الكاتب: kafej

The number of people to have been killed in Gaza over the last month now stands at more than 11,000, according to officials in Gaza.

This figure has been the subject of much debate because it’s released by the Gazan Ministry of Health, which is run by Hamas – the governing body in Gaza.

It has led some, including President Joe Biden, to suggest it might be an exaggerated figure.

“I have no notion whether Palestinians are telling the truth about how many people are killed, I’m sure innocents have been killed and it’s a price of waging a war…” Biden said two weeks ago.

But this past week, the US assistant secretary of state for near Eastern affairs, Barbara Leaf, told politicians on Capitol Hill that the number to have been killed could actually be higher.

“We think they are very high, frankly, and it could be that they are even higher than are being cited,” she said.

Examination of data from previous Gaza conflicts – the Hamas-run health ministry’s counts compared with the post-war United Nations analysis – shows that the initial data is broadly accurate with, at most, a 10-12% discrepancy:

• 2008 war: The Gaza Health ministry reported 1,440 Palestinians killed; the UN reported 1,385
• 2014 war: The Gaza Health ministry reported 2,310 Palestinians killed; the UN reported 2,251
• 2021 war: The Gaza Health ministry reported 260 Palestinians killed; the UN reported 256

The Ministry of Health in Gaza is a body of civil servants. The data is collected by hospital staff as casualties arrive. The data is ultimately also confirmed by the MoH in Ramallah, which is not run by Hamas.

More clarity is needed on how many of those killed were armed militants fighting for Hamas or Palestinian Islamic Jihad.

The Health Ministry does not record how people were killed. They are all reported as victims of the “Israeli aggression”.

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The Israeli military says they killed 1,500 Hamas fighters during the 7 October massacre. The Israeli government believes that number is included in the Hamas toll.

Eylon Levy, an Israeli government spokesman, wrote on X, formerly known as Twitter, this weekend: “Hamas’ death toll (no reason to accept at face value anyway) includes: The terrorists who did October 7, people killed from its own misfiring rockets (everyone at Al Ahli!) [the hospital which was hit two weeks ago], everyone it told not to evacuate / stopped from evacuating after Israel urged them to leave for safety.”

More than half of casualties are women and children, say Hamas

We do not know how many Palestinian combatants have been killed since the Israeli bombardment and ground invasion began.

The IDF has reported numbers in the scores on a day-to-day basis in the ground invasion and it said on Saturday that Israeli troops had “killed 150 Hamas terrorists” in a single battle.

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Estimates for the total number of Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad combatants varies widely from 15,000 and 50,000. The variance is likely to be because they range from elite militant units to a less structured group of combatants.

Based on a 212-page Hamas database published after President Biden’s comments, the demographic of the dead showed more than half were women and children.

In a news conference this past week, announcing that the total killed had reached 10,000, Health Ministry authorities said more than 2,600 were women, more than 4,000 were children and more than 25,000 people have been injured.

More than 2,000 have been reported missing.

‘Genocide in slow motion’: Doctors condemn Israel’s advance on Gaza’s al-Shifa Hospital, as premature babies begin dying after their incubators stop working. Attacking medical facilities in war is considered illegal under international law.

NASA astronauts accidentally dropped their toolbox during a walk around the International Space Station – and the floating kit could be visible from Earth.

Jasmin Moghbeli and Loral O’Hara spent six hours and 42 minutes outside the ISS as they carried out maintenance work.

But a satchel-sized bag floated away and is now orbiting the Earth, several minutes ahead of the space station.

It was even captured on camera by the pair’s Japanese colleague Satoshi Furukawa, who accidentally photographed the bag while taking a shot of Mount Fuji.

NASA said the tools were not needed for the remainder of the spacewalk.

Mission Control analysed the bag’s trajectory and determined the risk of recontacting the station was low, and that the onboard crew and space station were safe.

The bag has been classified as space junk and is expected to re-enter the Earth’s orbit in the coming months, but will likely burn up as it does so.

EarthSky said some people should be able to see it floating around with just a pair of binoculars.

“It’s surprisingly bright (for a tool bag), shining just below the limit of visibility to the unaided eye,” its website said.

There are believed to be around 100,000 items of orbital debris currently circling the earth.

This isn’t the first time an astronaut has lost a toolbox – in November 2008, Heide Stefanyshyn-Piper was performing a similar repair when the same thing happened.

In 2006, spacewalker Piers Sellers sheepishly reported that he lost a spatula.

And in 1965, the first American spacewalker, Ed White, lost a spare glove when he went outside for the first time.

Iceland has been forged by the heat of the Earth’s core.

The molten rock that now sits 800 metres below the fishing village of Grindavik is expected to reach the surface within days, the latest in a long history of eruptions.

Around 4,000 inhabitants were evacuated in the early hours of Saturday after a swarm of earthquakes clustered in a small area. There had been more than 1,000 tremors in just a few hours, caused by the magma forcing its way upwards.

Scientists believe it has now pooled in a 10-mile tunnel in the rock, stretching from the island interior out to sea.

The Reykjanes volcanic system is barely 35 miles from the capital, Reykjavik. It had been dormant for 800 years until it erupted from a fissure in March 2021. The lava fountain became a tourist attraction over a six-month period.

There have been two more eruptions in the same area since then.

But the amount of molten rock just below the surface this time is thought to be far greater.

It’s possible the eruption will be just offshore, in which case the contact between super-heated rock and water would be explosive – with an ash cloud potentially being thrown several miles high.

That would be an echo of the Eyjafjallajokull eruption in 2010, which caused widespread disruption. Around 100,000 flights were grounded over several days because of fears that aircraft engines would be damaged by the ash cloud that swept towards Europe.

Iceland is one of the most volcanic regions on the planet.

It sits on the mid-Atlantic ridge, where the tectonic plates of North America and Eurasia are pulling apart by 2cm a year.

Over millions of years, a plume of molten rock poured from the rift, eventually breaching the ocean surface to form an island.

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On average there is an eruption from one of Iceland’s 32 active volcanoes every four or five years, with rivers of lava shaping the stark landscape.

Some of the eruptions have been catastrophic.

In 1783 around a quarter of the population was killed following an eruption of the Laki/Skaftareldar volcano.

The biggest current concern is over Katla, which last erupted in 1918. It lies under hundreds of metres of ice and any eruption is likely to cause widespread flooding.

Millions of people in India have celebrated Diwali, with residents in Uttar Pradesh setting a Guinness World Record for the mass lighting of oil lamps – despite concerns over air pollution.

In honour of the Hindu festival, homes and streets across the country were covered in dazzling multi-coloured lights.

At the Saryu river in Ayodhya, Uttar Pradesh – a state in northern India which borders Nepal – the spectacular lighting of more than 2.22 million oil lamps took place.

The location has a special significance for Hindus as it is the birthplace of their most revered deity, the god Ram.

The lamps were lit at dusk on Saturday and kept burning for 45 minutes as attendees lining the riverbanks sang Hindu hymns.

After the lamps were counted, the state’s top elected official, Yogi Adityanath, was presented with a certificate commemorating the record.

Diwali, the festival of light, is a national holiday in India and is celebrated with socialising and the exchanging of gifts.

Many people light earthen oil lamps, candles and fireworks. In the evening, a special prayer is said in honour of the Hindu goddess Lakshmi, who is believed to bring luck and prosperity.

The festival came amid worries over air pollution in India as a “hazardous” 400-500 level was recorded on the air quality index – more than 10 times the global safety threshold.

Earlier this week, Kolkata and New Delhi were named the two cities in the world with the worst air quality.

On Saturday, unexpected rain and strong winds lowered the level to 220, India’s government-run Central Pollution Control Board said.

India’s capital is bringing in vehicle restrictions in a bid to curb air pollution, meaning private vehicles with odd number plates will be allowed on roads on odd dates, while those with even number plates will be allowed on roads on alternate days.

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The air pollution level is expected to soar again by the end of Diwali as more fireworks are used.

Some Indian states have banned the sale of fireworks and urged residents to instead light “green crackers”, which emit less pollutants, but similar bans and recommendations have often been disregarded in the past.