For today, links to eight reports: from Middle East Monitor, Reuters, National Public Radio, and the Associated Press, and to commentary from Middle East Monitor; others are accessible by clicking on its initials below. (SYRIA and UKRAINE entries for this date are HERE and HERE. There was no GAZA entry for Dec. 30.) — MCM
– – –
Heavy rain floods thousands of tents in Gaza. From Middle East Monitor. Thousands of Palestinian families in displacement camps across the Gaza Strip faced devastation last night as heavy rains and strong winds battered the area. According to Wafa news agency . . . READ MORE . . .
UN body issues damning report on Israeli attacks on Gaza hospitals. From Reuters. The UN Human Rights Office report says Israeli attacks on hospitals in Gaza have devastated the Palestinian enclave’s health system and raise serious concerns about Israel’s compliance with international law. It concludes that the Israeli hostilities in Gaza have “destroyed” local healthcare. READ MORE . . .
– – –
Israeli raid on a key hospital in northern Gaza forces the facility to shut down. Reported by Carrie Kahn and Aya Batrawy | NPR Israeli forces raided the last hospital in northern Gaza able to treat children and intensive care cases. The raid followed months of intense attacks on the hospital and the area around it. Click HERE to listen and, later, read.
– – –
The WHO urges Israel to stop attacks on Gaza’s medical infrastructure. Leila Fadel of NPR talks with the director-general of the World Health Organization, about medical access in Gaza. He also narrowly escaped an Israeli airstrike on an airport in Yemen. Click HERE to listen and read.
– – –
Amid ceasefire push, Palestinians released from Israeli jails bear mential, physical scars. From Reuters. Alleged abuses and psychological harm to Palestinian detainees in Israeli prisons and camps are in renewed focus amid stepped-up efforts this month by international mediators to secure a ceasefire that . . . READ MORE . . .
– – –
Major sticking points between Israel and Hamas have made a ceasefire elusive. Reported by Emily Feng and Leila Fadel | NPR Throughout 2024 negotiations for a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas were on again and off again. There were moments of great optimism and then months of no negotiations at all. Click HERE to listen and, later, read.
– – –
Dozens of patients and wounded evacuated from Gaza for treatment. From AP. Dozens of patients and the wounded have been evacuated for treatment outside the war-ravaged Gaza Strip, where the United Nations says Israel’s attacks on and around hospitals have pushed health care to the brink. READ MORE . . .
– – –
FROM DEC. 31 In Gaza’s crowded tent camps, women wrestle with a life stripped of privacy, by Wafaa Shurafa and Julia Frankel | AP DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza City — For Gaza’s women, the hardships of life in the territory’s sprawling tent camps are compounded by the daily humiliation of never having privacy. READ MORE . . .
– – –
Jimmy Carter: Battling against apartheid. From Middle East Monitor. Jimmy Carter, the 39th president of the United States, a leader who dedicated his life to diplomacy, democracy and humanitarian causes, passed away Saturday at the age of 100. His role in shaping the Middle East’s geopolitical landscape remains . . . READ MORE . . .