World
Two Al Jazeera journalists wounded in Israeli attack in southern Gaza
Two Al Jazeera Arabic journalists have been wounded while covering an Israeli attack on a school in Khan Younis, southern Gaza.
Wael Dahdouh, Gaza bureau chief for Al Jazeera Arabic, and cameraperson Samer Abudaqa were covering an earlier air strike at Farhana school in Khan Younis when they were wounded on Friday by shrapnel from an Israeli missile attack.
Dahdouh was hit by shrapnel on his upper arm, and was transferred to Nasser Hospital with minor injuries.
Abudaqa sustained shrapnel injuries and remained near the scene of the incident for about two hours, as paramedics were unable to reach the site due to Israeli fire, according to Al Jazeera correspondent Tareq Abu Azzoum.
Witnesses said there was heavy shelling in the area around the school.
The ambulance had to receive prior “approval” from Israeli forces before it could reach Abudaqa, Abu Azzoum reported from Rafah.
His medical condition remains unclear at this time.
According to Al Jazeera’s Wael Dahdouh, who was also injured in the attack, Abudaqa was “critically injured”, Abu Azzoum added.
Many Palestinians from the central and northern parts of Gaza have sought shelter in Khan Younis since the war began in October. Many have now been pushed further south towards the strip’s southernmost city of Rafah after Israel intensified its military operations in Khan Younis.
The attack comes amid violent clashes between Palestinian fighters and the Israeli army in locations across Gaza. Residents reported fighting in Shejaya, Sheikh Radwan, Zeitoun, Tuffah, and Beit Hanoun in north Gaza, east of Maghazi in central Gaza and in the centre and northern fringes of Khan Younis, according to the Reuters news service.
In late October, Wael Dahdouh lost four of his family members in an Israeli air raid.
His family had been seeking refuge in Nuseirat camp in the centre of Gaza when their home was bombed by Israeli forces, killing his wife, Um Hamza, his 15-year-old son, Mahmoud, his seven-year-old daughter, Sham, and his grandson, Adam, who died in hospital hours later.
“Despite all the difficulties, despite the death of his family, he rebounded within minutes to do his job again. And now, Wael is the victim,” said Al Jazeera’s senior political analyst Marwan Bishara.
The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) said it was “shocked” at the attack.
“We condemn the attack and reiterate our demand that journalists’ lives must be safeguarded,” it said in a post on X.
An IFJ report published last week found that 72 percent of journalists who died on the job this year were killed in the Gaza war.
#Palestine🇵🇸: We are deeply shocked to learn that journalist @WaelDahdouh and camera operator Samer Abu Daqqa have been injured while covering an earlier Israeli attack on a school. We condemn the attack and reiterate our demand that journalists’ lives must be safeguarded. https://t.co/mjJvgEXJ3z
— IFJ (@IFJGlobal) December 15, 2023
‘A professional, strong team’
The two journalists have worked together with Al Jazeera Arabic since before the war.
“[Samer] and Wael make up a very professional, strong team on the ground, documenting everything and bringing all the facts and live pictures of what the Palestinian people have been going through,” Hani Mahmoud said.
“But particularly with this war, given its intensity in scale and magnitude and the sheer amount of destruction, they have been at the forefront of covering every little detail that one might have forgotten about,” he added.
Jodie Ginsberg, the president of the Committee to Protect Journalists, said Palestinian journalists in Gaza felt abandoned by the international community.
“The role of journalists in such a situation is absolutely vital – particularly in Gaza where we’ve seen the kinds of institutions that traditionally also help with the kinds of documentation about the impact, like the UN officials, have left – so we’re really only left with the Gazan journalists doing this very important documentation work,” she told Al Jazeera.
“The international governments’ failure to push for an end to this conflict is increasingly creating a real sense of abandonment amongst the community and particularly amongst the journalist community in Palestine and the region,” Ginsberg said.
World
Los Angeles wildfire economic loss estimates top $50 billion
US private forecaster AccuWeather said on Wednesday that estimated damage and economic loss from the California wildfire, already one of the worst in history, is over $50 billion at a preliminary level.
Raging wildfires in Los Angeles killed at least two people, destroyed hundreds of buildings and stretched firefighting resources and water supplies since they began on Tuesday, with fierce winds hindering firefighting operations and fueling the fires.
AccuWeather, which estimates the loss between $52 billion and $57 billion, added that if the fire spread to densely populated neighborhoods the current estimates for loss would have to be revised upward.
“Should a large number of additional structures be burned in the coming days, it may become the worst wildfire in modern California history based on the number of structures burned and economic loss,” AccuWeather Chief Meteorologist Jonathan Porter said.
World
23-year-old hiker found after surviving for 2 weeks in Australian mountain range
A 23-year-old medical student who was missing in a remote Australian mountain range for two weeks has been located.
Hadi Nazari from Melbourne went missing on Dec. 26, 2024, when he separated from two hiking companions to take photos in the Kosciuszko National Park in the Snowy Mountains in New South Wales state, the Associated Press reports.
He survived on two muesli bars, foraged berries and creek water, police said on Wednesday.
His rescue came after he approached a group of hikers on Wednesday afternoon, telling them he was lost and thirsty, Police Inspector Josh Broadfoot said.
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“This is the fourteenth day we’ve been looking for him and for him to come out and be in such good spirits and in such great condition, it’s incredible,” Broadfoot said, according to Reuters, adding that Nazari was in “really good spirits.”
The hiker had traveled more than six miles across steep and densely wooded terrain from where he was last seen. More than 300 people had searched for him in the national park that is home to the 7,310-foot Mount Kosciuszko.
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Nazari was reunited with his two hiking friends on Wednesday before he was flown to a hospital for a medical assessment, Broadfoot said. Video showed them in a deep embrace prior to his departure.
Weather conditions are mild during the current Southern Hemisphere summer.
Searchers had been optimistic that Nazari would be found alive. He was an experienced hiker equipped with a tent. Searchers had found his campfire, camera and hiking poles in recent days, suggesting that he was continuing to walk.
Ambulance Insp. Adam Mower said Nazari only needed treatment for dehydration.
“He’s in remarkable condition for a person who’s been missing for so long,” Mower said.
The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.
World
Three Gaza hospitals face imminent closure as latest Israeli raids kill 50
The United Nations warns that a lack of fuel supply in Gaza threatens to shut down more medical facilities across the besieged territory, putting the lives of patients and newborns at “grave risk”.
The UN’s condemnation of the “deliberate and systematic” attacks on Gaza hospitals came as relentless Israeli strikes killed more than 50 more Palestinians in the last 24 hours.
Gaza health officials on Thursday said Al-Aqsa, Nasser and the European hospitals are at risk of imminent closure, after repeated Israeli bombardment and blockade of supplies, as they face the same fate as Kamal Adwan, Indonesian and Al-Awda hospitals.
Al Jazeera’s Hani Mahmoud, reporting from Al-Aqsa Hospital in Deir el-Balah, said the facility was now “overstretched” given an influx of more injured civilians, many of them women and children, who had now faced a genocide for 15 months.
“Doctors are reporting about the acute shortage of basic supplies, including surgical tools, antibiotics and painkillers,” he said.
Dr Bushra Othman, general surgeon and a volunteer at the hospital, said the situation is being assessed every 24 hours, as officials attempt to replenish supplies.
“At any time during the day, power and electricity will cut out, and certain areas should be protected such as the operating theatres, the intensive care unit, including the neonatal unit,” she told Al Jazeera.
At Nasser Hospital, Doctors Without Borders warned that the lives of 15 newborns in incubators were at risk due to a shortage of fuel for generators that provide electricity to the facility.
“Without fuel, these newborns are at risk of losing their lives,” said Pascale Coissard, MSF’s emergency coordinator.
Al Jazeera’s Tareq Abu Azzoum, also reporting from Deir el-Balah, said the atmosphere in the Palestinian territory “is quite charged with tension and fear”.
“What we have seen over the past 24 hours has been very bloody. The death toll from the past day has really been staggering,” he said.
On Thursday, the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) renewed its call for a ceasefire. “More humanitarian aid must come into Gaza and a ceasefire is more critical than ever,” the group wrote on X.
Despite the UN’s appeal, Israel continued its bombardment across the Gaza Strip.
Medical sources told Al Jazeera Arabic at least six Palestinians were killed in attacks at dawn in central and southern Gaza, while at least eight others were killed in Jabalia in northern Gaza.
Wafa news agency reported that four Palestinians, including three children, were killed at Nuseirat refugee camp while several others remained missing under the rubble.
Wafa said Israeli strikes killed at least 51 civilians and injured 78 others in the past 24 hours.
Since October 7, 2023, Israel has killed 46,006 Palestinians and wounded at least 109,378 others, according to Gaza’s Ministry of Health.
Meanwhile, Pope Francis on Thursday stepped up his criticisms of Israel’s military campaign as “very serious and shameful”.
In his yearly address to diplomats delivered on his behalf by an aide on Thursday, the pope appeared to reference deaths caused by the cold weather in Gaza, where there is almost no electricity.
“We cannot accept that children are freezing to death because hospitals have been destroyed or a country’s energy network has been hit,” the text of his address said.
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