| | | | | | | Hello. Israeli soldiers have entered the Gaza's Al-Shifa hospital. Correspondent Rushdi Abualouf has the latest from sources inside the facility. As Xi Jinping arrives in California, Mike Wendling looks at the Chinese leader's ties to a town in rural Iowa. We also learn the tricks to move like a British royal and hear about the plans to make electric flying taxis the latest form of transport in New York City. |
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| | | | Top of the agenda | | Israeli soldiers enter Al-Shifa | | | | Patients lie on hospital beds in Al-Shifa in a picture taken on 10 November. Credit: AFP |
| | After days of fighting around Gaza's main hospital, Israeli soldiers have entered the Al-Shifa site. The military said it is conducting "precise and targeted operations" in the hospital which, it alleges, sits above tunnels used by Hamas as a command and control centre. The US has backed Israel's claims, saying intelligence shows the group stored arms there. Hamas has rejected the accusations and has condemned the raid on the hospital as a "war crime." Our correspondent Rushdi Abualouf has heard from a journalist at the hospital who described Israeli forces going from room to room, questioning staff and patients, with men aged between 16 and 40 sent to a courtyard to be scanned. With access to Gaza restricted, it is difficult for journalists to independently verify these claims. The World Health Organization said that it has lost touch with the health personnel at the facility, and is "extremely worried" for their safety. | | | | |
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| | | | | | | | AT THE SCENE | Jerusalem, Israel | | Israelis march for answers on hostages | | On Tuesday, a large crowd began a 40 mile (63 km) march from Tel Aviv to the prime minister's office in Jerusalem to urge their government to take action. With each passing day, fears grow for the more than 240 hostages that are estimated to be held in Gaza. | | | | Yolande Knell, Middle East correspondent |
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| | For Israelis reeling from last month's bloody massacres, the fate of the hostages is an ongoing trauma. Although this is the biggest, over the years, Israel has endured many hostage crises. In 2011, Benjamin Netanyahu, the prime minister - then as now - signed off on the biggest ever prisoner exchange for a single soldier, 19-year-old Gilad Shalit. More than a thousand inmates were released including Yahya Sinwar, who went on to lead Hamas in Gaza, and apparently masterminded the 7 October attacks. Gershon Baskin, a key figure involved in the Shalit deal, sees major differences between the circumstances then and now. "We had five years and four months to build trust with Gilad Shalit. [Now], we have days. The future of the hostages will be decided in the coming days," the Israeli peace activist says. |
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| | | | Beyond the headlines | | Xi Jinping's surprising ties to rural Iowa | | | | In 2013, a Chinese businessman bought the Dvorchaks' old house, which for a while was turned into a museum. Getty Images |
| | When the Dvochaks family of Muscatine, Iowa, hosted a Chinese delegate in their son's Star Wars-themed bedroom in 1985, they could not have imagined their guest would one day become the president of China. Xi Jinping did not forget that first trip to the mid-West, and returned in 2012, turning the town of 24,000-or-so residents into a sort of visitor attraction for Chinese tourists in the US. | | | | |
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| | | | Something different | | Princely moves | | Meet the choreographer getting The Crown's cast to move like royalty. | | |
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| | | | And finally... | | Joby Aviation has conducted a successful test flight of its electric air taxi in New York City. The service could become available commercially as soon as 2025, according to plans between the company and the US Federal Aviation Administration. Watch this video to see what the aircraft looks like and why it could give helicopters a run for their money. |
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| | | | | | Future Earth Newsletter | | Essential climate news and hopeful developments, in your inbox every Tuesday. | | |
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