ISRAEL ARRESTS DOZENS OF STAFF AT HOSPITAL IN NORTHERN GAZA
▶ Director among more than 70 detained during army raid after several days of bombardment
Israel has detained the director of the Kamal Adwan Hospital in northern Gaza, the enclave’s Health Ministry has said.
Dr Ahmed Al Kahlout was among more than 70 staff members arrested during an army raid at the hospital, the ministry said late on Tuesday.
The arrest took place hours after Dr Al Kahlout told The National the Israeli army was forcing sick and displaced Palestinians to leave the complex.
“The army has us surrounded and has begun to enter the premises. They are forcing people to leave,” he said.
Dr Al Kahlout and the other detained men were taken to an unspecified location.
The remaining medical staff, including five doctors, were asked by Israeli troops to gather all patients and staff in one building and evacuate the rest of the complex.
There were 77 children in the hospital’s paediatric care unit, which has no electricity, water or food supplies.
The hospital, where thousands of displaced people have sought refuge, has been subjected to continuous Israeli shelling for days.
The last government hospital operating in northern Gaza, Kamal Adwan was out of service last Thursday.
In southern Gaza, Al Nasser hospital is running dangerously low on blood as it receives more casualties than it can handle, laboratory worker Arafat Al Attal told The National.
“We receive more than 50 people every day who need blood transfusions,” said Mr Al Attal, who has co-ordinated a blood donation campaign.
Hospital chiefs have urged people to donate blood “of all types”, he said, but the blood donated is of a low quality as people face food shortages.
“We have asked the mosques to make calls for donations through their speakerphones, inviting people to come and donate.
“Recently, we have been facing problems in the donation process because people now suffer from malnutrition. They can’t eat or drink well, so their bodies are tired.”
The number of people donating blood remains far short of the hospital’s needs.
Saeed Shamalkh, a resident of Khan Younis, was among those who went to Al Nasser to donate blood. “I feel that my national duty obligates me to come and donate to help my country,” he told The National.
“They need our blood, and what we offer is not enough, because the number of injuries is huge, and they need a lot of units of blood.”
Israel continued to bombard parts of Khan Younis, as well as Deir Al Balah in central Gaza, witnesses said.
The Israeli army said eight of its soldiers were killed in northern Gaza on Tuesday. Several others were wounded and are receiving medical treatment.
More than 18,400 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza since fighting began on October 7, when Hamas attacked southern Israel, killing about 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and taking about 240 hostages.
Footage published on Tuesday appeared to show Israeli soldiers in Gaza destroying property, dancing and singing anti-Palestine songs.
In one clip, soldiers appeared to be destroying plastic figures in a toy shop; in another, they seemed to be setting fire to aid in an abandoned lorry.
The Israeli army pledged disciplinary action in what it called a handful of cases.
Critics say the videos reflect a national mood that is supportive of the war in Gaza, with little empathy for Gazan civilians.
“The dehumanisation from the top is very much sinking down to the soldiers,” said Dror Sadot of Israeli human rights group B’Tselem.
Footage appeared to show Israeli soldiers in Gaza destroying property, dancing and singing anti-Palestine songs
The devastating effects of the Israel-Gaza war, which is now in its third month, has prompted the World Bank to reverse its forecast for the Palestinian economy this year to a 3.7 per cent contraction, from a growth projection of 3.2 per cent before the outbreak of the conflict.
The Palestinian economy has been at a “near-complete standstill” since the war began in October, raising the risk of a “lasting impact” on its future and heightened levels of poverty, the Washington-based lender said in its monthly update.
The contraction would be equal to a drop of about $1.5 billion in nominal gross domestic product for 2023 alone, with the losses extending to household incomes, company profits and government taxes, it said.
This would erase all the welfare gains made in the Palestinian territories since the end of the Covid-19 pandemic.
The forecast adds to the burden faced by the Palestinian economy, which was already experiencing a slowdown.
In the first half of this year, growth in the Palestinian territories slowed to 3 per cent annually, largely due to the waning post-pandemic recovery.
Gaza’s economy alone has been experiencing a deep contraction, having shrunk by 4.4 per cent annually in the first six months of this year.
The enclave’s economic contraction was attributed to a large decline in the agricultural, forestry and fishing sectors, a result of additional Israeli restrictions on the sale of Gazan products in the occupied West Bank since August 2022.
“The current crisis exacerbates pre-existing structural weaknesses, and efforts by the international community to address them have had limited success,” the World Bank said.
The effects of the conflict on the Palestinian economy are consequential, according to the lender’s preliminary estimates. As of the second half of November, about 60 per cent of information and communications technology infrastructure, at least 60 per cent of health and education centres and 70 per cent of commerce-related infrastructure had been damaged or destroyed in Gaza.
Nearly half of all primary, secondary and tertiary roads are damaged or destroyed, and more than half a million people are homeless as a result of the conflict.
“The loss of life, speed and extent of damages to fixed assets and reduction in income flows across the Palestinian territories are unparalleled,” the World Bank report said.
The devastation wrought by the Israel-Gaza war and the continued destruction of infrastructure in the enclave means it will take years for Gaza and the broader Palestinian economy to recover.
The continued bombardment of Gaza has led to a humanitarian crisis and the economic fallout of the siege and devastation is the worst the territory has experienced.
Meanwhile, Israel’s economy is also feeling the effect of the war, and is expected to face “more severe consequences from logistical disruptions, business interruption, a reduced labour force, suspension of gas production at the Tamar gasfield, and lower investment”, S&P Global Ratings said last month.
The New York-based agency expects Israel’s GDP to shrink by 5 per cent annually in the fourth quarter of 2023, bringing down full-year growth to 1.5 per cent. It forecasts growth at 0.5 per cent for next year.
“This war will have lasting effects on the impacted populations in Israel, Gaza and the West Bank far beyond what can be captured in numbers alone. Similarly, it will have a lasting impact on the Palestinian economy,” the World Bank said.
Gaza’s private sector activity has been shaken, with production having shrunk by 84 per cent in October.
About 147,000 jobs have been lost while most of its 56,000 formal businesses have suspended operations, the report said, quoting preliminary estimates from the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics.
Across Palestine, private sector establishments have posted losses of more than $713 million since the war began, which is equal to about $24 million a day, the statistics bureau said.
This excludes the loss of properties and fixed assets, which stood at more than $2.5 billion in the Gaza Strip, it added.
All these would exacerbate poverty levels in the Palestinian enclave, which have been already severe even before the outbreak of the latest conflict.
Unofficial estimates have revealed that about six in 10 Gazans were already poor before the conflict, with eight in 10 dependent on aid, according to the statistics bureau’s Labour Force Survey.
“Declining incomes from job loss, dwindling trade, heightened restrictions and salary cuts are dampening growth by affecting consumption levels. The labour market impacts are – in short – making Palestinians poorer,” the World Bank report said.
“Incomes suddenly dropped due to lack of employment, declining trade and private sector activity, increased restrictions on movement and temporary reductions in public salaries in the West Bank.
“Consequently, consumption – the only actual engine of the Palestinian economic rebound since the Covid-19 shock – is taking a deep hit.”
A silver lining for the Palestinian economy is its banking sector, which, despite rising risks, remains resilient, being well-capitalised, the report said.
The Palestine Monetary Authority maintained key measures, including ensuring that banks are in a position to support the economy and avoiding the accumulation of excessive risks that could end up jeopardising financial stability.
“Digital financial services have also proved to be an effective way to channel financial support, cash and credit immediately to affected economic agents such as households, corporates and micro, small and medium enterprises,” the World Bank said.
Israel’s economy is also feeling the effects of the war, with GDP set to shrink by 5% annually in the fourth quarter