Freed Gaza doctor describes horrors in Israeli military prison
Dr Ahmed Muhanna – who spent a year and 10 months in Israeli detention – says Gaza’s decimated health sector suffered heavily through Israel’s 18-year blockade before Israel’s war, but he’s “shocked” at the reality of it now.
He told Al Jazeera from Deir el-Balah that about 70 percent of the functioning hospitals face severe shortages of medicine and essential equipment, and environmental contamination from Israel’s attacks continues to sicken Palestinians.
“We have hundreds of patients coming to the emergency departments due to pollution of water and food. It’s very dangerous,” said Muhanna.
He said his imprisonment by Israel’s army was because “I kept my patients in the hospital.
“In the prison, there was no healthcare, and most of the prisoners suffered from disease. We asked many times to change clothes and for showers, but they refused. For seven months, we didn’t change our clothes, which developed scabies and abscesses. We lost many prisoners due to lack of medications,” said Muhanna.
US takes control of aid distribution from Israel amid criticism: Report
US military forces are taking over the movement of humanitarian relief into Gaza as part of Trump’s ceasefire plan, news reports say.
The Washington Post reported that the US-led Civil-Military Coordination Center (CMCC) will replace Israel in overseeing aid into Gaza. It cited an unnamed US official and “people familiar with the matter” as saying Israel is part of the process, but CMCC will decide what aid enters Gaza and how.
The security official said Israeli security services remain part of policy, supervision and monitoring with decisions made jointly, and that the integration of the CMCC was already under way.
Israel is still “part of the conversation”, but decisions will be taken by the CMCC, the US official told the Post, noting the move away from COGAT, the Israeli army unit responsible for regulating and facilitating aid in Gaza.
Criticism of Israel’s severe restrictions on aid entering the famine-hit Gaza Strip is widespread. Israel agreed in the ceasefire to allow 600 trucks carrying essential goods each day, but only about 100 on average have gotten through since the truce took hold on October 10.
Let's see if it makes any difference. They're already contradicting themselves, is it jointly or does the CMCC take over what goes in.
UN schools by day, shelters by night
UNRWA schools in Gaza are serving a dual purpose as classrooms during the day and shelters at night, while students return to class during the ceasefire.
Since October 2023, more than 300,000 UNRWA students have been deprived of a formal education, and 97 percent of the agency’s school buildings have been damaged or destroyed by the fighting.
“Today we brought mattresses instead of desks to sit and study,” student Inam al-Maghari says.
Israeli attack kills Palestinian in central Gaza’s Bureij
Israeli army fire has killed a Palestinian in central Gaza’s Bureij refugee camp, a hospital source tells Al Jazeera.
Despite the US-brokered ceasefire, Israeli attacks have killed more than 240 people in Gaza since it took effect on October 10.
