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Added on the 01/11/2018 12:41:14 - Copyright : RT Ruptly EN
Tens of thousands of Palestinians fled the fighting and bombardment in Gaza on Wednesday, as Israel said it was tightening the "stranglehold" around Hamas and again rejected a ceasefire without the release of hostages. Calls for a ceasefire to protect civilians have built over a month into the war sparked when Hamas attacked Israel and, according to Israeli officials, killed about 1,400 people, mainly civilians, and seized 239 hostages. Aiming to destroy Hamas, Israel retaliated with a relentless bombardment and ground invasion of the Gaza Strip that, according to Hamas-run Palestinian territory's health ministry, has killed more than 10,500 people, also mostly civilians. Tom Potokar, chief surgeon at the International Committee of the Red Cross who entered Gaza on October 27, described the scene at the European hospital in Khan Yunis as "relentless" and "catastrophic". "In the last 24 hours, I've seen three patients with maggots in their wounds," including a six-year-old child, he said in a telephone interview. "It's almost like you can't find somebody who hasn't lost members of their family" from among the patients and staff, he said, adding there were "cases where you see a child come in where they have nobody, they've lost their whole family." For more on the harrowing plight of civilians and humanitarian workers in Gaza, FRANCE 24's Delano D'Souza is joined by Lucile Marbeau, Deputy Communications Manager and Spokesperson for the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC).
Israel has hammered Gaza with more than 12,000 air and artillery strikes and sent in ground forces that have effectively cut it in half. It has air-dropped leaflets and sent texts ordering civilians in northern Gaza to flee south, but a US official said Saturday at least 350,000 civilians remained in the worst-hit areas. Clutching one of her toddlers, Amira al-Sakani said she fled Gaza City after coming across the air-dropped Israeli flyers. "Our life is tragic; we don't want war... we want peace", she added. The International Committee of the Red Cross, which said one of its humanitarian convoys in Gaza was hit by gunfire on Tuesday, demanded an end to the suffering of civilians. "Children have been ripped from their families and held hostage. In Gaza, ICRC surgeons treat toddlers whose skin is charred from widespread burns," the organisation's president Mirjana Spoljaric said. The convoy of five trucks and two Red Cross vehicles was carrying supplies to health facilities, including to Al-Quds hospital, when it was hit, an ICRC statement said, adding that two trucks were damaged and a driver lightly wounded. For more on the harrowing plight of civilians and humanitarian aid workers in Gaza, FRANCE 24's Nadia Massih is joined by Tommaso Della Longa, Spokesperson and Manager of the Media Unit at the International Federation of the Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies - IFRC.
Clearing explosives from the battlefields in the most mined place on earth, Ukraine's brave and determined demining experts.
Ukrainian troops training on Leopard 2 tanks in Poland got a visit from the Polish President Monday. Ukrainian Armed Forces personnel - taught by Polish, Norwegian and Canadian instructors - have been learning how to operate and maintain the German-built tanks as they prepare to receive donations of western armour in the coming months. FRANCE 24's Olivia Bizot tells us more.
Germany’s defense minister says training for Ukrainian troops to use advanced Western-supplied tanks will begin within days. For more on the advanced training of the highly sophisticated tanks, FRANCE 24 is joined by Dr. Rod Thornton, Senior Lecturer specialising in the study of the Russian military, and Research Fellow in the Defense Studies Department at King’s College London. Dr. Thornton asserts that "it will take a lot of training to marry up the high-tech modern tanks with the ability of their crews to use them to their greatest effect."
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