Daily News

senior political analyst Marwan Bishara highlights the systematic destruction of Gaza’s healthcare system over the past 19 months. He recalls the initial strike on Al-Ahli Hospital in October 2023 and emphasizes how continued Israeli attacks and aid restrictions have left hospitals inoperable, forcing doctors to perform procedures without anesthesia.

Tarek al-Farra, a teacher in Gaza who has been displaced for more than a year, says daily life in the enclave is dominated by uncertainty. “I don’t know how long I will be here, displaced,” he told Al Jazeera from Khan Younis in southern Gaza. “I don’t know when I will go back to my home. Although my home is destroyed, I would rather build a tent on the rubble of my home rather than be displaced in a place I don’t belong [in].” Al-Farra said, despite the dire conditions in Gaza – and serious challenges in finding food and other supplies – he had decided against trying to get aid from the US-Israeli-backed group that distributed limited aid this week in Rafah. “It was like a suicide mission, to walk all this distance just to get a coupon. I don’t know if it will be enough for me and my family,” he said of what was being distributed. “I didn’t receive any aid, I didn’t receive any humanitarian supplies for more than 70 days.”

In a searing address to the UN Security Council meeting on the Middle East and Gaza, American trauma surgeon Dr. Feroze Sidhwa delivered a first-hand account of Gaza's collapsing healthcare system, drawing from his two medical missions to Khan Younis. "I am not here as a policymaker, but as a physician bearing witness to the deliberate destruction of healthcare, the targeting of my colleagues, and the erasure of a people," he stated, describing surgeries performed on filthy floors without anaesthesia and children dying from preventable causes due to Israel's blockade of medical supplies. With haunting detail, he recounted treating pregnant women "whose pelvises had been obliterated and their foetuses cut in two," and revealed that 83% of American medics in Gaza reported seeing children shot in the head or chest. "This is not system failure - it has been systematically dismantled through violations of international law," he emphasised, condemning the man-made famine now killing more civilians than bombs. His testimony peaked with the March 18 mass casualty event at Nasser Hospital, where 221 trauma patients arrived in one morning - 90 dead on arrival, nearly half children - an onslaught no besieged health system could withstand. "Parents memorise their children's clothing to identify remains," he said, exposing the war's psychological toll: nearly half of Gaza's children are now suicidal, asking, "Why didn't I die with my family?" Dr. Sidhwa implored the Council to enforce seven measures, including an arms embargo, calling their inaction "a testament to collapsed conscience" as Gaza's last doctors and a generation of Palestinians face annihilation. "You cannot claim ignorance," he concluded, "when children no longer want to live."

Russia's defence minister says its military is advancing on almost all areas of the frontline in Ukraine. That's despite efforts by the US to mediate an end to the war. Several Russian attacks targeted the region of Kharkiv - in the east, at least one person was killed and several were injured. Ukraine says Russia launched 88 drones across the country overnight. The Russian defence minister was speaking at an international security conference in Moscow.

Three people have been killed and dozens injured during attempts by a controversial aid group to distribute food to thousands of starving Palestinians in Gaza. The US and Israel back the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation. But the UN and aid groups have rejected the role of the foundation, saying it appears to “weaponise aid”.

There have been chaotic scenes in southern Gaza, after attempts by a controversial aid group to distribute food to thousands of starving Palestinians. Three people were killed, and dozens were injured in the fraught operation by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation. The US and Israel back the organisation, but the United Nations says it doesn't abide by humanitarian principles.

The Trump administration wants to cut all federal funding to Harvard University. It's asked federal agencies to cancel their remaining contracts with the school. Harvard says it's retaliation for not giving into its political demands. The Trump administration is also targeting all foreign students - ordering US embassies to stop scheduling visa interviews for those who want to study in the country.

China is hosting a high-level meeting with 11 Pacific Island nations on Wednesday, which Beijing says will address greater cooperation in the Pacific. Beijing says it wants to “jointly build a closer China-Pacific Island community”. The meeting comes at a time of intense geo-strategic competition, with Australia attempting to curb China’s increasing military influence in the region.

Britain's King Charles has given a throne speech in Canada to open the country's parliament. While the King is officially Canada's head of state, it's extremely rare for a British monarch to deliver that address. His two-day visit is being seen as a show of support for the country's sovereignty, amid annexation threats by US President Donald Trump.

The Israeli military has released footage of a Gaza Humanitarian Foundation distribution centre, hours before the chaos unfolded. This centre is intended to serve hundreds of thousands of people, who had received little or no food for months, and replace those established by the UN and other independent charities.