Live updates: Follow the latest on Israel-Gaza
Saudi Arabia has condemned the “genocidal massacres” carried out by Israel in its assault on the southern Gazan city of Rafah, including the repeated targeting of camps for displaced civilians.
Saudi Arabia's Foreign Ministry denounced “in the strongest terms” Israel's move to continue “to target the tents of defenceless Palestinian refugees in Rafah”.
“The kingdom holds the Israeli authorities fully responsible for what is happening in Rafah and all across the occupied Palestinian territories,” the ministry said.
At least 75 people, including children, were killed in strikes over the past 24 hours across the Gaza Strip, the Gazan Ministry of Health said.
Speaking to The National, Gaza's civil defence chief Mohammed Al Mughier said the southern part of the enclave, including Rafah, had come under Israeli artillery fire and air and drone strikes again.
Israeli forces have also broadened areas of combat to include Tal Al Sultan's western camp area, the southern and eastern parts of Rafah, including Al Shabura district, and the border region of Yibna, near the Egyptian border, Mr Al Mughier said.
Palestinian news agency Wafa reported Israeli air strikes hit Rafah, Gaza city and the Nuseirat and Jabalia refugee camps in northern Gaza.
The overall death toll since October 7, when Hamas-led attacks killed 1,200 in southern Israel, has reached 36,171, Gaza's Ministry of Health said on Wednesday. More than 81,400 people have been injured.
Attention has been focused on Rafah since Israel launched its controversial offensive against the southern city in early May.
Israel's allies, including the US, had warned it against attacking the city, where more than 1.5 million people had taken shelter. About a million of those have since fled to neighbouring areas.
However, the Israeli military has also carried out strikes against camps bordering Rafah, including designated “safe zones”.
On Wednesday, the Palestine Red Crescent Society said it had evacuated Al Quds field hospital in Al Mawasi after a bombardment continued in its vicinity, forcibly displacing residents in the area, it said.
Al Mawasi was previously designated as a safe zone by Israeli forces.
Witnesses said Israeli forces had penetrated the city.
“People are currently inside their homes because anyone who moves is being shot at by Israeli drones,” resident Abdel Khatib told AFP.
Israeli forces have denied striking Al Mawasi.
With a dwindling number of hospitals still working, in dire need of urgent medical supplies, others such as the Kuwaiti Specialised Hospital have had to shut down their operations amid Israeli shelling within their vicinity and the killings of medical workers.
“The Israeli occupation is deliberately eliminating the healthcare presence in Rafah and the north,” Gaza Health Ministry spokesman Dr Ashraf Al Qudra said on Wednesday.
“There is no healthcare capacity to deal with the ongoing massacres in Rafah and the northern sector,” he said, as he demanded the creation of safe corridors to allow the immediate entry of fuel and medical aid.
The surge in air raids came hours after the White House said Israel's actions in Rafah had not crossed US President Joe Biden's “red lines”.
Since Sunday, Israel has repeatedly struck displacement camps in Rafah, killing dozens of civilians, including women and children. The first attack caused a fire that killed at least 45 Palestinians and badly wounded others.
Israel called the Rafah air strike a “tragic mistake”.
Israeli army spokesman Admiral Daniel Hagari said that the air force had dropped aerial bombs weighing 17kg during Sunday's attack.
However, defence expert Amos Harel, a reporter at Israeli outlet Haaretz, said the figure was misleading as it only took into account the weight of the explosive material and not the bomb itself, which weighs 110kg.
Meanwhile, US Security Council spokesman John Kirby said on Tuesday that “as a result of this strike on Sunday I have no policy changes to speak to”.
“It just happened. The Israelis are going to investigate it,” he said.
The Pentagon, however, used stronger language to describe Sunday's attack.
“No matter what anyone says, those images, what’s happening on the ground, it’s horrific, it’s heartbreaking and needs to stop,” it said.
“It’s absolutely devastating to see the loss of life.”
Algeria said on Tuesday that it was proposing a UN Security Council draft resolution to “stop the killing in Rafah”.
The Security Council is set to meet on Wednesday to discuss the situation in Gaza.
Islamophobia definition
A widely accepted definition was made by the All Party Parliamentary Group on British Muslims in 2019: “Islamophobia is rooted in racism and is a type of racism that targets expressions of Muslimness or perceived Muslimness.” It further defines it as “inciting hatred or violence against Muslims”.
What can victims do?
Always use only regulated platforms
Stop all transactions and communication on suspicion
Save all evidence (screenshots, chat logs, transaction IDs)
Report to local authorities
Warn others to prevent further harm
Courtesy: Crystal Intelligence
Bert van Marwijk factfile
Born: May 19 1952
Place of birth: Deventer, Netherlands
Playing position: Midfielder
Teams managed:
1998-2000 Fortuna Sittard
2000-2004 Feyenoord
2004-2006 Borussia Dortmund
2007-2008 Feyenoord
2008-2012 Netherlands
2013-2014 Hamburg
2015-2017 Saudi Arabia
2018 Australia
Major honours (manager):
2001/02 Uefa Cup, Feyenoord
2007/08 KNVB Cup, Feyenoord
World Cup runner-up, Netherlands
The Vile
Starring: Bdoor Mohammad, Jasem Alkharraz, Iman Tarik, Sarah Taibah
Director: Majid Al Ansari
Rating: 4/5
GIANT REVIEW
Starring: Amir El-Masry, Pierce Brosnan
Director: Athale
Rating: 4/5
Conservative MPs who have publicly revealed sending letters of no confidence
- Steve Baker
- Peter Bone
- Ben Bradley
- Andrew Bridgen
- Maria Caulfield
- Simon Clarke
- Philip Davies
- Nadine Dorries
- James Duddridge
- Mark Francois
- Chris Green
- Adam Holloway
- Andrea Jenkyns
- Anne-Marie Morris
- Sheryll Murray
- Jacob Rees-Mogg
- Laurence Robertson
- Lee Rowley
- Henry Smith
- Martin Vickers
- John Whittingdale
Zayed Sustainability Prize
Countries recognising Palestine
France, UK, Canada, Australia, Portugal, Belgium, Malta, Luxembourg, San Marino and Andorra
The specs
Engine: 1.6-litre 4-cyl turbo and dual electric motors
Power: 300hp at 6,000rpm
Torque: 520Nm at 1,500-3,000rpm
Transmission: 8-speed auto
Fuel consumption: 8.0L/100km
Price: from Dh199,900
On sale: now
Why it pays to compare
A comparison of sending Dh20,000 from the UAE using two different routes at the same time - the first direct from a UAE bank to a bank in Germany, and the second from the same UAE bank via an online platform to Germany - found key differences in cost and speed. The transfers were both initiated on January 30.
Route 1: bank transfer
The UAE bank charged Dh152.25 for the Dh20,000 transfer. On top of that, their exchange rate margin added a difference of around Dh415, compared with the mid-market rate.
Total cost: Dh567.25 - around 2.9 per cent of the total amount
Total received: €4,670.30
Route 2: online platform
The UAE bank’s charge for sending Dh20,000 to a UK dirham-denominated account was Dh2.10. The exchange rate margin cost was Dh60, plus a Dh12 fee.
Total cost: Dh74.10, around 0.4 per cent of the transaction
Total received: €4,756
The UAE bank transfer was far quicker – around two to three working days, while the online platform took around four to five days, but was considerably cheaper. In the online platform transfer, the funds were also exposed to currency risk during the period it took for them to arrive.
Pearls on a Branch: Oral Tales
Najlaa Khoury, Archipelago Books
Mobile phone packages comparison
Conflict, drought, famine
Estimates of the number of deaths caused by the famine range from 400,000 to 1 million, according to a document prepared for the UK House of Lords in 2024.
It has been claimed that the policies of the Ethiopian government, which took control after deposing Emperor Haile Selassie in a military-led revolution in 1974, contributed to the scale of the famine.
Dr Miriam Bradley, senior lecturer in humanitarian studies at the University of Manchester, has argued that, by the early 1980s, “several government policies combined to cause, rather than prevent, a famine which lasted from 1983 to 1985. Mengistu’s government imposed Stalinist-model agricultural policies involving forced collectivisation and villagisation [relocation of communities into planned villages].
The West became aware of the catastrophe through a series of BBC News reports by journalist Michael Buerk in October 1984 describing a “biblical famine” and containing graphic images of thousands of people, including children, facing starvation.
Band Aid
Bob Geldof, singer with the Irish rock group The Boomtown Rats, formed Band Aid in response to the horrific images shown in the news broadcasts.
With Midge Ure of the band Ultravox, he wrote the hit charity single Do They Know it’s Christmas in December 1984, featuring a string of high-profile musicians.
Following the single’s success, the idea to stage a rock concert evolved.
Live Aid was a series of simultaneous concerts that took place at Wembley Stadium in London, John F Kennedy Stadium in Philadelphia, the US, and at various other venues across the world.
The combined event was broadcast to an estimated worldwide audience of 1.5 billion.
RESULT
Manchester City 5 Swansea City 0
Man City: D Silva (12'), Sterling (16'), De Bruyne (54' ), B Silva (64' minutes), Jesus (88')
Name: Peter Dicce
Title: Assistant dean of students and director of athletics
Favourite sport: soccer
Favourite team: Bayern Munich
Favourite player: Franz Beckenbauer
Favourite activity in Abu Dhabi: scuba diving in the Northern Emirates
Five famous companies founded by teens
There are numerous success stories of teen businesses that were created in college dorm rooms and other modest circumstances. Below are some of the most recognisable names in the industry:
- Facebook: Mark Zuckerberg and his friends started Facebook when he was a 19-year-old Harvard undergraduate.
- Dell: When Michael Dell was an undergraduate student at Texas University in 1984, he started upgrading computers for profit. He starting working full-time on his business when he was 19. Eventually, his company became the Dell Computer Corporation and then Dell Inc.
- Subway: Fred DeLuca opened the first Subway restaurant when he was 17. In 1965, Mr DeLuca needed extra money for college, so he decided to open his own business. Peter Buck, a family friend, lent him $1,000 and together, they opened Pete’s Super Submarines. A few years later, the company was rebranded and called Subway.
- Mashable: In 2005, Pete Cashmore created Mashable in Scotland when he was a teenager. The site was then a technology blog. Over the next few decades, Mr Cashmore has turned Mashable into a global media company.
- Oculus VR: Palmer Luckey founded Oculus VR in June 2012, when he was 19. In August that year, Oculus launched its Kickstarter campaign and raised more than $1 million in three days. Facebook bought Oculus for $2 billion two years later.
'The Batman'
Stars:Robert Pattinson
Director:Matt Reeves
Rating: 5/5
Company%20profile
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MATCH INFO
Bayern Munich 2 Borussia Monchengladbach 1
Bayern: Zirkzee (26'), Goretzka (86')
Gladbach: Pavard (37' og)
Man of the Match: Breel Embolo (Borussia Monchengladbach)
