British health workers protesting in front of the PM’s office, holding the names of more than 200 Palestinian doctors killed by Israel in Gaza. This British doctor breaks down while reading an emergency message from the director of al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza.
Israeli warplanes and artillery are persisting in their relentless bombardment of the immediate vicinity surrounding the Al-Shifa Medical Complex in Gaza City, resulting in dozens of casualties and injuries.
The bodies of dozens of slain Palestinians are scattered in the courtyards of the complex and its surroundings, with ambulance crews unable to reach and evacuate them due to the intense Israeli bombardment targeting anyone moving inside the complex
A British doctor breaks down while reading an emergency message from the director of Al-Shifa Hospital in #Gaza, as healthcare workers gather in front of the Prime Minister's office in London, holding banners bearing the names of more than 200 doctors killed by Israel so far. pic.twitter.com/87IWfJbG2r
The intensive Israeli shelling has reached the intensive care unit of the hospital, resulting in the murder of a man and the injury of several others.
Additionally, three patients and wounded individuals who were connected to artificial respirators in the targeted section also died as a result of running out of fuel.
Al-Shifa Hospital
Israeli tanks are positioned only 200 meters from the northern and southern sides of the Al-Shifa Complex.
Since last night, no ambulance has been able to reach the complex due to the intensity of the fires resulting from non-stop Israeli bombardment.
WAFA correspondent added that medical teams within the Al-Shifa Complex cannot move from one building to another for the evacuation of murdered people and the injured in its vicinity. This is due to the fact that Israeli tanks are advancing from the west of Gaza City, while drones are targeting any moving objects in the area.
The Israeli occupation has been besieging the Al-Shifa Medical Complex since dawn Saturday, bombarding most of the buildings adjacent to it and several buildings inside it.
Representatives Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, left, and Ritchie Torres, both New York Democrats, differ strongly on issues around Israel. Credit... Jacquelyn Martin/Associated Press, Amir Hamja/The New York Times
They are among the brightest political stars rising from New York. They were born just months apart, 40 years after the founding of Israel.
And at the most fraught moment for American-Israeli relations in decades, the clashing views of Representatives Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Ritchie Torres offer a striking glimpse into the future of one of American politics’ fiercest debates.
Ms. Ocasio-Cortez, the left-wing standard-bearer known for her social media mastery, has bucked Democratic orthodoxy since Hamas’s deadly Oct. 7 massacre, using her remarkable reach to build support for a cease-fire and a lasting foreign policy overhaul that puts Palestinians on equal footing with Israelis.
Mr. Torres, her lesser-known neighbor in the Bronx, is moving to stake his own claim on the national stage as a fervent pro-Israel foil, aggressively taking on what he perceives as crumbling support for the Jewish state on the left.
The debate between two millennial New Yorkers has fueled conflicts playing out in social media feeds and raucous street protests. It is a struggle not so much over traditional levers of power in Washington, but over who will shape the minds of a younger, diverse generation of voters that will soon steer the relationship to one of America’s closest allies.
And it could have a profound impact on the two politicians’ trajectories. As wartime passions splinter the left, Ms. Ocasio-Cortez, whose boosters envision her eventually running for the presidency, is laboring to hold together a consequential but delicate coalition that has pushed the Democratic Party leftward on climate, policing and economics. Mr. Torres, talked about as a future senator or governor, appears intent on using the moment to smash that left-wing movement apart.
“They are two sides of the same coin: young, well-spoken, incredibly smart,” said David Greenfield, an influential Jewish Democrat in New York. “What you are seeing here is really a question of vision for the future of the Democratic Party. Is it going to be the Ritchie Torres version or the A.O.C. version?”
For now, there is little doubt about the United States’ position. Though the Biden administration has pushed for humanitarian “pauses” as Israel’s counteroffensive pummels the Gaza Strip, the president and top congressional leaders have repeatedly reaffirmed lock-step support for Israel.
But unlike their parents and grandparents, who watched the country’s tenuous birth and propped it up with weapons and money, Americans who came of age in an era of Israeli military might and taxing foreign wars appear to be up for grabs politically. After a month of carnage, public opinion polls suggest many of them are more sympathetic to the plight of Palestinians and likely to question why the United States is still subsidizing Israel’s defense.
Though Ms. Ocasio-Cortez struggled early on to articulate her views on the Middle East and has never visited the region, the 34-year-old congresswoman has come to embody that generational shift.
She uses terms like “apartheid” and “oppression,” loathed by Israel’s defenders, to describe the treatment of Palestinians. Last week, she called the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, the most powerful pro-Israel lobby and one of Mr. Torres’s top campaign donors, “racist and bigoted.” And she has poured herself into building pressure on Israel to forgo its campaign in Gaza, pushing further than 420 other members of the House and virtually every senator.
Ms. Ocasio-Cortez, standing behind Representative Rashida Tlaib, third from right, joined Democrats who favor a cease-fire in Gaza. Credit... Graeme Sloan/Sipa USA)(Sipa, via Associated Press Images
“This is pursuing a proven and failed strategy,” Ms. Ocasio-Cortez said in a recent radio interview. “So why do it, why kill kids, why put people in danger, why perpetuate these cycles when we’ve done it so many times, and it’s never kept us safe?”
Yet five years after she burst onto the political stage, even some critics say Ms. Ocasio-Cortez’s approach has become more nuanced, as she attempts to balance the demands of a leftist movement that holds justice for Palestinians as a key plank and includes large numbers of Jewish voters with varying views on the conflict. (Her own safely Democratic district in Queens and the Bronx is largely Latino, Black and Asian, with only small Jewish and Arab populations.)
Calls for a cease-fire by Ms. Ocasio-Cortez and others drew a stern rebuke from the White House, and she faced backlash for voting against a bipartisan resolution that expressed strong support for Israel. But she has also taken steps to differentiate herself from allies like Representatives Rashida Tlaib of Michigan and Cori Bush of Missouri, sidestepping some of the left’s most inflammatory critiques — like accusing Israel of committing genocide in Gaza — to focus on the war’s mounting human cost.
Ms. Ocasio-Cortez, who did not agree to an interview, met in Washington last month with the families of Jewish hostages kidnapped by Hamas. She has repeatedly condemned the group and supports a two-state solution shunned by some on the left. And at a time when many liberal Jews feel they are being abandoned by the left, she has warned about “disgusting and unacceptable” antisemitism in a post to 8.4 million Instagram followers, saying, “No movement of integrity should tolerate it.”
“You can see how hard Alexandria is trying to listen compassionately across the lines of this conflict,” said Brad Lander, the left-leaning New York City comptroller who is the highest-ranking Jewish city official. “I’m not saying anyone is doing it perfectly, but there is a difference between trying and not trying.”
More moderate Jewish Democrats have also taken note. Representative Dan Goldman of New York, who along with Mr. Torres voted this week to censure Ms. Tlaib for using divisive pro-Palestinian rhetoric, said he and Ms. Ocasio-Cortez had “made a conscious effort to keep an open line of communication” even if they did not always agree on the conflict.
On the other side of the Bronx River, Mr. Torres, 35, who is gay and Afro-Latino, has stakd out a strikingly different project to the right of many of his peers, offering himself as a counterweight to his party’s leftward lurch.
His own social media following is relatively small — 170,000 followers on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter, to Ms. Ocasio-Cortez’s 13.2 million — but the combativeness of Mr. Torres’s retorts has stood out. In just the last few days, he compared a cease-fire to asking Israel to “become the author of its own annihilation,” called claims that Israel is committing genocide in Gaza “blood libel” and argued that most Israelis are not actually white, as those who see the Israeli-Palestinian conflict as a racial struggle claim, but “people of color in the American sense.”
Mr. Torres has reserved special vitriol for the Democratic Socialists of America, the small but influential leftist group that has pushed for boycotts of Israel and counts Ms. Ocasio-Cortez as a member. In an interview, he said that the D.S.A. was trying to infiltrate the Democratic Party “to impose the ideological litmus tests on Israel” and “cleanse” those who disagree with them. He said he was on a “publicly stated mission” to undermine it.
“I do worry that the next generation is increasingly indoctrinated with anti-Israel hate so virulent that it renders them indifferent to the coldblooded murder of Jews in Israel,” he said.
His views are no surprise to those who watched Mr. Torres, a proud college dropout and defender of public housing, evolve from left-aligned political upstart to more traditional Democratic congressman.
Though he represents an overwhelmingly Black and Latino district that includes only a few thousand Jewish voters, he has improbably made the conflict 5,700 miles away a top priority since 2015, when he traveled to Israel on a City Council delegation. It was his first trip abroad, and Mr. Torres said witnessing both the fragility of the frontier and Tel Aviv’s openness to gay life left him with “profound empathy” for Israel and a commitment to a two-state solution.
His combativeness has infuriated the left. Waleed Shahid, a progressive strategist who is close to Ms. Ocasio-Cortez, called Mr. Torres “a propagandist for the Israeli government.”
Jeremy Cohan, a leader of the D.S.A.’s New York City chapter, said Mr. Torres was unfairly conflating criticism of Israel with antisemitism. “It is opportunistic, it is gross, it is personally offensive to me as a Jew,” he said.
It remains far from clear how many left-leaning Democrats Mr. Torres is moving. Even some senior colleagues who agree with him privately worry that his approach may alienate some Black, Latino and other progressive voters at a time when their support is critical.
And yet, his actions have resonated on a visceral level with many American Jews facing one of the most frightening periods since the Holocaust, and have brought him a new level of political celebrity.
Those who back Israel, like these people who rallied in Riverdale, in the Bronx, in Representative Torres’s district, have expressed gratitude to him. Credit... Gregg Vigliotti for The New York Times
The mere mention of his name inspired an ovation at an AIPAC luncheon in Midtown Manhattan last week. A Jewish nursing professor posted a video of a painting she had commissioned with Mr. Torres in front of a Star of David. At a rally in his district, hundreds of Jewish students from SAR Academy, a private Jewish school, chanted his name in unison; one called him a “constant in this broken world.”
As she waited for him to speak at another event near City Hall, Sari Ancona, the mother of a Jewish student at Cooper Union, said Mr. Torres represented something essential: “It means that there are people that support us that aren’t us.”
The conflicting response to Mr. Torres reflects the mood of a city where almost everyone, including New York's large Jewish population and the resurgent left, seems to be cautiously probing their neighbors’ views on the Middle East. Ms. Ocasio-Cortez and Mr. Torres are no exception.
Alicia Thilani Singham Goodwin, the political director for Jews for Racial and Economic Justice, a left-wing New York City group, said Ms. Ocasio-Cortez’s staff had been in frequent contact to get their “gut check” on possible public statements. Mr. Torres speaks regularly to moderate and politically conservative Jewish groups. Both lawmakers have conferred with the city’s Jewish elected officials.
Artillery plays a pivotal role in the special military operation, substantially weakening the adversary without direct contact.
Sputnik obtained footage that shows the combat work of Russian artillery in conjunction with drones. Artillery and drone operators work as one, unleashing fire on Ukrainian positions around Kupyansk.
Ukraine launched its much-touted counteroffensive in June and this move was largely described as unsuccessful - even by most hawkish Kiev supporters in the West. The US and European military equipment proved to be no match for stalwart Russian defenses. In October, President Vladimir Putin stressed that the Ukrainian counteroffensive had failed, adding that Kiev lost over 90,000 troops.
Watch Russian Ka-52 Helicopters Lay Waste to Ukrainian Positions at Night
Russia's Ka-52 reconnaissance attack helicopters are dominating the skies in the special military operation zone, using various munitions to obliterate targets.
The Russian Defense Ministry has released footage showing Ka-52 helicopters attacking Ukrainian positions after nightfall.
In the course of the operation, the pilots used guided and unguided missiles at extremely low altitudes. As a result, Ukrainian positions and military equipment were destroyed by precise strikes.
The Ka-52 attack helicopter, also known as the Alligator, is designed for battlefield reconnaissance and coordination of air strikes. However, this helicopter is also capable of hammering fortified positions and destroying enemy tanks with armor-piercing projectiles.
Stop sending young Ukrainians to die, Musk tells Zelensky
Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky must avoid needlessly sending young Ukrainians to be slaughtered on the battlefield with Russia, Tesla CEO Elon Musk has said. His comments come amid Kiev’s faltering counteroffensive, which Moscow claims has already left tens of thousands of Ukrainian soldiers dead.
Speaking in an interview with US podcaster Lex Fridman released on Friday, the tech billionaire was asked whether he believed Zelensky should negotiate peace with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Musk did not provide a straight answer, but noted he would “just recommend [that Zelensky] do not send the flower of Ukrainian youth to die in trenches,” regardless of whether he engages with Putin or not.
“Whoever goes on the offensive will lose massive numbers of people and history will not look kindly upon them,” he added.
The Tesla CEO has weighed in on the hostilities between Moscow and Kiev on numerous occasions, noting in September that the Ukrainian counteroffensive that began in early summer had brought “so much death for so little [gain].”
Musk previously floated a peace plan suggesting that Kiev should recognize Crimea as part of Russia, while the four former Ukrainian territories that overwhelmingly voted to join Russia in referendums last autumn should redo the votes under UN supervision. The idea, however, sparked a backlash in Ukraine. Andrey Melnik, the country’s then-ambassador to Germany, told Musk to “f**k off.”
Moscow has repeatedly said it is open to talks with Kiev, although last autumn Zelensky signed a decree banning all negotiations with Russia as long as Putin remains in power. He reaffirmed this stance earlier this month, again ruling out any concessions to Moscow.
Ukraine’s counteroffensive has been underway since early June but has failed to gain any significant ground. Russian Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu has estimated Kiev’s losses at more than 90,000 troops, while pointing to deteriorating morale in the Ukrainian military.
Ukrainian officials, including Zelensky, have admitted serious difficulties with the campaign, blaming them on delays in Western assistance, formidable Russian defenses, and Moscow’s air superiority. Earlier this month, Ukraine’s top military commander, General Valery Zaluzhny, acknowledged that Kiev’s troops were unlikely to achieve a “deep and beautiful breakthrough” unless they gained a technological edge over Russia.
Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman reiterated calls for ceasefire in Gaza during the Arab-Islamic Summit in Riyadh. (SPA)
Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman said Israel bears responsibility for the “crimes committed against Palestinian people,” reiterating calls for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza during his opening remarks at the Arab-Islamic Summit on Saturday.
The Saudi crown prince stressed the Kingdom’s ‘unequivocal’ rejection of the continued Israeli aggression in Gaza and the forced displacement of residents.
He pointed to the ‘double standards’ in applying the international humanitarian law, condemning the international community’s silence towards the violations against the Palestinian civilians.
He added: “We are facing a humanitarian catastrophe that testifies to the failure of the UN Security Council and the international community to put an end to the Israeli violations – a matter that demonstrates double standards.”
The crown prince reiterated calls for an immediate end to the military aggression in Gaza and the release of hostages to save lives.
He called for a coordinated, collective effort among Arab and Islamic states to take effective action to lift the siege and deliver humanitarian and relief aid into Gaza.
“The Kingdom has made tireless efforts since the beginning of the aggression in Gaza and has continued consultations to stop the war.”
He stressed that the only solution to achieve stability in the region is to end the occupation and the establishment of settlements.
“A Palestinian state must be established on the 1967 borders with East Jerusalem as its capital,” said the crown prince.
Saudi Arabia hosted the emergency summit in response to the exceptional circumstances taking place in the Palestinian Gaza Strip as countries felt the need to unify efforts and come out with a unified collective position.
The summit brought together leaders from Arab and Asian nations, who called for an immediate end to the war on Gaza.
Iran’s President Ebrahim Raisi and Arab leaders including Palestine’s President Mahmoud Abbas, Egypt’s Abdel Fattah El-Sisi, Syria’s Bashar al-Assad, and Iraq’s Abdul Latif Rashid were among the leaders who attended the summit on Saturday.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, and President of Libya’s Presidential Council Mohamed Al-Manfi were among the participating leaders.
The summit also saw the attendance of Asian leaders including Presidents of Indonesia Joko Widodo and Krygystan Sady Japarov.
The Arab-Islamic Summit in Riyadh brought together leaders from Arab and Asian nations, who called for an immediate end to the war on Gaza. (SPA)
Speaking during the summit, the Palestinian president said the Palestinians are facing an “unmatched genocidal war,” calling on the United States to pressure Israel into halting its offensive on Gaza.
Abbas also called for international protection for the Palestinians in the face of Israeli attacks.
He urged the UN Security Council to practice its responsibilities by stopping the aggression against the Palestinians and delivering aid in Gaza.
“We will not accept military and security solutions in the Gaza Strip,” he added.
Time for action
Iran’s Raisi called on Muslim countries to impose oil and goods sanctions on Israel and designate the Israeli army “terrorist group.”
He accused Israel of using internationally banned weapons in the Gaza Strip and violating international humanitarian laws.
Raisi called the United States a major partner in Israel’s crimes against Gaza with its unconditional backing of the aggression and provision of weapons daily.
He urged Islamic countries to work together to pressure Israel and America to stop the war in Gaza.
“The top priority now is a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip.” He added: “We must work to remove Israeli forces from Gaza.”
Raisi had earlier said that time had come for action over the conflict rather than talk as he headed to Riyadh.
“Today, the unity of the Islamic countries is very important,” he noted.
During his speech at the summit, Qatar’s Emir Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thani stressed his country’s negotiation efforts to release the hostages held in Gaza, saying that the international community has failed to bear its responsibilities.
He questioned “for how long will the international community treat israel as if it is above international law?”
“Who would have imagined that hospitals would be openly bombed in the 21st century and that families would be wiped from the civil registry by indiscriminate bombing?”
Al-Thani called for a permanent opening of a humanitarian corridor to bring aid into Gaza.
Qatar’s Emir Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thani stressed his country’s negotiation efforts to release the hostages held in Gaza. (SPA)
In his remarks, Jordan’s King Abdullah II called for a serious peace process to begin in the Middle East.
He said the war on Gaza was an extension of an occupation that has started more than seven decades ago, stressing that the two-state solution is the only way to bring peace in Palestine.
“The war waged by Israel on Gaza is hideous and has to stop,” he said. King Abdullah said Israel’s denial of food and medical supplies into Gaza constitues as a “war crime.”
Meanwhile, the Egyptian President El-Sisi denounced Israel’s forced displacement of the Palestinians, calling for an international investigation to be conducted into Israel’s violations against the people of Gaza.
He urged for an immediate sustainable ceasefire in Gaza “without restrictions or conditions.”
“The policies of collective punishment of the people of Gaza...are unacceptable and cannot be justified by self-defense or any other claims. They must be stopped immediately,”
He warned that failure to end the war in Gaza could result in its expansion to the rest of the region.
“The international community must put pressure to stop the bloodshed and address the roots of the conflict,” said El-Sisi.
Egypt’s President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi called on Saturday for an immediate sustainable ceasefire in Gaza. (SPA)
Saudi Arabia has consistently called for an end to the bloodshed in the occupied territories.
The kingdom was scheduled to host two extraordinary summits, the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) summit and the Arab League summit, on Saturday and Sunday. The joint summit will replace the two separate gatherings in light of the Gaza situation, the Saudi Foreign ministry said.
The joint meeting “will be held in response to the exceptional circumstances taking place in the Palestinian Gaza Strip as countries feel the need to unify efforts and come out with a unified collective position,” it said.
This week, the Israeli army advanced into Gaza City in the north of the enclave, resulting in a deluge of civilians flooding to the south, where Israel promised they would be safer.
Gaza’s Health Ministry said 11,000 people have been killed since the war began, and 27,000 have been injured. Israel has conducted a massive military operation into the occupied territory after Hamas militants killed 1,200 Israelis living near Gaza on Oct. 7.
The World Health Organization said on Friday that Gaza health services were at a breaking point. Hospitals are are nearly out of crucial medical supplies and lack of water and electricity are hampering their work. Doctors are treating patients without anesthesia.
Israel has imposed a blockade as part of its campaign limiting the number of humanitarian supplies entering Gaza
