Israel Shells North Gaza Hospital, Disrupting Service, Doctors Say

 The bodies of victims lie in the courtyard of the Kamal Adwan hospital in Beit Lahiya in the northern Gaza Strip, following a reported Israeli strike that hit the medical complex on December 6, 2024, as the war between Israel and the Palestinian Hamas group continues. (AFP)
The bodies of victims lie in the courtyard of the Kamal Adwan hospital in Beit Lahiya in the northern Gaza Strip, following a reported Israeli strike that hit the medical complex on December 6, 2024, as the war between Israel and the Palestinian Hamas group continues. (AFP)
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Israel Shells North Gaza Hospital, Disrupting Service, Doctors Say

 The bodies of victims lie in the courtyard of the Kamal Adwan hospital in Beit Lahiya in the northern Gaza Strip, following a reported Israeli strike that hit the medical complex on December 6, 2024, as the war between Israel and the Palestinian Hamas group continues. (AFP)
The bodies of victims lie in the courtyard of the Kamal Adwan hospital in Beit Lahiya in the northern Gaza Strip, following a reported Israeli strike that hit the medical complex on December 6, 2024, as the war between Israel and the Palestinian Hamas group continues. (AFP)

Palestinian health officials said on Sunday that Israeli forces had shelled the Kamal Adwan Hospital in the northern Gaza town of Beit Lahiya, damaging electricity and oxygen pumps and disrupting urgent surgeries.

Hussam Abu Safiya, director of the hospital, one of only three barely operational on the northern edge of the enclave, said the facility was hit by around 100 tank shells and bombs, wounding several of the medical staff and patients.

"The situation is extremely dangerous. We have patients in the intensive care unit and others awaiting surgeries. Access to the operating rooms is only possible after restoring electricity and oxygen supply," Abu Safiya said in a statement.

The hospital is treating 112 wounded people, including six in the intensive care unit, he said.

There was no immediate comment from the Israeli military about Abu Safiya's account.

The health ministry of Hamas-run Gaza said a doctor was killed with his family in an Israeli airstrike near the Kamal Adwan Hospital on Saturday night.

Residents said the military blew up clusters of houses in the northern Gaza areas of Jabalia, Beit Lahiya and Beit Hanoun, where Israeli forces have operated since October.

Broad Israeli airstrikes killed at least six Palestinians in the central and southern Gaza Strip on Sunday, medics said.

Palestinians say Israel's operations on the northern edge of the enclave are part of a plan to clear people out through forced evacuations and bombardments to create a buffer zone. The Israeli military denies this, saying it is fighting Hamas.

The war in Gaza has been raging for over 14 months, with much of the enclave laid to waste and more than 44,000 Palestinians killed, according to Gaza health authorities, as Israeli forces continue their drive to wipe out Hamas and rescue hostages taken by the armed group.

The deadliest Israeli-Palestinian violence in decades began when Hamas stormed into Israel on Oct.7, 2023, killing 1,200 people and taking more than 250 hostages back to Gaza.



Syrian Interior Ministry: 120 ISIS Members Escape from Prison amid Clashes

Civilians cross a collapsed bridge linking Raqqa with its western countryside of Tabqa, northern Syria, 19 January 2026. EPA/AHMAD FALLAHA
Civilians cross a collapsed bridge linking Raqqa with its western countryside of Tabqa, northern Syria, 19 January 2026. EPA/AHMAD FALLAHA
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Syrian Interior Ministry: 120 ISIS Members Escape from Prison amid Clashes

Civilians cross a collapsed bridge linking Raqqa with its western countryside of Tabqa, northern Syria, 19 January 2026. EPA/AHMAD FALLAHA
Civilians cross a collapsed bridge linking Raqqa with its western countryside of Tabqa, northern Syria, 19 January 2026. EPA/AHMAD FALLAHA

Syria's ministry of interior said Tuesday that 120 ISIS members escaped from a prison in northeast Syria a day earlier, amid clashes between government forces and the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces, which guards the prison.

Security forces recaptured 81 of the escapees, “while intensive security efforts continue to pursue the remaining fugitives and take the necessary legal measures against them,” The Associated Press quoted the statement as saying.

The SDF and the government have traded blame over the escape at a prison in the town of Shaddadeh, amid the breakdown of a ceasefire deal between the two sides.

Also Tuesday, the SDF accused “Damascus-affiliated factions” of cutting off water supplies to the al-Aqtan prison near the city of Raqqa, which it called a “blatant violation of humanitarian standards.”

The SDF, the main US-backed force that fought ISIS in Syria, controls more than a dozen prisons in the northeast where some 9,000 ISIS members have been held for years without trial.

Under a deal announced Sunday, government forces were to take over control of the prisons from the SDF, but the transfer did not go smoothly.

On Monday, Syrian government forces and SDF fighters clashed around two prisons housing members of ISIS in Syria’s northeast.

The clashes came as SDF chief commander Mazloum Abdi was said to be in Damascus to attempt to solidify a ceasefire deal reached Sunday that ended days of deadly fighting during which government forces captured wide areas of northeast Syria from the SDF.

Abdi issued no statement after the meeting and the SDF later issued a statement calling for “all of our youth” to “join the ranks of the resistance," appearing to signal that the deal had fallen apart.

Interim President Ahmad al-Sharaa postponed a planned trip to Germany Tuesday amid the ongoing tensions in northeast Syria.


Egypt’s Sisi to Meet Trump on the Sidelines of Davos, Presidency Says

US President Donald Trump and Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi meet ahead of a world leaders' summit on ending the Gaza war, amid a US-brokered prisoner-hostage swap and ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas, in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt, October 13, 2025. (Reuters)
US President Donald Trump and Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi meet ahead of a world leaders' summit on ending the Gaza war, amid a US-brokered prisoner-hostage swap and ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas, in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt, October 13, 2025. (Reuters)
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Egypt’s Sisi to Meet Trump on the Sidelines of Davos, Presidency Says

US President Donald Trump and Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi meet ahead of a world leaders' summit on ending the Gaza war, amid a US-brokered prisoner-hostage swap and ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas, in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt, October 13, 2025. (Reuters)
US President Donald Trump and Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi meet ahead of a world leaders' summit on ending the Gaza war, amid a US-brokered prisoner-hostage swap and ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas, in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt, October 13, 2025. (Reuters)

Egypt's President Abdel ​Fattah al-Sisi will meet US President Donald Trump on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Egypt's presidency said on Tuesday.

This ‌will be ‌the first ‌meeting ⁠between ​the ‌two leaders since the US announced it was launching the second phase of its plan to end the war in Gaza.

Sisi and ⁠Trump met in the ‌Red Sea resort ‍of Sharm ‍el-Sheikh in October during a ‍summit convened by Egypt to sign a ceasefire deal aimed at ending the ​war.

On Friday, Trump said that he was also ⁠ready to restart US mediation between Egypt and Ethiopia to resolve the dispute over an Ethiopian dam, which both Egypt and Sudan consider a serious threat to vital water supplies.


Palestinian Infant Dies Due to Severe Cold in Gaza

Displaced Palestinians in a temporary camp in Khan Yunis, southern Gaza Strip (EPA)
Displaced Palestinians in a temporary camp in Khan Yunis, southern Gaza Strip (EPA)
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Palestinian Infant Dies Due to Severe Cold in Gaza

Displaced Palestinians in a temporary camp in Khan Yunis, southern Gaza Strip (EPA)
Displaced Palestinians in a temporary camp in Khan Yunis, southern Gaza Strip (EPA)

A Palestinian infant died Tuesday morning due to extreme cold in the Gaza City.

The Palestinian News and Information Agency (WAFA) quoted medical sources as saying that "the 7-month-old infant, Shatha Abu Jarad, died in Gaza due to severe cold."

According to the agency, "the number of children who have died in the Gaza Strip due to the extreme cold since the beginning of winter has risen to nine, amid a shortage of aid and a lack of heating".

The Civil Defense in Gaza warned on Monday of the possibility of increased deaths among children due to an unprecedented drop in temperatures.

Mahmoud Basal, spokesman for the Civil Defense in Gaza, said in a statement: "The sharp drop in temperatures we are witnessing tonight is unprecedented since the beginning of winter. The cold is so severe that we no longer feel our feet, so how about infants, patients, and families living in dilapidated tents?"

Displaced people in Gaza are facing a very difficult situation due to a stormy weather accompanied by strong winds and heavy rain, coinciding with temperatures dropping to freezing levels.

The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) warned last week that the humanitarian situation in the Gaza Strip remains dire, as severe weather conditions threaten progress in the field of humanitarian response, noting that more than one million people are in dire need of shelter as rainstorms continue.