Latest news with #Nour
The National
a day ago
- Politics
- The National
Nour and Remas escaped Israel's bombs – then its starvation policy killed them
Ashraf Abo Salla spent 21 months shielding his 11-year-old daughter Nour from Israeli bombardment, dodging bombs, shelling and snipers. But there was one thing he couldn't protect her from: hunger. Nour died of starvation caused by a brutal Israeli siege. Her father couldn't find food, and the lentils they were given weren't enough to keep her alive. In a Gaza morgue, frail and hollow-eyed, he appeared consumed by guilt, though none of this was his doing. He didn't cry, but his despair and anger were raw as he wrapped Nour's skeletal body, her ribs and wrists clearly visible, in a blue sheet. Her clothes were still on: dirty jeans and a worn black blouse she seemed to have lived and died in. 'They trick us with a handful of lentils, but children need bread too. They need milk,' he told The National, in reference to the aid being distributed, which is given under the constant threat of being killed, by an Israel-US backed foundation. 'She survived on the community kitchens, but those are gone now,' he added, standing in front of a cracked wall where a corner had been broken to make space for black plastic body bags. More than 60,000 Palestinians, among them tens of thousands of children, have been killed by Israeli fire since the start of the war. Despite global outrage, Israel has refused to halt its bombardment, claiming it is targeting Hamas, but in the process it is destroying the lives and futures of hundreds of thousands of people. Starvation is increasingly being used as a weapon of war, according to the UN. In recent weeks, dozens have died of hunger in the besieged coastal enclave, where even fishing is banned. A trickle of aid trucks has entered Gaza in the last few days, but the famine is spreading, and children like Nour are dying every day. Cold marble table Images emerging from Gaza show clinics crowded with starving people. Residents have begun posting their daily struggles on social media: a piece of bread shaped like a fish to trick children into believing it's a real fish; a single piece of fruit shared by a family of six; fava beans eaten like snacks. 'They just see us as images,' said the aunt of 13-year-old Remas Al Burdeene, speaking from a small clinic in Gaza. Remas's life had been hard long before the famine. She lived with a disability in her legs and had endured war after wa r. This week, she died of hunger, too. On a dark, cold marble table, her tiny legs peeked out from under a brown blanket. Nurses arrived to wrap her body in a white burial shroud. Before that, Dalia, her aunt, had covered her with her own blanket and held her one last time. The blanket had a drawing of a dark blue sky. 'No one is doing anything to help us,' the aunt said, her body as thin as Remas's. On Tuesday, the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) issued an alert over the rise in hunger-related deaths in Gaza, warning that access to food and other essentials has plummeted to unprecedented levels. 'Famine thresholds have been reached for food consumption in most of the Gaza Strip,' the IPC said in a report. For Dr Khalil Al Dajran, of Al Aqsa Hospital, the worst is yet to come, despite international outrage and even US President Donald Trump acknowledging the starvation crisis and calling for Gaza's children to be fed. 'Today we announced 14 more deaths due to malnutrition, raising the number of starvation deaths to 147, of which 88 are children,' he told The National. 'We fear the number will increase in the coming days,' warned the doctor, who was speaking outside the hospital near a field clinic, as people waited on the pavement for news of loved ones. Meanwhile, the Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has refused to acknowledge the consequences of his decisions and his army's siege policy. 'There is no starvation in Gaza,' he claimed in a speech.
09-07-2025
Algeria Pavilion: Discover the Lights of Algeria
Algeria, the largest country on the African continent, has more than 3,000 years of history, dating back to the indigenous Berber people. The Sahara Desert stretches out across its interior, dotted with archaeological sites like Tassili n'Ajjer, a World Heritage Site that has Paleolithic rock engravings. With its northern border running along the Mediterranean Sea, the country has also been influenced by Europe and western Asia. The pavilion, inscribed with the words Lights of Algeria on the façade, promotes the seven World Heritage Sites and beautiful landscapes that can be found in this country. Stone tools from around 2.4 million years ago and ancient jewelry adorned with silver and coral tell the story of Algeria's long history. Visitors can enjoy a video display navigated by an AI guide in the form of a young girl called Nour, whose name means 'light' in Arabic. Learn about the heritage of ancient civilizations, modern society with its excellent medical care and education, as well as future-oriented initiatives like desert greening. The Algerian pavilion is located in the Saving Lives zone. ( See the official map for details.) Algeria marks its national day on Thursday, July 10, at the Expo National Day Hall. (Originally published in Japanese. Reporting and text by Uchiyama Ken'ichi and . Photographic assistance by Kuroiwa Masakazu of 96-Box. Banner photo © .)
Al Jazeera
07-07-2025
- Health
- Al Jazeera
Photos: Gaza toddler fights for life after Israeli strike kills family
Published On 7 Jul 2025 7 Jul 2025 Three-year-old Amr al-Hams lies immobile in his southern Gaza hospital bed with shrapnel embedded in his brain from an Israeli air strike. Unable to walk or speak, his eyes dart around, searching for his mother, his aunt Nour believes. Amr's mother, Inas, was nine months pregnant when she took the family to visit her parents in northern Gaza. That night, their tent was struck. The attack killed his mother, her unborn baby, two of Amr's siblings and his grandfather. Amr survived after being rushed to intensive care with a breathing tube. His grief-stricken father is nearly speechless. Now at Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis, Amr has left intensive care but suffers from severe malnutrition. The fortified milk he requires vanished during Israel's months-long blockade. Nour feeds him mashed lentils through a syringe. She sleeps beside him, changes his nappies and comforts him during seizures. 'I tell him his mother will be back soon,' she says. 'Other times, I give him a toy. But he cries. I think he misses her.' Doctors say Amr needs immediate evacuation from the conflict zone. Without specialised care and therapy, his brain injuries will likely cause permanent damage. 'His brain is still developing,' Nour says. 'Will he walk again? Speak again? So long as he is in Gaza, there is no recovery.'
Associated Press
06-07-2025
- Health
- Associated Press
Photos of a Gaza toddler fighting for his life after an airstrike
KHAN YOUNIS, Gaza Strip (AP) — Three-year-old Amr al-Hams lies motionless in a hospital bed in southern Gaza, shrapnel from an Israeli airstrike lodged in his brain. He cannot walk or speak. His aunt, Nour, believes his darting eyes are searching for his mother. Amr's mother, Inas, was nine months pregnant when she took the family to visit her parents in northern Gaza. That night, a strike hit their tent. Amr's mother, his unborn sibling, two other siblings, and his grandfather were all killed. But Amr survived. He was rushed to intensive care with a breathing tube in his throat. His father, overwhelmed with grief, could barely speak. Now at Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis, Amr is out of ICU but severely malnourished. The fortified milk he needs disappeared during Israel's monthslong blockade. Nour, a trained nurse, feeds him mashed lentils through a syringe. She shares his hospital bed, changes his diapers and tries to ease his pain during seizures. 'I tell him his mother will be back soon,' she says. 'Other times I give him a toy. But he cries. I think he misses her.' Doctors say Amr urgently needs to be evacuated from the war-torn territory. Without advanced care and therapy, his brain injuries will likely cause permanent damage. 'His brain is still developing,' Nour says. 'Will he walk again? Speak again? So long as he is in Gaza, there's no recovery.' ___ This is a photo gallery curated by AP photo editors.
CairoScene
04-07-2025
- Entertainment
- CairoScene
How BookToker Nour Shaban Flipped the Page From Reviews to Book Fairs
How BookToker Nour Shaban Flipped the Page From Reviews to Book Fairs I met Nour Shaban during an internship that lasted all of two weeks, but one moment stuck with me. One morning, she spotted a book on my desk, leaned over and asked, 'Hey, hey—what are you reading?' When I told her, she smiled, and said, 'Tell me the review and I'll read it.' We talked about books the way old friends talk about music or movies. Later, I followed her online and realised, she was already something of a star. A book reviewer with a growing audience on TikTok. A translator with work in print. I knew then I had to speak with her properly, not just in passing, but for real. Nour grew up in a house where books were just… everywhere. On the floor, under the beds, piled on chairs, stuffed into shelves that were always slightly too full. 'We had this little library at home,' she says, 'and we'd go to the book fair every year, like it was a family tradition.' No one told her to read. Books were just part of the house, like the TV or the kettle. You reached for them without thinking. The reading bug bit properly after a question about the Bermuda Triangle. Nour asked her dad if he had a book on it. Instead of handing her one, he took her to a bookstore and said: choose whatever you want. She left with seven books and read them all in three days. That was it. She was in. Fast forward to 2021, she's scrolling on TikTok and lands on a BookTok video from outside the region. It clicked. 'I wanted to find someone doing the same thing in Arabic,' she says, 'but I couldn't.' So she posted a video. Just her shelf, no fancy edits, no ring light. 'Someone asked about the books in it. I replied.' And then she kept replying. And posting. And suddenly, people were listening. It worked because it didn't feel like a strategy. It felt like a person who liked books just talking about them. 'At the time, TikTok was full of dancing teens,' she laughs. 'Books weren't really a thing. But the people who were into it? They really got into it.' Not all moments happened online. At one book fair, a young girl showed up with her dad just to meet her. 'She told me she started reading because of my videos,' Nour says, still a little stunned. 'Her dad thanked me. That one really stayed with me.' Now, reading is part joy, part job. 'I can't wait for the right mood anymore,' she says. 'I read regularly, even when I'm not in the mood. Especially when I'm not in the mood.' And with more followers came more responsibility. 'If I say I loved something, people go buy it. I have to mean it.' Then came the message from her favourite author, Mohamed Essmat. He let her know she'd been nominated as one of the top three Arabic book creators in the region for the 'TikTok Book Awards', based entirely on public votes. 'He told me he was proud of me,' she says. 'That he'd been following from the start.' Then we spoke about her translation era, which, like most things with Nour, started by chance. 'A friend needed help on a project. I took a test. Next thing I knew, I was working on my first translation.' That book, 'Gherfa Zat Etlala' ('A Room with a View'), had her typing late into the night and juggling full-time work. She finished it in a month. 'When I held it in my hands at the Cairo Book Fair, it felt unreal. Like, oh wow, I actually did that.' However, not every book is easy to bring over. One translation set in the early 20th century nearly broke her brain. 'So much cultural stuff that didn't quite fit into modern Arabic. I had to write footnotes, figure out how to explain without over-explaining.' Readers wrote to thank her for those notes. That made it worth it. When it comes to choosing what to read, she keeps it simple. 'I don't follow trends. If I only read what's popular, I get bored. I have to like it for real.' Most of her favourites aren't viral hits. And that's fine. 'Good books find you when you're ready.' After a long chat, I had to her for recommendations and she lit up. 'Depends what you're into,' she says. For historical fiction: 'Al-Qata'a' or 'Haider Ibn Zare' El Neel'. Romance? Try the 'Rayat El Shawq' trilogy. For horror: 'Aqsa Men El Mawt'. Mystery? 'Agatha Christie never fails, especially 'El Mawt Ye'ty Fel Nehaya' ('Death Comes as the End'). 'For something fun and fast: 'Tahqiqat Noah El Alfy'. For fantasy? 'Brandon Sanderson. 'Waleedo El Dabab' ('Mistborn') is a good start.' But her favourite of all time? 'Al-Qata'a' by Dr. Reem Bassiouney. 'It's about the Tulunid era in Egypt, something we rarely talk about. Ahmad Ibn Tulun created a place where people lived with dignity. Where no one slept hungry.' She pauses. 'And the writing? It's just beautiful.' For new readers, her advice is chill. 'Start with something you're curious about. That's it. Don't overthink it. Just follow what pulls you in.' And for anyone thinking about posting online: 'Don't wait till it's perfect. Talk the way you talk to your friends. Say what you liked. That's enough.' These days, Nour's still reading, still posting, still figuring it out as she goes. 'I'm just glad people care,' she says. 'Half the time I'm recommending books I finished on the way to lunch.' And thanks to her, those books are starting to show up in other people's homes too.
