New Israeli evacuation orders in Khan Younis

11/08/2024

Israeli forces have issued new evacuation orders in Khan Younis as they conduct their third military operation there since October. The orders came only days after displaced Palestinians were permitted to return to the southern Gaza city.
Medics and survivors of Israel’s attack on a Gaza City school-turned-shelter collected body parts of victims and searched for the missing as world leaders condemned the bombing that killed more than 100 people.

Australia condemns Israeli raid on school sheltering displaced Palestinians

Australia has joined the international community in condemning the deaths of more than 100 civilians in an Israeli bombing of a school sheltering displaced Palestinians in Gaza City.

“Innocent Palestinians cannot continue to pay the price of defeating Hamas,” Foreign Minister Penny Wong said in a post on X, calling for an “immediate” ceasefire in the besieged enclave.

“Australia condemns the deaths of civilians from Israel’s strike on al-Tabeen School. Israel must comply with international humanitarian law,” Wong said.

Dozens were also injured as an Israeli aircraft targeted Palestinians performing dawn prayers at the school in the city’s Daraj neighbourhood.

‘Their whole lives in one small bag’: UNRWA chief

Philippe Lazzarini, head of the United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees, UNRWA, says people in Gaza are trapped and have nowhere to go.

In a post on X, he said more than 75,000 people have been displaced in southwest Gaza in the past few days.

“Some are only able to carry their children with them, some carry their whole lives in one small bag,” he added.

Lazzarini also said: “They are going to overcrowded places where shelters are already overflowing with families. They have lost everything and need everything. Unlike in other wars, the people of Gaza are trapped and have nowhere to go.”

Addictions on the rise in wartime Israel

Health professionals say a rise in addictions is common in wartime Israel, noting a surge in drug and alcohol abuse as well as other addictive behaviours.

Yoni, who asked to use a pseudonym to protect his privacy, told AFP he started taking drugs recreationally before, but “after the war it seemed to really get worse”.

“It’s just a way to escape from reality, this whole thing,” said the resident of Beersheba in southern Israel, who lost a friend in the October 7 Hamas-led attack.

Psychiatrist Shaul Lev-Ran, founder of the Israel Center on Addiction, said that “as a natural reaction to emotional stress and as a search for relief, we’ve seen a spectacular rise in the consumption of various addictive sedative substances”.

Lev-Ran told AFP their studies have identified a rise in the use of “prescription drugs, illegal drugs, alcohol, or addictive behaviour like gambling”.

Four rockets fired from Lebanon to Israel

Al Jazeera’s correspondent reports that rockets were fired from southern Lebanon towards a site in northern Israel.

This happened as air raid sirens sounded in the Israeli community of Matat on the border with Lebanon.

We’ll bring you more details as they emerge.

11/08/2024

Australia condemns Israeli raid on school sheltering displaced Palestinians

‘Their whole lives in one small bag’: UNRWA chief

Addictions on the rise in wartime Israel

Four rockets fired from Lebanon to Israel

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