عربي English Türkçe اردو فارسى
Logo
Latest News
Arab World

Blinken Lands in Israel as it Continues to Pound Gaza

A Palestinian man points at destruction as people inspect the damage following overnight Israeli airstrikes in the Gaza Strip's Jabalia refugee camp on October 11, 2023. (Photo by Mahmud HAMS / AFP)
A Palestinian man points at destruction as people inspect the damage following overnight Israeli airstrikes in the Gaza Strip's Jabalia refugee camp on October 11, 2023. (Photo by Mahmud HAMS / AFP)
TT
TT

Blinken Lands in Israel as it Continues to Pound Gaza

A Palestinian man points at destruction as people inspect the damage following overnight Israeli airstrikes in the Gaza Strip's Jabalia refugee camp on October 11, 2023. (Photo by Mahmud HAMS / AFP)
A Palestinian man points at destruction as people inspect the damage following overnight Israeli airstrikes in the Gaza Strip's Jabalia refugee camp on October 11, 2023. (Photo by Mahmud HAMS / AFP)

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken landed in Tel Aviv on Thursday as part of a wider Middle East tour to display Washington's solidarity with Israel after the attack by Palestinian Hamas militants and to seek to quell the conflict.

The top US diplomat will also try to help secure the release of hostages kidnapped by Hamas — some of whom are Americans — and safe passage of Gaza civilians out of the densely-populated enclave ahead of a possible Israeli ground invasion.

Israel has put the enclave, home to 2.3 million people, under total siege and has so far killed around 1,200 people in a bombing campaign that has obliterated entire neighborhoods.

The Israeli military says it is preparing for a possible ground operation in Gaza but the political leadership has not yet decided on one. Lt. Col. Richard Hecht told reporters Thursday that forces “are preparing for a ground maneuver if decided.”

Israel has called up some 360,000 army reservists and has threated an unprecedented response to Hamas’ bloody, wide-ranging incursion over the weekend. It has been launching intense airstrikes on Gaza since the attack by Hamas on Saturday, as militants have fired thousands of rockets into Israel.

The United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees reported Thursday that nearly 218,600 people are sheltering in 92 UNRWA schools in the Gaza Strip.

As airstrikes and shelling by Israeli forces continue across the Gaza Strip, more people are seeking emergency shelter.

In addition, the agency said, many other people are displaced in government schools and other buildings. In total, at least 340,000 Palestinians have been displaced across the Palestinian enclave.

Most Viewed

 
 
Arab World

Israeli Rights Group Accuses Prison Authority of Failing Palestinian Prisoners after Scabies Outbreak

Israeli Minister of National Security Itamar Ben-Gvir attends a discussion called on by the opposition on the release of the Israeli hostages held by Hamas, at the Knesset in Jerusalem, Israel, 18 November 2024. (EPA)
Israeli Minister of National Security Itamar Ben-Gvir attends a discussion called on by the opposition on the release of the Israeli hostages held by Hamas, at the Knesset in Jerusalem, Israel, 18 November 2024. (EPA)
TT
TT

Israeli Rights Group Accuses Prison Authority of Failing Palestinian Prisoners after Scabies Outbreak

Israeli Minister of National Security Itamar Ben-Gvir attends a discussion called on by the opposition on the release of the Israeli hostages held by Hamas, at the Knesset in Jerusalem, Israel, 18 November 2024. (EPA)
Israeli Minister of National Security Itamar Ben-Gvir attends a discussion called on by the opposition on the release of the Israeli hostages held by Hamas, at the Knesset in Jerusalem, Israel, 18 November 2024. (EPA)

An Israeli rights group said Monday that more than a quarter of all Palestinian prisoners currently held by Israel had contracted scabies since an outbreak was identified in May, and accused the prison authority of improper care and prevention.

Physicians for Human Rights-Israel said that more than 2,800 prisoners had caught the rash-like infection, with more than 1,700 still actively infected. The outbreak was seen in five different detention facilities, the group said. It was citing figures it said came from the Israel Prison Service.

The group said it filed a legal petition calling on the prison service “to eradicate the scabies epidemic,” accusing the authorities of failing “to implement widely recognized medical interventions necessary to contain the outbreak.”

It said that it halted the legal proceedings after it received a commitment from the prison service to address the outbreak. The prison service said the court had cancelled the petition because the prisons had shown they were dealing with the outbreak in a “systematic and thorough” way.

Nadav Davidovich, an Israeli public health expert who wrote a medical analysis for the group’s court proceedings, said the outbreak was a result of overcrowding in prisons and apparent neglect from prison authorities. He said such outbreaks could be prevented if prisoners were held “in more reasonable conditions.” If the first infections were treated as needed, such an outbreak could have been avoided, he said.

Physicians for Human Rights-Israel also said that the Israel Prison Service had cited scabies as a reason for postponing lawyers' visits and court appearances for prisoners. It said those steps “violate prisoners’ rights and serve as punitive measures rather than public health responses.”

Israel’s far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, who oversees the prisons, has boasted about hardening conditions to the bare minimum required by law.