May 3, 2024

*) Türkiye halts trade with Israel until uninterrupted aid to Gaza Türkiye has stopped all exports and imports to and from Israel, as a punitive measure against Tel Aviv's brutal war on Gaza that has killed around 34,600 Palestinians in just over six months. The Turkish trade ministry said until the Israeli government allows uninterrupted humanitarian aid flow to Gaza, Türkiye will decisively and resolutely implement the new measures in question. The ministry added that the second phase of state-level measures has been implemented, and all export and import transactions with Israel have been halted. *) Israel tortures to death al-Shifa hospital orthopaedic surgeon Israeli forces have killed Adnan al Bursh who was the head of the orthopaedic department at al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza. According to the Palestinian Prisoner Society, Al Bursh was arrested by the Israeli army last December as he was treating patients at al-Awda Hospital in northern Gaza. He was killed at the Ofer Prison in the occupied West Bank and his body is still withheld by the Israeli forces. The NGO said one more detainee identified as Ismail Khader has also died at Israeli prisons. *) Ukraine intel official 'doesn't see way' for Kiev to win war against Moscow A senior Ukrainian intelligence official has said that Ukraine will, at some point, have to enter into talks with Russia to bring an end to their more than two-year-old war. Major-General Vadym Skibitsky, deputy chief of Ukraine's HUR military intelligence directorate, told the Economist magazine that talks would eventually be needed, as would be the case with any war. The magazine wrote, "General Skibitsky says he does not see a way for Ukraine to win the war on the battlefield alone. Even if it were able to push Russian forces back to the borders, it wouldn't end the war." *) 2,100+ seized, ribs broken, students threatened: Latest on US campus demos The pro-Palestinian protests on the US campuses, the biggest and most prolonged since the Vietnam demonstrations in the 1960s and 70s, continue despite pro-Zionism rioters attacking students and police cracking down on anti-war students and staff. Tent encampments of protesters are calling on universities and colleges to stop doing business with Israel or firms they say support the brutal war in Gaza. More than 2,100 protesters have been arrested over the last two weeks at universities across the US, including the University of Texas at Austin, the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill, and California State Polytechnic University, Humboldt. *) Palestinian journalists win World Press Freedom Prize for Gaza war coverage UNESCO — the UN body that promotes world peace and security — has awarded its World Press Freedom Prize to all Palestinian journalists covering the war in Gaza, where Israel has turned the tiny Palestinian enclave into the "deadliest" place for journalists. Audrey Azoulay, director general at UNESCO, said the prize paid "tribute to the courage of journalists facing difficult and dangerous circumstances."