All posts tagged: Middle East

The numbers of dead in Gaza don’t add up – and there is no easy explanation

The numbers of dead in Gaza don’t add up – and there is no easy explanation

Since the beginning of the Israel-Hamas war that started on October 7, the number of casualties in Gaza has been a subject of heated debate.  According to the Hamas-run health ministry, the number now stands at more than 30,000 dead, with no distinction made between civilian and combatant casualties. In previous rounds of fighting in the Strip, the total number of deaths reported by the Gazan authorities have been found to be broadly accurate, not differing significantly from estimates produced by the UN or IDF. There have, however, always been disputes over the civilian/combatant split. The latest war in Gaza provides a different data challenge. As noted in a recent report by “The Washington Institute for Near East Policy”, the scale of the current war has forced changes in the way data is collected by the authorities in Gaza.  While in previous rounds of fighting, the numbers were based on official hospital records, this time an increasingly large percentage of reported deaths are coming, not from doctors, but from what the Health Ministry refers to …

Fears of AI disinformation cast shadow over Turkish local elections | Elections News

Fears of AI disinformation cast shadow over Turkish local elections | Elections News

Istanbul, Turkey – As nationwide local elections approach on March 31, there are concerns in Turkey about the growing threat of disinformation and fake media created through artificial intelligence. Earlier this year, a video spread across social media purportedly showing Istanbul’s opposition mayor praising President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s ruling Justice and Development Party (AK Party). Ekrem Imamoglu, of the Republican People’s Party (CHP), is seen in the video commending the “great steps” taken in public transport projects when the AK Party controlled Istanbul. While the video was widely discredited due to the substance of Imamoglu’s “comments”, it raised fears about media manipulation in an election where the AK Party is trying to retake cities won by the opposition in 2019. Political scandals over “leaked” recordings are nothing new in Turkey. In 2010, CHP leader Deniz Baykal stood down following the publication of a sex tape online. Four years later, then-Prime Minister Erdogan condemned an audio recording that suggested his involvement in corruption, saying it was fabricated. Deepfake vs cheap fake Fake videos and images present …

How Israel’s war on Gaza has changed Ramadan football | Israel War on Gaza News

How Israel’s war on Gaza has changed Ramadan football | Israel War on Gaza News

Deir el-Balah, Gaza – For over six years, Moath Raja Allah was known as one of the top players in Gaza’s Ramadan football tournaments. The 19-year-old from Nuseirat collected 12 trophies and countless accolades for his skills. This year, Raja Allah is spending Ramadan at a makeshift refugee camp at Al-Salah Football Club in Deir el-Balah, located in the central Gaza Strip, after his family was displaced during Israel’s war on Gaza. His only wish is to be able to buy a chicken for his family for iftar and break his fast on the rubble of his home, which was destroyed by Israeli bombardment that also left a shrapnel wound on his head. “Ramadan tournaments are not the same anymore,” Raja Allah tells Al Jazeera. “They lack the rivalries, the passion and the celebratory atmosphere of the past years. “What’s more, we have now been reduced to playing for a pack of food aid package instead of a trophy.” More than 1,000 people displaced by the war have taken refuge at Al-Salah Football Club, where …

US overlooks Israeli abuses in Gaza to justify arms transfers: Advocates | Israel War on Gaza News

US overlooks Israeli abuses in Gaza to justify arms transfers: Advocates | Israel War on Gaza News

Washington, DC – Israel has killed more than 32,000 Palestinians in Gaza, displaced more than 80 percent of the population, destroyed large parts of the territory and imposed a suffocating blockade, bringing the enclave to the verge of famine. But nearly six months into the war, the United States says it has not determined that Israel has violated international humanitarian law. Washington’s assertion, made public this week as part of an oversight process on US weapons transfers to allies, has spurred bewilderment and condemnation from human rights groups. “It’s absurd,” said Sarah Leah Whitson, director of Democracy for the Arab World Now. “It invites global mockery and disdain to hear such a statement issued in front of the world by the Biden administration.” US laws prohibit arming countries engaged in human rights abuses. But advocates say the administration of President Joe Biden is bending the facts and denying well-documented Israeli violations to appear to be in compliance with the rules. Whitson noted that Biden himself has described Israel’s bombing of Gaza as “indiscriminate”, which would make …

Gaza conflict is creating a traumatised generation of child amputees, warn medics

Gaza conflict is creating a traumatised generation of child amputees, warn medics

Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) co-ordinator Marie-Aure Perreaut Revial witnessed the pitiful sight of scores of children having their limbs amputated in the al-Aqsa hospital only last week. “It is completely devastating to see,” she admitted. “Babies as young as one year old are being amputated. These are babies that have never learned to walk, and now they never will walk [unaided]. “I saw many patients who arrived at the hospital who had already lost their legs and their arms. And then there were others badly injured in a blast who had to be amputated because the lack of access to healthcare and post-operative care means their wounds will otherwise be infected.” With little indication of Israel loosening its tight control of border crossing points for more medical evacuations, agencies fear that thousands of those maimed who have not yet been operated on risk infection. Limb injuries ‘have to wait’ In Gaza, where just under half of the population are under 18, a substantial proportion of the young will grow up hampered by a war-inflicted disability …

Israel’s war on Gaza: List of key events, day 173 | Israel War on Gaza News

Israel’s war on Gaza: List of key events, day 173 | Israel War on Gaza News

Israeli military say its forces are continuing their siege of al-Shifa Hospital where they have claimed to have killed a number of fighters. Here’s how things stand on Wednesday, March 27, 2024: Fighting and humanitarian crisis Israel is ramping up its military attacks, in particular in Rafah. “Over the past couple of hours, we have been recording multiple air strikes that targeted three residential houses,” Al Jazeera’s Tareq Abu Azzoum reported on Wednesday. Attacks continued elsewhere in Gaza as well, including Jabalia refugee camp. “Not only have there been intense attacks across Rafah city, but there is also the constant buzzing sound of drones, taking a mental toll on people and making it hard to sleep,” Al Jazeera’s Hani Mahmoud said. Israeli military said on Wednesday its forces are continuing their siege of al-Shifa Hospital where they have claimed to have killed a number of fighters. At least 32,414 Palestinians have been killed and 74,787 wounded in Israeli attacks on Gaza since October 7. Diplomacy and regional tensions On Tuesday, US Defence Secretary Austin told …

US Does Not Support Pakistan Iran Pipeline

US Does Not Support Pakistan Iran Pipeline

ISLAMABAD —  The U.S. State Department has said it does not support Pakistan’s plan to build a pipeline to import gas from Iran. State Department spokesperson Mathew Miller refused to comment on the nature of sanctions Pakistan could face for importing energy from Iran. However, he cautioned Islamabad against going ahead with the plan. “But we always advise everyone that doing business with Iran runs the risk of touching upon and coming in contact with our sanctions, and would advise everyone to consider that very carefully,” said Miller, adding that “the assistant secretary made clear last week, we do not support this pipeline going forward.” Donald Lu, Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asia told the House Foreign Affairs committee last Wednesday in a hearing that importing gas from Iran would expose Pakistan to U.S. sanctions. Pakistan’s outgoing caretaker government approved the construction of an 80-kilometer section of the pipeline in February, largely to avoid paying Iran $18 billion in penalties for years of project delays. Miller’s remarks came after Pakistani media reported …

Lebanon’s Hezbollah fires barrage of rockets into northern Israel

Lebanon’s Hezbollah fires barrage of rockets into northern Israel

Gaza’s health ministry collects data from the enclave’s hospitals and the Palestinian Red Crescent. The health ministry does not report how Palestinians were killed, whether from Israeli airstrikes and artillery barrages or errant Palestinian rocket fire. It describes all casualties as victims of “Israeli aggression”. The ministry also does not distinguish between civilians and combatants.  Throughout four wars and numerous skirmishes between Israel and Hamas, UN agencies have cited the Hamas-run health ministry’s death tolls in regular reports. The International Committee of the Red Cross and Palestinian Red Crescent also use the numbers. In the aftermath of war, the UN humanitarian office has published final death tolls based on its own research into medical records. The UN’s counts have largely been consistent with the Gaza health ministry’s, with small discrepancies.  For more on the Gaza health ministry’s tolls, click here. (FRANCE 24 with AP)  Source link

WHO worker and Iranian adviser among several killed in Syria air strikes | Syria’s War News

WHO worker and Iranian adviser among several killed in Syria air strikes | Syria’s War News

The Syrian Observatory said the villa targeted ‘served as a communications centre’ in the area. At least eight people have been killed in air strikes in eastern Syria, according to a war monitor and Syrian state media, including a World Health Organization worker and an Iranian military adviser. It was not immediately clear who was behind the air strikes on Tuesday. The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a war monitor affiliated with Syria’s opposition, said at least 15 people were killed, including an adviser with Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), two of his bodyguards, nine Iraqi fighters from an Iran-backed group and two Syrians working with the Iranians. Syrian state media said at least seven soldiers, including a member of the IRGC, and one civilian were killed. At least 19 other soldiers and 13 civilians were wounded in the strikes that targeted residential areas and military sites in Deir ez-Zor province and caused significant damage to public and private properties, Syrian state media said. Emad Shehab, an engineer in the provincial capital, also …