al jazeera

By Alastair McCready and Royce Kurmelovs

   Lebanon’s Health Ministry has accused Israel of carrying out a “series of war crimes” in its targeted killing of medical staff and destruction of health facilities after Israeli air strikes killed a hospital director in the northeast of the country and five paramedics were slain in the south.
   The head of the UN’s World Health Organization (WHO) has called for an “immediate end” to fighting at Gaza’s besieged Kamal Adwan Hospital after an Israeli drone attacked the facility and wounded four medical staff and two patients.
   In Lebanon, 226 health workers and patients have been killed since the outbreak of fighting between Israel and Hezbollah in October 2023 and up to the start of this week, the WHO said in a new report.
   Israel’s genocide in Gaza has killed at least 44,056 Palestinians and wounded 104,286 since October 7, 2023. An estimated 1,139 people were killed in Israel during the Hamas-led attacks that day, and more than 200 were taken captive.
   In Lebanon, at least 3,645 people have been killed and 15,355 wounded in Israeli attacks since the war on Gaza began.

    Former PM Tony Abbott calls for Australia to withdraw from ICC

    Former Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott has called for Australia to withdraw from the International Criminal Court (ICC) over its decision to issue arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Defence Minister Yoav Gallant.

    In a post to social media, Abbott accused the ICC of making “no distinction between terrorist aggression and national self-defence” describing the issuing of warrants for the Israeli leaders as “a shameful travesty”.

    “Unless it rethinks, Australia should withdraw from this compromised and conflicted body,” Abbott said.

    After being removed as prime minister in a leadership challenge in 2015, Abbott travelled to the UK where he advised the former Conservative government on trade and immigration, including the proposal to send asylum seekers to Rwanda.

    Israel ends use of administrative detention for Israeli settlers in occupied West Bank

by Hamdah Salhut

    Al Jazeera is reporting from Jordan because it has been banned from Israel and the occupied West Bank.

    Defence Minister Israel Katz announced an end to the use of administrative detention for Israeli settlers living in the occupied West Bank.

    This controversial policy is predominantly used against Palestinians living in both the West Bank and in occupied East Jerusalem.

    Katz’s office released a statement on Friday, saying that he met with the head of Israel’s Shin Bet, the internal security agency, earlier in the week to inform him about the move.

    But that same security agency had previously warned against a measure like this, saying that it would have disastrous and catastrophic consequences pertaining to settler violence against Palestinians.

    The United Nations has documented at least 1,600 settler attacks since the war began in October of last year. But despite this, Israel’s right wing is embracing the move, saying they want to offer more support to those who live in illegal settlements.

    As of November 2024, the Israel Prison Service says that there are nearly 3,500 people who are being held under administrative detention, seven of whom are Israeli settlers.