Connect with us

News

Palestinians Sheltering In Rafah Fear Impending Israeli Ground Offensive

Published

on

rafah

A Palestinian doctor in Rafah says locals are scared of an Israeli ground invasion in Gaza’s southernmost city following a night of some of the heaviest air strikes he has seen since arriving.

Dr Ahmed Abuibaid described the air strikes as relentless and widespread in a series of phone messages to the BBC overnight.

“[The] most popular question on people’s minds is, where can we go?” he said.

Last Monday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu declared that he had directed troops to prepare to expand their ground operation into Rafah.

rafah

Palestinians Sheltering In Rafah Fear Impending Israeli Ground Offensive

More than half of Gaza’s 2.3 million residents are now jammed into the city on Egypt’s border, which had a population of barely 250,000 before the Israel-Hamas war.

Many displaced people are living in improvised shelters or tents in deplorable conditions, with little access to safe drinking water and food.

On Monday, UN Human Rights Chief Volker Türk warned that an assault on Rafah would be “terrifying, given the prospect of an extremely high number of civilians, mostly children and women, being killed and injured.”

He also said that the “meagre” humanitarian aid being delivered to Gaza, which is now routed through the Egyptian-controlled Rafah border crossing, may end.
His warning comes after the US issued an unusually harsh critique of Israel’s military campaign in Gaza last week, with President Joe Biden calling it “over the top”. On Monday, Biden stated that Israeli actions in Rafah “should not proceed without a credible plan for ensuring the safety” of civilians.
Following a meeting with Jordan’s King Abdullah, Mr Biden stated that the US was working on a cease-fire agreement that would last “at least six weeks”.

Lord Cameron, the UK Foreign Secretary, has urged Israel to “stop and think seriously” before taking any additional action in Rafah.

On Monday, Josep Borrell, the EU’s foreign policy leader, urged Israel’s allies to cease delivering arms because “too many people” are being killed in Gaza.

In an interview with ABC News on Sunday, Mr Netanyahu stated that Israel was “working out a detailed plan” to relocate inhabitants to places north of the city.

“Victory is within reach,” he declared. “Those who say that under no circumstances should we enter Rafah are basically saying, ‘lose the war, keep Hamas there.'”

The Israeli military started a massive air and ground campaign in Gaza after Hamas terrorists killed over 1,200 people in southern Israel on October 7 and kidnapped 253 others.

According to Gaza’s Hamas-run health ministry, more than 28,100 Palestinians have been killed in the conflict since then.

Dr Abuibaid, one of the displaced individuals in Rafah, was forced to leave his job at Nasser Hospital in the nearby city of Khan Younis after his home was damaged by an Israeli air strike and his father suffered a devastating spine injury.

He now faces the potential of leaving Rafah, although it is still being determined where he may go safely.
“People are very scared about a possible military ground operation soon in the city,” he told reporters.
Overnight Israeli strikes on Sunday and Monday, carried out during an attempt to rescue two Israeli hostages, alarmed many people who had sought safety in the city.

Abo Mohamed Attya reported that he was sleeping in a tent with his family when he heard the bombing.
“Suddenly… missiles are being hit everywhere and firing as well and aeroplanes everywhere, all of this is on the tents and the people in the streets,” he was quoted as saying by the BBC.

rafah

Palestinians Sheltering In Rafah Fear Impending Israeli Ground Offensive

Mr Attya, who had previously fled the Nuseirat refugee camp in the heart of the Gaza Strip after receiving Israeli evacuation orders, stated that the Israeli military had given no notice that Rafah would be targeted overnight.

“We hoped for a warning to evacuate, as they did in Nuseirat, and went to Rafah.” We would have travelled outside of Rafah to anywhere they told us. We have no difficulty; we will evacuate for our children,” he added.

According to the Hamas-run Palestinian health ministry, at least 67 persons were killed in Israel’s bombings and hostage rescue raid in Rafah overnight.

“Nowhere is safe anymore; even hospitals are unsafe. “One hopes to die instead,” Mr Attya stated.
Severe living conditions in Rafah, such as limited access to water, food, and sanitation, as well as rapidly depleting medical supplies, are aggravating the situation in addition to the ongoing threat of Israeli air attacks and an anticipated ground operation.

Dr. Abuibaid stated that he had observed several ailments among Rafah residents, which had been compounded by the “severe decrease in the availability of drugs and treatment”.

Another medic in Rafah, who preferred not to be identified, told the BBC that many people were living in confined and unhygienic conditions.

“I live here with 20 people in two rooms… and I know people that are 100 people in three rooms.”
“We don’t have water to wash, we don’t have clothes, we don’t have the option to do hygiene stuff,” he added.

rafah

Palestinians Sheltering In Rafah Fear Impending Israeli Ground Offensive

“My friends, all of the people I meet… all of them are having at least flu, cholera, diarrhoea, scabies, hepatitis A – which is a newcomer for us – and it’s getting worse and worse.”

“And the aid is less as the siege is increasing, the war is increasing, [Israeli soldiers] are getting closer to Rafah, and it feels very scary right now”, he went on to say.

Despite being positioned adjacent to the only border point for goods and persons between Gaza and Egypt, Rafah has received insufficient aid to meet the needs of its residents.

According to one city resident, residents are currently waiting days for assistance delivery, and when they do arrive, there is a water shortage.

“We can’t find water, and we don’t get enough of it; our throats are dry as a result of the water shortage,” said another woman in Rafah.

The head of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestinian Refugees (UNRWA), the largest humanitarian organisation in Gaza, said on Monday that civil order was deteriorating, with members of the local Hamas-run police force being killed or refusing to protect aid trucks for fear of their safety.

For the first time yesterday, local police could only offer the bare minimum of protection to the UN. And because there were no local police, our trucks and convoys at the border were plundered, and hundreds of young people vandalised them.”

Still trying to figure out where to go.

For others of the displaced, however, dread of what might happen next outweighs daily concerns about getting safe drinking water and food.

“Before, we were concerned about famine due to a lack of food, water, and electricity. However, we are now traumatised about the next step and where to go. “This is our daily life right now,” Ibrahim Isbaita told the BBC.

When asked where he and his family would go if they left Rafah, Mr Isbaita replied, “I have no idea.”
He stated that his mother required dialysis therapy, which she is currently able to receive in Rafah when electricity is available – however, the treatment is less frequent than necessary. The fear is that if they relocate, she will be unable to find therapy in the new location.

“I live beside the hospital because of my mother, and we are trying our best to find a solution,” he said.

SOURCE – (BBC)

Kiara Grace is a staff writer at VORNews, a reputable online publication. Her writing focuses on technology trends, particularly in the realm of consumer electronics and software. With a keen eye for detail and a knack for breaking down complex topics.

Continue Reading

News

Joe Biden Commutes Sentences For 37 Of The 40 Federal Death Row Prisoners.

Published

on

Joe Biden
Photograph: Kevin Lamarque/Reuters

(VOR News) – Joe Biden commuted 37 of 40 federal death row inmates to life without parole. Trump reinstated federal executions after 17 years, according to supporters.

Biden: “Let there be no doubt: I denounce these murderers, mourn their victims, and empathize with all the families who have endured profound and irreparable loss.”

My morals and experiences as a public defender, Senate Judiciary Committee chairman, vice president, and president led me to abolish the federal death penalty. I will not allow another administration to violate my ethics.

The president commuted record-high death sentences. Former New Orleans police officer Len Davis was pardoned for running a cocaine protection racket and murdering Kim Groves after she filed a brutality complaint.

In 2022, three killers freed Davis after 28 years in prison.

Groves’ son, Corey, hailed Joe Biden’s commutation of Davis’ death sentence in a brief interview on Monday, saying he wanted the former police officer to serve decades.

“I desire Len to awaken on his 95th birthday still confronted with concrete and barbed wire,” said Groves, who received $1.5 million from the New Orleans city government and family in 2018 for his mother’s death. The president’s actions are worse than death, so I don’t care.

Holder altered his death sentence by murdering a security guard during a dual-participant bank heist. Prosecutors assert that Holder may not have discharged the lethal shot.

Daryl Lawrence was hanged for murdering Bryan Hurst, a Columbus cop. Former officer Donnie Oliverio remarked, “The President acted in accordance with our beliefs and values.” “Executing the individual who murdered my police partner and closest friend would not have afforded me any solace.”

All federal death row inmates save Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, who bombed the Boston Marathon in 2013, Dylann Roof, who killed nine Black churchgoers in Charleston, South Carolina, in 2015, and Robert Bowers, who slaughtered 11 Jews in a Pittsburgh synagogue in 2018, are eligible for clem

Death Penalty Information Center executive director Robin Maher told The Guardian that 38% of the 40 federal execution detainees are Black. About 25% of the offenders were under 21.

Bryan Stevenson, founder and executive director of the non-profit Equal Justice Initiative, said: “Today signifies a crucial juncture in abolishing America’s tragic and flawed application of the death penalty.

Joe Biden claims the death penalty doesn’t improve public safety.

Son of Martin Luther King Jr.: “This is a historic day.” Reflecting the death penalty’s racially biased origins and unfairness, Joe Biden commuted these sentences, unlike any other president.

Biden has trouble with this. He supported a 1994 criminal measure introducing 60 death penalty charges as a senator. He said, “I am the individual who incorporated these capital punishments into this legislation.” The death penalty led to enormous incarceration, especially of Black men.

Presidential candidate Joe Biden promised to end federal capital punishment in 2020. He criticized unfair convictions and court racism.

The Biden administration stopped federal executions properly. The president has been requesting to commute federal death sentences in recent weeks. Corrections officials, CEOs, Black clergy, Catholics, civil and human rights advocates, prosecutors, former judges, and victim families wrote to him. Pope Francis publicly pushed President Joe Biden to pardon US death suspects.

Joe Biden’s decision will prevent future administrations from executing people.

Trump executed more federal convicts than the previous ten. The Republican administration executed Daniel Lewis Lee after 17 years and six others from July 16–September 24, 2020.

Two Democrats who supported bicameral federal death penalty ban legislation praised Monday’s announcement.

Senate Judiciary Committee head and majority whip Dick Durbin said, “I have consistently supported the elimination of the federal death penalty and commend President Joe Biden for this act of justice and mercy, as well as for his leadership.”

Massachusetts Representative Ayanna Pressley termed Joe Biden decision a “historic and groundbreaking act of compassion that will save lives, rectify profound racial disparities in our criminal justice system, and convey a potent message regarding redemption, decency, and humanity

The White House claims Biden has granted more commutations than his first-term predecessors. He set a record by pardoning 1,500 inmates and promising community safety for one day this month.

The first president to pardon marijuana users and LGBTQ+ service troops for sexual orientation-related offenses was Joe Biden.

The president pardoned his son Hunter for federal weapons and tax charges that might have led him to prison earlier this month, triggering a political storm. Biden denied pardon twice before leaving office on January 20.

SOURCE: TG

SEE ALSO:

The IRS Will Give a Million People Up To $1,400. Their Identity—And Why Now?

Trump Takes Aim at Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau

Continue Reading

News

The IRS Will Give a Million People Up To $1,400. Their Identity—And Why Now?

Published

on

IRS

(VOR News) – The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) will be able to give almost one million people who have already filed their tax returns additional incentives of up to $1,400 during the next several weeks.

Those qualified to get the cash will either be placed straight into their bank accounts or get a physical cheque delivered by mail.

The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) would refund individual taxpayers who omitted a Recovery Rebate Credit on their tax returns for 2021 around $2.4 billion.

Those qualified for the credit were those who had either not gotten a COVID stimulus payment or one that was less than the whole amount. Conversely, the Internal Revenue Service declared on Friday that it had discovered a considerable percentage of eligible candidates had not.

“After reviewing our internal data, we came to the conclusion that one million taxpayers failed to claim this complicated credit when they were actually eligible,” said Danny Werfel, Commissioner of the Internal Revenue Service in his statement.

This taxpayer group may shortly be getting unexpected payments; the accompanying data provides specifics:

Could you kindly inform me about my chances of receiving a check from the IRS?

I’m sorry, but it most likely isn’t precisely that high. The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) reports that most qualified taxpayers—originally referred to as Economic Impact Payments—have already gotten their government stimulus money.

Those taxpayers who filed a tax return for the year 2021 but either left the Recovery Rebate Credit data box blank or entered $0 when they were actually eligible for the credit are qualified to get the special reimbursements announced by the Internal Revenue Service (IRS).

The way this is going to be carried out?

Those eligible taxpayers are not required to perform any chores to be qualified. The funds are expected to be received either by cheque or direct deposit account by the end of January 2025. Automatic distribution of them is set for this month. The Internal Revenue Service will deliver them to either the bank account shown on the taxpayer’s 2023 return or the address the taxpayer keeps on file.

Though there will be several possible payments, the highest amount any one person can pay will be $1,400. The Internal Revenue Service has made available on the internet information on eligibility and the process used to ascertain the payment amount.

The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) will send separate letters to taxpayers qualified for the special payment notifying of the payment.

Conversely, what would happen should I not yet have my 2021 tax return turned in?

You still might be able to turn around the money. The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) claims, however, that individuals must file a tax return and claim the Recovery Rebate Credit before April 15, 2025.

This is still the case whether or not a job, business, or any other source of income earned had any bearing on it.

How many financing rounds did the COVID stimulus program have?

Households impacted by the epidemic alone received compensation totaling $814 billion overall; this was divided across three rounds of payments. These figures were calculated by the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) considering the taxpayer’s income, tax filing status, and the count of dependents or children entitled for the tax deduction.

The CARES Act, which became operative in March of 2020, makes qualified persons eligible for a maximum of $1,200 per income tax filer and $500 each child.

Those qualified could get up to $600 for each child and $600 for each individual who submitted their income tax return according to the Consolidated Appropriations Act in December of 2020.

Those qualified under the American Rescue Plan Act received a maximum of $1,400 per child and $1,400 per person who paid their income taxes during the month of March in 2021. very

SOURCE: YF

SEE ALSO:

Cases Of The US Flu Season Are Rising, While Vaccinations Are Behind Schedule.

Social Security Change Approved By Senate Despite Fiscal Concerns

 

Continue Reading

News

Cases Of The US Flu Season Are Rising, While Vaccinations Are Behind Schedule.

Published

on

Flu Season
(AP Photo/Nam Y. Huh, File)

(VOR News) – The U.S. flu season has begun, according to health experts, who also noted a sharp rise in cases countrywide on Friday.

Significant increases were noted by the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention in a number of indicators, such as laboratory tests and ED visits. “For the past few weeks, it has been increasing steadily.” “Yes, we are in flu season right now,” CDC’s Alicia Budd said.

Last week, flu-like sickness was reported at elevated or very elevated levels in 13 states, roughly twice as many as the week before. Dr. William Schaffner, an infectious disease specialist at Vanderbilt University, says Tennessee is seeing a spike in sickness in the Nashville area.

Schaffner said, “Influenza cases have been increasing, but they have increased significantly in the last week.” He noted that up to 25% of patients in a nearby clinic, which is a gauge of illness trends, have flu-like symptoms.

An early focal point was Louisiana.

Our Lady of the Lake Regional Medical Centre, the largest private hospital in the state, in Baton Rouge, has infectious diseases specialist Dr. Catherine O’Neal, who said, “This week is a significant turning point as individuals are affected by the flu.” “Parents frequently say, ‘I have the flu and can’t go to work,’ and ‘Where can I get a flu test?'”

Fever, cough, sore throat, and other influenza-like symptoms are caused by a variety of viruses. COVID-19 is one of them. Another flu season common disease that causes cold-like symptoms but poses serious hazards to infants and the elderly is respiratory syncytial virus (RSV).

Recent CDC numbers indicate a decline in COVID-19 hospitalisations since the summer. According to CDC wastewater data, COVID-19 activity is modest nationwide but elevated in the Midwest.

Although RSV hospitalisations are still marginally more common than flu admissions, they started to rise before flu season cases and currently show signs of perhaps stabilising. RSV activity is low nationwide, but wastewater data shows that it is high in the South.

Based on a number of indicators, such as laboratory results from hospitalised patients and outpatient clinics, as well as the percentage of ED visits that resulted in an influenza diagnosis at discharge, the CDC declared the start of the flu season.

According to Budd, it is too early in the season to determine the effectiveness of the influenza vaccine, and no type of virus seems to be more common.

The flu season last winter was classified as “moderate” overall, but it continued for 21 weeks, and the CDC estimates that 28,000 people died from the virus. With 205 paediatric deaths reported, the situation was particularly dangerous for kids. It was the largest number ever recorded for a conventional influenza season.

The prolonged flu season was probably one of the reasons, Budd added.

The lack of influenza vaccinations was one of the contributing factors. The CDC reports that 80% of children who passed away and had verified vaccination status and were of the right age for flu shots were not completely immunised.

Children’s immunisation rates are drastically lower this year. About 41% of people had a flu shot as of December 7, which is similar to the percentage at the same time last year. For youngsters, the figure is steady, although it is lower than in the previous year, when 44% received an influenza vaccination, according to CDC data.

About 21% of adults and 11% of children are fully vaccinated against COVID-19, which is still a poor vaccination rate.

Influenza experts advise everyone to get vaccinated, especially as people get ready for holiday gatherings where respiratory diseases could spread widely.

“This virus also has the potential to spread from person to person at all those happy, pleasant, and heartwarming events,” Schaffner said. “flu season Vaccination remains a viable option.”

However, Louisiana’s health department announced on Friday that it was rescinding its COVID-19 and flu vaccination recommendations. According to an official, the department’s current position is that people should speak with their doctors about whether the immunisations are suitable for their situation.

The department’s spokesperson, Emma Herrock, did not respond to follow-up questions regarding the policy. Dr. Ralph Abraham, the state’s surgeon general, has expressed concerns in the past regarding the COVID-19 vaccine’s effectiveness and safety.

SOURCE: AP

SEE ALSO:

Social Security Change Approved By Senate Despite Fiscal Concerns

King Charles Could Millions Annually from Renting His Properties

Continue Reading

Trending