31/12/2024 12:55
The Guardian
French aircraft carry out strikes on Islamic State positions, says French defence minister Sebastien Lecornu. This live blog is closedAs the time approaches 3pm in Tel Aviv, Israel, here’s a roundup of today’s news in the Middle East.A UN report has said Israel’s attacks on hospitals in and around Gaza have led the area’s healthcare system to the brink of “total collapse”. The UN Human Rights Office says its report raises concerns about how much Israel is complying with international law.Meanwhile The head of Unrwa – the UN agency for aid in Gaza – Philippe Lazzarini says “horrors continue unabated” 15 months since the war broke out between Israel and Gaza, triggered by the Hamas terror attack.More than 250 members of United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine (Unrwa) had been killed since the start of the conflict, and more than two-thirds of Unrwa buildings have been damaged or destroyed, he said.The president of the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics, Ola Awad, said the Gaza Strip’s economy crumbled this year during the continued Israeli operations in the territory.Palestinian news agency Wafa reported: “By the end of 2024, estimates indicate that the unprecedented sharp contraction in the GDP in the Gaza Strip will continue by more than 82%, accompanied by an increase in the unemployment rate to 80%.”The Palestinian Civil Defence agency said it has received hundreds of distress calls from displaced people whose tents and shelters have been flooded by rainwater after heavy rain.Palestinian health authorities say 45 people have been evacuated from the Gaza Strip for general hospital treatment in the United Arab Emirates. They include a 10-year-old boy suffering from kidney failure.French aircraft have bombed Islamic State positions in Syria, the country’s defence minister Sebastien Lecornu has announced. The strikes are the first on Syria since the fall of Bashar al-Assad.Syria’s new rulers have confirmed the appointment of Murhaf Abu Qasra as defence minister in the new interim government, according to a statement released on Tuesday.The new Syrian government has reportedly appointed former foreign fighters to its armed forces, Reuters has reported.The new figures include Uyghurs, a Jordanian and a Turk as Damascus tries to shape a patchwork of rebel groups into a professional military, two Syrian sources told the news agency.Israel has warned Yemen’s Houthi rebels that they face the same “miserable fate” as Hamas and Hezbollah if they continue with rocket attacks. Continue reading...
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