Dozens Killed, Injured as Israel Targets Convoy of Ambulances Leaving Al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza

 Palestinians check the damage on an ambulance after a convoy of ambulances was hit, at the entrance of Al-Shifa hospital in Gaza City, November 3, 2023. (Reuters)
Palestinians check the damage on an ambulance after a convoy of ambulances was hit, at the entrance of Al-Shifa hospital in Gaza City, November 3, 2023. (Reuters)
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Dozens Killed, Injured as Israel Targets Convoy of Ambulances Leaving Al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza

 Palestinians check the damage on an ambulance after a convoy of ambulances was hit, at the entrance of Al-Shifa hospital in Gaza City, November 3, 2023. (Reuters)
Palestinians check the damage on an ambulance after a convoy of ambulances was hit, at the entrance of Al-Shifa hospital in Gaza City, November 3, 2023. (Reuters)

At least 60 Palestinians were killed and injured on Friday after Israel targeted a convoy of ambulances leaving Al-Shifa hospital in Gaza City, reported the Palestinian Shehab News Agency.

The health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza said Israel targeted the convoy.

Israel's military said on Friday it was looking into the report. Reuters could not immediately verify the report.  

"We have informed the Red Cross in accordance with the international law about moving a convoy carrying injured people in ambulance vehicles from Al-Shifa hospital," Ashraf Al-Qudra, the health ministry spokesman, said in a statement.  

"At the gate of the hospital and then at the Ansar square, the occupation targeted the convoy in more than one location outside Al-Shifa hospital." 



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)
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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.