JDS leader HD Revanna hospitalised after testing positive for covid-19

The director general of the Ministry of Health in Gaza has described as “hell” the situation in the north of the strip which has been under an Israeli ground offensive and siege for “100 days”.

“The situation is literally like hell,” Munir al-Barsh said on Sunday, referring to daily Israeli attacks and the regime’s ban on food delivery to medical staff trapped in the north’s hospitals.

He added that “hospitals in northern Gaza have turned into mass graves.”

Al-Barsh noted that the offensive and the destruction of hospitals and infrastructure and any sign of life in the north are aimed to empty the region of its residents.

“The Israeli occupation has been deliberately destroying the health system since the very first moment,” he said, adding that “the destruction of hospitals was the greatest evidence of the [Israeli] genocide.”

According to his statements, 5,000 people have been killed or gone missing, while 9,500 others have been injured since the start of Israel’s offensive on the north of Gaza in early October 2024. The regime’s forces have also abducted about 2,300 people, including 65 medical staff, during the ongoing offensive.

Al-Barsh slammed the “disgraceful” silence of the international community on Israel’s atrocities, which he said, has “deepened the suffering of innocent civilians.”

Israel launched a genocidal war on Gaza on October 7, 2023 after the Palestinian resistance movement Hamas waged the surprise Operation Al-Aqsa Flood against the occupying entity in response to the Israeli regime's decades-long campaign of bloodletting and devastation against Palestinians.

The regime’s bloody onslaught on Gaza has so far killed at least 46,565 Palestinians, mostly women and children, and injured more than 109,660 others. Thousands more are also missing and presumed dead under rubble.

However, the UK’s Lancet medical journal estimates the actual number of deaths in the war is much higher than the official toll.

According to the study, figures reported by the Palestinian health ministry likely undercounted the death toll by 41 percent in the first nine months of the war as the Gaza Strip’s healthcare infrastructure unraveled.

Kadaba, Jan 18: In a heartrending incident, a 16-year-old student lost his life on Friday, January 18, after the motorbike he was riding skidded off the road and plunged into a culvert on the Dharmasthala–Mardhala–Subrahmanya state highway near Gargaspal, Peradka. 

The accident spot falls under the Noojibaltila gram panchayat in Kadaba taluk of Dakshina Kannada district. 

The victim, Ashish, a tenth-grade student from a private school in Peradka, was the beloved son of Vishwanath of Hosamane Kaana in Noojibaltila village. His untimely demise has left his parents and sibling in profound grief.

The accident occurred during Ashish’s routine commute to school. Despite the swift intervention of a local resident, Sridhar, who rushed him to a private hospital in Kadaba, medical efforts could not save him. A case has been registered at the Kadaba police station.

The culvert where the accident happened has long been criticized by locals for its flawed and unsafe design. Numerous accidents have reportedly occurred at this spot, prompting repeated appeals from residents for immediate rectification. Community members have once again called upon authorities to prioritize repairs to prevent further tragedies.

Responding to the incident, Kadaba tahsildar Prabhakar Khajure underscored the importance of curbing underage driving. He directed the police department to take stringent action against minors found operating vehicles and cautioned parents about the serious consequences of providing vehicles to underage children.

This incident serves as a grim reminder of the pressing need for both infrastructural improvements and stricter enforcement of traffic regulations to safeguard young lives.

Despite the announcement of a ceasefire deal, Israel has intensified its airstrikes and artillery shelling on Gaza, especially its residential buildings, killing more than 100 Palestinians.

Gaza’s civil defense said on Friday at least 101 Palestinians, including 27 children and 31 women, have been killed by Israeli strikes in Gaza since the ceasefire announcement on Wednesday.

The attacks have also left more than 264 injured, according to the rescue agency.

Most of the killings came in Gaza City.

The report comes as Israeli attacks have shown no sign of slowing on the ground, with dozens of strikes reported on Friday.

In northern Gaza’s Jabalia, nine members of a Palestinian journalist’s family, including women and children, were killed.

Two more Palestinians were killed in a separate Israel airstrike in the Jabalia al-Balad area, in the north of Gaza. 

Jabalia has come under fierce attack since the Gaza ceasefire announcement this week. On Thursday, at least 20 were killed in one attack in the area.

At least five others were also killed in another attack that targeted a home, east of Khan Younis City, in Southern Gaza on Friday.

To the west of Khan Younis, three people were killed in attacks on tents housing displaced people.

Another tent was targeted in Nuseirat camp in central Gaza, killing one person.

That's while Israel’s prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he would convene his cabinet later on Friday to approve the long-awaited ceasefire.

Israel launched a genocidal war on Gaza on October 7, 2023, after the Palestinian resistance movement Hamas waged the surprise Operation Al-Aqsa Storm against the occupying entity in response to the Israeli regime's decades-long campaign of bloodletting and devastation against Palestinians.

The regime’s bloody onslaught on Gaza has so far killed at least 46,788 Palestinians, mostly women and children, and injured more than 110,453 others. Thousands more are also missing and presumed dead under rubble.

The ceasefire, announced on Wednesday, consists of three phases and would come into effect on Sunday over 42 days.

The truce deal stipulates that a large-scale prisoner exchange will occur, including the release of 1,000 prisoners from Gaza and hundreds of detainees serving lengthy sentences.

The first stage involves the release of 33 captives, including "children, women, female soldiers, men above 50, and the wounded and sick," as well as a gradual, partial withdrawal of invading Israeli units.