Dire conditions at al-Shifa Hospital revealed during Gaza pause | Gaza
Dire conditions at al-Shifa Hospital revealed during Gaza pause | Gaza
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New video from Gaza’s al-Shifa Hospital has emerged, made possible by the pause in Israel’s attack. It shows badly injured and elderly patients stranded in hospital beds outside among debris in the carpark.
Cargo ship sinks near Greece with 13 crew members missing | World News
Cargo ship sinks near Greece with 13 crew members missing | World News
Thirteen people are missing after a cargo ship sank near one of the Greek islands.
The Raptor, which set off from El Dekheila port in Egypt and was sailing to Istanbul in Turkey, sank near Lesbos on Sunday morning.
Built in 1984, the Comoros-flagged ship reported a mechanical failure and issued a distress call, the Greekcoastguard said.
Eight of the crew were Egyptians and the rest were Syrian and Indian nationals.
Five cargo ships, three coastguard vessels, air force and navy helicopters, and a navy frigate have joined the rescue effort.
One person has been rescued and airlifted to hospital in wind speeds reaching 9-10, meaning a strong gale to storm force on the Beaufort scale.
An emergency weather warning by the Hellenic National Meteorological Service (EMY) was upgraded on Saturday from “worsening weather” to “dangerous weather phenomena”, as Storm Oliver moved from the Adriatic Sea toward Greece.
Mexican journalists freed days after being abducted in southern province | Media News
Mexican journalists freed days after being abducted in southern province | Media News
Reporters Silvia Nayssa Arce, Alberto Sanchez and Marco Antonio Toledo have been released unharmed, officials say.
Three Mexican journalists, who were abducted over the past week, have been released after authorities launched search operations in the southern province of Guerrero, according to the state attorney general’s office.
The state’s prosecutor said on Saturday that Reporters Silvia Nayssa Arce, Alberto Sanchez and Marco Antonio Toledo were released unharmed.
Toledo, editor of the weekly newspaper El Espectador, was kidnapped by armed men on November 19 in the tourist town of Taxco, while Silvia Nayssa Arce and Alberto Sanchez, reporters for digital media site RedSiete, were abducted from their offices on Wednesday in the same city.
The prosecutor’s office also confirmed the release of Toledo’s wife, Guadalupe Denova, but said the couple’s son, who was kidnapped along with his parents, is still missing.
The Mexican army, police and national guard will “continue with search operations”, it said.
Mexico is considered one of the most dangerous countries in the world to practise journalism, according to the organisation Reporters Without Borders (RSF).
On November 16, photojournalist Ismael Villagomez was shot dead in the northern border city of Ciudad Juarez. Three people have been arrested over the killing.
At least five other journalists have been killed in Mexico this year, and more than 150 since 2000, according to the RSF.
Guerrero is a hotbed of gang activity and crime, with armed groups frequently carrying out kidnappings for ransom there.
Flight data recorder removed from US navy surveillance plane that overshot runway and landed in water | US News
Flight data recorder removed from US navy surveillance plane that overshot runway and landed in water | US News
The flight data recorder has been removed from a US navy surveillance plane that overshot a runway and ended up in the water off Hawaii.
The large aircraft was on its approach to a marine base when it landed in Kaneohe Bay.
Nine people, including three pilots and six crew members, were on board at the time and all evacuated the plane, which is about 130ft (40m) long.
None were injured, as investigators try to establish the cause of last Monday’s incident near Marine Corps Base Hawaii.
Weather conditions were cloudy and rainy at the time, with visibility about one mile, said a meteorologist.
The data recorder was retrieved by sailors from a diving and salvage unit on Thursday.
The P-8A plane is still in the water as the navy continues to work out how to remove it.
Kaneohe Bay is home to coral reefs and is a breeding ground for hammerhead sharks.
Residents are worried about possible coral reef damage and other potential harm from fuel or other chemicals in the area, which is about 1.5 miles (2.4km) from an ancient fishing point.
Image: US navy sailors entered the water to retrieve the flight recorder. Pic: Lance Cpl Hunter Jones/US Marine Corps via AP
Containment booms have been placed around the aircraft as well as absorbent materials, and the area is being monitored by specialists 24 hours a day.
Read more: Five US service members killed after aircraft suffers ‘mishap’ US warship shoots down missiles ‘potentially’ heading for Israel How a US aircraft carrier is part of a high-stakes stand-off
About 9,300 military personnel and 5,100 family members are housed on the base, which is around 10 miles from Honolulu on Oahu.
The P-8A, made by Boeing, is often used to search for submarines and for reconnaissance and intelligence gathering.
The plane belongs to the Skinny Dragons of Patrol Squadron 4, stationed at Whidbey Island in Washington state.
Another crew from the same state, the VP-40 Fighting Marlins, arrived in Hawaii on Thursday to assume homeland defence coverage, the navy said.
‘One minute to say goodbye’ to a father, son, husband: Hussein Abu Jamei | Israel-Palestine conflict
‘One minute to say goodbye’ to a father, son, husband: Hussein Abu Jamei | Israel-Palestine conflict
Khan Younis, Gaza Strip – It was 1am when the group of first responders in Khan Younis received the call – there had been an Israeli air raid nearby.
Along with his colleagues, Sayyed Mohammed Abu Jamei rushed to the site and started digging through the rubble to find any survivors. In the middle of scrabbling frantically through the debris, Sayyed found himself looking at the body of his own brother, Hussein.
In the early hours of October 24, shocked and grief-stricken, he listened as a nearby wailing grew louder – before realising it was coming from himself.
Hussein is survived by his pregnant wife, Hadeel, and his children Abdallah, 10, Ahmed, 7, and Hoda, three [Courtesy of Sayyed Mohammed Abu Jamei]
Hussein’s mother, his wife Hadeel Abu Abed and their children all rushed to the hospital. They arrived only a few moments before he was buried, managing only a rushed final farewell inside a dangerously overcrowded morgue.
“They had one minute to say goodbye,” said Sayyed, 46. “The children were able to kiss him. But his wife and my mother only looked at him for the last time.
“My mother wished she could kiss him, but she couldn’t because of the crowd.”
Talking to Al Jazeera in the hospital’s waiting area, Sayyed’s eyes drifted as he tried to sum up who his brother was: “He was decent, he was level-headed, he was polite,” he repeated, over and over.
Hussein was only 32 when he died – killed by an Israeli missile that hit a residential neighbourhood in southern Khan Younis where he was sheltering with friends and extended family members.
His dream was to pay off some loans he had taken to build a small apartment above his parent’s house and to buy a car. Eventually, he wanted to save up enough to buy a piece of land to build a bigger house for his wife, three children, and unborn baby.
He often told his brother how much wanted his children to have a place where they could create beautiful memories. To achieve this dream, Hussein worked long hours as a driver, doing odd jobs from dusk to dawn in the besieged Gaza Strip.
“My brother was one of those people who you would like from the moment you met,” Sayyed said. “He had an ease and calm about him that would draw people to him.”
Twenty days before he was killed, Hussein had taken his pregnant wife and three children, Abdallah, 10, Ahmed, 7, and Hoda, three, to stay at his in-laws’ home in Bani Souhaila, further south in the strip.
He had also left the family’s apartment in the east of Khan Younis and moved to the south of the city.
A family torn apart
When they fell in love, Hadeel and Hussein had already been neighbours for a while.
They had a traditional Palestinian wedding, complete with a zaffeh (wedding procession) and have celebrated their wedding anniversary every year.
“Hadeel was everything to him,” Sayyed said. “He cherished and respected her, and tried to provide her with everything she needed.
“The day each of his children was born, Hussein was overjoyed and distributed sweets in the neighbourhood to share his joy,” Sayyed added.
“Hussein had a special bond with his kids. He was a child at heart and doted on his children despite the hardships of his life.
“He made sure to take time out of his busy day to play with them and to do the things they liked to do. He even used to play with them in the street.”
Hussein worked as a driver to pay off his loans and save up enough to buy a piece of land and build a bigger house for his family [Courtesy of Sayyed Mohammed Abu Jamei]
Hussein missed his children terribly during the period they were separated, Sayyed said. He tried to go see them as often as he could – the last time was on the day before he was killed. Despite the danger, he checked also on his parents in the al-Zana district in eastern Khan Younis, five kilometres (3.1 miles) away, every two to three days.
“Hussein had a very warm and loving relationship with my parents and siblings. He was very attached to his kids and wife. God help them. He would make sure to help the children with their homework, he wanted them to excel. He would call them ‘Dr Abdallah’, ‘Dr Hoda’,” Sayyed said, his voice trembling.
Asked about how Hussein’s wife was doing, he said despairingly: “We have 10,000 martyrs in Gaza. She reacted like any of the people who have lost loved ones.”
Sombre and exhausted, Sayyed thought about what his brother would have wanted if he had lived.
“He wasn’t a man of grand ambitions. He wanted what an average young man his age wanted: to be content, have a decent life, and live in peace.”
This article was produced in collaboration with Egab.