Water runs out at UN shelters in Gaza; medics fear for patients as Israeli ground offensive looms
Gaza City (AP)/PTI: Water has run out at UN shelters across Gaza as thousands packed into the courtyard of the besieged territory's largest hospital as a refuge of last resort from a looming Israeli ground offensive and overwhelmed doctors struggled to care for patients they fear will die once generators run out of fuel.
Palestinian civilians across Gaza, already battered by years of conflict, were struggling for survival Sunday in the face of an unprecedented Israeli operation against the territory following a Hamas attack on Oct 7 that killed 1,300 Israelis.
Israel has cut off the flow of food, medicine, water and electricity to Gaza, pounded neighbourhoods with airstrikes and told the estimated 1 million residents of the north to flee south ahead of Israel's planned attack. The Gaza Health Ministry said more than 2,300 Palestinians have been killed since the fighting erupted last weekend.
Relief groups called for the protection of the over 2 million civilians in Gaza urging an emergency corridor be established for the transfer of humanitarian aid.
"The difference with this escalation is we don't have medical aid coming in from outside, the border is closed, electricity is off and this constitutes a high danger for our patients," said Dr Mohammed Qandeel, who works at Nasser Hospital in the southern Khan Younis area.
Doctors in the evacuation zone said they couldn't relocate their patients safely, so they decided to stay as well to care for them.
"We shall not evacuate the hospital even if it costs us our lives," said Dr Hussam Abu Safiya, the head of pediatrics at Kamal Adwan Hospital in Beit Lahia.
If they left, the seven newborns in the intensive care unit would die, he said. And even if they could move them, there is nowhere for them to go in the 40-km-long (25-mile-long) coastal territory. "Hospitals are full," Abu Safiya said. The wounded stream in every day with severed limbs and life-threatening injuries, he said.
Other doctors feared for the lives of patients dependent on ventilators and those suffering from complex blast wounds needing around-the-clock care. Doctors worried entire hospital facilities would be shut down and many would die as the last of fuel stocks powering their generators came close to running out. United Nations humanitarian monitors estimated this could happen by Monday.
At Shifa Hospital in Gaza City, the heart of the evacuation zone, medical officials estimated at least 35,000 men, women and children crammed into the large open grounds, in the lobby and in the hallways, hoping the location would give them protection from the fighting. "Their situation is very difficult," said hospital director Mohammed Abu Selmia.
Hundreds of wounded continue to come to the hospital every day, he said.
About half a million Gaza residents have taken refuge in UN shelters across the territory and are running out of water, said Juliette Touma, a spokesperson for the UN's Palestinian refugee agency, known by the acronym UNRWA. "Gaza is running dry," she said, adding that UN teams have also begun to ration water.
Touma said a quarter of a million people in Gaza moved to shelters over the past 24 hours, the majority of which are UN schools where "clean water has actually run out," said Inas Hamdan, another UNRWA spokeswoman.
Across Gaza, families rationed dwindling water supplies, with many forced to drink dirty or brackish water.
"I am very happy that I was able to brush my teeth today, can you imagine what lengths we have reached?" said Shaima al-Farra, in Khan Younis.
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Minister Patil chairs industry meetings to chart growth for key sectors in Karnataka
Bengaluru (PTI): Karnataka Minister M B Patil on Tuesday chaired meetings with industry representatives from the aerospace and defence, machine tools, auto/EV, and green energy sectors to discuss sector growth and government support measures.
The meetings were attended by leading industrialists and their representatives, with some participating virtually.
Speaking on the occasion, the minister for Large and Medium Industries said Karnataka is at the forefront of the country’s aerospace and defence sectors.
He noted that Suzuki and Toyota plan to launch aerial taxi services in Japan by 2028, with Bengaluru-based Sasmos supplying electrical equipment for the project.
Industrialists suggested introducing similar “fly-taxi” services in Karnataka through an appropriate policy, which Patil said would be examined seriously.
The minister highlighted the need to establish testing centres and Common Facility Centres for the aerospace and defence industries and assured that these facilities would be provided.
Suggestions were also made to prepare a comprehensive roadmap for sector growth.
Karnataka has urged the Central Government to approve Defence Corridor projects in the Bengaluru North–Kolar–Chikkaballapur and Dharawada–Vijayapura–Belagavi regions.
Industrialists also suggested a corridor between Bengaluru and Mysuru, Patil said.
He said Karnataka aims to become a hub for defence electronics manufacturing, with plans to establish a 200-acre Defence Electronics Park and a 100-acre Avionics and Sensor Park.
These projects will be implemented once the Special Investment Region is operational, and land availability will not be an issue.
On the machine tools sector, Patil said the industry has recorded an annual turnover of Rs 36,500 crore and is witnessing steady growth.
Large-scale exhibitions have increased demand, and the state must strengthen its capabilities to develop control systems for heavy machinery. One testing unit is already operational in Bengaluru, with another planned for Tumakuru. Expansion of vocational training institutes in industrial areas is also underway.
In the Auto and EV sector, Vision Group members highlighted the need for a network of dry ports and more EV charging stations across the state.
Patil noted that the Tata Group is manufacturing EV buses in Dharawada for nationwide supply. Plans for mini excavator production and export facilitation were also discussed, along with the establishment of a testing facility for two-wheeler EVs.
For the Green Energy sector, the group emphasised the need for a suitable policy on battery-based energy storage and the establishment of data centres.
Patil assured that the government will seriously consider all suggestions and respond positively.
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