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Where Is Al-Ahli Arab Hospital In Gaza, The Site Of The Recent Attack Amidst The Israel Conflict?

Al-Ahli Arab Hospital

(CTN NEWS) – A massive explosion at the heart of Gaza’s Al-Ahli Arab Hospital has left at least 500 Palestinians dead, sending shockwaves of anger and grief throughout the global community.

Many of the victims had sought shelter from nearly two weeks of relentless Israeli airstrikes in the besieged enclave, making this incident a focal point for international outrage and condemnation.

Accusations and Denials

In the wake of the catastrophic explosion, Palestinian officials have vehemently accused Israel of bombing the hospital, while Tel Aviv, in return, has shifted the blame onto Gaza-based armed groups.

This harrowing incident has cast a dark shadow over US President Joe Biden’s diplomatic mission to the Middle East, further intensifying the already heightened tensions in the region. Notably, Palestinian armed groups have strongly denied any involvement in the attack.

The Location of Al-Ahli Arab Hospital

The Al-Ahli Arab Hospital is situated in Gaza’s Old City, nestled between the Shujaiya and Zeitoun neighborhoods in Gaza City. This location places it less than 3 kilometers from Al-Shifa Hospital, which is the largest public hospital in Gaza, serving the enclave’s 2.3 million residents.

The hospital is also in close proximity to several historical sites in Gaza, including the Great Omari Mosque, known as Gaza’s Great Mosque, and two churches, St. Philip the Evangelist Chapel and St. Porphyrius Church.

The Great Mosque stands a mere 300 meters from the hospital and holds the distinction of being both the largest and oldest mosque in the Gaza Strip.

The area is also home to Gaza’s historic Zawiyam Market.

Al-Ahli Arab Hospital has a rich history, founded in 1882, and plays a crucial role in the healthcare of Gaza’s residents, providing care to over 45,000 patients annually.

The Time of the Strike

The exact time of the strike remains unclear. According to the Israeli military, they received reports of an explosion at the hospital around 6:59 pm local time (3:59 GMT).

The devastating impact of the attack, which also targeted the adjacent church, has prompted strong condemnations from the Anglican Diocese of Jerusalem, which operates the hospital.

In the immediate aftermath of the blast, the Gaza civil defense chief initially reported 300 fatalities, while health ministry sources later raised the figure to 500.

Victims Transported to Al-Shifa Hospital

Following the explosion at Al-Ahli Arab Hospital, a large number of injured individuals were rushed to Al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City, where medical staff worked tirelessly to provide care to the wounded.

Heart-wrenching scenes, captured by Al Jazeera, showed medics and civilians recovering bodies, using white bags or blankets to cover the deceased. The hospital’s courtyard bore the scars of the tragedy, with visible bloodstains and charred cars.

Key Facts about Al-Ahli Arab Hospital

Al-Ahli Arab Hospital is not only one of the oldest hospitals in Gaza, founded in 1882, but it also holds the distinction of being the only Christian hospital in the region, according to the Jerusalem diocese’s website.

This medical institution, like many others in northern Gaza, has been struggling to respond to the recent crisis, as Israel has targeted residential infrastructure, resulting in a devastating toll of over 3,300 Palestinians killed and more than 13,000 wounded.

Apart from providing critical healthcare, the hospital runs a breast cancer detection program and offers a free community clinic with transportation from outlying neighborhoods.

Additionally, it operates a clinic for underweight and malnourished children, as well as physical and occupational therapy services.

Notably, recent reports from The Wall Street Journal highlight the hospital’s new cancer ward, funded mainly by the American Friends of the Episcopal Diocese of Jerusalem in Texas.

The hospital is currently under the leadership of Suhaila Tarazi.

Attacks on Healthcare Facilities in October

The tragedy at Al-Ahli Arab Hospital is not an isolated incident. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), there have been over 115 attacks on healthcare in Palestine since the onset of the conflict on October 7.

At least 20 hospitals in Gaza City and North Gaza, along with one hospital in Rafah, have received repeated evacuation orders from the Israeli military.

These attacks have resulted in 77 documented incidents of violence against healthcare teams in the West Bank, further exacerbating the dire situation.

Tlaleng Mofokeng, the UN Special Rapporteur on the right to health, has decried the irreparable damage done to Gaza’s medical infrastructure, emphasizing the critical need for timely and quality healthcare services in the region.

As the world watches in shock, the tragic events at Al-Ahli Arab Hospital serve as a stark reminder of the urgency of finding a peaceful resolution to the ongoing conflict in the Middle East and protecting the sanctity of medical facilities and their patients.

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Google’s Search Dominance Is Unwinding, But Still Accounting 48% Search Revenue

Google

Google is so closely associated with its key product that its name is a verb that signifies “search.” However, Google’s dominance in that sector is dwindling.

According to eMarketer, Google will lose control of the US search industry for the first time in decades next year.

Google will remain the dominant search player, accounting for 48% of American search advertising revenue. And, remarkably, Google is still increasing its sales in the field, despite being the dominating player in search since the early days of the George W. Bush administration. However, Amazon is growing at a quicker rate.

google

Google’s Search Dominance Is Unwinding

Amazon will hold over a quarter of US search ad dollars next year, rising to 27% by 2026, while Google will fall even more, according to eMarketer.

The Wall Street Journal was first to report on the forecast.

Lest you think you’ll have to switch to Bing or Yahoo, this isn’t the end of Google or anything really near.

Google is the fourth-most valued public firm in the world. Its market worth is $2.1 trillion, trailing just Apple, Microsoft, and the AI chip darling Nvidia. It also maintains its dominance in other industries, such as display advertisements, where it dominates alongside Facebook’s parent firm Meta, and video ads on YouTube.

To put those “other” firms in context, each is worth more than Delta Air Lines’ total market value. So, yeah, Google is not going anywhere.

Nonetheless, Google faces numerous dangers to its operations, particularly from antitrust regulators.

On Monday, a federal judge in San Francisco ruled that Google must open up its Google Play Store to competitors, dealing a significant blow to the firm in its long-running battle with Fortnite creator Epic Games. Google announced that it would appeal the verdict.

In August, a federal judge ruled that Google has an illegal monopoly on search. That verdict could lead to the dissolution of the company’s search operation. Another antitrust lawsuit filed last month accuses Google of abusing its dominance in the online advertising business.

Meanwhile, European regulators have compelled Google to follow tough new standards, which have resulted in multiple $1 billion-plus fines.

google

Pixa Bay

Google’s Search Dominance Is Unwinding

On top of that, the marketplace is becoming more difficult on its own.

TikTok, the fastest-growing social network, is expanding into the search market. And Amazon has accomplished something few other digital titans have done to date: it has established a habit.

When you want to buy anything, you usually go to Amazon, not Google. Amazon then buys adverts to push companies’ products to the top of your search results, increasing sales and earning Amazon a greater portion of the revenue. According to eMarketer, it is expected to generate $27.8 billion in search revenue in the United States next year, trailing only Google’s $62.9 billion total.

And then there’s AI, the technology that (supposedly) will change everything.

Why search in stilted language for “kendall jenner why bad bunny breakup” or “police moving violation driver rights no stop sign” when you can just ask OpenAI’s ChatGPT, “What’s going on with Kendall Jenner and Bad Bunny?” in “I need help fighting a moving violation involving a stop sign that wasn’t visible.” Google is working on exactly this technology with its Gemini product, but its success is far from guaranteed, especially with Apple collaborating with OpenAI and other businesses rapidly joining the market.

A Google spokeswoman referred to a blog post from last week in which the company unveiled ads in its AI overviews (the AI-generated text that appears at the top of search results). It’s Google’s way of expressing its ability to profit on a changing marketplace while retaining its business, even as its consumers steadily transition to ask-and-answer AI and away from search.

google

Google has long used a single catchphrase to defend itself against opponents who claim it is a monopoly abusing its power: competition is only a click away. Until recently, that seemed comically obtuse. Really? We are going to switch to Bing? Or Duck Duck Go? Give me a break.

But today, it feels more like reality.

Google is in no danger of disappearing. However, every highly dominating company faces some type of reckoning over time. GE, a Dow mainstay for more than a century, was broken up last year and is now a shell of its previous dominance. Sears declared bankruptcy in 2022 and is virtually out of business. US Steel, long the foundation of American manufacturing, is attempting to sell itself to a Japanese corporation.

Could we remember Google in the same way that we remember Yahoo or Ask Jeeves in decades? These next few years could be significant.

SOURCE | CNN

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2024 | Supreme Court Won’t Hear Appeal From Elon Musk’s X Platform Over Warrant In Trump Case

trump

Washington — Trump Media,  The Supreme Court announced Monday that it will not hear an appeal from social media platform X about a search warrant acquired by prosecutors in the election meddling case against former President Donald Trump.

The justices did not explain their rationale, and there were no recorded dissents.

The firm, which was known as Twitter before being purchased by billionaire Elon Musk, claims a nondisclosure order that prevented it from informing Trump about the warrant obtained by special counsel Jack Smith’s team violated its First Amendment rights.

The business also claims Trump should have had an opportunity to exercise executive privilege. If not reined in, the government may employ similar tactics to intercept additional privileged communications, their lawyers contended.

trump

Supreme Court Won’t Hear Appeal From Elon Musk’s X Platform Over Warrant In Trump Case

Two neutral electronic privacy groups also joined in, urging the high court to hear the case on First Amendment grounds.

Prosecutors, however, claim that the corporation never shown that Trump utilized the account for official purposes, therefore executive privilege is not a problem. A lower court also determined that informing Trump could have compromised the current probe.

trump

Trump utilized his Twitter account in the weeks preceding up to his supporters’ attack on the Capitol on January 6, 2021, to spread false assertions about the election, which prosecutors claim were intended to create doubt in the democratic process.

The indictment describes how Trump used his Twitter account to encourage his followers to travel to Washington on Jan. 6, pressuring Vice President Mike Pence to reject the certification, and falsely claiming that the Capitol crowd, which battered police officers and destroyed glass, was peaceful.

musk trump

Supreme Court Won’t Hear Appeal From Elon Musk’s X Platform Over Warrant In Trump Case

That case is now moving forward following the Supreme Court’s verdict in July, which granted Trump full immunity from criminal prosecution as a former president.

The warrant arrived at Twitter amid quick changes implemented by Musk, who bought the company in 2022 and has since cut off most of its workforce, including those dedicated to combating disinformation and hate speech.

He also welcomed back a vast list of previously banned users, including Trump, and endorsed him for the 2024 presidential election.

SOURCE | AP

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The Supreme Court Turns Down Biden’s Government Appeal in a Texas Emergency Abortion Matter.

Supreme Court

(VOR News) – A ruling that prohibits emergency abortions that contravene the Supreme Court law in the state of Texas, which has one of the most stringent abortion restrictions in the country, has been upheld by the Supreme Court of the United States. The United States Supreme Court upheld this decision.

The justices did not provide any specifics regarding the underlying reasons for their decision to uphold an order from a lower court that declared hospitals cannot be legally obligated to administer abortions if doing so would violate the law in the state of Texas.

Institutions are not required to perform abortions, as stipulated in the decree. The common populace did not investigate any opposing viewpoints. The decision was made just weeks before a presidential election that brought abortion to the forefront of the political agenda.

This decision follows the 2022 Supreme Court ruling that ended abortion nationwide.

In response to a request from the administration of Vice President Joe Biden to overturn the lower court’s decision, the justices expressed their disapproval.

The government contends that hospitals are obligated to perform abortions in compliance with federal legislation when the health or life of an expectant patient is in an exceedingly precarious condition.

This is the case in regions where the procedure is prohibited. The difficulty hospitals in Texas and other states are experiencing in determining whether or not routine care could be in violation of stringent state laws that prohibit abortion has resulted in an increase in the number of complaints concerning pregnant women who are experiencing medical distress being turned away from emergency rooms.

The administration cited the Supreme Court’s ruling in a case that bore a striking resemblance to the one that was presented to it in Idaho at the beginning of the year. The justices took a limited decision in that case to allow the continuation of emergency abortions without interruption while a lawsuit was still being heard.

In contrast, Texas has been a vocal proponent of the injunction’s continued enforcement. Texas has argued that its circumstances are distinct from those of Idaho, as the state does have an exemption for situations that pose a significant hazard to the health of an expectant patient.

According to the state, the discrepancy is the result of this exemption. The state of Idaho had a provision that safeguarded a woman’s life when the issue was first broached; however, it did not include protection for her health.

Certified medical practitioners are not obligated to wait until a woman’s life is in imminent peril before they are legally permitted to perform an abortion, as determined by the state supreme court.

The state of Texas highlighted this to the Supreme Court.

Nevertheless, medical professionals have criticized the Texas statute as being perilously ambiguous, and a medical board has declined to provide a list of all the disorders that are eligible for an exception. Furthermore, the statute has been criticized for its hazardous ambiguity.

For an extended period, termination of pregnancies has been a standard procedure in medical treatment for individuals who have been experiencing significant issues. It is implemented in this manner to prevent catastrophic outcomes, such as sepsis, organ failure, and other severe scenarios.

Nevertheless, medical professionals and hospitals in Texas and other states with strict abortion laws have noted that it is uncertain whether or not these terminations could be in violation of abortion prohibitions that include the possibility of a prison sentence. This is the case in regions where abortion prohibitions are exceedingly restrictive.

Following the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade, which resulted in restrictions on the rights of women to have abortions in several Republican-ruled states, the Texas case was revisited in 2022.

As per the orders that were disclosed by the administration of Vice President Joe Biden, hospitals are still required to provide abortions in cases that are classified as dire emergency.

As stipulated in a piece of health care legislation, the majority of hospitals are obligated to provide medical assistance to patients who are experiencing medical distress. This is in accordance with the law.

The state of Texas maintained that hospitals should not be obligated to provide abortions throughout the litigation, as doing so would violate the state’s constitutional prohibition on abortions. In its January judgment, the 5th United States Circuit Court of Appeals concurred with the state and acknowledged that the administration had exceeded its authority.

SOURCE: AP

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