British P.M. fires senior minister for criticizing police over pro-Palestinian march
LONDON — U.K. Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has fired the home secretary, Suella Braverman, NBC News’ partner Sky News reported.
The move came after Braverman used a newspaper article to refer to pro-Palestinian demonstrators as “hate marchers” and said police were “playing favorites” by not using tougher measures against them.
Opposition politicians and anti-extremism groups accused Braverman of firing up far-right counter-protesters who disrupted a ceremony to remember Britain’s war dead on Saturday, a traditional event held on Nov. 11 to coincide with the end of the First World War in 1918.
Police arrested 145 people on Saturday and have since charged seven with public disorder, including many counter-protestors who attempted to confront the main pro-Palestinian march. Police said 300,000 people attended the march but organizers claim it was closer to 800,000.
Braverman has been a controversial figure on the far right of the ruling Conservative Party. Her flagship policy was a plan to fly unauthorized migrants to Rwanda.
Biden holds call with Qatar leader, says 3-year-old American among Hamas hostages
President Joe Biden spoke with the leader of Qatar, Sheikh Tamim Bin Hamad Al-Thani, on Sunday to thank the country for its efforts to secure the release of Hamas hostages and its ongoing work to secure more, a readout released by the White House said.
Two American citizens have been released so far, but on the call, Biden acknowledged that a 3-year-old American toddler, whose parents were killed by Hamas on Oct. 7, was among “many young children” still held hostage.
Hamas is believed to be holding as many as 239 people hostage inside Gaza, according to the latest numbers from Israeli officials. It’s not clear how many are still alive amid the fighting. Hamas has released four hostages in total since the war began.
The two leaders agreed that all hostages must be released without further delay, according to the readout.
Al-Shifa is ‘no longer functioning as a hospital,’ WHO chief says
TEL AVIV — The situation at Al-Shifa Hospital is “dire and perilous,” with the medical facility no longer “functioning as a hospital,” World Health Organization Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus warned.
Tedros said the WHO had managed to get in touch with health workers at the hospital and heard that the facility had gone for three days “without electricity, without water and with very poor internet, which has severely impacted our ability to provide essential care.”
He said patient fatalities had increased significantly amid the spiraling humanitarian situation at the hospital, which has seen heavy bombardment and intense fighting outside the facility. “The constant gunfire and bombings in the area have exacerbated the already critical circumstances,” he said in a post on X yesterday.
Calling for a cease-fire, he said: “The world cannot stand silent while hospitals, which should be safe havens, are transformed into scenes of death, devastation, and despair.”
Surgery by spotlight as Gaza hospitals run out of fuel
A doctor applies stitches to the head of an injured civilian, using only the light from a cellphone, at the Indonesian Hospital outside Gaza City today.
