TRANSCRIPT
A father's grief.
Idan Bahat's son Dror Bahat was killed on October 7th, 2023 at the Nova Festival.
He is at a healing concert in Tel Aviv to remember those killed.
"Our last communication with Dror was at 9.19 and he was hiding below the small mushroom stage with his three friends and all of them stayed there. So, is it really healing? Well, not for us. Not for us. Nothing has changed, and we are still really, really expecting that someone will try to give us some answers."
More than 3,000 people were at the Tribe of Nova music festival on the morning of the attack when Hamas militants stormed into Israel.
More than 300 people at the festival were killed, triggering a war between Israel and Hamas.
Another protest, too, in Tel Aviv for Israelis looking for answers about the fate of remaining hostages taken by Hamas on October 23.
Israeli protesters burned tyres and blocked traffic in Tel Aviv on Thursday with 12 people detained by police.
Katia Armoza says time is running out for the hostages who are still alive.
"We came in order to try to tell the people here that the time of life of the kidnapped it's finishing they don't have anymore, they don't have strength any more. We must release them."
The protests come as more than 100 non-profits warned that Israel’s aid rules in Gaza and the West Bank will block essential relief and favour groups aligned with its political and military aims, accusations Israel denies.
However, United Nations spokesman Stephane Dujarric this week warned that starvation and malnutrition in Gaza are at the highest levels since the war began.
The U-Nsays nearly 12,000 children under 5 were found to have acute malnutrition in July — including more than 2,500 with severe malnutrition, the most dangerous level.
The World Health Organisation says the numbers are likely an undercount.
Dr Ahmed al-Farra, is Nasser's general director of paediatrics at Al Nasser hospital in Khan Younis.
He's speaking here in a video to Associated Press:
“Cases of malnutrition are on the rise. Everyday, lifeless bodies arrive at Nasser Medical Complex and every day, new cases are diagnosed. Just yesterday, the malnutrition clinic identified around 20 cases of severe malnutrition and 10 cases of moderate malnutrition. Everyday, the emergency department receives between five to 10 new cases. The situation is worsening. But the real danger lies with those outside the hospital—those who can’t reach it and arrive as corpses.”
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has pushed back, saying reports of starvation are “lies” promoted by Hamas.
The past two weeks, Israel has allowed around triple the amount of food into Gaza than had been entering since late May.
That followed two and half months when Israel barred all food, medicine and other supplies, saying it was to pressure Hamas to release hostages taken during its 2023 attack that launched the war.
Israel’s Deputy Foreign Minister Sharren Haskel has rejected United Nations data on starvation in Gaza, calling the figures false and incomplete.
Speaking at the Kerem Shalom crossing, she argues they exclude aid from non-UN organisations, the Gaza Humanitarian Fund and other agencies.
Ms Haskel insists Israel is meeting needs.
“If you go by the numbers of calories per person, which is how the United Nations is meant to check the facts, it’s usually 2,100 or 2,300. We have made sure there’s well over 3,000 calories per person, so no, I dispute that by the fact.]
Palestinians and medical workers have accused the Israeli military of attacking hospitals, allegations it rejects.
Just half of Gaza's 36 general hospitals are partially functioning, according to the United Nations agency.
The emergency department of Nasser Hospital in Gaza's Khan Younis was forced to shut down after it was flooded with sewage water on Thursday (August 14), according to hospital director Dr Atef Al-Hout.
The flooding cannot be fixed without coordination with Israel, according to Dr Al-Hout, as the source of the sewerage leak is located in a military ‘red zone.’
"This tragedy consists of the discharge of sewage water or wastewater inside Nasser Medical Complex, as everyone can see. It is in the emergency department, in the expansion of the emergency department that receives many injuries, many patients. This department, or this place, receives about a thousand patients daily, for follow-ups or injuries. It is now totally out of service because of sewage."
Asked about a comment about the flooding at Nasser Hospital, the Israeli military says it looked into the situation but was unaware of the issue.
Meanwhile Israel’s far-right finance minister has announced work will begin on a long-delayed settlement in the West Bank that would cut the territory off from East Jerusalem, a move his office says will “bury” the idea of a Palestinian state.
Standing at the site in Maale Adumim, Bezalel Smotrich claims Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and U-S President Donald Trump had agreed to revive the so-called E-1 project, though neither has confirmed this.
He says the plan is a direct response to international moves towards recognising Palestinian statehood.
“On this important day, I call from here on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu: The time has come to fully apply Israeli sovereignty over Judea and Samaria, to forever remove from the table the idea of dividing the land. And to make sure that by September, Europe’s hypocrite leaders will simply have nothing to recognise.”
The Palestinian Authority, allied governments, and campaigners have condemned the decision as illegal and destructive to any peace plan, warning it fragments territory needed for a future state.
Israel has bombarded Gaza since Hamas' October 7 attack in 2023, in which more than 1,200 people, including an estimated 30 children, were killed and over 200 hostages taken, according to the Israeli government. More than 61,000 people have been killed in Gaza since October 7, according to the health ministry in Gaza.
The October 7 attack was a significant escalation in the long-standing conflict between Israel and Hamas.
