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Displaced Palestinian families suffer as heavy rains flood Gaza tent camps

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Displaced Palestinian families suffer as heavy rains flood Gaza tent camps

Palestinians call for better tents and other supplies as Israel maintains restrictions on aid to war-ravaged Gaza Strip.

Displaced Palestinians are reeling after heavy rains flooded their tents in makeshift displacement camps in Gaza City, as the United Nations warns that Israeli restrictions on aid have left hundreds of thousands of families without adequate shelter.

Abdulrahman Asaliyah, a displaced Palestinian man, told Al Jazeera on Friday that residents’ mattresses, clothes and other belongings were soaked in the flooding.

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“We are calling for help, for new tents that can at least protect people from the winter cold,” he said, explaining that nearly two dozen people had been working for hours to get the water to drain from the area.

“This winter rain is a blessing from God, but there are families who no longer wish for it to fall, fearing for the lives of their children and their own survival,” Asaliyah said.

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Gaza’s civil defence agency said Friday’s flooding primarily affected Palestinians in the north of the Strip, where hundreds of thousands of people have returned following last month’s ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hamas.

Flooding was also reported in central Gaza’s Deir el-Balah, said the rescue agency, which urged the international community to do more to “address the suffering” of Palestinians whose homes were destroyed in Israel’s two-year war on the enclave.

“We urge the swift delivery of homes, caravans, and tents to these displaced families to help alleviate their suffering, especially as we are at the beginning of winter,” it said in a statement.

While the October 10 ceasefire has allowed more aid to get into the Gaza Strip, the UN and other humanitarian groups say Palestinians still lack adequate food, medicine and other critical supplies, including shelter.

Aid groups working to provide shelter assistance in the occupied Palestinian territory said in early November that about 260,000 Palestinian families, totalling almost 1.5 million people, were vulnerable as the cold winter months approached.

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The UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) said this week that it has enough shelter supplies to help as many as 1.3 million Palestinians.

But UNRWA said Israel continues to block its efforts to bring aid into Gaza despite the ceasefire deal, which stipulated that humanitarian assistance must be delivered to Palestinians in need.

“We have a very short chance to protect families from the winter rains and cold,” Angelita Caredda, Middle East and North Africa director at the Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC), said in a statement on November 5.

Reporting from Deir el-Balah on Friday, Al Jazeera’s Hind Khoudary said Palestinians across Gaza have been voicing fears that this winter would be particularly difficult due to the lack of safe shelter.

“It only rained for a couple of minutes – 30 minutes or so … [and] they were completely flooded,” she said. “Their tents are very fragile and worn-out; they have been using them for the past two years.”

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She added that most Palestinians do not have any other options but to remain in tent camps or overcrowded shelters, despite the difficulties.

“We’re already seeing Palestinian children walking barefoot. They do not have winter clothes. They do not have blankets. And at the same time, the aid that is coming in … is being restricted,” Khoudary said.

Back in Gaza City, another displaced Palestinian man affected by the heavy rains, Abu Ghassan, said he and his family “no longer have a normal life”.

“I’m lifting the mattresses so the children don’t get soaked,” he told Al Jazeera. “But the little ones were already drenched here. We don’t even have proper tents.”

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Russia unleashes major drone, missile attack on Ukraine as US diplomatic talks continue

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Russia unleashes major drone, missile attack on Ukraine as US diplomatic talks continue

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Russia launched a major attack against Ukraine overnight as talks between Ukraine and the U.S. continued in Florida this week.

Moscow sent 653 drones and 51 missiles across Ukraine, leaving eight people injured, Ukrainian officials said.

French president Emmanuel Macron condemned the attacks, writing on X “We must continue to put pressure on Russia to force it towards peace.”

Macron said he plans to meet with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and their British and German counterparts in London on Monday.

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Ukrainian Fire Point’s Flamingo missiles are inspected in the Ukraine on Thursday.  (AP Photo/Efrem Lukatsky)

Zelenskyy said on Saturday that he had a “substantive phone call” with American officials involved in the talks with the Ukrainian delegation in Miami.

U.S. Special Envoy Steve Witkoff on Friday shared a readout of the talks, which also included President Donald Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner.

The readout called the talks “constructive discussions on advancing a credible pathway toward a durable and just peace in Ukraine.”

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“American and Ukrainian parties underscored that an end to the war and credible steps toward ceasefire and de-escalation are necessary to prevent renewed aggression and to enable Ukraine’s comprehensive redevelopment plan, designed to make the nation stronger and more prosperous than before the war.”

People gather in Kyiv on Saturday during a blackout caused by Russia’s ongoing strikes on Ukraine’s energy infrastructure.  (Maxym Marusenko/NurPhoto via Getty Images)

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Following Russia’s Friday night barrage, Ukraine’s air force said 29 locations were hit, and the military was able to shoot down 585 drones and 30 missiles.

Three of the eight wounded were hurt in the Kyiv region, local officials reported.

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The “massive’ attack also targeted power stations in the country and the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant temporarily lost power overnight, according to the International Atomic Energy Agency.

The Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant seen in 2022.  (Carl Court/Getty Images)

Zaporizhzhia is under Russian control and not in use, but it needs power to cool its shutdown reactors to prevent a catastrophic incident.

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Zelenskyy said that a drone strike had also “burned down” the train station in the city of Fastiv, near Kyiv.

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In retaliatory strikes, the General Staff of the Ukrainian Armed Forces later said Ukrainian forces said its military hit Russia’s Ryazan Oil Refinery.

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Ukraine peace talks stall as Russia unleashes huge waves of attacks

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Ukraine peace talks stall as Russia unleashes huge waves of attacks

Negotiations fail to yield progress, while Moscow launches over 700 drones and missiles across Ukrainian territory

Three days of negotiations between Ukrainian and United States officials have ended without a breakthrough, as Russia launched one of its largest aerial assaults of the war on Ukrainian cities and infrastructure.

The talks in Florida concluded on Saturday, with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy describing a phone call with US envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner as “substantive”, though both sides acknowledged that meaningful progress hinged entirely on Moscow’s willingness to pursue genuine peace.

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The impasse underscores the gulf between diplomatic efforts and the grinding reality on the ground, where Russian forces continue advancing in eastern Ukraine.

Russia deployed 653 drones and 51 missiles in the overnight barrage that began on Friday, striking energy facilities and critical infrastructure across the country, Ukrainian officials said.

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At least eight people were wounded in the attacks, which Minister of Internal Affairs Ihor Klymenko confirmed hit 29 separate locations.

The assault temporarily severed power to the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant, raising new concerns about reactor safety.

The facility, which has been under Russian occupation since early in Moscow’s invasion, requires continuous electricity to cool its six shutdown reactors and prevent catastrophic failure, according to the International Atomic Energy Agency.

“Energy facilities were the main targets,” Zelenskyy said of the latest assault, noting that one drone strike destroyed a railway station in Fastiv, near Kyiv. Ukrainian air defences intercepted 585 drones and 30 missiles, the air force reported.

Moscow claimed its strikes targeted “military-industrial complex enterprises and the energy facilities that support them”, asserting that all designated targets were hit.

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The diplomatic push comes as battlefield dynamics increasingly favour Russia.

Moscow’s forces are closing in on Pokrovsk, a former logistics hub in Ukraine’s Donetsk region, and have nearly surrounded the neighbouring city of Myrnohrad.

Russian troops captured roughly 505 sq km (195 sq miles) in November alone, nearly double October’s territorial gains.

Russia now controls almost the entirety of the neighbouring Luhansk region and holds the majority of coastal territories stretching to Kherson. The front lines have largely stabilised along these positions, though Moscow continues to make incremental advances.

French President Emmanuel Macron will meet Zelenskyy alongside British Prime Minister Keir Starmer and German Chancellor Friedrich Merz in London on Monday to assess the US-mediated negotiations.

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Macron condemned Russia’s “escalatory path” and insisted that “we must continue to put pressure on Russia to force it to make peace”.

The talks in Miami followed a Tuesday meeting between Witkoff, Kushner and Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow, which failed to produce an agreement.

A joint statement released on Friday acknowledged that “real progress towards any agreement” depends on Russia demonstrating “serious commitment to long-term peace, including steps towards de-escalation”.

Adding another layer of complexity, the International Criminal Court’s deputy prosecutor said on Friday that the arrest warrant for Putin over alleged war crimes in Ukraine cannot be halted by peace negotiations.

The warrant could only be temporarily deferred by United Nations Security Council action, prosecutor Nazhat Shameem Khan told reporters, emphasising that “there must be the possibility of accountability in order for peace to be enduring”.

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Putin has signalled he will not soften his territorial demands, ordering Russian forces to prepare for continued winter combat operations.

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White House Trolls Sabrina Carpenter With Second Pro-ICE Video, Alters ‘SNL’ Clip to Have Her ‘Arrest’ Marcello Hernández for ‘Being Too Illegal’

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White House Trolls Sabrina Carpenter With Second Pro-ICE Video, Alters ‘SNL’ Clip to Have Her ‘Arrest’ Marcello Hernández for ‘Being Too Illegal’

The White House’s social media team had to back down this week on including Sabrina Carpenter‘s “Juno” in a post touting ICE’s migrant arrests — but they’re hardly going away quietly. Shortly after deleting the initial X post, the administration snapped back by posting a new clip of Carpenter doing a commercial for her recent “Saturday Night Live” appearance, with the audio overdubbed so that she appears to be calling cast member Marcello Hernández “illegal” instead of “hot.”

In the original, unaltered “SNL” commercial, Carpenter stood alongside Hernández and said, “I think I might need to arrest someone for being too hot.” “Oh well, I turn myself in,” responded Hernández, extending his hands, as if to be cuffed. “You’re under arrest!” she cooed. But with the White House’s alteration of the clip, the overdubbed audio now has a voice like Carpenter’s saying “…too illegal,” as the highly popular Latino cast member puts his wrists out.

The caption for the TikTok and X video reads: “PSA: If you’re a criminal illegal, you WILL be arrested & deported.” Following the altered footage of Carpenter and Hernández’s repartee, the remainder of the White House’s post — as with the previous, now-deleted video that appropriated Carpenter’s music — consists of footage of immigrants being chased down and arrested.

Carpenter’s team did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

In the case of the previous video with the “Juno” soundtrack, Carpenter made her feelings clear, writing, “This video is evil and disgusting. Do not ever involve me or my music to benefit your inhumane agenda.”

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The earlier video consisted of the repetition of the “Juno” lyric “Have you ever tried this one?” accompanying shots of migrants being tackled and detained. It’s not known whether the White House voluntarily deleted the tweet; a version of it on TikTok remained, with the contentious audio removed.

The White House’s initial response to the pop superstar’s objection to having her music used as a soundtrack for the video was to mockingly use Carpenter’s lyrics against her, in a statement. Spokesperson Abigail Jackson told CNN: “Here’s a Short n’ Sweet message for Sabrina Carpenter: we won’t apologize for deporting dangerous criminal illegal murderers, rapists, and pedophiles from our country. Anyone who would defend these sick monsters must be stupid, or is it slow?”

The White House has seemingly delighted in taunting pop stars and their fans with posts twisting their messages to support pro-ICE or pro-Trump videos. On Nov. 3, the administration’s social media posted a video using Taylor Swift’s “The Fate of Ophelia” as the soundtrack for a Trump-glorifying montage. That video remains online.

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