 1.5 million for this major Napoleon symbol, I’m selling for 1.5 million [before fees], no regrets, sold,” Osenat said as he brought down the hammer to applause.

Napoleon wore the felt hat towards the middle of his time as emperor, which lasted from 1808 to 1815, according to the auction house.

Unlike most other people at the time, Napoleon wore his hat sideways, which gave him a distinct silhouette easily recognised by his troops in battle.

Napoleon rose to prominence during the French Revolution, becoming a key figure in the revolutionary wars. He served the republic as first consul, and had himself crowned as emperor in 1804.

He was exiled in 1815 after losing the battle against British and Prussian forces at Waterloo and died in 1821 on the island of Saint Helena in the Atlantic Ocean.

Sunday’s hat sale comes only days before a biopic on Napoleon reaches cinemas worldwide. The film, by Ridley Scott, features massive-scale battles across Europe but also portrays the emperor’s complex relationship with his wife Josephine.

Joaquin Phoenix, who plays Napoleon in the movie, said of the late emperor that he was “socially awkward”, but also a “romantic”.

Yemen’s Houthis say they have taken control of an Israeli-owned ship in the southern Red Sea, with Israel describing the incident as an “Iranian act of terrorism” with consequences for international maritime security.

A Houthi military spokesman confirmed to Al Jazeera on Sunday that its fighters hijacked the British-owned and Japanese-operated cargo ship.

At least 22 people were onboard the Galaxy Leader – reported to be partly owned by an Israeli businessman – which was en route from Turkey to India.

“We have received confirmation from a Houthi official that they hijacked this ship. Earlier today [Sunday], they announced the beginning of operations to attack Israeli-flagged ships. They warned international sailors not to work for such companies,” said Al Jazeera’s Mohammed al-Attab, reporting from Yemen’s capital, Sanaa.

“We are treating the crew in accordance with Islamic norms and principles,” said Yemen’s Houthi military spokesman Yahya Saree in a statement later on Sunday.

He renewed the warning that any ship belonging to Israel or those who support it will be a legitimate target for Houthi forces.

“We confirm our continuation of military operations against [Israel] until the aggression and ugly crimes against our Palestinian brothers in Gaza and the West Bank stop,” said Saree.

The Houthis, backed by Tehran, have launched several missile and drone attacks against Israel since the latest assault on the besieged Gaza Strip began on October 7, killing more than 12,300 Palestinians, including 5,000 children.

“The Houthis have carried out a number of attacks on Iranian targets. We are expecting more attacks in the coming days,” al-Attab said.

The Israeli government called the hijack “a very serious event on a global level”, with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office saying Israel was not involved in the ship’s ownership, operation or the makeup of its international crew.

“This is another Iranian act of terrorism that represents an escalation in Iran’s belligerence against the citizens of the free world, with concomitant international ramifications vis-a-vis the security of global shipping routes,” said a statement released by the prime minister’s office.

“There were no Israelis on the ship,” it said, adding the 25 crew members are from Ukraine, Mexico, the Philippines and Bulgaria, among other countries.

Israel’s military also denied the ship was Israeli. In a statement on X, it said: “The hijacking of a cargo ship by the Houthis near Yemen in the southern Red Sea is a very grave incident of global consequence.”

“The ship departed Turkey on its way to India, staffed by civilians of various nationalities, not including Israelis. It is not an Israeli ship,” the Israeli army said.

A United States defence official said the US is “aware of the situation and closely monitoring it”.

“What we understand is that the shipping company is partly owned by an Israeli businessman and this wouldn’t be the first time one of his ships was intercepted. In 2021, one of his vessels was also targeted,” said Al Jazeera’s Sara Khairat, reporting from occupied East Jerusalem.

Al Jazeera’s Dorsa Jabbari, reporting from Tehran, said there has been no evidence put forth by Israel that Iran is behind the hijack.

“This is an accusation made by the Israeli prime minister’s office without any concrete evidence to support it,” she said.

The war in Gaza has sent tensions soaring in the region, with international organisations and political leaders warning of a potential wider regional conflict.

“Iran in the past has distanced itself from these various armed groups in the Middle East that are against Israel,” Jabbari said.

“But given Israel’s continuous bombardment of Gaza and what they call ‘genocide’ against the Palestinian population, the Iranians are saying the conflict could spread.”