Ukraine this week claimed to have “gained a foothold” on the left bank of the Dnipro River, a welcome boost after its much vaunted counteroffensive failed to make major gains.

But it has been worse news elsewhere for Kyiv, after Germany admitted European targets for providing ammunition would fall short.

Here are the main developments from Ukraine this week.

‘Foothold’ in the south

Ukrainian forces say they have have “gained a foothold” on the left (eastern) bank of the Dnipro River in southern Ukraine.

“Thanks to their courage and professionalism, the Ukrainian marines in cooperation with other units of the Defense Forces, managed to gain a foothold in several bridgeheads,” the statement said Friday. “Ukrainian marines are conducting strikes on the left bank of the Kherson region and are carrying out activities to destroy the enemy.”

The development marks a potentially significant advance for Ukraine across a natural defensive barrier for Russian forces.  

Russia acknowledged the presence of Ukrainian troops on the Dnipro River’s east bank on Wednesday. The Russian-appointed acting head of the Kherson region administration, Vladimir Saldo, made the announcement in a Telegram post, citing the Russian military operating in the area.

According to Saldo, “small groups” of Ukrainian soldiers are spread “from a railway bridge,” that is located in the area of the east bank to Krynky, a village east of Kherson.

Ukraine has staged cross-river raids before but the announcement signals Kyiv has a sustained presence in the region that could theoretically give a launching place to push further south toward occupied Crimea.

Ukraine launched a broad counteroffensive along the front lines in the country’s east and south earlier this summer, but made only incremental gains and recaptured relatively small settlements.

EU ammunition targets fall short

The European Union’s goal of supplying Ukraine with 1 million rounds of artillery ammunition is unlikely to be achieved, Germany’s defense minister warned.

“It can be assumed that the 1 million rounds will not be reached,” Boris Pistorius said ahead of an EU defense ministers meeting in Brussels. EU member states are working with industry to ramp up production, he added.

In March, EU member states agreed to provide Ukraine with 1 million rounds of artillery ammunition for Ukraine to be delivered within 12 months.

Pistorius’ warning came after Josep Borrell, the EU’s high representative for foreign affairs and security policy, said the bloc may not meet targets for ammunition production to supply Kyiv by the end of the year, but said efforts were underway to increase production capacity.

Both Ukraine and Russia need to replenish extraordinary amounts of ammunition as a grinding war of attrition continues in Ukraine’s east and south.

According to South Korea’s National Intelligence Service, North Korea has exported more than 1 million shells to Russia since early August. The US has also been ramping up ammunition production to supply Ukraine.

Russian convict pardoned

A former Russian detective convicted for his role in orchestrating the 2006 assassination of investigative journalist Anna Politkovskaya has been pardoned by Russian President Vladimir Putin after being recruited to fight in Ukraine, his lawyer told state media TASS.

Sergey Khadzhikurbanov was sentenced to 20 years in prison for organizing the killing of Politkovskaya, a columnist for the investigative newspaper Novaya Gazeta and one of the Kremlin’s fiercest critics, who was shot dead in Moscow on October 7, 2006 – Putin’s birthday.

Khadzhikurbanov’s lawyer, Alexey Mikhalchik, told TASS on Monday that his client had “signed a contract with the Russian Ministry of Defense, subsequently receiving a pardon from President [Putin].”

Mikhalchik said after the completion of his initial contract with the Russian military, Khadzhikurbanov had continued to serve and currently holds a “leadership position” in one of the combat units after being offered a new contract.

Khadzhikurbanov, formerly a Moscow police officer, was sentenced in 2014 by a Moscow court for his role in Politkovskaya’s murder. Before being pardoned by Putin, his original prison term was due to conclude in 2034.

UK foreign minister visits Kyiv

British Foreign Secretary David Cameron arrived in Ukraine’s capital Kyiv on Thursday, where he met with Zelensky, just a few days after his appointment as the UK’s top diplomat this week.

The visit was previously unannounced and comes amid concerns that the Israel-Gaza conflict will divert international attention from the war in Ukraine.

“I wanted this to be my first visit, personally. I admire the strength and determination of the Ukrainian people,” Cameron told the Ukrainian president, according to a video of the meeting posted on Zelensky’s social media accounts.

Zelensky thanked Cameron for his support, telling the foreign secretary that the world is “not focused on the situation on our battlefield and in Ukraine,” and that the “divided focus really doesn’t help.”

Cameron – a former UK prime minister – was on his first overseas trip since his shock appointment.

“We will continue giving you the moral support, the diplomatic support, the economic one, but above all the military support that you need. Not just this year, next year but for however long it takes,” the UK foreign minister said.

Russia jails artist

A Russian artist was sentenced to seven years in jail on Thursday for replacing price tags with anti-war messages in a supermarket.

According to the press service of St. Petersburg courts, Alexandra Skochilenko was found guilty of “public dissemination of deliberately false information about the use of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation.”

Despite Skochilenko pleading not guilty and the defense seeking acquittal, the court imposed a seven-year sentence with a three-year ban on activities related to using “electronic or information and telecommunication networks,” the press service said in a Telegram post.

The prosecution claimed that in March last year, Skochilenko “placed paper fragments containing deliberately false information about the use of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation in places for attaching commodity price tags” in a chain supermarket in St. Petersburg.

Skochilenko, who has been kept in pretrial detention since April 2022, has had deteriorating health, according to the independent investigative newspaper Novaya Gazeta. Her health issues requiring medications and a special diet include celiac disease, heart disease, gastrointestinal diseases and bipolar disorder.

Renewed fighting between the Myanmar Armed Forces (MAF) and the Arakan Army (AA) has displaced more than 26,000 people in the country’s western Rakhine state since Monday, according to the United Nations.

In a statement Friday, the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UNOCHA) said the latest figures bring the total number of internally displaced people due to conflict between the two sides to approximately 90,000.

Eleven deaths and more than 30 injuries have been reported since an informal ceasefire agreed a year ago broke on November 13, the statement read.

More than 100 people have reportedly been detained by the MAF and five by the AA, it added.

Battles between the military and resistance groups have unfolded almost daily across Myanmar since army general Min Aung Hlaing seized power in February 2021, plunging the country into economic chaos and fresh civil war.

The most recent fighting began when the AA reportedly attacked two border posts near the Maungdaw township, which is near the border with Bangladesh.

The two parties had previously established an informal ceasefire in November 2022, according to the UN body.

It added that there have been reports of MAF shelling in AA-controlled areas and that the military had conducted at least one operation backed by air and naval support.

Most humanitarian activities have been suspended due to the fighting and “virtually all roads and waterways” between Rakhine townships have been blocked, the statement read.

Airstrikes and ground attacks on what the MAF calls “terrorist” targets have occurred regularly since 2021 and killed thousands of civilians, including children, according to monitoring groups.

Whole villages have been burned down by junta soldiers and schools, clinics and hospitals destroyed in the attacks.

Liberia’s President, George Weah, has conceded defeat to opposition candidate Joseph Boakai after a tight run-off election.

Weah, a former soccer star, called Boakai after the country’s National Elections Commission (NEC) released provisional results on Friday.

With nearly all ballots counted, Boakai, a 78-year-old former vice president of Liberia, won 51% of the votes, the country’s electoral commission said.

In an address to the nation, Weah said: “The results announced tonight, though not final, indicate that Ambassador Joseph N. Boakai is in a lead that we cannot surpass. Therefore, a few minutes ago, I spoke with President-elect Joseph N. Boakai to congratulate him on his victory.

“Tonight, as we acknowledge the results, let us also recognize that the true winners of these elections are the people of Liberia,” he added.

President Weah was voted into office in 2018 and will step down in January.

A run-off was triggered when Weah, 57, secured a victory in an earlier October poll with a margin of just 7,000 votes over his political rival, Boakai. However, he fell short of the required 50% threshold necessary to clinch an outright victory.

Weah was seeking reelection for a second six-year term after a tumultuous first tenure tainted by corruption scandals and allegations of mismanagement.

He has been praised for immediately conceding ensuring, a peaceful transfer of power – a significant milestone in Liberia’s fragile democracy, which has seen civil war and previous leaders killed in office.

There have also been a spate of coups in West and Central Africa in recent years.

Nigeria’s President Bola Tinubu was among the first to congratulate the new President-elect while also commending Weah’s “sterling example, undiluted patriotism, and statesmanship. He has defied the stereotype that peaceful transitions of power are untenable in West Africa,” a statement from Nigeria’s presidency said.

Britain’s sovereign didn’t celebrate his 75th birthday with an extravagant soiree or an over-the-top display of pageantry on Tuesday. Instead, he followed his mother’s tradition of marking the occasion in a low-key fashion and threw himself into his work.

In doing so, the King’s messaging was clear: His primary focus is on public service. This theme is something King Charles III adopted from the earliest moments of his reign.

The centerpiece of the monarch’s birthday plans this week was kicking off his new Coronation Food Project, an initiative he was inspired to launch with the dual purpose of tackling both food poverty and waste.

The program aims to create distribution hubs to take excess food and supply it wherever it’s needed amid the ongoing cost of living crisis.

To mark his special occasion, Charles’ engagements on his birthday included a tour of a surplus food distribution center outside London. Accompanied by his wife, Queen Camilla, he wanted to see how food waste can be used for social good.

Charles had revealed more about the new campaign in the latest edition of Big Issue, a magazine that helps the homeless, published Monday, which also saw the monarch become its newest cover star.

“Food need is as real and urgent a problem as food waste – and if a way could be found to bridge the gap between them, then it would address two problems in one,” the King wrote in the publication.

“It is my great hope that this Coronation Food Project will find practical ways to do just that – rescuing more surplus food, and distributing it to those who need it most.”

As is tradition on the monarch’s actual birthday, ceremonial gun salutes sounded across the country, including at the Tower of London and Edinburgh Castle.

After visiting the food distribution center, where he was also treated to a surprise rendition of “Happy Birthday,” Charles hosted a reception for nurses and midwives at Buckingham Palace in honor of the National Health Service, which is also 75 this year.

He rounded out the day with a private dinner with family at Clarence House. While Prince Harry was not there, we understand he was expected to call his father from California for his big day.

On Monday, King Charles shared his celebrations with others who were also turning 75. A couple of his properties hosted afternoons of live music and tea parties, with the monarch stopping by his home in Highgrove, Gloucestershire, to join the fun.

Another signal of the King’s birthday theme of public service came from a change you may have missed this past week. It was recently revealed that three of the charitable organizations he established while Prince of Wales are being rebranded. The Prince’s Trust is becoming the King’s Trust. Likewise, the Prince’s Foundation will be the King’s Foundation. Meanwhile, the Prince of Wales’s Charitable Fund will be known as the King Charles III Charitable Fund going forward.

The Israeli military is tightening its grip on northern Gaza, as its war on the Hamas militant group is showing no signs of abating.

Almost six weeks into the conflict, however, Israel is yet to offer a clear post-war plan for the territory.

Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant last week said the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) has effectively cut the Strip in two, and on Tuesday claimed Hamas had lost control in northern Gaza, including in Gaza City.

The Israeli military raided Gaza’s largest hospital, Al-Shifa, on Wednesday after claiming that Hamas had built a command center beneath the sprawling medical complex.

On Thursday, the Israeli army released video of what it called an “operational tunnel shaft,” unearthed in the grounds of the hospital. Hamas responded by accusing Israel of giving “false scenarios, fabricated narratives, and distorted information” about Al-Shifa.

But what is Israel’s plan for Gaza if and when it achieves its aim of eliminating Hamas? Some experts say Israel may not have a clear idea.

“They (Israel) would argue they have time to figure that out after the military operation,” Lowenstein said.

Beyond those vague hints, Netanyahu has not provided a defined strategy for the territory, where more than two-thirds of its 2 million inhabitants are now internally displaced, and where more than 40% of all housing units have been either destroyed or damaged, according to United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), citing the Ministry of Housing in Gaza.

“Israel went into this without a clear plan for the morning after,” said Daniel Levy, president of the US-Middle East Project, a London and New York-based organization focusing on finding resolutions to the Israel-Palestinian conflict.

What role can Palestinians play?

The PA has a troubled history in Gaza, and was essentially kicked out by Hamas in 2007 after a brief civil war, leaving it with limited authority over parts of the West Bank only. Analysts fail to agree whether bringing it back to the Strip would work.

Kobi Michael, a senior researcher at the Institute for National Security Studies (INSS) in Tel Aviv, said the PA is “not the solution but the problem,” adding it has not run the West Bank efficiently and suffers a “huge deficit of legitimacy in its own constituency.”

The Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research in Ramallah found last year that more than 70% of Palestinians were dissatisfied with Mahmoud Abbas, the PA’s ageing president – the poll found 74% demanding he resign.

Levy, of the US-Middle East Project, who is also a former Israeli peace negotiator, said that one of main reasons Abbas has lost popularity is that he has agreed to work with Israel, with Israeli settlements under his rule only expanding deeper into the West Bank.

“The real question may be whether the PA would actually have the will and the capacity to play meaningful role,” Lowenstein said, adding that “they have already made clear they will not take over on the back of Israeli tanks or without a path to an independent state.”

Regional players

Both Palestinians and regional players may be reluctant to accept what Israel has so far suggested, experts say.

Several key regional powers – Egypt, Jordan, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates – have stressed the two-state solution as the only pathway toward peace.

Arab countries are reluctant to accept the issues raised by Netanyahu, said Lina Khatib, head of the SOAS Middle East Institute in London.

That way, she said, the territory would have a government that is “perhaps more legitimate as far as Palestinians are concerned, both in Gaza and the West Bank.”

The PLO was formed in the 1960s and enjoyed a reputation for decades among Palestinians as the legitimate voice of their resistance.

Michael of INSS, who previously served as the head of the Palestinian desk at Israel’s Ministry for Strategic Affairs, said that the Israeli-Palestinian bilateral level of negotiations “has been exhausted,” adding that “the maximum that Israel can give the Palestinians doesn’t meet the minimum that the Palestinians request and vice versa.”

The conflict, he said, must be seen as a regional issue and not just one between Palestinians and Israelis. Regional players must play more significant roles, he said.

Even before the current crisis, Gaza’s near-17 years of blockade has shattered its economy and left 80% of its population reliant on international aid, according to a report by the UN Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD). This war has then set the Palestinian economy in both Gaza and the West Bank back decades, said the UN Development Programme (UNDP), without producing an estimate of the costs for Gaza’s reconstruction, given the current uncertainty around the length of Israel’s campaign.

The Palestine Economic Policy Research Institute, however, put that estimate at up to $20 billion over the next five years. It also said that “no single Palestinian party can reconstruct the Gaza Strip after the war, or restore its devastated economy, in the absence of generous international aid.”

Experts have pointed to the UNDP and the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) as some of the key players that could help distribute aid and reconstruct the territory but have warned that donor countries will not only need to contribute generously, but also that aid groups will need to feel they can operate safely there.

With Israel showing no sign of succumbing to pressure to agree a ceasefire, the conflict risks dragging on, experts say, and an Israeli presence in Gaza is likely to continue for the foreseeable future.

Levy warned that unless the “problem of Palestinian dispossession, statelessness and lack of rights” is addressed, the most likely outcome of the current conflict will be that “Hamas will continue to exist.”

“Its military capacity may be downgraded, (but) politically it is probably stronger than before,” he said. “There will still be a Hamas.”

In terms of a future resolution, Lowenstein said that a lot of work will need to be done if the two-state solution is revived as it was “at best on life support before the conflict,” and “often more of a talking point than a policy.”

“Far-sighted leadership and tough decisions” are needed to change the course of the current conflict, he added, “which is really hard to imagine in the current political climate.”

“But maybe this will eventually make both sides realize there really is no viable alternative,” he added.

Gaza’s largest hospital, Al-Shifa, has become a flashpoint in Israel’s war in the enclave, which began when Hamas militants crossed the border into Israel on October 7, killing around 1,200 people.

Palestinians and humanitarian agencies say the current fighting in and around Al-Shifa is proof of Israel’s wanton disregard for civilian life in Gaza, while Israel accuses Hamas of using the medical center as a shield for its operations.

The UN meanwhile is calling for access to Al-Shifa, warning that hospitals should not be used as battlegrounds for any side. “This is precisely where you need an independent international investigation, because we have different narratives,” said Volker Türk, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights. “You cannot use civilian, especially hospitals, for any military purposes. But you also cannot attack a hospital in the absence of clear evidence.”

The hospital is a key shelter for Palestinian civilians fleeing Israeli bombardment in Gaza, currently estimated to be sheltering over 7,000 displaced people in addition to medical staff and patients.

Here’s what we know so far.

What does Israel say?

Israel has repeatedly accused Hamas of operating from tunnels beneath the vast complex of Al-Shifa hospital.

In a presentation to the media last month, Israeli military spokesman Daniel Hagari claimed that Hamas was directing rocket attacks and commanding operations from bunkers underneath the hospital building, which he said were linked to the network of tunnels that Hamas had dug underneath Gaza City.

The IDF also published an “intelligence-based” illustrated video of what it claims the Hamas headquarters under Al-Shifa looks like. The video shows a 3D diagram of the hospital, which moves to show an animated network of purported tunnels and operation rooms.

The White House has backed Israel’s claims, saying that Hamas was storing weapons and operating a command node from the Al-Shifa hospital in Gaza, citing US intelligence.

Senior US officials have declined multiple times to expand on how they are able to back up Israel’s claims, as the US does not have a presence on the ground in Gaza.

How has Hamas responded?

Israel’s claims have been vehemently denied by Hamas, the Gaza Health Ministry, and hospital officials.

After Israel launched its offensive, Hamas accused the US of giving Israel “a green light … to commit more massacres against civilians” by amplifying what it called a “false narrative” that a militant command center lies somewhere inside Al-Shifa.

What evidence has Israel given?

After launching the raid on Wednesday, Israel said soldiers had located a room in the hospital where they found, “technological assets, along with military and combat equipment used by Hamas.”

“In another department in the hospital, the soldiers located an operational command center and technological assets belonging to Hamas,” the statement said, claiming “that the terrorist organization uses the hospital for terrorist purposes.”

Hamas has rejected both findings as “baseless lies.”

The bodies of two Israeli hostages – a 65-year-old woman and an Israeli soldier – were also found near the vicinity of Al-Shifa hospital this week, Israel’s military said.

Israel says it is still working to expose tunnel infrastructure and added it will provide further evidence in a “few weeks.”

Israeli army spokesman Jonathan Conricus claimed mobile items like guns could have easily been removed before Israeli forces arrived. He claimed soldiers at the hospital complex were “proceeding one building at a time, searching each floor, all while hundreds of patients and medical staff remain in the complex.”

‘Children are starving’

Israel’s assault on Al-Shifa has compounded a grim humanitarian crisis inside the complex, Palestinian health officials say.

At least 41 patients, including three premature babies, lost their lives at Al-Shifa Hospital between November 11 and November 16 due to the lack of electricity amid Israel’s fuel blockade, according to a report published by the Palestinian Authority’s Ministry of Health in Ramallah on Friday citing medical sources from the Hamas-controlled enclave.

Most of the ICU patients who relied on ventilators have died due to the lack oxygen and fuel to power the hospital’s generator, Dr. Ahmad Mofeed Al-Mokhalalati, the head of the burns department at Al-Shifa Hospital told Qatari TV channel Al-Jazeera over the phone from inside the hospital on Friday.

Dr. Al-Mokhalalati noted a significant decrease in the number of premature babies in their care with little hope for the survival of the remaining infants under the current conditions.

“There is no water or electricity in the main buildings of the compound,” he said.

Surgical operations have come to a halt due to the lack of electricity. This has led to an increase in suffering, especially among children who are now facing severe intestinal infections, a direct consequence of the unavailability of clean water, Dr. Al-Mokhalalati added.

He mentioned that although the Israeli forces promised to provide food, the supply delivered was grossly insufficient, enough for only 40% of those inside the hospital.

On Thursday, Mohammad Abu Salmiya, the director of Al-Shifa, spoke of desperate conditions inside the hospital affecting over 650 wounded people, 36 premature babies, 45 kidney patients, and 5,000 displaced people.

In a phone interview with Al-Jazeera Arabic from inside the hospital, Abu Salmiya said children were starving, especially those who are still dependent on milk for sustenance.

“The children are starving, and here I mean the displaced children because they need milk and there is no water to make formula for them,” Abu Salmiya said.

Abu Salmiya reported the death of a kidney patient, with four others on the brink of death due to critical conditions and the absence of dialysis for days. He accused the “Israeli occupation” of besieging the hospital, sabotaging sections, and roaming within its premises.

The hospital is facing a severe shortage of essential supplies, the director added.

Abu Salmiya passionately called for urgent global intervention to avert the impending tragedy, emphasizing that every passing minute and hour results in more deaths.

United Nations demands access

The United Nations’ human rights chief has called on Israel to give his team access to Al-Shifa hospital in Gaza City, after Israel’s military released video of what it called a Hamas “operational tunnel shaft” in the complex’s grounds, a claim immediately rejected by the militant group and Al-Shifa medical administrators as “ridiculous.”

Volker Türk, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, called on Israel to grant his team access to Gaza to investigate competing claims about Al-Shifa Hospital.

He said the situation needs an “independent international investigation, because we have different narratives.”

“You cannot use civilian, especially hospitals, for any military purposes. But you also cannot attack a hospital in the absence of clear evidence,” Türk added.

The sprawling medical facility of Al-Shifa, which sits in the western part of Gaza City, was built in 1946 when Gaza was still under British rule. It has long been seen as the backbone of medical services across the besieged Gaza Strip, and has been hit in previous Hamas-Israel conflicts.

This is a developing story and will be updated.

The International Criminal Court’s prosecutor Karim Khan says his office has received a referral from five countries to investigate whether crimes have been committed in the Palestinian territories as part of Israel’s response to the October 7 Hamas terror attacks.

South Africa, Bangladesh, Bolivia, Comoros and Djibouti submitted the referral, Khan said.

“In accordance with the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court, a State Party may refer to the Prosecutor a situation in which one or more crimes within the jurisdiction of the Court appear to have been committed requesting the Prosecutor to investigate the situation for the purpose of determining whether one or more specific persons should be charged with the commission of such crimes,” Khan said in a statement.

He noted that his office was already conducting an investigation on the situation in the Palestinian territories over possible crimes committed since June 2014 in Gaza and the West Bank. The investigation began in March 2021.

“It is ongoing and extends to the escalation of hostilities and violence since the attacks that took place on 7 October 2023,” Khan said. “In accordance with the Rome Statute, my Office has jurisdiction over crimes committed on the territory of a State Party and with respect to the nationals of States Parties.”

Both Hamas and Israel have been accused of war crimes as the death toll from the conflict mounts. Israeli attacks on Gaza have killed nearly 11,500 Palestinians since October 7, according to the Palestinian Ministry of Health in Ramallah, which draws on medical sources in the Hamas-controlled enclave. Israel says its airstrikes intend to target Hamas commanders and infrastructure, following the militant group’s October 7 terror attacks which left 1,200 people dead in Israel and saw 240 taken hostage.

Israel’s siege of Gaza has included a near-total blockade of food, water and electricity, with exceptions for what the United Nations has called a “trickle” of humanitarian aid. On Friday however, Israel’s war cabinet agreed to allow two fuel tankers to enter Gaza each day to support water and sewage systems.

The conflict is covered by a complex system of international law developed after World War II, which attempts to balance humanitarian concerns and the military requirements of states.

A UN report said last month said it was collecting evidence of war crimes in the wake of the Hamas attack. The report said Israel may be committing the war crime of collective punishment, after the government of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ordered the “complete siege” of Gaza. A number of prominent human rights groups concur with the UN’s assessment.

Earlier this month, Volker Türk, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, called the October 7 attacks “atrocities”, saying they – and the holding of hostages – were war crimes.

But he added “the collective punishment by Israel of Palestinian civilians amounts also to a war crime, as does the unlawful forcible evacuation of civilians.”

The South African government has called for a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas. In a statement last month, South Africa’s Department of International Relations and Cooperation accused Israel of war crimes and said “the continual bombardment of civilian targets, the denial of the civilian population of Gaza of water, food, fuel, and electricity is prohibited under International Humanitarian Law and by Geneva Conventions.”

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has called accusations that Israel is committing war crimes in Gaza “hogwash.” “We’re deliberately doing everything in our power to target the terrorists, and the civilians – as happens in every legitimate war – are sometimes what are called collateral damage,” he told NBC News on Sunday.

Israel is not a member of the ICC and rejects the court’s jurisdiction. That has not stopped the court from investigating its actions in the occupied Palestinian territories. Fatou Bensouda, then the ICC’s prosecutor, spent five years conducting a “painstaking preliminary examination” and concluded she was “satisfied that war crimes have been or are being committed in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, and the Gaza Strip.” But no arrests were made, and Bensouda left office in 2021.

Khan has said previously that the acts committed by Hamas on October 7 are “serious violations, if proven, of international humanitarian law.” He also stressed that “Israel has clear obligations in relation to its war with Hamas: Not just moral obligations, but legal obligations… It’s there in the Geneva Conventions. It’s there in black and white.”

Mahdi, 16, was blindfolded when a strange man felt for his biceps. He was looking for a “strong” boy to use as a farmhand.

The size of his muscles helped the man determine Mahdi’s price as he bought him from a militiaman who had captured him in the West Darfur capital of El Geneina.

“They hit me and called me a slave. And they kept hitting me,” Mahdi said of his captors and other unknown men. “I’d crouch down and they’d smack me in the neck.”

The documentary, which will air this Sunday on “The Whole Story with Anderson Cooper,” exposes an RSF-led campaign to enslave men and women in El Geneina, the largest city controlled by the paramilitary group in Sudan’s Darfur region.

He only came out of hiding when night fell. Throughout the day, he said, he saw the fighters forcing women into classrooms at gunpoint, after which he said he heard sounds that indicated torture and rape.

Many of the women, Khalid said, appeared to have been trafficked from further north in Sudan — where women’s style of dress can display relative affluence, and where the tribal and racial mix is typified by generally lighter complexions.

She said she saw an RSF fighter approach the driver and ask how much he was willing to “sell” the women for.

She recalled hearing the driver boast that he had “handpicked the women” and that “no amount of cash” would make him release them to the RSF fighter.

‘To us you are all slaves’  

The trafficking of women from Arab-majority areas in the north of the country has become a widely discussed practice in Sudan, with widespread reports of RSF fighters demanding ransoms for their release.

In Darfur, captured women from non-Arab tribes appear to have been treated differently — the apparent sexual exploitation of women tends to involve shorter periods of captivity, and their abuse is reported by dozens of witnesses, survivors and activists to be racially fuelled.

The RSF, a largely Arab fighting force that has been accused of ethnically cleansing non-Arab tribes in Darfur, is widely named as the culprit of wide-scale sexual exploitation there.

The paramilitary group has previously denied allegations of conducting an ethnic cleansing campaign and committing sexual violence, in Darfur.

According to a Human Rights Watch report published in August, the RSF raped “several dozen women and girls” in El Geneina between late April and late June.

“The assailants appear to have targeted people because of their Masalit ethnicity and, in some cases, because they were known activists,” the report said.

She said she heard her captor receiving money in exchange for her enslavement in the brothel — up to 7,000 Sudanese pounds, the equivalent of $10.

“He said to me: ‘To us you all are slaves. To us you are not free,’” said Raghm, who belongs to the Masalit tribe, the main target of the RSF’s revived apparent ethnic cleansing campaign.

Between beatings, she said she recalled him saying: “You are dirt. You are a disgrace.”

In Arabic, the word for ‘slave’ is a racial slur equivalent to the n-word.

‘They flogged us with whips’

“They locked my mother, myself, and my sisters up for four days and they raped us,” said 20-year-old Hawa. “On the fifth day, we fled. We saw some of (the Arab militia) on the street and they flogged us with whips. They told us to run for our lives, and cursed us, calling us donkeys and goats.

“The children were exhausted, barely walking a few steps before they collapsed,” she said.

He said he spent 10 days in the house that he was sold to before escaping and making it to the relative safety of Chad. The brother who was taken at the same time as him was killed by the RSF, he said.

Editor’s Note: This report would not have been possible without the contributions of Sudanese journalists whom we are not naming for their safety.

An Indian bowler previously attacked on social media for his Muslim faith has emerged as a hero of the national team as it prepares to take on Australia in the Cricket World Cup final on Sunday.

Fast bowler Mohammed Shami took seven wickets in Wednesday’s semifinal against New Zealand – the biggest haul in the tournament’s history – cementing his status as a standout of this World Cup.

Millions of cricket fans celebrated their beloved team’s win on Wednesday – and Shami has been singled out as a bowling sensation who could lead them to victory in the final.

“The bowling by (Mohammed Shami) in this game and also through the World Cup will be cherished by cricket lovers for generations to come,” India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi wrote on X, formerly known as Twitter, shortly after the game. “Well played Shami!”

Celebratory headlines dominated local news, with the Times of India, one of the country’s largest English-language newspapers, writing at length about how Shami left the cricketing world “spellbound.”

Yet, as admiration reverberated around the country, commentators were quick to remind fans that Shami – as one of the only Muslim cricketers on the national team – recently endured harmful and racist online abuse for his identity and faith.

In 2021, the player received a torrent of online hate after India lost to Pakistan during the Twenty20 World Cup.

Often described as one of the greatest sporting grudges in the world, India-Pakistan cricket matches are bound up in geopolitical fault lines. The two countries have fought three wars and restrict the movement of trade and people across borders, despite sharing a culture and deeply entwined history.

The vitriol against Shami got so bad that former captain Virat Kohli and other sporting legends rallied to his defense.

“Attacking someone over religion is the most pathetic thing a human being can do,” Kohli told reporters at the time, in a news conference that made headlines across the country. “We stand by Shami completely.”

Religious tensions have flared in Hindu-majority India since Modi and his Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) ascended to power, ushering in policies critics allege discriminate against minorities.

Many took to social media after Shami’s performance this week to point out the irony that a man once singled out for hateful comments has led the country to the final, to be played at the Narendra Modi Stadium in the western state of Gujarat on Sunday.

“Remember how Mohammed Shami was targeted two years ago after loss to Pakistan. Then captain Virat Kohli was also attacked for standing up for him,” wrote Manu Sebastian, the managing editor of the Indian legal website, Live Law, on X. “Both of them are emerging as heroes of India’s World Cup journey. Sports is something beyond bigots’ narrow and jingoistic vision.”

Kohli’s performance in this year’s tournament has also been praised and the batsman is widely regarded as one of the greatest in the history of the sport.

Cartoonist Satish Satish Acharya on Thursday published an image he sketched of Shami in a cricket stadium, with a fan who says to the bowler: “Hum saath saath hai bhai!” (We are with you brother).

On his social media, Acharya wrote: “Trolled in the past, Mohammed Shami is now showered with love!”

The United Nations’ human rights chief has called on Israel to give his team access to Al-Shifa hospital in Gaza City, after Israel’s military released video of what it called a Hamas “operational tunnel shaft” in the complex’s grounds, a claim immediately rejected by the militant group and medical administrators as “ridiculous.”

The video, released on Thursday, shows a hole in the ground and what appears to be a shaft reinforced with concrete with exposed pipes and cabling.

The video does not show the inside of the shaft.

In a televised briefing later Thursday, IDF spokesman Daniel Hagari said army engineers were still working to expose the tunnel infrastructure.

The UN’s High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk called on Israel to grant independent investigators access to Gaza to probe the competing claims.

“This is precisely where you need an independent international investigation, because we have different narratives,” said Türk on Thursday. “You cannot use … hospitals, for any military purposes. But you also cannot attack a hospital in the absence of clear evidence.”

The release of the video came as Israeli troops continued to conduct what an Israel Defense Forces (IDF) spokesman called “very specific, contained operations” both “inside and in the vicinity of the hospital complex.”

Israel has been bombarding Gaza, an impoverished and densely packed territory, since the deadly October 7 attack on its territory by Hamas militants.

Israeli airstrikes have killed 11,470 people in Gaza, 4,707 of them children, according to the Palestinian Ministry of Health in Ramallah said Thursday, citing medical sources in the Hamas-controlled enclave.

The actions of both Israel and Hamas since the militant group’s massacre of an estimated 1,200 people on October 7 must be investigated, Türk said.

“What Hamas did – the horrific killing of civilians, the fact that they took hostages – are clear violations of the law. The fact that we have seen a collective punishment by Israel of Gaza, by cutting off supplies, of medical necessities, of food, of electricity, of water, is also [a] very serious matter under international humanitarian law,” said Türk.

“So, indeed, there are issues that we all have to look into because they are very serious. And they require answers. And they require accountability,” he added.

Türk said hospitals had special protection at all time under humanitarian law.

“When it comes to hospitals to medical facilities, to medical personnel, there needs to be special protection for them because, of course, hospitals provide life-saving services. There needs to be effective communication when it comes to evacuations, for example, and there needs to be special provision made for the wounded and the injured to be cared for,” said Türk.

Israel and the United States have accused Hamas of operating what they claim is a command center under the hospital in Gaza and Israeli is under pressure to uncover evidence of the sort of multi-layered network of tunnels and chambers that officials have said lies beneath the hospital.

The Hamas-run government media office released a statement calling Israel’s claim about the tunnel shaft a “ridiculous scenario.” It accused Israel of pushing “false scenarios, fabricated narratives, and distorted information” about the hospital.

“It is a failed attempt to escape future accountability and legal pursuit,” the Hamas statement said.

“The Palestinian Ministry of Health has repeatedly requested dozens of times (for) all institutions, organizations, international bodies, and relevant parties to form technical teams to visit and inspect all hospitals, in order to refute the false incitement narrative,” it added.

The release of the latest video came as Israel also said that it had found the body of Yehudit Weiss, a 65-year-old grandmother who was kidnapped from a kibbutz near the Gaza Strip during the attack by Hamas militants on October 7.

Friday morning the IDF announced it had recovered the body of a second Israeli hostage, 19-year old Noa Marciano, a corporal in the Israel Defense Forces.

IDF statements said both bodies were found in what were described as “structures” near the Shifa hospital, though it is not known if the bodies were found together, and the precise circumstances surrounding the deaths of both women has not been made clear.

Israeli forces launched a raid on Al-Shifa early Wednesday and soon after released images showing firearms, body armor, and a laptop that it said contained incriminating material recovered from the hospital.

On Thursday, the IDF also claimed to have found a booby-trapped car in the hospital complex containing a large amount of weapons and ammunition.

Thousands of medical personnel, patients, and displaced people remained inside Al-Shifa Thursday amid conditions that doctors have called “catastrophic,” with food, water, and medical supplies exhausted.

The hospital, the largest in Gaza, has run out of fuel and is no longer considered operational. Earlier this week, doctors and journalists described desperate efforts to keep premature babies alive and limited procedures taking place by candlelight.

Hospital director Mohammad Abu Salmiya told Al Jazeera Thursday that children were starving, and his medical staff had been forced to make “harrowing” decisions such as amputating patients’ limbs to prevent the spread of infection from untreated wounds.

Abu Salmiya reported the death of a kidney patient, with four others on the brink of death due to critical conditions and the absence of dialysis for days. He accused Israel of besieging the hospital, sabotaging sections, and spending the last 48 hours freely roaming within its premises.

Al-Rantisi Hospital claims

In another announcement, the IDF’s Hagari said Thursday that soldiers had also unearthed a tunnel at the Al-Rantisi children’s hospital in northern Gaza.

On Wednesday, US National Security Council spokesman John Kirby reiterated previous statements from the White House saying the US had intelligence that Hamas was operating in Al-Shifa Hospital.

“I would say we are comfortable with our own intelligence assessment about the degree to which Hamas was and is using al-Shifa hospital as a command and control node and as a storage facility underneath. We’re very comfortable with our own intelligence assessment for that,” Kirby said.