A boy reacts as relatives of Palestinians killed in Israeli strikes mourn at Nasser hospital in Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip November 19, 2023 [Ibraheem Abu Mustafa/Reuters]
The situation in the south of the territory is similar to the situation in the north. Israel keeps pounding the southern areas of the Gaza Strip, Al Jazeera reports.
Around 31 Palestinians have been killed in separate strikes that took place at the al-Nusairat refugee camp refugee camp and another refugee camp. Two journalists are also among the victims.
Dozens of people, including children, have been killed in Israeli air attacks on UN-run schools in northern Gaza: al-Fakhoora school in the Jabalia refugee camp and another school in Tall az-Zaatar.
Witnesses have described being forced to leave al-Shifa Hospital despite Israel claiming patients, medical staff and war-displaced people left voluntarily.
Residential houses have also been levelled to the ground in Khan Younis. The latest Israel attack that took place at the European hospital claimed the lives of two Palestinians and several others have been injured.
Patients, staff and displaced people left Gaza's largest hospital Saturday, with one describing a panicked and chaotic evacuation as Israeli forces searched and face-scanned men among the evacuees and took some away.
Israel's military has been searching Shifa Hospital in Gaza City for traces of a Hamas command center that it alleges was located under the building — a claim Hamas and the hospital staff deny. The evacuation, which Israel says was voluntary, left behind only Israeli forces and a skeleton crew to care for those too sick to move.
"He has gone... my brother has gone to join our father. Pray for him, and please don't cry."
- A little girl consoling her siblings after the martyrdom of her brother and father !
Two Israeli soldiers using dogs to viciously attack a Palestinian teenager, while a third soldier records it and laughs! The IDF would get acrophobia in a sewer!! #IsraeliTerroristspic.twitter.com/105Ke2B3Pt
Kesepakatan mengenai tawanan belum tercapai antara Israel dan Hamas, kata juru bicara Gedung Putih kepada Reuters setelah The Washington Post mengatakan kesepakatan yang ditengahi AS sudah hampir tercapai.
Setidaknya 12.000 orang telah tewas dalam serangan Israel di Gaza sejak 7 Oktober. Di Israel, jumlah korban tewas resmi dalam serangan Hamas mencapai sekitar 1.200 orang.
Abdel Hamid Siyam, a professor at Rutgers University, says Israel’s relentless bombardment of civilian and residential infrastructure showed that Israel was using Hamas “as an excuse” for its ongoing war in the besieged enclave.
“Everything in Gaza is under bombardment. No place is safe … be it a school, refugee camp, homes or hospitals or anything,” he told Al Jazeera.
“The Israelis have so far not been able to break the backbone of Hamas. They still come out and fight against the Israelis, who then take it out against the civilians,” Siyam added.
A mishap during SpaceX's second test flight of the Starship Super Heavy rocket resulted in the loss of the spacecraft, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) told Sputnik on Saturday.
"A mishap occurred during the SpaceX Starship OFT-2 launch from Boca Chica, Texas, on Saturday, November 18," the FAA said. "The anomaly resulted in a loss of the vehicle."
No injuries or public property damage have been reported, according to the FAA.
The FAA said it will oversee SpaceX's investigation into the mishap to ensure it complies with federal regulations.
The Starship spacecraft triggered its automated flight termination system during the second phase of its flight, destroying the vehicle before reaching orbit, according to the SpaceX broadcast.
If the Starship spacecraft reached orbit, it would have reentered the Earth's atmosphere later on Saturday and splashed down near the coast of Hawaii.
During the first phase of the launch, the Starship spacecraft successfully detached from the Super Heavy Booster rocket using hot-stage separation. The booster rocket, designed to be reusable, should have splashed down in the Gulf of Mexico but exploded shortly after the separation.
SpaceX said the Starship successfully lifted off under the power of all 33 Raptor engines on the Super Heavy Booster and made it through the hot-stage separation, but the booster experienced a "rapid unscheduled disassembly" shortly after stage separation.
The upgrades to Starship's fully integrated rocket for its second test flight included the hot-stage separation system to improve separation of the spacecraft from the booster rocket, a new electronic Thrust Vector Control system to improve control of the rocket mid-flight, and the installation of a water-cooled steel flame deflector at the launch pad.
The first launch of the nearly 400-foot Starship rocket system, the biggest and most powerful rocket ever built, took place on April 20.
SpaceX engineers deliberately detonated Starship during the first test flight after it began tumbling and losing altitude when multiple engines failed. The first test flight did not reach the second stage — separation of the Starship spacecraft from the Super Heavy Booster.
The Starship is the centerpiece of SpaceX efforts to develop a fully reusable transportation system designed to carry humans to the Moon and on long-duration flights to Mars and beyond. The system is designed for in-space refueling and the ability to land at destinations across the solar system and return to Earth.
SpaceX's Starship Launch Ends in Failure Before Reaching Orbit
SpaceX's Starship spacecraft triggered its automated termination system, according to the company's broadcast on Saturday.
SpaceX's Starship was forced to abort its launch before reaching orbit. It was expected to leave and reenter the Earth's atmosphere later this morning, before splashing down near the coast of Hawaii.
The spacecraft successfully separated from the Super Heavy Booster, which exploded several seconds after the hot-state separation. The booster was expected to touch down after separating in the Gulf of Mexico.
Starship's first test flight took place in April and ended in failure when the rocket’s two stages did not separate as planned.
The rocket ended up disintegrating shortly after its automated termination system was activated, and crashed into the Gulf of Mexico.
Attempts by the West to “cancel” Russia with economic and cultural sanctions have failed and were always doomed to fail, President Vladimir Putin said on Friday.
Speaking at the International Culture Forum in St. Petersburg, the Russian leader accused the collective West of seeking to “cross out” everything that does not fit into its “falsified history.”
“Entire layers of history – the art of Western Europe, Asia, Africa, Latin America – are being silenced, as if they never happened, and lately they have been trying to cancel our culture in general,” Putin declared.
“I say ‘trying’ because we understand that this is by definition impossible,” the president added. “But still, they are trying to abolish culture, which is based on true freedom, mercy, love of fellow man and spirituality. The policy of canceling Russia is by itself inherently anti-cultural, neo-colonial, and racist.”
In reality, Putin argued, the attempt to cancel Russia's culture and destroy its economy with “so-called sanctions” did not work out as its authors intended.
In reality, Putin argued, the attempt to cancel Russia's culture and destroy its economy with “so-called sanctions” did not work out as its authors intended.
“One of many examples of this is the huge interest in the Tchaikovsky Competition, for example,” the Russian president said. “Its online audience has exceeded 50 million people. In the modern world, it is impossible to undo such things, simply impossible. It's strange that people who try to do this don't understand it. By the way, of these 50 million people, more than half are Europeans who do not want anyone to decide for them what music to listen to, what to watch and what to read.”
According to Putin, some of the principal reasons for the current tensions in the world are “the claims of certain forces to exclusivity – including cultural exclusivity – their disdain for other customs, spiritual values, the desire to subject everyone and everything to unification, and according to their own template, which they consider the best and most universal.”
He described this as “vulgar globalization” and “cultural conquest,” which has resulted in the suppression and impoverishment of cultures and “multiplied the potential for conflict many times over.”
West ‘struggling’ with sanctions – Kremlin
Russia has managed to turn the tables on the West when it comes to sanctions placed on Moscow, the Kremlin said on Saturday, arguing that a myriad of restrictions failed to crash the Russian economy.
“The Westerners are struggling because they are seeing that the sanctions are not hitting [us] as they were supposed to,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told broadcaster VGTRK.
“Moreover, as always, the Russians have managed to find ways to benefit from them.”
Peskov stressed, however, that Moscow would stay vigilant and closely monitor all restrictions imposed by the West because the “are no lengths they would not go” just to hurt Russia.
The US and many of its allies have imposed sweeping sanctions on Moscow in response to its military operation in Ukraine, targeting Russia’s financial and energy sectors, among other spheres. However, the Western officials have repeatedly admitted that the negative impact of the penalties on Russia has not been as significant as expected.
Nevertheless, the EU is currently working on the 12th round of sanctions, which RFE/RL described on Friday as “weakest EU sanctions package to date on Russia.”
Speaking at a government meeting in September, Russian President Vladimir Putin said that although the sanctions had “slowed down” certain economic projects, they also were “stimulating development.” Russian officials have said that foreign restrictions have ultimately failed to tank the country’s economy, instead providing an opportunity to boost domestic production and reroute existing trade.
Elon Musk, owner the X social media network (formerly Twitter) has said that anyone appearing to condone or advocate for the genocide of any group of people on the service will be removed from the platform.
Musk, who last year finalized a multi-billion-dollar takeover of the company he later rebranded as X, has faced accusations that hate speech, including anti-Semitism, has increased significantly under his leadership. On Wednesday, Musk himself was accused of promoting an anti-Semitic trope after he said he agreed with a statement written by another user which suggested that Jewish people are stoking hatred against white people.
But, writing on X on Friday, Musk appeared to adopt a more neutral tone in his platform’s stewardship of controversial content. “At risk of stating the obvious, anyone advocating for the genocide of any group will be suspended from this platform,” he said.
The billionaire added that terms such as “decolonization” and “From the river to the sea” are phrases that “imply genocide” and would be sufficient to trigger a ban, adding that “clear calls for extreme violence are against our terms of service and will result in suspension.”
“Decolonization,” within the context of Israel, is generally considered to refer to the dismantling of the Jewish state. The rallying cry “From the river to the sea,” which refers to the geographic area between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea, is a call for peace and equality, many pro-Palestinian activists would say. Its critics, though, view it as a demand for the destruction of Israel.
Following Musk’s controversial post earlier this week, the American tech manufacturer IBM said that it was pulling its advertising spend from X.
“IBM has zero tolerance for hate speech and discrimination,” the company said on Thursday. “We have immediately suspended all advertising on X while we investigate this entirely unacceptable situation.” Additionally, the White House on Friday accused Musk of the “abhorrent promotion of anti-Semitic racist hate.”
On Thursday, X CEO Linda Yaccarino said that the platform has been clear in its mission statement to “combat anti-Semitism and discrimination,” adding that “there’s no place for it anywhere in the world.”
In addition to IBM, major companies such as NBCUniversal, Disney, Paramount and Apple were among several others that said they were withdrawing advertisements from X in protest at Musk’s Wednesday tweet. In July, Musk admitted that the social media company’s advertising revenue had plunged by about 50% since he took control.
Elon Musk, under fire, threatens lawsuit against media watchdog
Elon Musk threatened on Saturday to sue media watchdog Media Matters and those who attacked his social media platform X, following moves by several large U.S. companies to halt advertising on the site after being promoted alongside antisemitic content.
Musk and X have been under a microscope all week for antisemitic and racist content that has proliferated on the site since he purchased it in 2022.
Liberal watchdog group Media Matters for America said earlier this week that it found ads from IBM, Apple and others were placed alongside content promoting Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party.
Musk on Wednesday endorsed an antisemitic post on X that falsely claimed members of the Jewish community were stoking hatred against white people, drawing sharp condemnation, including from the White House.
"The split second court opens on Monday, X Corp will be filing a thermonuclear lawsuit against Media Matters and all those who colluded in this fraudulent attack on our company," Musk wrote in a post on X, without naming any other parties.
Numerous companies suspended ads in the last two days, including IBM, Disney, Warner Bros Discovery and Comcast, Lions Gate Entertainment and Paramount Global. Axios reported that Apple, the world's largest company by market value, would do the same.
"This week Media Matters for America posted a story that completely misrepresented the real experience on X, in another attempt to undermine freedom of speech and mislead advertisers," a statement posted by Musk said. He accused Media Matters of creating an alternative account designed to "misinform advertisers" about their posts.
Tesla, X (formerly known as Twitter) and SpaceX's CEO Elon Musk speaks with members of the media during the AI Safety Summit at Bletchley Park in Bletchley, Britain on November 1, 2023. Leon... Acquire Licensing Rights Read more
Media Matters on Saturday said Musk was a "bully" who threatens "meritless lawsuits".
"Musk admitted the ads at issue ran alongside the pro-Nazi content we identified," Media Matters President Angelo Carusone said in a statement.
"If he does sue us, we will win."
Musk has threatened legal action against other parties in the past, most specifically the Anti-Defamation League, a nonprofit organization that fights antisemitism, blaming it for X's loss of ad revenue. He has not yet sued the ADL, however.
Advertisers have fled the site since Musk bought it in October 2022 and reduced content moderation, resulting in a sharp rise in hate speech, according to civil rights groups.
The White House on Friday condemned Musk's endorsement of what it called a "hideous" antisemitic conspiracy theory, and accused Musk of an "abhorrent promotion of antisemitic and racist hate" that "runs against our core values as Americans".
Musk is also CEO of electric carmaker Tesla (TSLA.O), which has been hit by several lawsuits that allege rampant racial or sexual harassment of workers.
Antisemitism has been on the rise in recent years in the United States and worldwide. Following the outbreak of war between Israel and Palestinian Islamist group Hamas, which attacked Israel on Oct. 7, antisemitic incidents in the United States rose by nearly 400% from the year-earlier period, the ADL said.
Across the battlefields of the Ukrainian conflict, soldiers from various branches of the Russian Armed Forces continue to hammer the forces of the Kiev regime.
A short video recently released online by the Russian Ministry of Defense tells the brief tale of a team of Ukrainian militants who were unfortunate enough to run afoul of a Russian airborne forces squad in the Artemovsk (Bakhmut) sector.
Having spotted the advancing Ukrainian soldiers before the latter could realize their predicament, Russian paratroopers promptly fired an anti-tank guided missile at them.
Watch Russian Drone Drop Leaflets to Prompt Ukrainian Soldiers' Surrender
Dozens of Ukrainian soldiers have already laid down their arms upon reading the flyers that are distributed in the Russian special military operation zone.
The Russian Armed Forces’ Dnepr Battlegroup has used "specially equipped drones" to drop leaflets calling on Ukrainian soldiers to surrender, a source familiar with the situation told Sputnik. The Dnepr Battlegroup is stationed in the Kherson area.
The source added that apart from the calls to lay down the arms, the leaflets contain "detailed instructions on how to do so" in a safe manner.
According to the insider, scores of Ukrainian soldiers, who earlier surrendered to the Russian army thanks to the leaflets, are currently safe and sound.
A video obtained by Sputnik showed heaps of the flyers being dropped from a Russian unmanned aerial vehicle on what looked like positions of the Ukrainian Armed Forces.
What is Russia's Igla-S Man-Portable Air Defense Missile System
Moscow and New Delhi signed a deal to supply India with Russian Igla-S man-portable air defense systems (MANPADS) this week, as well as to allow India to produce these weapons under license.
Igla-S is a portable missile system designed to take out all types of aircraft and helicopters, as well as small airborne targets, such as cruise missiles, at ranges up to 6,000 meters and altitudes up to 3,500 meters.
It can be used against targets moving on collision and catch-up course and account for thermal interference both background and artificial.
