Displaced Palestinians hounded by aerial surveillance, attacks
I’m at a major point connecting northern Gaza with the central and southern parts of the Strip. Once people arrive here, they stop and share with us much of the horror they’ve experienced on the road.
From the time they receive the phone call from Israeli forces inside their home, they’re threatened to leave immediately. They don’t get enough time to salvage any of their belongings.
So, they’re forced out of their homes. The moment they step outside it’s a totally different reality. It’s very dangerous, very risky – fraught with exposure to aerial surveillance.
Israel is deploying advanced technology in the air. These quadcopters are patrolling within neighbourhoods – they come close to windows and balconies, using loudspeakers with intimidating language to push them from their homes.
The moment they step outside, they feel like running because they’re being chased by these quadcopters, exposed to aerial surveillance and attacks.
Israeli military claims murder of Majed Abu Salmiya in Gaza City
We reported yesterday that an Israeli air attack targeted the Abu Salmiya family’s home in the Shati refugee camp, west of Gaza City. Our colleagues on the ground said the attack killed Majed Abu Salmiya, the brother of al-Shifa Hospital’s director, Muhammad Abu Salmiya, along with several of his children.
Now, the Israeli army confirmed the killing of Majed Abu Salmiya, claiming he was a sniper operating in Hamas’s military wing who was preparing to “carry out an imminent terror attack” against Israeli soldiers in Gaza City. Its report did not mention the deaths of children.
Al-Shifa Hospital chief rejects Israeli claim his slain brother was ‘Hamas sniper’
We have reported that the Israeli military confirmed its forces killed Majed Abu Salmiya on Saturday, describing him as “a Hamas sniper”.
Mohammed Abu Salmiya, director of Gaza’s al-Shifa Hospital, had been working in the emergency department on Saturday when his brother’s and sister-in-law’s bodies were brought in. He told the AFP news agency at the time that they were killed in an Israeli strike in Gaza City.
Today, he rejected the military’s accusation as “a lie, slander and an unacceptable justification for targeting civilians with direct missile strikes”.
“My brother is a 57-year-old man who suffers from several illnesses, such as high blood pressure and diabetes, and he has severe vision impairment – and they claim he was a sniper? This is pure fabrication,” he told AFP, noting his brother’s family had been displaced several times since the outbreak of the Gaza war in October 2023.
‘We are hardly surviving and hardly able to help anyone’: Volunteer doctor in Gaza
A volunteer Australian doctor working in Gaza City’s al-Shifa Hospital has described the dire conditions she and her colleagues face treating severely injured patients amid critical shortages of supplies.
“We are hardly surviving and hardly able to help anyone,” said Dr Nada Abu Alrub.
“There’s no equipment. They’re down to the very basics, running out of working scissors,” she said. “There’s no soap in the theatre rooms to scrub in, no gloves – nothing at all.”
The Israeli military has repeatedly struck close to the hospital, killing at least 15 people outside al-Shifa just days ago.
“We’re treating patients on the floor, mass casualty after mass casualty,” she added.
