Israel turns Gaza’s largest functioning hospital into ‘military base’; detain doctors, medical staff; many patients dead

News Network

February 18, 2024

Amid the ongoing genocidal Israeli war against the Gaza Strip, the regime's forces have reportedly turned the largest functioning hospital in the coastal sliver into a "military base" besides detaining doctors and medical staff.

"Occupation forces detained a large number of medical staff members inside Nasser Medical Complex, which they (the forces) turned into a military base," Gaza's health ministry spokesman Ashraf al-Qudra said on Saturday.

The troops raided the hospital, which is located in the southern Gaza city of Khan Younis, on Thursday, attacking hundreds of displaced Palestinians, who were seeking shelter inside the facility from the ravages of the Israeli military campaign.

Israel’s incursion into hospital has led to the deaths of many patients after electricity was severed and oxygen supplies cut, according to Gaza’s Ministry of Health.

The Israeli military has claimed that it was hunting for Palestinian fighters inside the hospital, and had so far arrested 100 suspects.

The military has been using the claim to attack and lay sieges on Gaza's hospitals ever since October 7, 2023, when it began the war against the territory in response to an operation staged by its resistance movements.

Nearly 29,000 Palestinians, mostly women, children, and adolescents, have died so far as a result of the brutal military onslaught.

Also on Saturday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed to carry out a ground invasion against the nearby southern Gaza city of Rafah, which is packed with hundreds of thousands of Palestinian refugees.

Netanyahu said critics calling for the regime not to mount military action against the city were effectively telling Tel Aviv to "lose the war."

Last week, Netanyahu ordered the Israeli military to evacuate civilians from Rafah ahead of a planned ground operation.

The city has come to host some 1.5 million Palestinians, who have fled there from the warfare.

Aid organizations say Rafah's evacuation will be nearly impossible, given the scale of devastation elsewhere in Gaza and the huge number of people who have been trapped in the besieged area.

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Voting underway in Karnataka bypolls: Family legacies and political heavyweights battle across 3 segments

News Network

November 13,2024

Bengaluru: An estimated overall 10.14 per cent voter turnout was recorded during the first two hours, since the voting began for bypolls to three Assembly segments in Karnataka on Wednesday, election officials said.

The voting began at 7 am and will go on till 6 pm.

More than seven lakh voters are eligible to cast their votes in about 770 polling stations in Shiggaon, Sandur and Channapatna, where a total of 45 candidates are in the fray.

While Channapatna recorded 10.34 per cent voter turnout till 9 am, it was 10.08 per cent in Shiggaon, and 9.99 per cent in Sandur, election officials said.

Voters, including women and elderly were seen queuing up in front of polling booths in these segments.

By-polls for Sandur, Shiggaon, and Channapatna are necessitated, as the seats fell vacant following the election of their respective representatives -- E Tukaram of Congress, former CM Basavaraj Bommai of BJP, and Union Minister H D Kumaraswamy of JD(S) -- to Lok Sabha in May elections.

As many as 31 candidates are in the fray from Channapatna, while Sandur and Shiggaon have six and eight contenders, respectively.

Elaborate security arrangements have been made in the three segments for the smooth conduct of the polls.

The by-polls will witness a straight fight between the ruling Congress and BJP in Sandur and Shiggaon segments, while in Channapatna, JD(S) which is part of the NDA alliance is in contest against the grand old party.

Among the three segments, Channapatna is considered to be a "high profile", where the contest is between C P Yogeeshwara, a five time MLA from the segment and former Minister, who joined the Congress quitting BJP ahead of nomination, and actor-turned -politician Nikhil Kumaraswamy, who is Kumaraswamy’s son and former PM H D Deve Gowda's grandson.

BJP's Bharath Bommai, son of Basavaraj Bommai, is fighting Congress Yasir Ahmed Khan Pathan, who had faced defeat against the former Chief Minister in the 2023 Assembly polls, in Shiggaon.

Bharath Bommai and his father cast their vote at a polling booth in Shiggaon segment.

In Sandur, Bellary MP Tukaram's wife E Annapurna of Congress is contesting from the seat vacated by her husband, against, BJP ST Morcha president Bangaru Hanumanthu, who is considered close to party leader and former mining barron G Janardhan Reddy.

Annapurna, Tukaram and other family members cast their votes at a booth in the segment.

With Nikhil Kumaraswamy and Bharath Bommai contesting, the third generation of Gowda and Bommai families are in the fray in this by-poll. Both their fathers and grandfathers have served as Karnataka's Chief Ministers in the past.

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