ICU Beds in Tunisia Nearing Full Capacity

People wait to get tested for the coronavirus disease (COVID-19), outside a mobile testing lab in Tunis, Tunisia October 7, 2020. Reuters
People wait to get tested for the coronavirus disease (COVID-19), outside a mobile testing lab in Tunis, Tunisia October 7, 2020. Reuters
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ICU Beds in Tunisia Nearing Full Capacity

People wait to get tested for the coronavirus disease (COVID-19), outside a mobile testing lab in Tunis, Tunisia October 7, 2020. Reuters
People wait to get tested for the coronavirus disease (COVID-19), outside a mobile testing lab in Tunis, Tunisia October 7, 2020. Reuters

Tunisian Health Minister Fawzi al-Mahdi warned that intensive care unit (ICU) beds have reached 80 percent capacity as the coronavirus pandemic continues its rapid spread.

Tunisia has just 181 ICU beds, of which 145 are now being used by patients, Mahdi told reporters.

Director of the Pasteur Institute Hashemi Al-Wazir has revealed 30 deaths and 800 hospitalized cases.

A total of 180 out of the 800 patients have low oxygen levels, while 60-70 patients are in the ICU and require artificial ventilation.

Regarding the age category of fatalities, Hashemi said that 50 percent of them were above 70.

Director of the National Observatory of New and Emerging Diseases Nissaf Ben Alaya stressed that the situation in Tunisia is delicate and the country is still in a dangerous phase.

Speaking about the potential repercussions of the measures taken by the government, Ben Alaya noted that the consequences can’t be evaluated for now.



Hamas Releases Video of Two Israeli Hostages Alive in Gaza

 A picture taken near Israel's border with Gaza shows smoke billowing in the besieged Palestinian territory on May 8, 2025, amid the ongoing war between Israel and Hamas. (AFP)
A picture taken near Israel's border with Gaza shows smoke billowing in the besieged Palestinian territory on May 8, 2025, amid the ongoing war between Israel and Hamas. (AFP)
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Hamas Releases Video of Two Israeli Hostages Alive in Gaza

 A picture taken near Israel's border with Gaza shows smoke billowing in the besieged Palestinian territory on May 8, 2025, amid the ongoing war between Israel and Hamas. (AFP)
A picture taken near Israel's border with Gaza shows smoke billowing in the besieged Palestinian territory on May 8, 2025, amid the ongoing war between Israel and Hamas. (AFP)

Hamas's armed wing released a video on Saturday showing two Israeli hostages alive in the Gaza Strip, with one of the two men calling to end the 19-month-long war.

Israeli media identified the pair in the undated video as Elkana Bohbot and Yosef Haim Ohana, who were kidnapped during Hamas's October 7, 2023 attack on Israel that triggered the war.

The three-minute video released by Hamas's Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigades shows one of the hostages, identified by media as 36-year-old Bohbot, visibly weak and lying on the floor wrapped in a blanket.

Bohbot, a Colombian-Israeli, was seen bound and injured in the face in video footage from the day of the Hamas attack. After a video of him was released last month, his family said they were "extremely concerned" about his health.

The second hostage, said to be Ohana, 24, speaks in Hebrew in the video, urging the Israeli government to end the war in Gaza and secure the release of all remaining captives -- a similar message to statements made by other hostages, likely under duress, in previous videos released by Hamas.

Bohbot and Ohana, both abducted by Palestinian gunmen from the site of a music festival, are among 58 hostages held in Gaza since the 2023 attack, including 34 the Israeli military says are dead.

Hamas also holds the remains of an Israeli soldier killed in a 2014 war.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Wednesday that the fate of three hostages presumed alive was unclear, without naming them.

"We know with certainty that 21 hostages are alive... and there are three others whose status, sadly, we do not know," Netanyahu said in a video shared on his Telegram channel.

Israel resumed its military offensive across the Gaza Strip on March 18, after a two-month truce that saw the release of dozens of hostages.

Since the ceasefire collapsed, Hamas has released several videos of hostages, including of the two appearing in Saturday's video.

Israel says the renewed offensive aims to force Hamas to free the remaining captives, although critics charge that it puts them in mortal danger.

Hamas's October 2023 attack resulted in the deaths of 1,218 people on the Israeli side, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official figures.

The health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza said on Saturday that at least 2,701 people have been killed since Israel resumed its campaign in Gaza, bringing the overall death toll since the war broke out to 52,810.