In Gaza, Traumatized Palestinians Tend to Shell-Shocked Pets

A worker tends to a dog at the Sulala dog shelter in Gaza City which has received several wounded animals after the 11-day conflict between Israel and the Islamist Hamas controlling the Palestinian enclave - AFP
A worker tends to a dog at the Sulala dog shelter in Gaza City which has received several wounded animals after the 11-day conflict between Israel and the Islamist Hamas controlling the Palestinian enclave - AFP
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In Gaza, Traumatized Palestinians Tend to Shell-Shocked Pets

A worker tends to a dog at the Sulala dog shelter in Gaza City which has received several wounded animals after the 11-day conflict between Israel and the Islamist Hamas controlling the Palestinian enclave - AFP
A worker tends to a dog at the Sulala dog shelter in Gaza City which has received several wounded animals after the 11-day conflict between Israel and the Islamist Hamas controlling the Palestinian enclave - AFP

A smashed goldfish bowl, panicked birds in a cage, scores of animals needing treatment. The loss or injury of treasured pets has added to the grief and trauma of Gaza residents after last month's deadly conflict.

Neriman, a nine-year-old Palestinian girl, clutched a glass jar holding her goldfish Hoor, delighted it had survived after her other one, Hooriya, died in an Israeli air strike in Gaza City.

In the latest war, Israeli strikes on Gaza killed 254 Palestinians, including 66 children, as well as some fighters, authorities there say.

Fire by Palestinian militants claimed 12 lives in Israel, including one child, a teenager and an Israeli soldier.

Pets also suffered, as well as the children who owned them, according to AFP.

"I was so sad that Hooriya died and I cried when I buried her in the field," said Neriman, of her first fish, whose name meant "Mermaid" in Arabic.

"But I was so happy that Hoor had survived," she added of her second fish.

At an animal clinic in Gaza City, Amani Abu Shaaban held a fluffy cat to her chest as they waited to see a vet.

"My cat has been very scared since the war. She refuses to eat, and her hair is falling out," she said.

"Even the sound of a mobile phone ringing freaks her out."

Nearby, vet Mutasem Qaddoura examined two cats, one after the other.

One needed an operation for a broken leg, the other was dehydrated and malnourished.

Dozens of pets owners have flocked to his clinic since Gaza's May 21 ceasefire though supplies to treat them are scarce.

"The state of veterinary medicine is disastrous in Gaza," Qaddoura said.

"We use X-ray machines intended for humans and platinum screws meant to fix children's bones to treat the animals."

- Pets left behind -

Neriman and her family had been forced to flee their home on May 13, after an Israeli officer warned neighbors of an imminent strike on a nearby bank.

In the panic she left behind her fish, as well as two parakeets, Alloosh and Malloosh, given to her by her father for her sixth birthday.

But soon after, she started worrying.

"I just had to go home with my father to get them," she said.

When they returned, she found a special outfit she had laid out on her bed for the Eid holidays covered in rubble, the bed collapsed and the windows blown in.

"I heard Alloosh and Malloosh chirping under the rubble, and I found the fish bowl broken," she said.

Hooriya had died, but they saved Hoor, a scene shown in a video which has since gone viral on social media.

- Desperate dogs -

South of Gaza city, 30-year-old Adel al-Wadia said he had tried to feed some of the dogs at the coastal strip's main dog shelter during the bombing.

"They were howling with fear and hunger and it made me sad, so I risked trying to get as close as possible to give them food," he said.

The shelter's founder, Saeed el-Aer, said he returned after the ceasefire to find many of his canine wards scared and famished.

Dozens had panicked and escaped during the 11-day war, and several were wounded, he said.

"At least three dogs need an operation, including one who needs a paw amputated," he said.

Other animals were even less lucky.

Aer pointed to an area beyond the shelter's fence.

"Over there, we buried the donkey and the horse after we found they had died from shrapnel wounds," he said.



Buses Out, Shoppers In: London’s Oxford Street Goes Traffic-Free

 Mayor of London Sadiq Khan poses for the media in Oxford Street as it becomes traffic-free and pedestrianized in London, Monday, Oct. 26, 2026. (AP)
Mayor of London Sadiq Khan poses for the media in Oxford Street as it becomes traffic-free and pedestrianized in London, Monday, Oct. 26, 2026. (AP)
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Buses Out, Shoppers In: London’s Oxford Street Goes Traffic-Free

 Mayor of London Sadiq Khan poses for the media in Oxford Street as it becomes traffic-free and pedestrianized in London, Monday, Oct. 26, 2026. (AP)
Mayor of London Sadiq Khan poses for the media in Oxford Street as it becomes traffic-free and pedestrianized in London, Monday, Oct. 26, 2026. (AP)

Part ‌of London's Oxford Street, Britain's busiest shopping thoroughfare, went permanently traffic-free on Monday in an effort to revitalize the area and create a new public space to boost economic growth.

An almost 1-km (0.6-mile) section of Oxford Street between the Selfridges and IKEA stores is now closed to buses, cars, taxis, cycles, scooters and pedicabs, the office of London Mayor Sadiq Khan said.

The move has been more than two decades in the making. It and a wider ‌regeneration project ‌aim to put Oxford Street back among ‌top ⁠global shopping destinations ⁠including New York's Times Square, Paris' Champs-Élysées and Barcelona's La Rambla.

"After so many false dawns, and now working with a government who share the scale of my ambition, I’m proud that we’re finally unlocking a new era for the street," Khan said.

"Revitalizing Oxford Street will ⁠boost jobs and economic growth in the capital."

Oxford ‌Street, connected to Bond ‌Street and Regent Street and home to John Lewis, Marks & Spencer, ‌Tiffany & Co and many others, has struggled since the ‌COVID pandemic, with the arrival of US candy stores putting off many shoppers.

The pedestrianization is the first stage of a transformation, although minimal construction will take place during the run-up to ‌Christmas, a busy shopping period.

Plans for 2027 include more than 50 new trees, ⁠100 ⁠new seats, two public squares, rest areas and better signage and lighting.

Oxford Street attracts around half a million visitors every day, according to the mayor's office, but many flagship stores, including House of Fraser and Topshop, have shut in recent years, and Khan said the area had been neglected.

"This marks an exciting new chapter for Oxford Street, creating a greener, more vibrant place that will attract visitors and investment, support businesses and jobs, and drive growth in the heart of our capital," British housing, communities and local government minister Angela Rayner said.


Nonagenarian in Japan Outwits Suspected Scammer

 People make their way at a shopping district in Tokyo, Japan,October 23, 2026. (Reuters)
People make their way at a shopping district in Tokyo, Japan,October 23, 2026. (Reuters)
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Nonagenarian in Japan Outwits Suspected Scammer

 People make their way at a shopping district in Tokyo, Japan,October 23, 2026. (Reuters)
People make their way at a shopping district in Tokyo, Japan,October 23, 2026. (Reuters)

A 93-year-old woman in western Japan outsmarted a suspected scammer by pretending to fall for the scheme and helping police arrest him at her home, an officer told AFP on Monday.

Japan has the second-oldest population in the world after Monaco, and senior citizens are often targeted by fraudsters, who last year collectively stole around 325.7 billion yen ($2.0 billion) from their victims.

The woman, who lives in the Shiga region, received telephone calls from Wednesday through Thursday last week from a man who claimed to be a police officer.

The caller falsely informed her that her bank account had experienced an unauthorized withdrawal.

The woman was told to hand over her ATM card to a man, posing as a police officer, who would visit her so that authorities could verify her account.

Suspecting a scam, the woman consulted her son and the police as she waited for the scammer to visit her house.

"The person's family reached out to the police on Wednesday evening, and we were able to have officers at her house" before the scammer arrived on Thursday, a local police official told AFP on customary condition of anonymity.

When a 47-year-old man appeared at her doorstep, waiting officers arrested him on the spot, he said.

"The person (the woman) is someone in good health and highly articulate," the official said, while urging other elderly residents consult family members when they suspect fraud.


Malaysia's Johor Reopens Schools as Haze Eases

A tourist takes a selfie with the city skyline seen in the background as haze conditions due to Indonesian wildfires improve in Kuala Lumpur on October 26, 2026. Mohd Rasfan / AFP
A tourist takes a selfie with the city skyline seen in the background as haze conditions due to Indonesian wildfires improve in Kuala Lumpur on October 26, 2026. Mohd Rasfan / AFP
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Malaysia's Johor Reopens Schools as Haze Eases

A tourist takes a selfie with the city skyline seen in the background as haze conditions due to Indonesian wildfires improve in Kuala Lumpur on October 26, 2026. Mohd Rasfan / AFP
A tourist takes a selfie with the city skyline seen in the background as haze conditions due to Indonesian wildfires improve in Kuala Lumpur on October 26, 2026. Mohd Rasfan / AFP

Schools reopened in southern Malaysia on Monday as air quality improved after weeks of toxic haze from wildfires in neighboring Indonesia.

The closures were a consequence of a regional haze crisis that blanketed parts of Southeast Asia, particularly Malaysia and Singapore, sending respiratory complaints soaring and fueling diplomatic tensions.

In Malaysia's southernmost Johor state, face-to-face classes resumed in stages Monday after a 10-day suspension affecting more than 1,000 schools and about 600,000 students.

Johor education and information committee chairman Muhammad Naqib Md Ghazali said the decision followed a review of air quality readings across the state and health risk assessments.

Attendance on Monday and Tuesday is limited to students sitting examinations, he said in a statement Sunday.

Full operations are expected to resume on Wednesday if air quality continues to improve, he added.

Air quality had improved across Johor and much of peninsular Malaysia by Monday afternoon, with government monitoring data showing no areas recording unhealthy pollution levels.

Several districts in eastern Sarawak state, however, continued to report unhealthy air quality, including the state capital Kuching.

Malaysia's weather agency said changing wind patterns were expected to reduce the risk of further haze episodes for the rest of the year.

"As the wind direction has finally shifted from southwest to northeast, we highly expect there will be no more haze episodes this year," Meteorological Department director-general Mohd Hisham Mohd Anip told AFP.

The regional picture remained uneven, however, with Singapore still among the world's 20 most polluted major cities on Monday afternoon, according to Swiss-based air quality monitor IQAir.

Indonesia has struggled for months to contain fires that deforestation monitor Nusantara Atlas said consumed more than 1.9 million hectares in the nine months to September.

On Saturday, Indonesia cut natural gas exports to Singapore to prioritize domestic demand, an official said, with the two countries at loggerheads over regional air pollution from wildfires on the vast archipelago.