(MOSCOW, Russia.) — A shooting followed by an explosion were reported at Moscow’s Crocus City Hall — one of the biggest shopping and entertainment complexes in Russia — on Friday evening, according to Russian state media.
Most of the building is engulfed in fire and the roof partially collapsed, Russian news agency Interfax reported. In Podolsk, near Moscow, public events were canceled due to the incident at Crocus City Hall, the head of the district said.
More than 70 ambulance teams were sent to the sight of the attack, the governor of the Moscow region reported.
Several gunmen burst into the concert hall and opened fire with automatic weapons, state news outlet RIA Novosti reported.
Attackers then threw a grenade or incendiary bomb, starting a fire in the hall, according to Russian state media.
No official numbers on deaths or injuries have been released.
The White House is aware of the incident in Moscow but has limited information as of now, according to National Security Council Spokesperson John Kirby.
“The images are just horrible. And just hard to watch, and our thoughts, obviously, are going to be with the – the victims of this terrible, terrible shooting attack,” Kirby said.
Kirby also reiterated the State Department’s warning that all Americans in Moscow should avoid large gatherings, saying “they should stay put where they are, and stay plugged into the State Department for any additional updates and information.”
The U.S. Embassy in Moscow had issued a warning on March 7, advising U.S. citizens to avoid large gatherings for 48 hours, saying extremists have “imminent plans” to target large scale gatherings in Moscow.
This is a developing story. Check back for updates.
(LONDON) — Kate, the Princess of Wales, was diagnosed with cancer and is undergoing chemotherapy, she said in a video message released on Friday.
The type of cancer has not been disclosed. She started chemotherapy in late February and the announcement comes as her father-in-law, King Charles, also undergoes cancer treatment.
“This of course came as a huge shock, and William and I have been doing everything we can to process and manage this privately for the sake of our young family,” Kate, 42, said in the video, which was filmed at Windsor on Wednesday. “As you can imagine, this has taken time. It has taken me time to recover from major surgery in order to start my treatment.”
The cancer was discovered in post-operative tests after her abdominal surgery in mid-January, Kate said.
Kate described it as a “major abdominal surgery,” and said in her video, “at the time, it was thought that my condition was non-cancerous.”
The type of surgery she underwent has not been released.
“The surgery was successful,” Kate said. “However, tests after the operation found cancer had been present. My medical team therefore advised that I should undergo a course of preventative chemotherapy and I am now in the early stages of that treatment.”
At the time of Kate’s surgery, Kensington Palace said her condition was non-cancerous. The palace has provided little information on her condition since.
“It has taken us time to explain everything to George, Charlotte and Louis in a way that is appropriate for them, and to reassure them that I am going to be ok,” Kate said. “As I have said to them; I am well and getting stronger every day by focusing on the things that will help me heal; in my mind, body and spirits.”
Kate said having her husband, William, the Prince of Wales, at her “side is a great source of comfort and reassurance.”
“We hope that you will understand that, as a family, we now need some time, space and privacy while I complete my treatment. My work has always brought me a deep sense of joy and I look forward to being back when I am able, but for now I must focus on making a full recovery,” Kate said. “I am also thinking of all those whose lives have been affected by cancer. For everyone facing this disease, in whatever form, please do not lose faith or hope. You are not alone.”
Kate will return to official duties when she’s cleared by her medical team.
Kate’s father-in-law, King Charles, is also undergoing treatment for an undisclosed type of cancer.
The king’s cancer diagnosis — which came after he was treated for benign prostate enlargement — was announced publicly by the palace on Feb. 5.
The type of treatment has not been revealed.
British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak told the BBC in February that the king’s cancer was “caught early.”
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
(LONDON) — Russia unleashed a massive aerial attack on Friday in what Ukrainian officials said was the largest and most destructive assault on its energy infrastructure since the start of the war.
Over 150 missiles and drones were involved in the bombardment, striking targets across the Ukraine, according to the Ukrainian air force, knocking out power to swathes of the country and badly damaging its largest hydroelectric power station. It was the second largest aerial attack on Ukraine since Russia began its invasion two years ago, the air force said.
At least three people were killed in the assault, and 15 others were injured, according to Ukraine’s prosecutor general’s office.
Ukraine’s military said air defenses destroyed around 90 of the projectiles but more than a third still managed to get through.
The strikes forced emergency shut downs of electricity in at least seven regions, including Odesa, Dnipro, Poltava, Zaporizhzhia and Kirovohrad, according to Ukraine’s state energy company. Officials in Ukraine’s second largest city, Kharkiv, said it was entirely without power following the attacks.
“The morning attack by the Russians on the energy system of Ukraine was the largest ever,” Volodymyr Kudrytskyi, the head of Ukrenergo said in a statement.
Kharkiv’s mayor Ihor Terekhov said it was also the largest attack on the city since the start of the war, with at least 20 missiles fired into energy infrastructure, calling the damage “too severe.”
Missiles also hit Ukraine’s largest hydroelectric power station, the Dnipro dam in Zaporizhzhia, setting off a huge fire there and causing critical damage, according to Ukrainian officials.
“We are losing the station,” Ihor Syrota, head of Ukraine’s state hydro-power company, Ukrhydroenergo, told RFE/RL in a live interview, saying that two missiles had struck the power plant.
Ukrainian officials said the structural integrity of the dam itself was not in danger, but local authorities warned people to stock up on water in case of possible shortages.
Friday’s attack involved more than 75 missiles, including seven advanced, hypersonic Kinzhal missiles, according to Ukraine’s air force.
The attack came as Ukraine is suffering increasingly severe shortages of air defense ammunition, amid delays in Western supplies and with more U.S. support blocked in Congress. A day earlier, Russia launched its largest missile attack on Ukraine’s capital Kyiv in months.
Ukraine’s president Volodymyr Zelensky on Friday said the attacks showed the cost of the delays in Western support.
Russian drones “don’t have indecision,” Zelensky said in a video address. “It’s important to understand the price of delays and decisions put off. Our partners definitely know what is necessary. They definitely can support. These decisions are needed.”
A new $60 billion military aid package that would include funding for air defense is currently stalled in Congress, blocked by hard right Republicans close to former President Donald Trump. The bill was approved by a bipartisan majority in the Senate in December but Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson has refused to put it to a vote.
Russia has largely avoided striking Ukraine’s energy infrastructure for the past few months, instead focusing on military production targets. But Ukraine increasingly faces a choice of using its limited air defenses to protect large cities and civilian infrastructure or deploy it to the frontline, where Russia is regaining air superiority.
Ukraine has used the advanced handful of Patriot air defense batteries provided by the U.S. and European countries to shield Kyiv, but does not have enough to protect key cities elsewhere.
Ukrainian officials on Friday also defended recent Ukrainian attacks on Russia’s oil industry, following reports that U.S. officials have urged Ukraine to halt them over fears it is driving up oil prices globally.
Ukrainian drones have repeatedly struck major Russian oil refineries in recent weeks, in an apparent campaign to undermine Russia’s income for its energy sector, a crucial source of revenue for the Kremlin.
The Financial Times on Friday reported that U.S. officials have warned officials at Ukraine’s intelligence service the attacks should stop.
But Ukrainian deputy prime minister Olha Stefanishyna told a security forum Friday the strikes were legitimate.
“These are absolutely legal goals from a military point of view. We understand the appeals of American partners. At the same time, we are fighting with the capabilities, resources, and practices that we have today,” she said at the Kyiv Security Forum.
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken speaks during a joint press conference with Egypt’s Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry (not pictured) following a meeting between the U.S. top diplomat and Arab envoys, in Cairo on March, 21, 2024. (EVELYN HOCKSTEIN/POOL/AFP via Getty Images)
(WASHINGTON) — A U.S. effort to ramp up political pressure on Israel by casting an international spotlight on its concerns failed Friday in the United Nations Security Council when Russia, China and Algeria voted against it.
The resolution draft emphasized “concern that a ground offensive into Rafah would result in further harm to civilians and their further displacement including potentially into neighboring countries,” and decried humanitarian toll of Israel’s offensive.
However, the draft also linked a cease-fire to the release of hostages held in Gaza — a position supported by Israel and a term that similar resolutions calling for a truce put forth by other nations have failed to include.
“This resolution is an opportunity for the Council to speak with one voice to support the diplomacy happening on the ground and pressure Hamas to accept the deal on the table,” said Nate Evans, a spokesperson for the U.S. mission to the U.N. on Thursday.
As U.S. and Israeli officials publicly sound off over a potential ground incursion into Rafah in southern Gaza, officials in Washington have set the stage for a flurry of diplomatic engagements between the countries — aiming to head off a humanitarian catastrophe and avert a significant divide between the two allies.
Secretary of State Antony Blinken visited Israel on Friday, but before landing in the country, while visiting Egypt, he underscored the Biden administration’s opposition to a major operation in Rafah, where thousands of Palestinian civilians are sheltering, under any circumstances.
“A major ground operation there would mean more civilian deaths,” he said. “There is a better way to deal with the threat, the ongoing threat posed by Hamas.”
Blinken’s stop in Israel was a late addition to the itinerary for his sixth tour of the Middle East since the Oct. 7 attack on Israel by Hamas, a U.S.-designated terrorist group. Throughout the conflict, the U.S. has repeatedly deployed top-ranking envoys to Israel in order to persuade Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his hardline government to take measures to protect civilians in Gaza.
However, U.S. officials see a pending summit on their home turf as the best opportunity to persuade Israel to take a different approach with Rafah.
Blinken described next week’s planned meetings in Washington between the U.S. as a chance to convince Israeli officials to take “alternative actions” in Rafah, which an administration official said would consist of more targeted, high-value counterterrorism missions to eliminate Hamas.
“We are determined, as Israelis and indeed as other partners in the region are, to deal the ongoing problem posed by Hamas, a threat to so many,” Blinken said. “Hamas can be effectively dealt with without a major ground operation.”
As recently as last week, Blinken and other administration officials insisted that the U.S. stance on a Rafah incursion would depend on whether Israel could devise what Blinken described as a “clear and implementable plan” to limit civilian suffering.
But the White House’s approach changed abruptly on Monday after President Joe Biden and Netanyahu held their first call in over a month.
According to a readout of the conversation, Biden expressed “deep concerns” about looming Israeli action in Rafah. Just hours later, national security adviser Jake Sullivan announced the administration’s firm opposition, and said that Netanyahu had agreed to send an interagency team to the U.S. for talks on the matter.
In the meantime, Netanyahu has done plenty of talking himself — defiantly rejecting Biden’s demands and vowing to move ahead with the operation in a public address to members of his government, and even meeting virtually with Senate Republicans to discuss the state of the conflict in Gaza.
As the summit looms, U.S. officials have not specified whether Israel will face any repercussions if it charges ahead with battle plans.
(EL ARISH, Egypt) — Those who were too weak to walk boarded the plane in wheelchairs and stretchers. Some had already been receiving treatment in Egypt; others arrived straight from Rafah, the southern Gaza town bordering Egypt.
“I was at the sea, it was meant to be a safe area. We got hit with four rockets and I got injured, and my grandma was martyred,” said 13-year-old Yara, who now is being fed by a tube after being severely wounded in the stomach.
Yara was one of about 100 patients being evacuated aboard an Emirati flight to Abu Dhabi to receive additional care, the 13th mission of its kind. The round-trip flight takes off from Abu Dhabi and flies to El Arish, Egypt, where it collects the wounded.
Medics described the operation as a “flying hospital” — beds were set up at the back of the plane, along with IV drips, ventilators, and defibrillators, and any other equipment doctors might need to take care of patients in-flight.
Priority for evacuations to the United Arab Emirates has been given to kids and adult cancer patients.
A few feet from Yara was 9-year-old Yazan, whose back was pierced by shrapnel. His injury required surgery and several amputations.
“I was playing with my sister, our house was shelled, she was martyred,” said Yazan.
Five-year-old Siraj lost his right leg, both of his parents and two of his siblings in a single strike.
“He wishes to walk again, like the other children,” said his grandmother, Taghred Majdi. “I hope he gets a prosthetic.”
In addition to burn and amputations, doctors on the flight said of the big issues they’ve been seeing lately is malnutrition; kids having lost weight, with iron deficiencies, taking longer to heal because they’re not getting the right nutrients, according to Dr. Jehad Awad, one of the doctors treating Yara, Yazen, and Siraj.
“I find they suffer a lot of malnutrition,” Awad said. ” They’re weak, they didn’t have the right food, the right medication.”
Earlier this week, Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) warned famine in Gaza is “imminent,” with the United Nations saying one in three children under the age of 2 in the northern part of the Strip is already “acutely malnourished.”
“There is no food, no water,” said Yara. “My baby sister, we cannot get her diapers or milk, everything has become very expensive, and that is if we are even able to find it.”
But Yara put on a brave face. Though she still has a long road to recovery ahead, she says she’s hopeful she’ll get better now. She dreams of becoming a reporter someday, “to tell the story of Gaza,” or a pediatrician, to help others like she’s being helped now, she said.
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken speaks during a joint press conference with Egypt’s Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry (not pictured) following a meeting between the U.S. top diplomat and Arab envoys, in Cairo on March, 21, 2024. (EVELYN HOCKSTEIN/POOL/AFP via Getty Images)
(WASHINGTON) — As U.S. and Israeli officials publicly sound off over a potential ground incursion into Rafah in southern Gaza, officials in Washington have set the stage for a flurry of diplomatic engagements between the countries — aiming to head off a humanitarian catastrophe and avert a significant divide between the two allies.
Secretary of State Antony Blinken is set to visit Israel on Friday, but before landing in the country, while visiting Egypt, he underscored the Biden administration’s opposition to a major operation in Rafah, where thousands of Palestinian civilians are sheltering, under any circumstances.
“A major ground operation there would mean more civilian deaths,” he said. “There is a better way to deal with the threat, the ongoing threat posed by Hamas.”
To ramp up the political pressure on Israel — the Biden administration is casting an international spotlight on its concerns by including them in a draft resolution submitted to the United Nations Security Council — set for a vote on Friday.
According to documents obtained by ABC News, the draft emphasizes “concern that a ground offensive into Rafah would result in further harm to civilians and their further displacement including potentially into neighboring countries,” and decries the humanitarian toll of Israel’s offensive.
However, the draft also links a cease-fire to the release of hostages held in Gaza — a position supported by Israel and a term that similar resolutions calling for a truce put forth by other nations have failed to include.
“This resolution is an opportunity for the Council to speak with one voice to support the diplomacy happening on the ground and pressure Hamas to accept the deal on the table,” said Nate Evans, a spokesperson for the U.S. mission to the U.N.
Blinken’s stop in Israel was a late addition to the itinerary for his sixth tour of the Middle East since the Oct. 7 attack on Israel by Hamas, a U.S.-designated terrorist group. Throughout the conflict, the U.S. has repeatedly deployed top-ranking envoys to Israel in order to persuade Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his hardline government to take measures to protect civilians in Gaza.
However, U.S. officials see a pending summit on their home turf as the best opportunity to persuade Israel to take a different approach with Rafah.
Blinken described next week’s planned meetings in Washington between the U.S. as a chance to convince Israeli officials to take “alternative actions” in Rafah, which an administration official said would consist of more targeted, high-value counterterrorism missions to eliminate Hamas.
“We are determined, as Israelis and indeed as other partners in the region are, to deal the ongoing problem posed by Hamas, a threat to so many,” Blinken said. “Hamas can be effectively dealt with without a major ground operation.”
As recently as last week, Blinken and other administration officials insisted that the U.S. stance on a Rafah incursion would depend on whether Israel could devise what Blinken described as a “clear and implementable plan” to limit civilian suffering.
But the White House’s approach changed abruptly on Monday after President Joe Biden and Netanyahu held their first call in over a month.
According to a readout of the conversation, Biden expressed “deep concerns” about looming Israeli action in Rafah. Just hours later, national security adviser Jake Sullivan announced the administration’s firm opposition, and said that Netanyahu had agreed to send an interagency team to the U.S. for talks on the matter.
In the meantime, Netanyahu has done plenty of talking himself — defiantly rejecting Biden’s demands and vowing to move ahead with the operation in a public address to members of his government, and even meeting virtually with Senate Republicans to discuss the state of the conflict in Gaza.
As the summit looms, U.S. officials have not specified whether Israel will face any repercussions if it charges ahead with battle plans.
(TEL-AVIV, Israel) — Displaced Gazans at Al-Shifa Hospital in northern Gaza were reportedly being told to evacuate immediately Thursday, as Israel’s raid on the hospital continues into a fourth day amid the ongoing war with Hamas.
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) launched an operation at Al-Shifa on Monday, claiming “senior Hamas terrorists” were using the hospital, located in Gaza City and the largest in the strip, to “conduct and promote terrorist activity.”
People near the area are now purportedly being told to leave as reports emerge of some buildings in the vicinity of the complex being detonated.
At least 3,000 Gazans remain trapped at Al-Shifa with limited food and water due to the siege, according to hospital officials.
The IDF said it continues to conduct “precise operational activity in the hospital.” Israeli officials have said more than 140 Hamas terrorists have been killed and more than 500 suspected militants have been arrested throughout the course of the operation.
IDF spokesman Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari said Thursday the operation at Al-Shifa would go on “for some days.” They have captured several members of the Islamic Jihad chain of command and several senior Hamas officials, according to Hagari.
Israel has said it has not conducted targeted attacks against hospitals and claims Hamas misuses hospitals — operating inside and underneath them in tunnels and using them as command centers, as well as to store weapons. The IDF has released videos it claims are evidence of Hamas operations. Hamas denies the accusations.
The IDF has said it is only targeting Hamas and other militants in Gaza and alleges that Hamas deliberately shelters behind civilians, which the group denies.
The IDF claimed many weapons and intelligence documents from Hamas have been uncovered during searches in the hospital, as well as about $3 million in U.S. currency plus Jordanian dinars that were allegedly “earmarked for terrorism.” ABC News has not independently verified the IDF’s claims.
Al-Shifa Hospital officials said that among those who were arrested were journalists and medical workers. The majority of those arrested were beaten and forced to strip, the officials added.
“We appeal to all international institutions to stop these crimes against the sick, wounded and medical staff inside the hospital,” the Hamas-run Gaza Health Ministry said in a statement Tuesday.
The IDF claimed Thursday it had evacuated 220 patients and equipment from the emergency room to a different building, as fighting was ongoing after some terrorists barricaded themselves near the emergency room.
Famine is ‘imminent’ in northern Gaza, with many facing ‘catastrophic’ levels of hunger: Report During the operation, the IDF said about 3,700 Gazans have passed through an Israeli checkpoint near the hospital and moved south, where the majority of Gazans currently are.
This is not the first time Israeli forces have raided the Al-Shifa medical complex during the war with Hamas. An operation also occurred in November, with IDF soldiers claiming they found weapons and a tunnel complex at the hospital.
Prior to the current raid, international organizations had said Al-Shifa was in a “dire” situation. The World Health Organization (WHO) said medical staff have gone periods without electricity or water and have been forced to move babies from neonatal intensive incubators after fuel ran out.
WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said Thursday the organization has lost contact with hospital personnel since the raid began, and is seeking information on patients’ conditions.
“Accessing Al-Shifa is now impossible, and there are reports of health workers being arrested and detained,” he said in a statement. “A planned mission to Al-Shifa today had to be canceled due to lack of security. The ongoing situation could impact the hospital’s ability to function, even minimally, and deprive people of critical, lifesaving care.
“We repeat once again: Hospitals are not battlegrounds. They must be protected in line with international humanitarian law,” he added.
The raid comes as the IDF considers launching an operation in Rafah, a city located in southern Gaza near the border crossing with Egypt where about 1.4 million Palestinians have been displaced. Meanwhile, Secretary of State Antony Blinken said the U.S. has submitted a draft resolution to the United Nations Security Council calling for “an immediate cease-fire tied to the release of hostages.”
Hamas carried out an unprecedented incursion from Gaza into southern Israel by air, land and sea on Oct. 7, 2023, killing more than 1,200 people and taking 253 others hostage, according to Israeli authorities. More than 31,400 Palestinians have been killed and more than 72,000 others have been injured in Gaza since Oct. 7, amid Israel’s ongoing ground operations and aerial bombardment of the strip, according to the Hamas-run Gaza Health Ministry.
ABC News’ Emma Ogao and Sami Zayara contributed to this report.
(LONDON) — Humanitarian organizations are sounding alarm over the crisis in Sudan, warning the conflict has created “one of the worst humanitarian crises in recent memory.”
Speaking at a briefing to the security council on the humanitarian situation in Sudan, Edem Wosornu, director of Operations and Advocacy at the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UNOCHA), warned of a “fast-reaching and fast-deteriorating situation of food insecurity” in Sudan following 11 months of conflict.
“It is truly the stuff of nightmares,” said Wosronu. “In Khartoum, Darfur, and Kordofan — which are home to 90% of people facing emergency levels of acute food insecurity — there has been no respite from the fierce fighting for 340 days.”
“Now, as the conflict rages on, Sudan is on course to become the world’s worst hunger crisis. Already, 18 million people — more than one third of the country’s population — are facing acute food insecurity,” Wosronu said.
“By all measures, the sheer scale of humanitarian needs, the numbers of people displaced and facing hunger, Sudan is one of the worst humanitarian disasters in recent memory,” Wosronu added.
The U.N. warns that that by May, parts of Darfur could face IPC Phase 5 level acute food insecurity, the highest stage on the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification scale.
“We call this stage catastrophe,” said the U.N.
Hostilities in Sudan’s breadbasket state, Al Jazirah — which is responsible for almost half of Sudan’s wheat production — has further jeopardized the food security situation in the country.
Humanitarian organizations tell ABC News that farmers have been unable to tend to their crops and the conflict has been driving up the prices of basic commodities, some items by almost 300%. The U.N. says natural cereal production and supply of animal-sourced food like milk has also plummeted.
“Hostilities have resulted in extensive damage, looting and widespread destruction of critical infrastructure, including food and nutrition manufacturing facilities — once the pride of Sudan,” said Wosronu.
Without “urgent” action, children’s charity Save the Children warns almost 230,000 children, pregnant women and new mothers could die from hunger in the coming months. Over 2.9 million children are already “acutely malnourished” warns the charity, and an additional 729,000 under the age of 5 are also facing severe acute malnutrition.
Fighting erupted in Sudan on April 15, 2023, after a culmination of weeks of tensions linked to a planned transition to civilian rule. Gen. Abdel-Fattah Burhan, commander of the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and Gen. Mohammed Hamdan Dagalo, head of the Rapid Support Forces paramilitary group (RSF) — once allies who jointly orchestrated a military coup in 2021 — are now engaged in a vicious and ongoing power struggle.
As fighting continues between the warring parties, at least 14,000 people have been killed according to verified figures. However, local groups warn that the toll is likely to be much higher as the true scale of the conflict continues to be uncovered.
A State Department spokesperson told ABC News in February that the United States is “gravely concerned” about the “deteriorating humanitarian situation in Sudan.”
“We already have reports of people starving to death in Sudan and babies dying every day at IDP camps in Sudan. More than half of Sudan’s population, nearly 25 million, are experiencing severe protection concerns, widespread shortages of essential items and limited access to services across the country, exacerbating food, health and other humanitarian needs. Millions of Sudanese face the risk of famine in the coming months due to this devastating conflict,” the spokesperson said.
Both warring parties have been found to have restricted “delivery, access and distribution” of humanitarian aid since the conflict broke out in April 15, 2023, and the World Food Program (WFP) says it has been unable to get sufficient emergency assistance to communities in need due to “relentless violence and interference by the warring parties.”
“We cannot explain in greater terms the catastrophic situation,” said Wosronu. “And we cannot underscore more the need for Council action.”
A woman and her daughter sit at a nutritional stabilization center in Gaza in March, in a photo supplied by MedGlobal. (MedGlobal)
(UNITED NATIONS) — At the United Nations headquarters on Tuesday, four doctors from the U.S., U.K. and France who have spent decades working on the frontlines, warned that the humanitarian situation in Gaza has reached “a tipping point” and that an Israeli invasion of Rafah would be “apocalyptic.”
The group pleaded for help from global leaders as it discussed the worsening healthcare emergency in the Strip since Oct. 7, the result of Israel’s retaliatory war in response to the Hamas terrorist attack that left 1,200 dead and saw 253 kidnapped. More than 31,000 Palestinians have been killed and more than 72,000 others have been injured in Gaza since the war began, according to the Hamas-run Gaza Health Ministry.
Dr. Zaher Sahloul, a critical care specialist and co-founder of MedGlobal, who returned in late January from a mission in Gaza, said during Tuesday’s press conference that they hope through their testimony to “instill a sense of urgency about the situation” in the Strip. He said he’s seen civilians experiencing famine, injuries and shortages of medical supplies and facilities.
The doctors warned about a potential “bloodbath” with “apocalyptic” consequences if Israel carries out its planned invasion of Rafah, a southern city by the border with Egypt where over 1.5 million displaced civilians are currently taking refuge.
“This is probably the worst crisis that can happen within this war,” Sahloul said.
He said he saw a sea of tents of the displaced, hemmed in by the border and by the nearby fighting.
“If there is any offensive, they’re going to have a bloodbath, massacres after massacres,” he said.
Sahloul said he saw an estimate of around 250,000 deaths in this scenario from colleagues on the ground.
Practitioners from Doctors Without Borders (Médecins Sans Frontières, MSF), MedGlobal and other nongovernmental organizations are participating in a series of meetings with Biden administration officials and members of Congress in D.C. from Wednesday through Friday
Their visit comes as Israel confirmed that officials will travel to D.C. early next week to meet with their U.S. counterparts to “discuss alternative approaches” for their Rafah offensive.
Their plan includes an evacuation to “humanitarian islands,” according to Israel Defense Forces spokesperson Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari, but it was unclear what those safe areas would look like. Organizations, including MSF, have repeatedly said that there is no safe place in Gaza.
Although international leaders, including U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, have publicly shared their concerns, a senior Israeli official told ABC News on Wednesday that “there is no world” in which Israel does not go ahead with its Rafah offensive, a military operation they claim will destroy the last battalions of Hamas left in the south.
The doctors affirmed that the situation is already dire and called for a cease-fire.
“I felt very overwhelmed the first few days that I was at Nasser Hospital with the amount of injuries that we were seeing and how little resources we had,” said Dr. Thaer Ahmad, a Palestinian-American physician who participated in a MedGlobal mission to Gaza in late January. “If it was not for the Palestinian doctors and nurses holding my hand and showing me how to treat these patients, I think I would have been useless for the rest of my time there.”
Dr. Nick Maynard, a U.K.-based surgeon who worked in Gaza and West Bank hospitals for over a decade, said that what he experienced over New Year’s still haunts him at night.
“One child alone, I will never forget, had burns so bad, you could see her facial bones. We knew there was no chance of her surviving that,” Maynard said at the U.N. “But there was no morphine to give her. So not only was she inevitably going to die, but she would die in agony. … She was just left on the floor of the emergency department to die.”
The doctor said the stories they shared Tuesday were just some of the over 13,000 similar stories of children who have been killed in the conflict, according to numbers from the Hamas-controlled Gaza Health Ministry.
Asked by a reporter about aid and plans for field hospitals, such as the one that the U.S. has announced will be built over a floating platform, Dr. Amber Alayyan, a Texas pediatrician with MSF, said such a facility wouldn’t make up for the 35 hospitals destroyed in Gaza since October.
“Before the war, the health care system was not perfect but it was robust,” Alayyan said. “You could put 1000 field hospitals and they wouldn’t address one-tenth of the current needs.”
Palestinians receive food rations at a donation point at a camp for internally displaced people in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip, Feb. 2, 2024, as fighting continues between Israel and the Palestinian Hamas group. (Said Khatib/AFP via Getty Images)
(NEW YORK) — A United Nations official in Gaza said the Monday report of famine-imminent conditions in the strip are “unprecedented” amid the ongoing Israel-Hamas war.
Earlier this week, a report from the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) initiative confirmed that famine is fast approaching in northern Gaza and will likely occur before May of this year unless a cease-fire occurs.
The report also found that the entire population of the Gaza Strip, about 2.23 million people, is facing high levels of food insecurity and, in the most likely scenario, an estimated 1.1 million people — half of the population — will be experiencing famine levels of hunger by mid-July.
Limited humanitarian access to and within the Gaza Strip continues to “impede the safe and equitable delivery of life-saving multi-sector humanitarian assistance,” the IPC report said.
Speaking from the city of Rafah in southern Gaza, Andrea De Domenico, head of the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs in the Occupied Palestinian territory, told ABC News that “the scale of this is unprecedented.”
“We’re talking about 1.1 million people,” De Domenico told ABC News. “If you compare to other contexts — at the peak of the famine in Yemen, for example — we had 150,000 people in Phase 5. Here, we’re talking about 1.1 million. So, it’s unprecedented.”
The IPC’s Phase 5 categorization is the most catastrophic and indicates households in that phase are faced with extreme lack of food and unable to meet basic needs, including water and sanitation, De Domenico said.
The Israeli government has received criticism from several countries regarding the possibility of an offensive in Rafah, the city in southern Gaza that borders Egypt. International agencies have accused Israel of not letting enough aid into the country and, when aid is let in, it’s not sufficient.
Israeli officials have said Hamas steals aid once it enters Gaza and claim looting is also a problem. Israel continues to deny all accusations that it isn’t letting enough aid into Gaza and encourages other countries to send in aid, with Israeli officials saying the U.N., its partners and other aid agencies have created logistical challenges, resulting in a bottleneck. The U.N. disputes these claims.
De Domenico said the potential expansion of the military operation in Rafah is one of the “driving factors,” referencing the IPC report, that would bring the entire population of Gaza to a catastrophic situation. An expanded offensive would further limit the already scarce access for those needing to give humanitarian assistance, he added.
“When I’m talking about access to people, I’m not talking about how many trucks cross into Gaza,” De Domenico said. “The problem is not about crossing into Gaza only. The problem is to make sure that the commodities in those trucks reach the people — all the people in Gaza, and particularly those that are most vulnerable.”
According to the scenario presented in the IPC report, 70% of the remaining population in the north, or about 210,000 Gazans, will experience “catastrophic” levels of hunger.
“Not only is [this] a man-made catastrophe, but it is also totally preventable,” De Domenico said. “We can still reverse this trajectory.”
Expanding aid teams’ abilities to deliver food and other supplies to the impacted communities, and diversifying the diet of aid is crucial to addressing the impending famine, he said. Many civilians in Gaza say they are eating animal fodder or scavenging through trash bins for nourishment — ultimately leading to increased cases of diseases.
“The problem is at the moment we barely can bring basic staples into the north of Gaza in particular, and you cannot address famine with bread,” De Domenico said. “Flour is fundamental, but you need a diversity of diet – you need access to water.”
De Domenico said the uniquely narrow land area and concentrated population of the region is crucial to note in discussions of humanitarian response.
In reference to the tangible actions to be taken in the region, De Domenico said the ability to change the impending trajectory of famine is critically time-sensitive.
“That deadline — has already passed. It was yesterday. What we have to do is immediately open those passages and give access to humanitarians … and we’re ready,” De Domenico said.
Access to the Gaza Strip became increasingly limited following Hamas’ terrorist attack in Israel on Oct. 7, 2023. More than 1,200 people have been killed in Israel since then, according to the Israeli Prime Minister’s Office. More than 31,000 Palestinians have been killed and nearly 74,000 injured over the same period, according to the Hamas-run Gaza Health Ministry.
