Bel Trew
@Beltrew
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The Independent’s Chief International Correspondent. Foreign reporter of the year 2023. Marie Colvin Award winner. My documentary “The Body in the Woods”👇🏼
Ukraine
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My doc “The Body in the Woods” is now live in English & Ukrainian 🙏🏼 It’s about Ukraine’s unprecedented search for its dead amid one of Europe’s bloodiest wars. 1000s killed by Russia remain unidentified. It’s hell for families like this teenager looking for his mother for a year
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A UN official just told me civilians in Gaza are reduced to drinking sea water because clean water has run out. Body bags are running out, fuel for hospital generators powering ventilators will run out in hours. Food supply low. The bombing is intensifying. There aren't words.
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I've been sent a photo of leaflet I'm told was dropped on Gaza City this morning - it says those who don't evacuate northern Gaza could be considered "an accomplice of a terrorist organisation". To be clear there's no obligation for civilians to evacuate even if they get an
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Urgent: Water has now run out in Gaza according to the UN “It has become a matter of life and death”. 2 million people at risk. Statement below 👇🏼
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Gaza health ministry told me it was "impossible" to evacuate the wounded to south. “There are no extra beds in any hospitals anywhere for people to move to. Most of the wounded are unstable,they'll die en route. All hospitals in Gaza, even after they've been expanded, are full
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Gaza: The UN just told me 9 UN staffers have been killed in Gaza, 18 UN buildings have sustained damage, their schools are at over capacity with the displaced. They are running out of supplies. Gaza’s power plant has run out of fuel “This is a catastrophe unfolding”.
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I spoke Israelis whose loved ones were killed or taken hostage by Hamas militants: despite unimaginable grief, they're calling for an end to bloodshed, for the protection of Gaza civilians, for Gaza not to be destroyed. Brave voices in the bleakest moment
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Israel is famed for being the birthplace of world’s most powerful surveillance software. It has eyes & a blockade on Gaza, that is only 42km long. In Gaza the one constant is the Israeli observation drones in the sky. But no one saw this coming. Analysis:
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I am speechless with horror watching this. This is the Israeli security forces at the funeral procession for slain Al Jazeera veteran correspondent Shireen Abu Akleh. Al Jazeera accuses Israeli security forces of killing her. (Israel denies it)
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Olena Zelenska never sought a public life& was wary about her husband running for president. Then Putin invaded. Now is she trailblazing her own role as frontline ambassador & architect rebuilding Ukraine even as battles rage on. She is often asked about being a support for her
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A double amputee toddler his limbs in a box, a burned child screaming for his mum-he doesn't know is dead- as there's no pain relief, an 8-yr-old his brain exposed.
@ICRC
surgeon describes treating the wounded in Israel's assault on Khan Younis, Gaza🧵
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A very emotional day yesterday inside Kherson city: people who have endured intense shelling, 8 months of occupation, no electricity water or gas & soaring food prices wept as they were given food parcels by
@WCKitchen
. They spontaneously hugged WCK staff
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Gaza health ministry has said they are “just hours away” from the shutdown of their main generators at both Shifa and Indonesian hospitals which are treating the wounded from Jabalia. They say lived at imminent risk include 42 babies in incubators, 62 wounded + patients under
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I’m back in Ukraine and the theme of my hotel is Boris on bikes. The entire hotel is - for whatever reason - plastered in photos of the former PM cycling.
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I covered the last two Gaza wars & 7 years on I still have nightmares about the horrors I saw. &I’m just a foreigner, I don’t have to live that reality. It is never worth it. Civilians -children, families - pay the price. Deeply depressed at those gunning for further escalation.
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#Netanyahu
has been formally indicted on corruption charges, just hours before he is expected to join
#Trump
for the launch of the US Middle East "peace plan". Bibi dropped his bid for immunity after became clear the Israeli parliament would vote against it. What a day.
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Palestinian Red Crescent just told me 520 Palestinians have been injured today, 333 hospitalised in
#Jerusalem
. In
#Gaza
the latest I was told was 20 killed, including 9 children in airstrikes but I don’t have the latest numbers.
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I interviewed 3 of the asylum seekers supposed to be onboard Tuesday’s failed flight to Rwanda. One told me he was forced into a restraining harness on the plane. Officers pushed him to the ground& put a knee on his head, he couldn’t breathe w/
@maybulman
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"Pregnant women are being forced to undergo emergency C-sections without anaesthetics. Women are being discharged within... 3 hours after giving birth. An average of 160 pregnant women are expected to give birth every day over the next month in Gaza" says Hiba Tibi at
@CARE
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One Israeli hostage was waving a makeshift white flag and another called for help in Hebrew when they were shot dead by Israeli soldiers in Gaza - who mistook them fighters - according to the Israeli military official who briefed journalists. They were also reportedly shirtless.
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The Israeli army has just ordered the entire civilian population of Gaza to evacuate south within 24 hours. The UN says that amounts to 1.1 million people& applies to 100s of 1000s sheltered in UN buildings & their staff. This is impossible without “devastating human
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British-Palestinian surgeon
@GhassanAbuSitt1
told me that Gaza's biggest hospital is "at capacity", they're running out of supplies like anaesthetic medicines & airway tubes for kids. He said he had to clean a teenage burns victim with soap because they're out of antiseptic
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Completely unprovoked US police officers punch an Australian cameraman, club the correspondent live on air outside the White House. Australia’s PM has called for an investigation. Does
@realDonaldTrump
does not realise how unhinged this looks to the world?
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Lebanon now has zero state power meaning the entire country is running on private generators. They are prohibitively expensive: my last month’s bill was 3.75 million lira which is $2500 on official rate& about $250 on black market. How is the airport running?What about hospitals?
BREAKING: Lebanon plunged into darkness ‘for days’ as country runs out of electricity
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Exclusive: 100s of young party-goers have been killed or are missing feared kidnapped to Gaza by Hamas militants, who attacked a festival yesterday. Among them is Brit Jake Marlowe. Me &
@natalielisbona
spoke to witnesses who survived, relatives, friends
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I've lived in
#Egypt
for 7 years, it's my beloved home and I'm not sure when I can return. I was arrested after doing an interview and threatened with military trial unless I got on a plane. Like others, I still don't know what happened:
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The Gaza border crossing is still shut that means outside journalists cannot get in to report from the ground. The AP & Al-Jazeera offices were destroyed yesterday meaning their capacity to report on Gaza will have been reduced. Some of what is happening won’t be being reported
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So many disturbing videos of violent police behaviour coming out of the US,that echo crackdowns in the region I cover. Here officers in
#Minneapolis
patrolling an area stop to fire on residents filming them from their own front porch
#georgesfloydprotest
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As someone who covers these war zones this photo really reminds me of America.
I spotted these National Guard troops at a normal Washington street corner not even near the Capitol. So many streets have been closed. It reminds me of the war zones I saw in Baghdad or Mosul or Falluja. So sad.
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The reports about the World Central Kitchen employees being killed by Israeli strikes comes as footage is shared of the unfathomable destruction to Gaza’s largest hospital Shifa following a 14 day Israeli operation. There are no words.
We are horrified that Al-Shifa hospital is in ruins after a 14-day long operation by Israeli forces in and around the facility.
#Gaza
’s largest hospital is now out of service. Given the extent of the destruction, people in the north are left with even fewer healthcare options.
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I vowed not to tweet about the
#RoyalWedding
but I am LOVING how un-British and how un-UK-royal the sermon is right now and how the very very white and constrained royal family members are struggling to handle it. Bishop Michael Curry is an absolute legend. ✨❤️✨
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While everyone was distracted by
#USElection
-
#Israel
just carried out its largest demolition in a decade displacing dozens of Palestinians in the West Bank. More than 73 people, including 41 children, were made homeless despite the
#Coronavirus
pandemic
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Ohad Munder, 9 hugs his father for the first time after being released from captivity in Gaza. (Video: Schneider children’s hospital).
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Before I lost contact with them, I was speaking to British citizens in Gaza under Israel's intense bombardment. One Manchester resident told me 37 members of his extended family have been killed, he's been displaced 4 times & they're running out of water
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Israeli army told me today was “the worst day for Israeli civilians ever” recorded. At least 250 dead. One Major said “Parents are learning their children are kidnapped to Gaza from social media: Hamas is uploading photos of Israeli army IDs. It’s chaos” 👇🏼
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Hamas statement on Telegram says they are “immediately ready” to agree an exchange deal that includes release of all hostages for all Palestinian prisoners in Israel. Comes after families of hostages told Netanyahu this evening they’d consider an “everyone for everyone” deal
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This is what it is like in
#Gaza
right now for families, when you don’t have a bomb shelter and you’re under intense bombardment from the air, sea and land. This was sent to me by colleagues in the north of the strip, the children are terrified. The fighting must stop.
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I just wanted to clarify that I did not tweet 40 babies had been beheaded. I tweeted that foreign media had been told women and children had been decapitated but we had not been shown bodies - which was my response to reports which had gone viral about the 40 babies. I realised
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Just to be clear - I’ve spoken to a family member of the person who took the photo of the leaflet - it appears consistent with other photos being shared online. Have reached out to the Israeli military to ask them for comment & confirmation. So far no response.
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Just to reiterate - the WHO has said it is impossible to evacuate hospitals, UN experts say it could amount to forcible transfer. Civilians are always protected under international law whether they choose to evacuate or not.
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Alarming reports coming from the Catholic Church in Gaza City where 100s of Christian Palestinians are seeking shelter. Spoke to relatives of those trapped inside they said several people were shot today inside the compound by snipers. Still trying to get more clarity.
Update. Soldiers are at the gates and there was a fire when they hit one of the (already dysfunctional) generators. There is no water left. There are 300 people there. We don’t know why this is happening. Are they going to be expelled from a church just days before Christmas??!
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Israel's defence minister has ordered a "complete siege" on Gaza, they will cut power, block food, fuel. This will be catastrophic for the 2 million inhabitants. Gaza medics told me it'll be a "disaster" for civilians: supplies, power, water already low from existing blockade
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Chaos at the border between Poland-
#Ukraine
as 1000s of families, children are trying to cross. There is a 40km long tail back of cars & I met people who had walked for more than 10 hours in sub zero temperatures. Many now sleeping in the ice. Never seen anything like it
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Powerful words from Reuters Editor-in-Chief Alessandra Galloni asking Israel for a swift and transparent investigation into the killing of Reuters video journalist Issam Abdallah. Witnesses say the shell that killed him came from the direction of Israel
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On Russian strike damaging hospital in Mariupol, Maksym Dotsenko, chief of the Ukrainian Red Cross told me it could cause “complete collapse” of children’s medicine in the city. He said his teams had tried for 4 days in a row to evacuate civilians from the city to no avail 1.
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Wael is still working after losing his wife,
son, daughter, grandson and now
his cameraman and friend Samir even as he is injured. Few - if any - journalists on this planet have gone through what Wael has. And yet he keeps reporting.
To the left, funeral procession of journalist Samir Abu Daqqa,
to the right, his grieving colleague Wael Dahdouh, vows to continue Gaza coverage till his last breath.
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Ukrainian President Zelensky sends a video from the street saying dozens of Iranian missiles / drones fired at Ukraine including Kyiv, Khmelnitsky, Lviv, Dnipro, Vinnytsia, Zaporizhzhia, Sumy, Kharkiv, Zhytomyr among others. “They want panic and chaos”
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This is quite a reaction to news Joe Biden will be the next US president. I am sure it resonates with many people
#USElection2020
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“It is an erasure of a people. The world handed us over”. Almost all ethnic Armenians in Nagorno-Karabakh have left in just a few days. This escaped the world largely unnoticed but ends a 3-decade fight for independence that 1000s have died for:
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The othering of people in conflict is why refugees are shut out & left to die. I try not to comment negatively on other people’s work but I wholly disagree with this take. “They seem so like us. That is what makes it so shocking” is deeply worrying. Humans are humans. Full stop.
🗣️ "They seem so like us. That is what makes it so shocking. War is no longer something visited upon impoverished and remote populations. It can happen to anyone" | Writes Daniel Hannan
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Leaving aside the international law implications, I cannot emphasise enough how impossible this kind of movement of people would be. I have spent a lot of time in Gaza it is one of the most densely populated places on earth, there are pretty much only 2 roads south - along the
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My flat is completely destroyed. Not just windows blown in- like door and window frames ripped out. The cats are alive thank god.
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This is the devastating impact of Israel's attack - not only because WCK has had to suspended all their operations, not only because a shipload of aid is turning back, but because other aid agencies will have to do the same. Civilians are starving and more will starve in Gaza
Cyprus says aid ships have turned back from Gaza with some 240 tons of undelivered aid after strike
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Horribly eerie scenes from inside a now deserted Stepanakert (Khankendi in Azerbaijan)- empty prams, abandoned child scooters, chairs where people must have waited. It really hits home what has happened watching this.
#Nagorno_Karabakh
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Horrific news. They were wearing press jackets, clearly identified as journalists. No fighting around them. They were at a live position doing their job. Full statement from
@reuters
. “We are deeply saddened to learn that our videographer, Issam Abdallah, has been killed. Issam
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Doctors in Gaza told me they are cleaning wounds with washing up liquid. The WHO says over a third of hospitals have shut, more will close in next 24 hours as generator fuel runs out completely. Gaza's health ministry says healthcare system has collapsed
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The destruction of north Gaza from the sky today: whole areas, neighbourhoods flattened or chewed up. There aren’t really words.
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And to add this is a new leaflet which was dropped this morning, it is red. (Not the original leaflets with the first evacuation orders in the video).
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Just got off the phone to a Libyan man who lost 32 family members in the flooding of Derna. It's unimaginable.
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I cannot reach anyone in Gaza right now - nothing is getting going through, I understand network is out across the strip. Reports of very heavy bombardment particularly in the north. Comes amid continued talk of a possible ground incursion.
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Rather then the gunman’s horrific footage we should be sharing this video: it’s of an amazing woman behind an important & brave act of humanity &solidarity in the face of such horror. Thoughts with the family of the man who couldn’t be reached& passed away
#NewZealandMosqueAttack
If anyone knows this woman, please give her a hug from me
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Breaking: UNHCR says a million people have fled Ukraine. A horrible milestone.
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Awkward timing coming in the same week rights group report that Saudi detained 11 (mostly female) activists who campaigned for the right for women to drive. Four of them - including those who have been campaigning since the 1990s - have been released but unclear on what terms.
This June, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is putting women in the driving seat – and so are we.
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Extraordinary watching
@AJEnglish
report live on Israel destroying its offices in
#Gaza
in an airstrike, the shock from the correspondent and anchor. It also houses the
@AP
offices as well. Surreal.
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How is this going to be possible where will Palestinian civilians in Gaza go? There are 2 million people in Gaza. Will Egypt unilaterally open its borders?
BREAKING: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called on Palestinian civilians in Gaza to “leave now” because the Israeli military is going to “turn all Hamas hiding places into rubble”
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The Red Cross is at our door checking in on us - they have gone to every flat within the extended blast radius. Amazing. This young man is just 17 years old and a volunteer. The people of
#Lebanon
are truly staggering. Thank you
@RedCrossLebanon
✨
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For context before killing 7
@WCKitchen
aid workers last night, Israel’s been accused multiple times of bombing aid convoys in Gaza (despite coordination). In Feb
@UNRWA
said one of its food convoys was hit by naval shell as it prepped to go north👇🏼 UN has reported multiple
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A Lebanese bride poses for a wedding photo shoot. Then 2750 tonnes of ammonium nitrate exploded.
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Absolutely devastating and concerning news. An independent thorough investigation must be launched immediately, perpetrators held to account. Journalism is not a crime. Journalists are not targets. Shireen was a veteran correspondent and her loss is immense.
MCJN expresses its deepest condolences to our members for the death of their colleague, Shireen Abu Akleh,
@AJArabic
correspondent, whom witnesses said was killed by Israeli soldiers this morning.
For our full statement:
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It means the world to announce I’m officially the
@Independent
’s Chief International Correspondent ✨As so many know, journalism is a long and often tricky adventure. Freelance Bel wouldn’t have believed it. I will be moving about covering global news ✨
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After weeks of work, our short film on the evidence of possible war crimes we uncovered is out. Travelled around Kyiv, Sumy regions where we discovered children bound& shot, underground torture chambers & bodies under the rubble for over a month
#Ukraine
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Unbelievable
Israeli police entered the family home of Shireen abu akleh in Beit hanina where condolences being held to tell family to turn off the music being played outside. People yelling at them to leave. Police left and music now turned off.
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How can you charge at and attack mourners holding a coffin? How can you use stun grenades? Especially a funeral where your own forces are accused of killing the deceased - even if you deny it. I have never seen anything like it. The unfathomable disrespect for grief and the dead.
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No idea how these kittens survived the flood that completely destroyed this living room (and walls). But as Olha, their hu-mum, says in the background “Always keep your spirits up” 💙💛 Mykolaiv oblast, Ukraine
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Ukrainian Red Cross chief told me: “We cannot help them in Mariupol - we have tried to organise evacuation convoys every day. Today, it was the fourth day in a row we tried but we were unsuccessful. They are completely cut off. We cannot even send in a single truck of food.”
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My colleagues in Gaza say it’s horrific right now there. They describe dozens, hundreds of airstrikes and instances of artillery fire. They’ve moved to the lower floors but have no bomb shelters. I am extremely concerned about their safety.
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And this again shows how huge the blaze is - taken by
@timourazhari
driving down the main road in front of the port
#beirut
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Gaza’s health ministry has just released a 212 page document listing what it says are the names, ages, ID numbers of 6747 people - including 2665 children- killed in Israel’s bombardment. Israel has accused Hamas, the militant group that runs Gaza, of inflating the number of dead
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While the world is watching Ukraine
#Saudi
executed 81 people in a single day, more than the total number they executed during the whole of last year. The group -includ. seven Yemenis & one Syrian national -were convicted of "multiple heinous crimes", including terrorism says SPA
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Happiness in a clip. The team of one of the tug boats which helped free the
#EverGivenShip
celebrate. Well deserved. (Via
@anasalhajji
)
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I feel like the Christian families in
#Gaza
would find this less festive.
While some bake gingerbread houses, we decided to go with an F35 jet 😎
#MerryChristmas
to all our Christian soldiers and to all those celebrating around the world!
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Israel declares "total siege" on Gaza, which Palestinian medics told me "would be a catastrophic" for civilians. "We already only have 4 hours of power a day, water comes once every 3 days. We lack antibiotics, saline even disposable medical gloves"
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“The Israeli army has been repeatedly advising some 2 million civilians to move to a "humanitarian zone" smaller than London's Heathrow Airport.”
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The morgues in Gaza are overflowing: “The problem is people are too afraid to go to cemeteries. There are around 50 families who have been completely wiped out because people are seeking refugee with their relatives. And so there is no one left to bury anybody.”
@GhassanAbuSitt1
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This disabled Syrian refugee boy promised resettlement in UK in 2018 has died waiting to be transferred while living in awful conditions in Lebanon. I raised his case with
@ukhomeoffice
multiple times as did his UK lawyers. His case is not unique (THREAD)
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2. Her first message was a heartfelt plea for the world not to underestimate the threat from Russia, or lose interest as the war drags on. “If Russia wins, this will mean that global deterrents aren’t working. This will mean that anyone with power, strength and sufficient
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