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UN warns of imminent famine in Gaza, urges humanitarian action

UN warns of imminent famine in Gaza, urges humanitarian action
By Alastair McCready, Mersiha Gadzo, Urooba Jamal, Usaid Siddiqui and Lyndal Rowlands
Published On 9 Nov 2024

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9 Nov 2024 - 23:59
 (23:59 GMT)

That’s a wrap from us

Thank you for joining us.

For more on Qatar suspending mediation efforts on Gaza, check out our story, here.

You can read more about Israeli forces killing a Palestinian man in the town of Aqqaba in the occupied West Bank, here.

To read our news story about imminent famine in northern Gaza by the independent Famine Review Committee, go here.

9 Nov 2024 - 23:45
 (23:45 GMT)

Here’s what happened today

We will be closing this live page soon. Here is a recap of the day’s major events:

  • Israeli air raids killed at least 44 people in Gaza over the past 24 hours.
  • Qatar says its mediation efforts between Israel and Hamas are suspended until all parties show “willingness and seriousness” to end the war.
  • Lebanon Health Ministry says a series of Israeli strikes on eastern and southern Lebanon has killed at least 31 people.
  • Famine is looming in northern Gaza amid increased hostilities and a near-halt in food aid, a UN-backed assessment has said.
  • The director of Kamal Adwan Hospital in northern Gaza has warned of a worsening humanitarian crisis at the hospital, describing the situation as “catastrophic”.
9 Nov 2024 - 23:30
 (23:30 GMT)

WATCH: Doctors forced to choose who lives and who dies in Gaza

9 Nov 2024 - 23:15
 (23:15 GMT)

What’s the Israel-Palestine conflict about? A simple guide

By Linah Alsaafin

The Israeli-Palestinian conflict has claimed tens of thousands of lives and displaced many millions of people and has its roots in a colonial act carried out more than a century ago.

For decades, Western media outlets, academics, military experts and world leaders have described the Israeli-Palestinian conflict as intractable, complicated and deadlocked.

Here’s a simple guide to break down one of the world’s longest-running conflicts.

9 Nov 2024 - 23:00
 (23:00 GMT)

Israel army raids occupied West Bank town

Israeli forces have raided the town of Abu Dis, located southeast of occupied East Jerusalem, the Wafa news agency is reporting.

According to locals who spoke to Wafa, Israeli forces fired toxic tear gas canisters at residents and their homes. The assault resulted in several people suffering from suffocation.

Israeli raids in the occupied West Bank have intensified after the war on Gaza began in October 2023. More than 11,500 people have been detained since then.

9 Nov 2024 - 22:45
 (22:45 GMT)

Ethnic cleansing taking place during news void in north Gaza: Media group

The New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) says Israel has stepped up systematic attacks on journalists and media infrastructure since the start of its northern Gaza campaign.

Israeli strikes killed at least five journalists in October and Israeli forces began a smear campaign against six Al Jazeera journalists reporting on the north, it said.

“There are now almost no professional journalists left in the north to document what several international institutions have described as an ethnic cleansing campaign. Israel has not allowed international media independent access to Gaza in the 13 months since the war began,” CPJ said in a statement.

“It seems clear that the systematic attacks on the media and campaign to discredit those few journalists who remain is a deliberate tactic to prevent the world from seeing what Israel is doing there,” said CPJ Program Director Carlos Martinez de la Serna.

“Reporters are crucial in bearing witness during a war, without them the world won’t be able to write history.”

9 Nov 2024 - 22:30
 (22:30 GMT)

Photos: Aftermath of Israeli attack on tents near al-Aqsa Hospital

People mourn loved ones who died in the attack on a tent encampment [Abedelhakim Abu Riash/Al Jazeera]
The strike hit tents housing war-displaced Palestinians at Al-Aqsa Hospital in Deir el-Balah [Abedelhakim Abu Riash/Al Jazeera]
Children survey the aftermath of the Israeli helicopter attack [Abedelhakim Abu Riash/Al Jazeera]
The air strike took place in central Gaza’s city of Deir el-Balah [Abedelhakim Abu Riash/Al Jazeera]
Israel’s army has repeatedly hit hospitals and schools sheltering the displaced [Abedelhakim Abu Riash/Al Jazeera]
A press jacket hangs near the site of Saturday’s helicopter attack [Abedelhakim Abu Riash/Al Jazeera]

9 Nov 2024 - 22:15
 (22:15 GMT)

Israeli police arrest 5 as thousands protest for captive exchange deal

Israeli media outlet Haaretz is reporting that at least five people were arrested, including three near Netanyahu’s residence in Jerusalem, during protests.

Thousands of people have been protesting in Israel, calling on Netanyahu’s government to do more to bring home captives who have now been held in Gaza for 400 days.

One person was also arrested in central Haifa, and another person was detained at a protest at the Karkur Junction in northern Israel.

Hundreds of people carrying Israeli flags and pictures of Israeli captives joined a protest in Tel Aviv, Israel on Saturday night [Mostafa Alkharouf/Anadolu]
9 Nov 2024 - 22:00
 (22:00 GMT)

Death toll in Israeli attack on southern Lebanon town rises

Lebanon’s Health Ministry says the death toll from an Israeli strike on Deir Qanoun in Tyre has gone up to eight

9 Nov 2024 - 21:50
 (21:50 GMT)
Opinion

How are you? A question I struggle to answer in Gaza

By Fatma Al Zahraa Sehwail

“How are you?” It is a simple question I get in daily messages from my friends – Kenyan, Nigerian, Turkish, British, Jordanian, Iranian and Moroccan. While it may seem like an ordinary question for friends to ask each other, I feel they use it as a way to reassure themselves that I am still alive.

I understand why they are doing it but every time I see a message with this question, I find it hard to answer.

How am I, when I keep thinking of my home which I left in panic on the second day of the genocide? How am I, knowing that the place I spent years building with my husband has been obliterated by an Israeli air strike?

How am I, remembering the images I saw in media reports showing just a pile of rubble where my home used to stand, where so many sweet memories were made?

Read more of this opinion piece here.

A Palestinian displaced woman by the Israeli air and ground offensive on the Gaza Strip flees from Hamad City, following an evacuation order by the Israeli army to leave parts of the southern area of Khan Younis [File: Abdel Kareem Hana/AP Photo]
9 Nov 2024 - 21:40
 (21:40 GMT)

Israeli air strikes damage university buildings in Beirut

Israeli air strikes on Beirut’s southern suburbs on Friday night caused severe damage to some buildings at the Lebanese University, state media report.

Some buildings of the faculties and laboratories at the Rafik Hariri campus in the Hadath area sustained extensive damage, the National News Agency said on Saturday.

Bassam Badran, the university president, told reporters that the institution “will remain resilient in the face of Israeli war machinery”.

“These attacks will not deter it from continuing its mission of education and community service,” he added.

Badran said the university started the academic year a few days ago, offering remote learning across all its branches and institutes.

9 Nov 2024 - 21:30
 (21:30 GMT)

Qatar wants negotiations to be serious

By Marwan Bishara

Qatar has been spearheading the attempt at reaching a ceasefire for so long now. Clearly, there have been attempts by a number of parties, notably the Israeli, to undermine the process or abuse the process of diplomacy in order to continue the war.

A few days ago, when the Americans and Israelis were in Doha to talk about a deal, the Qataris told them call us when you’re serious. Because they could not stay this way, wasting time and basically deceiving the world about negotiations towards a ceasefire, when there really isn’t really any seriousness to do so.

It’s almost an obsession with the idea that Qatar hosts Hamas. We’ve been reporting it, others have been reporting it, and American officials have clarified that this is the most practical way to conduct negotiations – having Hamas next door, since Qatar is mediating.

Clearly, there’s been a lot of deception over the past 400 days. One way that deception has been carried out is by discrediting Qatar, or by pressuring Qatar to expel Hamas and continuously releasing disinformation about the issue.

9 Nov 2024 - 21:20
 (21:20 GMT)

Palestinian Christians despair as Gaza homeland destroyed by Israel’s war

By Joseph Tulloch

When Khalil Sayegh thinks back to his childhood in the Gaza Strip, the Greek Orthodox Church of Saint Porphyrius looms large in his memory.

Sayegh, now 29, remembers the weddings, Sunday school classes, music lessons and the visits to the tiny graveyard.

Now, Sayegh lives in Washington, DC, where former President Donald Trump will retake power in January after beating Democrat Vice President Kamala Harris in the United States presidential election this week.

Trump’s political comeback has added a new layer of uncertainty for Palestinians – those in Gaza, which Israel has subjected to near-relentless bombardment and ground assaults for the past 13 months, and also those who, like Sayegh, have family there and are watching helplessly from afar.

Read more here.

A child holds candles during a Palm Sunday service at the start of Holy Week for Orthodox Christians at the Greek Orthodox Church of Saint Porphyrius in Gaza City [Omar Al-Qattaa/AFP]
9 Nov 2024 - 21:10
 (21:10 GMT)

Families of captives demonstrate in Tel Aviv, demanding a deal

Several families of Israeli captives are demonstrating at Begin Street in Tel Aviv, demanding a deal from the government to return their relatives held in Gaza.

Several protesters criticised Netanyahu’s government for failing to reach an agreement regarding the captives, calling on fellow Israelis to join their demonstration, as shown in footage posted by Israeli activists and verified by Al Jazeera.

Translation: “Because of Netanyahu, the kidnapped are dying in captivity! Because of Netanyahu, soldiers are being killed in a war that achieved its goals!” – Einav Zangauker, mother of Matan, who has been kidnapped in Gaza for 400 days and nights, in a statement on behalf of the families at Begin Gate in HaKirya, Tel Aviv.

Join us tonight. We need you. You are our strength. Tonight – Begin Gate, HaKirya

9 Nov 2024 - 21:00
 (21:00 GMT)

Israeli forces kill 3 Palestinians shortly after their release in northern Gaza

Israeli forces killed three Palestinians from Gaza shortly after releasing them from detention, the Wafa news agency reported, adding that the men had been detained during Israel’s military offensive on northern Gaza in early October.

Wafa cited local sources and witnesses saying that the detainees were freed from Israeli custody at the Zikim military base near the northern Gaza border.

“After their release, the Israeli navy targeted the three men with gunfire from warships as they were near al-Khalidi Mosque, along the coastal road northwest of Gaza City,” Wafa said.

The victims were identified as Ali and Nadi Maarouf, two elderly men, and Hamza al-Hato. Their bodies were transferred to the al-Shifa Medical Complex in Gaza City.

9 Nov 2024 - 20:50
 (20:50 GMT)

Hezbollah claims several attacks on Israeli targets

The Lebanese armed group says it has carried out an air attack with a “squadron of suicide drones” on the Ain Khozlut base, south of Lake Tiberias.

It also said it targeted Israeli forces south of the town of Maroun al-Ras with a barrage of missiles.

9 Nov 2024 - 20:40
 (20:40 GMT)

Qassam Brigades says Israeli vehicle targeted in northern Gaza

The armed wing of Hamas claims it targeted the bulldozer with an RPG shell in the al-Qassasib neighbourhood in Jabalia.

Since early October, northern Gaza has been in a state of continuous Israeli siege. At least 1,500 civilians, including children, have been killed, according to officials in Gaza. No food or aid has been allowed in.

(AFP)
9 Nov 2024 - 20:30
 (20:30 GMT)

WATCH: Israel attacks people camped at Gaza hospital

An Israeli helicopter fired at displaced people outside the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital. At least one person was killed and three wounded.

Watch the video below:

9 Nov 2024 - 20:20
 (20:20 GMT)

Israeli strikes on Lebanon kill at least 31 people

A wave of Israeli strikes on eastern and southern Lebanon has killed at least 31 people, the Health Ministry said.

  • Twenty people were killed in raids on the Baalbek-Hermel region, including 11 in the Knaissseh locality. Another 14 people were wounded.
  • In the south, Israeli strikes killed at least 11 people, including six rescuers in a strike on the village of Deir Qanun, and five people in the southern village of Hanaway.

Saturday’s attacks came a day after the Health Ministry said seven people, including two children, were killed in strikes on the southern city of Tyre.

9 Nov 2024 - 20:10
 (20:10 GMT)

Situation in Gaza getting even more catastrophic every day

By Ibrahim al-Khalili

Reporting from Gaza City, Gaza Strip

I’m inside the Fahd al-Sabah school in the Tuffah neighbourhood of northeast Gaza City. Israeli fighter jets targeted this school-turned-shelter at midnight while displaced Palestinians were sleeping.

Six Palestinians have been killed and dozens wounded. Civilians have been taking refuge here for 400 days of this long Israeli genocidal war.

Two journalists have also been killed in this attack. There are press jackets and helmets on the ground. Blood is on the wall. The smell of blood is everywhere.

With the ongoing prevention of humanitarian aid into northern Gaza, the situation is getting much more dire.

As hospitals are being rendered out of service due to the relentless attacks, the situation is getting even more catastrophic every day.