Many killed as Israel drops bomb on Gaza’s Indonesian Hospital; complex surrounded by tanks

Udupi: Karnataka Kreedakoota-2025, a sports event organised by the Youth Empowerment and Sports Department, Karnataka Olympic Association, and the District Administration, will be held in Udupi and Dakshina Kannada districts from January 17 to January 23.

The event will feature 1,373 athletes participating in a variety of sports, including kayaking, canoeing, archery, cycling, wrestling, boxing, hockey, lawn tennis, table tennis, Kabaddi, Judo, and athletics.

Deputy Commissioner Vidya Kumari K addressed a press conference on Monday, providing details about the events in Udupi and Dakshina Kannada.

According to her, while volleyball, basketball, and swimming competitions will take place in Dakshina Kannada, events like kayaking and canoeing will be held in Brahmavara’s Swarna River, and archery will take place at the MJC Ground in Manipal.

Marena Sports Complex in Manipal will host lawn tennis and table tennis matches, she added.

The opening ceremony will take place on January 17 in Mangaluru and Chief Minister Siddaramaiah will be inaugurating the event.

The closing ceremony will be held in Udupi on January 23, with Governor Thaawarchand Gehlot and Home Minister G Parameshwar attending.

The district administration, in collaboration with Manipal Academy of Higher Education (MAHE), Manipal, has made provisions for accommodation and food for the participants, said the DC.

She also said the synthetic track at the Mahatma Gandhi District Stadium in Ajjarakad is undergoing repair work after its 10-year durability period ended in 2023, to provide athletes better infrastructure.

Another Palestinian journalist has been killed in an Israeli attack in the Gaza Strip, taking the death toll to 205 since early October 2023 when the occupying Tel Aviv regime launched its all-out onslaught against the blockaded coastal sliver.

Local organizations identified the new victim as Ahlam al-Nafed, who recently reported from the besieged Indonesian Hospital in northern Gaza for Drop Site News and other media outlets.

She was killed on Tuesday as she was walking to al-Shifa Hospital – the largest medical complex and central hospital in the Gaza Strip, and located in the neighborhood of northern Rimal in Gaza City.

“For the past 100 days, Ahlam chronicled the genocide in northern Gaza, capturing evidence of Israeli war crimes from the besieged Indonesian Hospital.

“Through her words and images, she ensured that atrocities which might have been silenced were brought to light, allowing the world to witness the brutal reality unfolding there,” Drop Site News wrote in a statement published on its X account on Tuesday.

It underlined that Ahlam’s work documenting the attacks on the Indonesian Hospital was irreplaceable.

“She was one of the last remaining voices in northern Gaza — a voice the world desperately needed. Without her, the full extent of Israel’s actions might never have been known,” the statement also read.

For its part, the Indonesian Hospital said, “Ahlam courageously documented the genocide in north Gaza, residing in the medical facility during its siege, taking evidence of war crimes and bearing witness to tell the story with her pictures and her words, many of which we shared with you.”

Journalists working within the Palestinian territory face heightened risks while covering the genocidal war, particularly in light of Israeli ground assaults and airstrikes, as well as challenges such as disrupted communications, shortages of supplies, and power outages.

In the face of these difficulties, Palestinian journalists have continued to document the atrocities of the war, acting as the global community's eyes and ears throughout one of the most deadly wars of the 21st century.

Backed by the United States and its Western allies, Israel launched the war on Gaza on October 7, 2023, after the Palestinian resistance movement Hamas carried out Operation Al-Aqsa Flood against the Israeli regime in response to its decades-long campaign of oppression against Palestinians.

The regime’s bloody onslaught on Gaza has so far killed at least 46,645 Palestinians, mostly women and children, and injured 110,012 others. Thousands more are also missing and presumed dead under rubble.

On November 21 last year, the International Criminal Court (ICC) issued arrest warrants for Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former minister of military affairs Yoav Gallant for war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza.

Los Angeles wildfires have continued their trail of devastation, razing death tolls to 24 and destroying thousands of structures, while intensifying winds are worsening the situation for both civilians and firefighters.

In an update on Sunday evening, the County of Los Angeles Department of Medical Examiner said a total of 24 people have died due to the wildfires.

According to the examiner, this number is only an estimate as hundreds of people in various parts of the county are still missing.

Weather forecasters in California are also warning fierce winds which fuelled the infernos around Los Angeles are expected to pick up again this week.

The notoriously dry Santa Ana winds would pick up again from Sunday night until Wednesday, reaching speeds of up to 96km/h, they said.

The most dangerous day will be Tuesday, said weather service meteorologist Rich Thompson. “You are going to have really strong gusty Santa Ana winds, a very dry atmosphere and still very dry brush, so we still have some very critical fire weather conditions out there,” he added.

On Saturday, the flames spread east, creeping closer to Interstate 405 and a busy mountain pass. This is a “significant development,” said L.A. County spokesman Jesus Ruiz.

With the fire rapidly growing and moving in the direction of “a heavily populated area … we are definitely concerned,” he continued.

Gavin Newsom, governor of California said that he believes that in terms of costs associated with the wildfire, it will be the worst natural disaster in terms scale and scope in the history of the US, and the fatalities is likely to increase significantly as well.

On Sunday, private forecaster Accuweather increased its preliminary estimate of financial losses from the blazes to between $250 billion to $275 billion. The wildfires are on track to be among the costliest in US history.