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Dr. Ghassan Abu Sittah is a surgeon who worked at both the Al-Shifa and Al-Alhi Baptist hospitals in Gaza. He tells Al Jazeera he believes the destruction of the health sector is part of an Israeli military strategy to to wipe out the Palestinian population in Gaza – by ensuring no one survives.

Researchers have found that a species of bat uses its penis in a unique way during reproduction, avoiding penetration completely.

Researchers from the University of Lausanne in Switzerland studied the serotine bat, which has a penis about seven times longer than its partner’s vagina.

The animal also has a heart-shaped head that is seven times wider than the vaginal opening. The size and shape in theory makes penetration impossible.

However, the researchers say the bats use their oversized penises like an extra arm to push the female’s tail sheath out of the way.

The unique use of the appendage allows the bats to engage in contact mating – a behaviour more commonly seen in how birds reproduce.

First author Nicolas Fasel said: “By chance, we had observed that these bats have disproportionately long penises, and we were always wondering, ‘How does that work?’.

“We thought maybe it’s like in the dog where the penis engorges after penetration so that they are locked together, or alternatively maybe they just couldn’t put it inside, but that type of copulation hasn’t been reported in mammals until now.”

The researchers observed the unique mating ritual with cameras placed behind a grid the bats could climb on.

Their studies found that during mating. the male bats grasped their partners by the nape and moved their pelvises in a probing fashion until they made contact with the female.

At this point they remained still and held the females in a long embrace. These lasted some 53 minutes on average, with the longest incident stretching to 12.7 hours.

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After mating, the researchers observed the female bats’ abdomens appeared wet, suggesting the presence of semen. Further research is needed to confirm that sperm was transferred during events.

The researchers suggested the male bats may have evolved their oversized penises in order to push aside the female bats’ tail membranes, which females may use to avoid sex.

Professor Fasel suggested: “Bats use their tail membranes for flying and to capture the insects, and female bats also use them to cover their lower parts and protect themselves from males, but the males can then use these big penises to overcome the tail membrane and reach the vulva.”

The researchers collaborated with a bat rehabilitation centre in Ukraine, which filmed mating pairs, and with Jan Jeucker, a bat enthusiast and citizen scientist who filmed hours of footage of serotine bats in a church attic in the Netherlands.

Altogether, the team analysed 97 mating events – 93 from the Dutch church and four from the Ukrainian bat rehabilitation centre. The findings are published in the Current Biology journal.

Joe Biden got Britney Spears muddled up with Taylor Swift in his latest gaffe in front of reporters.

The US president, who turned 81 today, was in the middle of pardoning two turkeys – Liberty and Bell – in the White House’s annual ceremony before the Thanksgiving holiday when he used the name Britney in an apparent reference to Taylor Swift’s current overseas tour.

Mr Biden said: “Just to get here, Liberty and Bell had to beat some tough odds and competition. They had to work hard, to show patience, and be willing to travel over 1,000 miles.

“You could say it’s even harder than getting a ticket to the Renaissance tour or, or Britney’s tour. She’s down, it’s kind of warm in Brazil right now.”

Spears is not currently on tour, nor is Beyonce who finished her Renaissance tour in October. However, Swift is in the middle of a string of international dates, and she postponed her concert in Rio on Saturday due to extreme heat.

A day earlier, a 23-year-old fan had died at the singer’s first Eras Tour show in the Brazilian city.

Swift said in a post on Instagram she was devastated by the death – the cause has not been confirmed.

Saturday’s concert was rescheduled for Monday.

Also speaking at the same White House ceremony, Mr Biden joked about his age, saying: “As much of you know, it’s difficult turning 60.

“This is the 76th anniversary of this event. I want you to know I wasn’t there, and I was too young to make it up.”

The White House did not immediately respond to request for a comment by Sky News’ partner network NBC News on Mr Biden’s apparent mix-up, which comes as voters express concerns in polling about his age.

Biden’s gaffes

In June, the president made a comment about Russian leader Vladimir Putin’s “war in Iraq”, which led to him being mocked online.

Mr Biden said at the time there were clear signs Mr Putin was losing his grip on power amid the conflict in Ukraine.

He told reporters: “It’s hard to tell, but [Putin is] clearly losing the war in Iraq, and he’s losing the war at home.”

In September, Mr Biden mistakenly praised the “Congressional Black Caucus” while addressing the Congressional Hispanic Caucus at the group’s annual gala in Washington DC.

He made the error while noting the group shares qualities with gala award recipient Sister Norma Pimental, executive director of Catholic Charities of the Rio Grande Valley.

“I know Sister Norma lives the lessons nuns taught me growing up. Lessons based on the Gospel of Matthew: feed the hungry, care for the sick, welcome strangers,” he said.

“They echo what my dad taught me, and I mean this sincerely, my dad used to say, ‘Everyone, everyone is entitled to be treated with dignity and respect.’ The Congressional Black Caucus embodies all those values.”

And in April, during a visit to Ireland, the US president praised former Irish rugby international Rob Kearney who he said was “a hell of a rugby player, and beat the Black and Tans”.

By doing so, Mr Biden confused New Zealand’s famous team, the All Blacks, with the reviled British paramilitary force the Black and Tans, who brutally repressed opponents of British rule during the Irish War of Independence.

Most infamously, the force massacred 14 people and wounded 60 more at a Gaelic football match at Croke Park in Dublin in 1920.

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Ahead of the 2024 election, Democrat Mr Biden is currently trailing former Republican president Donald Trump, 77, among young voters ages 18 to 34, with 46% of them supporting Mr Trump and 42% Mr Biden, according to NBC News’ latest poll.

The disparity is significant compared to Mr Biden’s success among young voters in the 2020 presidential election, when he won over voters ages 18 to 29 by more than 20 points, according to the national exit poll.

Another NBC News poll in September found 59% of Americans had major concerns about Mr Biden having the necessary mental and physical health to be president for a second term.

World Cup-winning South African rugby player Hannes Strydom has died in a car crash aged 58.

Strydom was part of the Springboks team that lifted the World Cup after defeating New Zealand in the final in 1995.

The victory, which came a year after the end of apartheid in South Africa, was immortalised in the 2009 Hollywood movie Invictus.

Strydrom, who played as a second-row, has been described as “one of the great locks of his generation” after he was killed in the crash on Sunday evening.

He is the fifth member of the Springboks team which began that 15-12 victory over the All Blacks at Ellis Park in Johannesburg to have died.

Ruben Kruger died in 2010, Joost van der Westhuizen died in 2017, and James Small and Chester Williams both died in 2019.

Strydom won 21 Test caps between 1993 and 1997.

His international career included facing the British and Irish Lions in 1997, a series which ended in a 2-1 defeat for the Springboks.

South African Rugby Union president Mark Alexander said in a statement: “Hannes was one of the great locks of his generation and as a member of the Springbok squad from 1995, one of the heroes of our local game.

“To lose yet another member of the iconic Bok squad from 1995 is a heavy blow to the rugby fraternity here in South Africa and our thoughts and condolences are with his wife, Nikolie, their children, Annalie, Hannes and Lucy, family and friends in this very difficult time.”

The Golden Lions, the rugby union club Strydom played for in South Africa, has also paid tribute to him.

Lions chief executive Rudolf Straeuli, another member of South Africa’s 1995 World Cup squad, said: “We are deeply saddened by the news of the passing of Hannes.

“We share a tight bond as members of the 1995 group and to lose yet another one of our brothers is a big blow.”

The dismembered body of an Emmy-winning filmmaker who disappeared this month was found at a New York beach.

While it has not been officially identified, law enforcement sources told NBC News that the remains appear to be Ross McDonnell’s.

The 44-year-old Irish filmmaker was last seen on 4 November leaving his apartment in Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn, on a bicycle.

His bike was later found locked at Fort Tilden Beach in Queens, located on the Rockaway Peninsula next to Breezy Point.

New York Police officers responded to a call on Friday, just before 12.30pm, over reports of a human torso with legs found lying in the sand.

No foul play is suspected and there is no indication McDonnell took his own life, the sources told NBC.

They added that it is possible McDonnell went for a swim, somehow got caught in the current and drowned.

The investigation is ongoing. Authorities are working with the Irish consulate and awaiting DNA testing results.

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According to the Irish Times, McDonnell missed an appointment on the day he is believed to have been last seen.

After failing to turn up for work the following day, friends went to his apartment and broke down the door.

The filmmaker was nominated for his first Emmy for an Outstanding Investigative Documentary with Elián, about “a five-year-old Cuban boy plucked from the Florida coast in 1999”.

He also won Emmys for cinematography for his work on the Showtime series The Trade in 2021, which covered the US’ opioid epidemic and Central American immigration, and for the film The First Wave in 2022, which followed the staff and patients of a New York hospital at the start of the Covid-19 pandemic.