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Philippines says a coast guard ship and supply boat were rammed by Chinese vessels at disputed shoal
A Chinese coast guard ship and an accompanying vessel rammed a Philippine coast guard ship and a military-run supply boat Sunday off a contested shoal, Philippine officials said, in an encounter that heightened fears of an armed conflict in the disputed South China Sea.
A top Philippine security official told The Associated Press there were no injuries among the Filipino crew members and the damage to both vessels was being assessed.
The official said that the two incidents near Second Thomas Shoal, where China has repeatedly tried to isolate a Philippine marine outpost, could have been worse if the vessels were not able to maneuver rapidly away from the Chinese ships. The official spoke on condition of anonymity due to a lack of authority to publicly discuss the matter.
China's sweeping territorial claims in the South China Sea, including over islands closer to the Philippine shore, have raised tensions and brought the United States, a longtime treaty ally of the Philippines, into the fray.
The U.S. ambassador to Manila, MaryKay Carlson, wrote on the X social media platform that “the United States condemns the PRC’s latest disruption of a legal Philippine resupply mission to Ayungin shoal, putting the lives of Filipino service members at risk.”
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She used the initials for China’s formal name, the People’s Republic of China, and the name the Philippines uses for Second Thomas Shoal. She added that Washington was standing with its allies to help protect Philippine sovereignty and to support a free and open Indo-Pacific region.
State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller also reaffirmed that the 1951 U.S.-Philippines Mutual Defense Treaty extended to attacks on Philippine forces and vessels in the South China Sea.
The Chinese coast guard said the Philippine vessels “trespassed” into what it said were Chinese waters “without authorization” despite repeated radio warnings, prompting its ships to stop them. It blamed the Philippine vessels for causing the collisions.
"The Philippine side’s behavior seriously violates the international rules on avoiding collisions at sea and threatens the navigation safety of our vessels,” the Chinese coast guard said in a statement posted on its website.
The Chinese authorities said that they were stopping Philippines ships that carried “illegal construction” materials.
Read: EU leader pays rare visit to Philippines after stormy ties with past president over human rights
A Philippine government task force dealing with the South China Sea said the collisions occurred as two Philippine supply boats escorted by two Philippine coast guard ships were heading to deliver food and other supplies to the military outpost that has been under a Chinese blockade.
The actions of the Chinese ships were “in utter blatant disregard of the United Nations Charter, the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea” and international regulations that aim to prevent sea collisions, it said.
Near-collisions have happened frequently as Philippine vessels deliver supplies to Filipino marines and sailors stationed on the disputed shoal. But this was the first time Philippine officials have reported their vessels being hit by China’s ships.
In the past, Chinese officials have played down claims that the Chinese vessels enforcing Beijing's territorial claims were in fact paramilitary ships disguised as fishing boats.
Despite the Chinese efforts, one of the two boats managed to maneuver and deliver supplies to the small contingent stationed on board a marooned warship, the BRP Sierra Madre, the task force said.
Read: Chinese navy ship pays port call to Philippines in goodwill tour of region
The South China Sea is one of the world’s busiest trade routes. The disputes involve China, the Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia, Taiwan and Brunei, and are regarded as a flashpoint in a delicate fault line in U.S.-China rivalry in the region.
In early August, a Chinese coast guard ship used a water cannon against one of two Philippine supply boats to prevent it from approaching Second Thomas Shoal. It outraged President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. and prompted the Department of Foreign Affairs in Manila to summon the Chinese ambassador to convey a strongly worded protest.
At the time, the Chinese Foreign Ministry accused Washington of “threatening China” by raising the possibility of activating the U.S.-Philippine mutual defense treaty. Beijing has repeatedly warned the U.S. not to meddle in regional territorial disputes.
The European Union ambassador to Manila, Luc Veron, said the incidents, “their repetition and intensification, are dangerous and very disturbing.” The EU, he added, joins the Philippines “in its call for the full observance of international law in the South China Sea.”
A 2016 arbitration ruling set up under the U.N. Convention on the Law of the Sea invalidated Beijing’s claims on historical grounds to virtually the entire South China Sea. China refused to participate in the arbitration sought by the Philippines, rejects the decision and continues to defy it.
Second aid convoy reaches Gaza as Israel attacks targets in Syria and occupied West Bank
The second aid convoy destined for desperate Palestinian civilians reached Gaza on Sunday, as Israel widened its attacks to include targets in Syria and the occupied West Bank and the Israeli prime minister warned Lebanon’s Hezbollah militant group that if it launches its own war, “we will cripple it with a force it cannot even imagine.”
For days, Israel has been on the verge of launching a ground offensive in Gaza following Hamas’ brutal Oct. 7 rampage through a series of Israeli communities. Tanks and troops have been massed at the Gaza border, waiting for the command to cross.
Israel’s military spokesman, Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari, said the country had increased airstrikes across Gaza to hit targets that would reduce the risk to troops in the next stage of the war.
Fears of a widening war grew as Israeli warplanes struck targets across Gaza, two airports in Syria and a mosque in the occupied West Bank allegedly used by militants.
Israel has traded fire with Hezbollah militants since the war began, and tensions are soaring in the West Bank, where Israeli forces have battled militants in refugee camps and carried out two airstrikes in recent days.
Read: Second aid convoy reaches Gaza as Israel attacks targets in Syria and occupied West Bank
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told troops in northern Israel that if Hezbollah launches a war, "it will make the mistake of its life. We will cripple it with a force it cannot even imagine, and the consequences for it and the Lebanese state will be devastating.”
Hamas said it fought with Israeli forces near Khan Younis in southern Gaza and destroyed a tank and two bulldozers.
Late Sunday, Hagari announced that a soldier was killed and three others wounded by an anti-tank missile during a raid inside Gaza as part of efforts to rescue more than 200 hostages abducted in the Oct. 7 attack.
On Saturday, 20 trucks entered Gaza in the first aid shipment into the territory since Israel imposed a complete siege two weeks ago.
Israeli authorities said late Sunday they had allowed a second batch of aid into Gaza at the request of the United States. COGAT, the Israeli defense body responsible for Palestinian civilian affairs, said the aid included water, food and medical supplies and that everything was inspected by Israel before it was brought into Gaza.
The U.N. agency for Palestinian refugees confirmed the arrival of 14 trucks.
Israel has not allowed any fuel to enter Gaza.
In a sign of how precarious any movement of aid remains, the Egyptian military said Israeli shelling hit a watchtower on Egypt's side of the border, causing light injuries. The Israeli military apologized, saying a tank had accidentally fired and hit an Egyptian post, and the incident was being investigated.
Read: Ukrainians prepare firewood and candles to brace for a winter of Russian strikes on the energy grid
Relief workers said far more aid was needed to address the spiraling humanitarian crisis in Gaza, where half the territory's 2.3 million people have fled their homes. The U.N. humanitarian agency said Saturday's convoy carried about 4% of an average day’s imports before the war and “a fraction of what is needed after 13 days of complete siege."
The Israeli military said the humanitarian situation was “under control,” even as the U.N. called for 100 trucks a day to enter.
In a Sunday phone call, Netanyahu and U.S. President Joe Biden “affirmed that there will now be continued flow of this critical assistance into Gaza,” the White House said in a statement.
Israel repeated its calls for people to leave northern Gaza, including by dropping leaflets from the air. It estimated 700,000 have already fled. But hundreds of thousands remain. That would raise the risk of mass civilian casualties in any ground offensive.
Read: Little light, no beds, not enough anesthesia: A view from the 'nightmare' of Gaza's hospitals
Israeli military officials say Hamas’ infrastructure and underground tunnels are concentrated in Gaza City, in the north, and that the next stage of the offensive will include unprecedented force there. Israel says it wants to crush Hamas. Officials have also spoken of carving out a buffer zone to keep Palestinians from approaching the border, though they have given no details.
Hospitals packed with patients and displaced people are running low on medical supplies and fuel for generators, forcing doctors to perform surgeries using sewing needles, resorting to vinegar as disinfectant and operating without anesthesia.
The World Health Organization says at least 130 premature babies are at “grave risk” because of a shortage of generator fuel. It said seven hospitals in northern Gaza have been forced to shut down due to damage from strikes, lack of power and supplies, or Israeli evacuation orders.
Shortages of critical supplies, including ventilators, are forcing doctors to ration treatment, said Dr. Mohammed Qandeel, who works in Khan Younis' Nasser Hospital. Dozens of patients continue to arrive and are treated in crowded, darkened corridors, as hospitals preserve electricity for intensive care units.
“It’s heartbreaking,” Qandeel said.
Palestinians sheltering in U.N.-run schools and tent camps are running low on food and are drinking dirty water. The lack of fuel has crippled water and sanitation systems.
Read: Tens of thousands of pro-Palestinian protesters march in London as Israel-Hamas war roils the world
Heavy airstrikes were reported across Gaza, including in the southern part of the coastal strip, where Israel has told civilians to seek refuge. At the Al-Aqsa hospital in Deir al-Balah, south of the evacuation line, several bodies wrapped in white shrouds were lined up outside.
Khalil al-Degran, a hospital official, said more than 90 bodies had been brought in since early Sunday, as the sound of nearby bombing echoed behind him. He said 180 wounded people had arrived, mostly children, women and the elderly displaced from other areas.
Airstrikes also smashed through the marketplace in the Nuseirat refugee camp. Witnesses said at least a dozen people were killed.
The Israeli military has said it is striking Hamas fighters and installations and insists it does not target civilians. Palestinian militants have fired over 7,000 rockets at Israel, according to the military, and Hamas says it targeted Tel Aviv early Sunday.
More than 1,400 people in Israel have been killed — mostly civilians slain during the initial Hamas attack. At least 212 people were captured and dragged back to Gaza.
Two Americans were released Friday, hours before the first shipment of humanitarian aid.
More than 4,600 people have been killed in Gaza, according to the Hamas-run Health Ministry. That includes the disputed toll from a hospital explosion.
Read: Israel plans to step up attacks on the Gaza Strip
Syrian state media, meanwhile, reported that Israeli airstrikes hit the international airports in the capital, Damascus, and the northern city of Aleppo, killing one person and putting the runways out of service.
Israel has carried out several strikes in Syria since the war began. Israel rarely acknowledges individual strikes, but says it acts to prevent Hezbollah and other militants from bringing in arms from Iran, which also supports Hamas.
In Lebanon, Hezbollah said six fighters were killed Saturday, and the group’s deputy leader, Sheikh Naim Kassem, warned that Israel would pay a high price if it invades Gaza. Israel struck Hezbollah in response to rocket fire, the military said.
Israel also announced evacuation plans for another 14 communities near the Lebanon border.
In the Israeli-occupied West Bank, 93 Palestinians have been killed — including eight Sunday — in clashes with Israeli troops, arrest raids and attacks by Jewish settlers since the Hamas attacks, according to the Palestinian Health Ministry. Israeli forces have closed crossings into the territory and checkpoints between cities, measures they say are aimed at preventing attacks. Israel says it has arrested more than 700 Palestinians since Oct. 7, including 480 suspected Hamas members.
The internationally recognized Palestinian Authority administers parts of the West Bank and cooperates with Israel on security, but it is deeply unpopular and has been the target of violent Palestinian protests.
Blinken, Austin say US is ready to respond if US personnel become targets of Israel-Hamas war
Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said Sunday that the United States expects the Israel-Hamas war to escalate through involvement by proxies of Iran, and they asserted that the Biden administration is prepared to respond if American personnel or armed forces become the target of any such hostilities.
“This is not what we want, not what we're looking for. We don't want escalation,” Blinken said. "We don't want to see our forces or our personnel come under fire. But if that happens, we're ready for it.”
Austin, echoing Blinken, said “what we’re seeing is a prospect of a significant escalation of attacks on our troops and our people throughout the region.”
He said the U.S. has the right to self-defense “and we won't hesitate to take the appropriate action.”
The warning from the high-ranking U.S. officials came as Israel's military response to a deadly Oct. 7 attack by Hamas on civilians in communities in southern Israel entered its third week.
Read: Second aid convoy reaches Gaza as Israel attacks targets in Syria and occupied West Bank
Israeli warplanes struck targets across Gaza overnight and into Sunday, as well as two airports in Syria and a mosque in the occupied West Bank allegedly used by militants as the war threatened to engulf more of the Middle East.
Israel has traded fire with Lebanon’s Hezbollah militant group on a near-daily basis since the war began, and tensions are soaring in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, where Israeli forces have battled militants in refugee camps and carried out two airstrikes in recent days.
The U.S. announced Sunday that non-essential staff at its embassy in Iraq should leave the country.
Blinken, who recently spent several days in the region, spoke of a “likelihood of escalation” while saying no one wants to see a second or third front to the hostilities between Israel and Hamas, which rules Gaza.
The secretary said he expects “escalation by Iranian proxies directed against our forces, directed against our personnel,” and added: “We are taking steps to make sure that we can effectively defend our people and respond decisively if we need to.” Iran is an enemy of Israel.
Read: Little light, no beds, not enough anesthesia: A view from the 'nightmare' of Gaza's hospitals
Blinken, appearing on NBC's “Meet the Press,” noted that additional military assets had been deployed to the region, including two aircraft carrier battle groups, “not to provoke, but to deter, to make clear that if anyone tries to do anything, we're there.”
President Joe Biden, repeatedly has used one word to warn Israel’s enemies against trying to take advantage of the situation: “Don’t.”
Meanwhile, trucks loaded with food, water and other supplies that Palestinians living in Gaza desperately need continued to enter the enclave on Sunday after a key crossing at the border with Egypt was opened a day earlier to allow humanitarian assistance to begin flowing.
But Cindy McCain, executive director of the U.N. World Food Program, said the situation in Gaza remained “catastrophic." She said even more aid needs to be allowed in.
Read: Palestinian death toll in West Bank surges as Israel pursues militants following Hamas rampage
She said her organization was able to feed 200,000 people dinner on Saturday “but that's not enough. That's a drop. We need secure and sustainable access in there, in that region, so we can feed people.”
Four hundred aid trucks were entering Gaza daily before the latest war, she said.
“This is a catastrophe happening and we just simply have to get these trucks in,” she said.
Biden, who was at his home on the Delaware coast, was briefed by his national security team on the latest developments, the White House said. Biden also discussed the situation during separate conversations with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Pope Francis.
Biden and Netanyahu talked about “the need to prevent escalation in the region and to work toward a durable peace in the Middle East," the White House said. Israel has promised a military ground invasion of Gaza to destroy Hamas.
Read: Tens of thousands of pro-Palestinian protesters march in London as Israel-Hamas war roils the world
Biden also convened a call with the leaders of Canada, France, Germany, Italy and the United Kingdom to discuss the conflict. Among topics discussed, the White House said the leaders committed to working closely to keep the war from spreading, while seeking a political solution.
The State Department on Sunday ordered non-essential U.S. diplomats and their families at the U.S. Embassy in Iraq and the U.S. consulate in Irbil to leave the country due to the heightened tensions. In an updated message to Americans in Iraq, the department said the security situation in Iraq made it impossible to carry out normal operations.
Austin and McCain spoke on ABC's “This Week.”
Iran sentences 2 female journalists who covered Mahsa Amini’s death
A court in Iran sentenced two female journalists to up to seven years in prison for "collaborating" with the United States government among other charges, local reports said. Both have been imprisoned for over a year following their coverage of the death of Mahsa Amini while in police custody in Sept. 2022.
This is a preliminary sentencing that can be appealed in 20 days.
The two journalists, Niloufar Hamedi, who broke the news of Amini's death for wearing her headscarf too loosely, and Elaheh Mohammadi, who wrote about her funeral, were sentenced to seven and six years in jail respectively, reported the judiciary news website, Mizan on Sunday.
Tehran Revolutionary Court charged them with "collaborating with the hostile American government," "colluding against national security" and "propaganda against the system," according to Mezan.
In Iran, snap checkpoints and university purges mark the first anniversary of Mahsa Amini protests
Hamedi worked for the reformist newspaper Shargh while Mohammadi for Ham-Mihan. They were detained in September 2022.
In May, the United Nations awarded them both its premier prize for press freedom "for their commitment to truth and accountability."
Amini's death touched off months-long protests in dozens of cities across Iran. The demonstrations posed one of the most serious challenges to the Islamic Republic since the 2009 Green Movement protests drew millions to the streets.
While nearly 100 journalists were arrested amid the demonstrations, Hamedi and Elaheh Mohammadi's reporting was crucial in the days after Amini's death to spread the word about the anger that followed.
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Their detentions have sparked international criticism over the bloody security force crackdown that lasted months after Amini's death.
Since the protests began, at least 529 people have been killed in demonstrations, according to Human Rights activists in Iran. Over 19,700 others have been detained by authorities amid a violent crackdown trying to suppress the dissent. Iran for months has not offered any overall casualty figures, while acknowledging tens of thousands had been detained.
Britain, France and Germany say they will keep their nuclear and missiles sanctions on Iran
Ukrainians prepare firewood and candles to brace for a winter of Russian strikes on the energy grid
In the humble backyard of a destroyed house, a 13-year-old chops firewood to get ready for winter. His mother, Tetiana Yarema, has been preparing for months as she remembers last winter's Russian strikes on the energy infrastructure that plunged Ukraine into darkness.
"Those were dark days. I didn't want anything. I just wanted to pack my things and go abroad," said Yarema, 48, who says she ended up staying because of her son's insistence.
For the Yarema family, like millions of other Ukrainians touched by Russia's war on Ukraine, winter is an especially challenging time.
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The mother and son live in trailers that were set up in their backyard after fighting in the early days of the war destroyed their house in Moshchun, a village about 25 kilometers (15 miles) northwest of Kyiv.
"I have a feeling that when the cold sets in, they'll start bombing again," the woman said, echoing the sentiments of many Ukrainians.
This time, however, they say they are better prepared.
Sales of generators exploded toward the end of summer. Some, who can afford it, have invested in solar panels. Others, like Yarema, have been purchasing candles, batteries, flashlights, and portable lanterns and stocking up on compact gas canisters, making the most of discounted prices.
"It's a bit challenging … but I already know what to do," she said.
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Last winter was declared the most challenging in the history of Ukraine's energy system, with over 1,200 missiles and drones fired by Russians at power plants, according to Ukrainian state-owned grid operator, Ukrenergo.
The strikes impacted almost a half of Ukraine's energy capacity. People were forced to endure hours without electricity and water during the coldest months in what Ukrainian officials described as "energy terror."
Millions of people across Ukraine had to learn to work, live, and cover their basic needs without relying on electricity.
After a lull of six months, Ukraine's energy system sustained its first attack of the season on Sept. 21, resulting in damage to facilities in the central and western regions, Ukrenergo said.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has committed to substantially enhancing air defense systems, which already have demonstrated greater effectiveness than the previous year.
"Everyone must play their part in defensive efforts to ensure that Russian aggression does not halt Ukraine this winter. Just as on the battlefield, in all areas, we must be resilient and strong," Zelenskyy said in a recent address to the nation.
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Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal recently announced that the United States has allocated $522 million for energy equipment and the protection of Ukraine's infrastructure.
"We stand on the threshold of a difficult winter. Thanks to the assistance of our allies, we successfully weathered the last, which was the most challenging winter season in our history," Shmyhal said.
Major retailer Epicenter said sales of generators increased 80% in August compared to the same time last year, and sales of portable charging stations increased by 25 times.
Yurii Musienko, 45, another resident of Moshchun, also plans to rely heavily on firewood, and has a wood-burning stove in his compact wooden trailer that has been provided to him for two years, and which sits next to his ruined home.
"I've already adapted," he said with a smile. The gates of his home still bear the holes from exploded ammunition that serve as a reminder of when Russian forces tried to seize the Ukrainian capital.
Biden says there’s ‘not much time’ to keep aid flowing to Ukraine and Congress must ‘stop the games’
"May no one ever have to endure such conditions," said his mother, Valentyna Kiriian, who lives in a separate plastic trailer installed in the same courtyard.
She's dressed in a hat and a coat, with multiple layers of clothing to stay warm. She notes that the cold has already set in, forcing her to sleep fully clothed, much like the previous winter.
During the power outages last winter, the mother and son relied on canned food. Occasionally, Valentyna would visit her neighbor, whose house remained intact and had a gas stove for boiling water.
"It's difficult for me to talk about. It pains my soul, and my heart weeps," she said.
Private Ukrainian energy producer DTEK has spent the last seven months restoring its damaged infrastructure and fortifying the protection of its equipment for the approaching winter.
The company invested about 20 billion Ukrainian hryvnias ($550 million) to prepare for the upcoming season, and it lost billions of hryvnias because of last year's disruptions caused by Russian attacks, according to CEO Maxim Timchenko.
"We learned our lessons," Timchenko said.
Andrii Horchynskyi, 49. who lives in the village of Maliutianka about 25 kilometers (15 miles) southwest of Kyiv, has invested over $30,000 in recent years to ensure his house is self-sufficient, and ramped up those efforts since Russia's invasion.
Last year, he spent $12,000 to install solar panels to help power his spacious house, where other members of his extended family came to stay for the winter — eight of them surviving comfortably.
"We had a whole ant heap here," Horchynskyi recalled.
He is convinced the Russians will try to damage Ukraine's infrastructure for gas, which he thinks will become expensive or even unavailable. So, he has installed a boiler that burns pine pellets. He also stores one and half cubic meters of water in his backyard.
"They will bombard even more this winter than the last," Horchynskyi said.
Little light, no beds, not enough anesthesia: A view from the 'nightmare' of Gaza's hospitals
The only thing worse than the screams of a patient undergoing surgery without enough anesthesia are the terror-stricken faces of those awaiting their turn, a 51-year-old orthopedic surgeon says.
When the Israeli bombing intensifies and the wounded swamp the Gaza City hospitals where Dr. Nidal Abed works, he treats patients wherever he can — on the floor, in the corridors, in rooms crammed with 10 patients instead of two. Without enough medical supplies, Abed makes do with whatever he can find – clothes for bandages, vinegar for antiseptic, sewing needles for surgical ones.
Hospitals in the Gaza Strip are nearing collapse under the Israeli blockade that cut power and deliveries of food and other necessities to the territory. They lack clean water. They are running out of basic items for easing pain and preventing infections. Fuel for their generators is dwindling.
Palestinian death toll in West Bank surges as Israel pursues militants following Hamas rampage
Israel began its bombing campaign after Hamas militants surged across the border on Oct. 7 and killed over 1,400 people, mostly civilians, and abducted more than 200 others. Israel's offensive has devastated neighborhoods, shuttered five hospitals, killed thousands and wounded more people than its remaining health facilities can handle.
"We have a shortage of everything, and we are dealing with very complex surgeries," Abed, who works with Doctors Without Borders, told The Associated Press from Al Quds Hospital. The medical center is still treating hundreds of patients in defiance of an evacuation order the Israeli military gave Friday. Some 10,000 Palestinians displaced by the bombing have also taken refuge in the hospital compound.
"These people are all terrified, and so am I," the surgeon said. "But there is no way we'll evacuate."
At least 60% of Gaza's population displaced due to Israeli attacks: UN
The first food, water and medicine trickled into Gaza from Egypt on Saturday after being stalled on the border for days. Four trucks in the 20-truck aid convoy were carrying drugs and medical supplies, the World Health Organization said. Aid workers and doctors warned it was not nearly enough to address Gaza's spiraling humanitarian crisis.
"It's a nightmare. If more aid doesn't come in, I fear we'll get to the point where going to a hospital will do more harm than good," Mehdat Abbas, an official in the Hamas-run Health Ministry, said.
Across the territory's hospitals, ingenuity is being put to the test. Abed used household vinegar from the corner store as disinfectant until the stores ran out, he said. Too many doctors had the same idea. Now, he cleans wounds with a mixture of saline and the polluted water that trickles from taps because Israel cut off the water.
Tens of thousands of pro-Palestinian protesters march in London as Israel-Hamas war roils the world
A shortage of surgical supplies forced some staff to use sewing needles to stitch wounds, which Abed said can damage tissue. A shortage of bandages forced medics to wrap clothes around large burns, which he said can cause infections. A shortage of orthopedic implants forced Abed to use screws that don't fit his patients' bones. There are not enough antibiotics, so he gives single pills rather than multiple courses to patients suffering terrible bacterial infections.
"We are doing what we can to stabilize the patients, to control the situation," he said. "People are dying because of this."
When Israel cut fuel to the territory's sole power plant two weeks ago, Gaza's rumbling generators kicked in to keep life-support equipment running in hospitals.
Authorities are desperately scrounging up diesel to keep them going. United Nations agencies are distributing their remaining stocks. Motorists are emptying their gas tanks.
In some hospitals, the lights have already switched off. At Nasser Hospital in the southern city of Khan Younis this week, nurses and surgical assistants held their iPhones over the operating table, guiding the surgeons with the flashlights as they snipped.
At Shifa Hospital, Gaza's biggest, where Abed also worked this week, the intensive care unit runs on generators but most other wards are without power. Air conditioning is a bygone luxury. Abed catches beads of sweat dripping from his patients' foreheads as he operates.
People wounded in the airstrikes are overwhelming the facilities. Hospitals don't have enough beds for them.
"Even a normal hospital with equipment would not be able to deal with what we're facing," Abed said. "It would collapse."
Shifa Hospital — with a maximum capacity of 700 people — is treating 5,000 people, general director Mohammed Abu Selmia says. Lines of patients, some in critical condition, snake out of operating rooms. The wounded lie on floors or on gurneys sometimes stained with the blood of previous patients. Doctors operate in crowded corridors filled with moans.
The scenes — infants arriving alone to intensive care because no one else in their family survived, patients awake and grimacing in pain during surgeries — have traumatized Abed into numbness.
But what still pains him is having to choose which patients to prioritize.
"You have to decide," he said. "Because you know that many will not make it."
Palestinian death toll in West Bank surges as Israel pursues militants following Hamas rampage
Deadly violence has been surging in the West Bank as the Israeli military pursues Palestinian militants in the aftermath of the Hamas attack from Gaza, with at least 90 Palestinians killed in the Israeli-occupied territory in the past two weeks, mainly in clashes with Israeli troops.
The violence threatens to open another front in the 2-week-old war, and puts pressure on the internationally recognized Palestinian Authority, which administers parts of the West Bank and is deeply unpopular among Palestinians, in large part because it cooperates with Israel on security matters.
The tally includes five Palestinians killed in separate incidents on Sunday, including two who died in an airstrike on a mosque in the volatile Jenin refugee camp that Israel said was being used by militants. Israel carried out an airstrike during a battle in another West Bank refugee camp last week, in which 13 Palestinians, including five minors, and a member of Israel's paramilitary Border Police were killed.
Read: At least 60% of Gaza's population displaced due to Israeli attacks: UN
Israel rarely uses air power in the occupied West Bank, even as it has bombarded Hamas-ruled Gaza since the militant group stormed across the border on Oct. 7.
More than 1,400 people have been killed in Israel since the war began, mostly civilians killed in the initial Hamas assault. The Hamas-run Health Ministry in Gaza says over 4,300 Palestinians have been killed.
The Palestinian Health Ministry in the West Bank says 90 Palestinians have been killed there since Oct. 7, a dramatic jump from 197, according to an Associated Press count, from the start of the year until the Hamas attack. In addition to the raids, Palestinians have been killed in violent anti-Israel protests and in some instances in attacks by Jewish settlers.
Israel clamped down on the territory immediately after the Hamas assault, closing crossings and checkpoints between Palestinian towns. Israel says its forces have detained over 700 suspects in the West Bank, including 480 members of Hamas, since the start of hostilities.
Read: Israel says two Americans held hostage by Hamas, a mother and daughter, have been released
Israel’s resumption of aerial attacks — which in a July operation in Jenin reached a level of intensity not seen since the Palestinian uprising against Israel two decades ago — suggests a shift in military tactics.
The military described the Al-Ansar Mosque in Jenin as a militant compound belonging to Hamas and Islamic Jihad, a smaller and more radical Palestinian militant group. It said the militants had carried out several attacks in recent months and were planning another imminent assault.
The intensified violence follows more than a year of escalating raids and arrests in the West Bank and deadly Palestinian attacks on Israelis.
Israel captured the West Bank, along with Gaza and east Jerusalem, in the 1967 war. The Palestinians want all three territories for a future state. Over 500,000 Israelis live in settlements across the West Bank that most of the international community considers illegal, while the territory's more than 2.5 million Palestinians live under Israeli military rule.
The Palestinians view the settlements as the greatest obstacle to resolving the conflict with Israel. The last serious and substantive peace talks broke down over a decade ago.
Settler violence against Palestinians has also intensified since the Hamas attack. At least five Palestinians have been killed by settlers, according to Palestinian authorities, and rights groups say settlers have torched cars and attacked several small Bedouin communities, forcing them to evacuate to other areas.
Read: Israel will let Egypt deliver some aid to Gaza, as doctors struggle to treat hospital blast victims
The West Bank Protection Consortium, a coalition of non-governmental organizations and donor countries, including the European Union, says at least 470 Palestinians have been forcibly displaced in the West Bank due to settler violence since Oct. 7. That's in addition to over 1,100 displaced since 2022.
At least 60% of Gaza's population displaced due to Israeli attacks: UN
At least 60 percent of the population in the Gaza Strip has been displaced as a result of the ongoing Israeli attacks, according to a UN organization.
"About 1.6 million people were forced to be displaced from their houses since the start of the current Hamas-Israel bloody conflict 15 days ago," the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said in a press statement sent to Xinhua on Saturday.
The OCHA said that more than 544,000 people reside in 147 educational districts and schools affiliated with the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA), including 367,500 in central and southern Gaza, and 70,000 in 67 schools not affiliated with UNRWA.
According to the statement, about 101,000 people took refuge in the Orthodox center, churches in Gaza City, hospitals, and other public buildings.
Read: Egypt-Gaza border crossing opens, letting desperately needed aid flow to Palestinians
In addition, the Palestinian Ministry of Social Development estimates that there are about 700,000 displaced people with host families.
According to the statement, institutions affiliated with the UNRWA Educational Operations Department in the central and southern regions of the Gaza Strip have become increasingly overcrowded at a time when severe shortages of basic resources such as water, food, and medicine are reported.
In some educational districts, UNRWA was forced to ration drinking water consumption, providing only one liter of water per person per day.
Overcrowding and lack of basic supplies have raised tensions among internally displaced people, along with reports of gender-based violence, according to the statement.
Read: Israel says two Americans held hostage by Hamas, a mother and daughter, have been released
On Oct. 19, UNRWA established the first camp for internally displaced people in Khan Yunis, consisting of 60 tents and hosting hundreds of internally displaced people.
The statement said that there was anecdotal evidence that some displaced people were returning to the northern Gaza Strip, due to the ongoing bombing in the southern part of the Palestinian enclave and failure to find reasonable accommodation.
The displacement of civilians and the associated poor access to basic services has raised concerns for the most vulnerable people, including children, the elderly, those in need of medical care, people with disabilities, and pregnant women, the statement noted.
It is feared that they will be exposed to psychological and social distress, conflict and tension among internally displaced people, deprivation of access to information, and the possibility of abuse or exploitation.
Meanwhile, the Israeli forces continued to intensify their strikes on the occupied Gaza Strip.
Read: Palestinians in Gaza feel nowhere is safe amid unrelenting Israeli airstrikes
The Hamas-run Gaza Health Ministry said Friday that 4,137 Palestinians have been killed and more than 13,000 others wounded since the outbreak of Israel-Hamas conflict on Oct. 7. More than 1,400 people in Israel have been killed, mostly in the initial Hamas attacks on Israel on Oct. 7.
Tens of thousands of pro-Palestinian protesters march in London as Israel-Hamas war roils the world
Tens of thousands of pro-Palestinian demonstrators marched through a rainy London on Saturday to demand Israel stop its bombardment of Gaza, and similar calls were heard in cities around the world as the Israel-Hamas war entered its third week.
On the day a trickle of aid entered Gaza, where more than 1 million people have left their homes because of the conflict, protesters gathered in at Marble Arch near London's Hyde Park before marching to the government district, Whitehall.
Police estimated the crowd that wound its way through the city for three hours at “up to 100,000.”
Waving Palestinian flags and chanting “Stop bombing Gaza,” participants called for an end to Israel’s blockade and airstrikes launched in the wake of a brutal incursion into southern Israel by the Hamas militant group that controls Gaza.
Authorities in Gaza say more than 4,300 people have been killed in the territory since the latest war began. More than 1,400 people have been killed in Israel, mostly civilians slain during Hamas’ deadly incursion on Oct. 7.
Israel continued to bombard targets in Gaza on Saturday ahead of an expected ground offensive. A small measure of relief came when 20 trucks carrying humanitarian aid were allowed to enter Gaza across the southern Rafah border crossing with Egypt.
The war has raised tensions around the world, with both Jewish and Muslim communities feeling under threat. The British Transport Police force said it was investigating after footage was posted online that appears to show a London Underground driver leading passengers in a chant of “Free, free Palestine” over the subway intercom.
British authorities urged demonstrators to be mindful of the pain and anxiety felt by the Jewish community. London’s Metropolitan Police force says it has seen a 13-fold upsurge in reports of antisemitic offenses in October compared to last year. Reports of anti-Muslim crimes have more than doubled.
Read: Islamic parties stage protest condemning Israeli attacks on Palestine
Police said there had been "pockets of disorder and some instances of hate speech” during protests over the war, but “the majority of the protest activity has been lawful and has taken place without incident.”
Hundreds of pro-Palestinian protesters also gathered in Belfast and in Northern Ireland’s second city, Londonderry, where speakers included lawmaker Colum Eastwood of the Irish nationalist Social Democratic and Labour Party.
“The murder of children is wrong,” he told the crowd, calling for an immediate cease-fire in the conflict. “I don’t know how that is so difficult for some of our world leaders to actually utter. It doesn’t matter whether they are Israeli children or Palestinian children.”
Across the border in the Republic of Ireland, thousands marched through the capital, Dublin, calling for an end to Israel's bombardment.
In France, pro-Palestinians demonstrators gathered in several cities including Rennes, Montpellier, Dijon and Lyon, where thousands of people could be seen chanting “we all are Palestinians” in the central square.
In Marseille, the country’s second-largest city, some people took to the streets, waving Palestinians flags and shouting “Free Gaza,” despite the protest being banned by local police.
A pro-Palestinian gathering scheduled for Sunday in Paris has been allowed by police.
German police said almost 7,000 people took part in a peaceful pro-Palestinian demonstration in Düsseldorf on Saturday. The demonstrators carried Palestinian flags or banners calling for an end to “violence and aggression in Gaza.”
Police in Berlin banned a pro-Palestinian demonstration that was scheduled for Sunday in the center of the city, German news agency dpa reported. Police in the German capital have stopped several similar events in recent weeks, citing the potential of violence and antisemitic hate speech. Some pro-Palestinian demonstrators have taken to the streets anyway, resulting in clashes with police.
Read: Overwhelmed to see love and support here for people in Palestine: Ambassador
Authorities allowed a pro-Israel demonstration scheduled for Sunday that was expected to draw together thousands of people in central Berlin.
Elsewhere, several hundred people marched through Rome on Saturday, some holding signs saying “Palestine, Rome is with you,” and “No peace until we get freedom.”
“Israel carries out war crimes there, crimes against humanity there, and the international community has never acted,” said Maya Issa, president of the Movement of Palestinian Students in Italy, which organized the demonstration.
Tens of thousands of demonstrators waving Palestinian flags flooded the streets of downtown Barcelona to demand an end to the Israeli airstrikes.
In Muslim-majority Kosovo, several hundred people walked from mosques to Pristina's Zahir Pajaziti square after lunchtime prayers to express support for Palestinians.
In Australia, thousands marched through central Sydney on Saturday, shouting “Shame, shame Israel” and “Palestine will never die.”
The war sparked protests across the Arab world and beyond on Friday, including in the occupied West Bank, where Palestinians burned tires and threw stones at Israeli military checkpoints. Israeli security forces responded firing tear gas and live rounds.
Crowds gathered in Israel’s northern neighbor Lebanon; in Iraq at the country’s border crossing with Jordan; in Jordan itself; in cities and towns across Egypt; in Turkey’s capital Ankara and its most populous city of Istanbul; and in Indonesia, Malaysia, Morocco and South Africa.
In New York, hundreds of protesters from Muslim, Jewish and other groups marched to U.S. Sen. Kristen Gillibrand’s Manhattan office, many shouting “cease fire now.” Police later arrested dozens of protesters who blocked Third Avenue outside Gillibrand’s office by sitting in the road.
Read more: Only dialogue, diplomacy can offer a lasting solution to Israel-Palestine conflict: Bangladesh
Thousands of demonstrators also marched through the streets of downtown Los Angeles demanding an immediate cease-fire.
Pro-Israel demonstrations and vigils have also been held around the world, many focused on securing the return of hostages captured by Hamas.
Rome’s Jewish community on Friday remembered the more than 200 people believed held by Hamas by setting a long Shabbat table for them outside the capital’s main synagogue and empty chairs for each of the hostages.
On the back of each chair was a flyer featuring the name, age and photo of each missing person. On the table were candles, wine and loaves of challah, the braided bread typically eaten during the Friday night meal.
Australian prime minister announces China visit hours before leaving for US to meet Biden
Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese will visit China in early November, his office said Sunday hours before he was set to fly to the United States to meet President Joe Biden.
Albanese's office also said China agreed to review the crippling tariffs it placed on Australian wine that have effectively blocked trade with the winemakers’ biggest export market since 2020.
Albanese will become the first Australian prime minister to visit China in seven years when he travels to Beijing and Shanghai from Nov. 4-7.
He will meet President Xi Jinping and Premier Li Qiang in Beijing and then attend the China International Import Expo in Shanghai.
The visit to China and a potential breakthrough in the wine dispute mark a further repair in bilateral relations since Albanese’s center-left Labor Party won elections last year after nine years of conservative rule in Australia.
Read: Australian-Chinese journalist detained for 3 years in China returns to Australia
“I look forward to visiting China, an important step towards ensuring a stable and productive relationship,” Albanese said in a statement.
“I welcome the progress we have made to return Australian products, including Australian wine, to the Chinese market. Strong trade benefits both countries,” Albanese added.
Albanese accepted an invitation weeks ago to visit China this year, but finding suitable dates has been challenging.
Albanese is visiting Washington, D.C., to meet Biden this week and will return to the United States after his China trip to attend the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation leaders’ forum in San Francisco from Nov. 15-17.
Read: China lifts ban on Australian timber imports in another sign of improving bilateral relations
It will be the ninth time Biden has met Albanese as prime minister. The first meeting was in Tokyo hours after Albanese was sworn in as government leader in May last year.
The discussions this week are expected to cover the AUKUS deal in which the United States and Britain will cooperate to provide Australia with a fleet of submarines powered by U.S. nuclear technology to counter a more assertive China.
The leaders will also seek more cooperation on clean energy, critical minerals and countering climate change.
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