RCMP in Rosthern say they’ve identified a man who was injured on Sunday on Highway 11.
Around 3 a.m. on Sunday, police received a report of a collision involving a pedestrian on the highway a few kilometres north of Duck Lake, according to an RCMP news release.
Officers found an injured man at the scene who was taken to hospital for treatment, while police said the driver stayed behind.
RCMP did not say whether the man’s injuries were serious or not. On Monday morning, they were still trying to find out who he was.
Police shared a photo of the man, whose arm bears a distinctive tattoo that says “12 14 2022” in Roman numerals.
RCMP said in a statement around 5 p.m. Monday the man had been identified and hailed from the North Battleford area.
“Our thoughts are with his family,” RCMP said.
Duck Lake is located about 83 kilometres north of Saskatoon.
Whether or not your parents own a home makes you twice as likely to own one yourself, according to a new data analysis by Statistics Canada.
In a report published Monday, the data agency crunched the numbers on home ownership rates across income levels, provinces and age brackets and found that one of the best determinants of whether or not a young adult owned a home in 2021 was whether or not their parents did.
Specifically, the report looked at people born in the 1990s, which means it’s examining an age cohort between the age of 23 and 33 years old.
Among everyone born that decade, the home ownership rate was 15.1 per cent, but older members of the cohort were more likely to own than younger ones.
The home ownership rate for people born in 1990 was 33 per cent. For those born in 1999, the ownership rate is just 2.1 per cent.
Age being a factor in ownership is perhaps to be expected, but the ownership status of the generation above them had almost as large an impact on the numbers.
Almost one out of every six Canadians born in the 1990s owned a home in 2021, but among those whose parents didn’t own a home, the ownership percentage was 8.1 per cent — about one out of every 11.
If the young adult’s parents own a home, however, the ownership ratio jumps to 17.4 per cent. That makes them more than twice as likely.
And the more homes the parental generation owns, the more likely the children were to own, too.
Generational effect
If parents own one home, it’s 14.7 per cent. Among parents who own two homes, the ratio was 23.8 per cent — almost three times as much. Among parents who own three or more properties, the ratio leaps to 27.8 per cent, and those ownership habits tend to pass on, too:
More than half of the young adults who own multiple properties — 52.8 per cent — have parents who own multiple properties, too.
While the report stops short of implying a causal relationship between the two trends, it does cite research showing that adult children of homeowners benefit from the mere existence of “The Bank of Mom and Dad,” because they are more likely to buy in the first place, more likely to get help with a down payment and more likely to buy more expensive homes when they do.
“Parental property ownership is positively associated with their adult children’s likelihood of home ownership when the adult children’s income, age and province of residence are held constant,” the report found.
The Saskatchewan Health Authority (SHA) is advising residents of Porcupine Plain and area of expanded emergency room hours at the Porcupine Carragana Hospital starting Saturday, July 1 from 8 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. Saturdays and Sundays, with the official launch of the Virtual Physician (VP) pilot program.
Virtual Physician pilot is a temporary measure that uses HealthLine 811 to provide nursing staff with remote access to physicians located elsewhere in the province during periods of physician shortages or other coverage issues in a community.
Due to the remote nature of the VP program, ER patients requiring urgent or life-threatening care will be transported to an appropriate acute care facility for treatment by an on-site physician. The status of on-site care of patients that present to the ER will be determined by the health assessment of the VP, will be limited according to the scope of practice of the Registered Nurses (RNs) and Combined Laboratory and X-ray Technologists (CLXTS) on duty, and may require Emergency Medical Services (EMS) transport to another location for treatment.
In addition to launching the pilot, the SHA has continued to work to fill gaps with on-site physician coverage over the summer months with locums. This work, along with the support of the local on-site physician, and nursing, lab, and diagnostic imaging staff, has resulted in the initial increase in ER hours from the current hours of 8 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. Monday to Friday.
Following this first expansion, starting Monday, July 10, the SHA will then further increase ER hours to 8 a.m. to 12 midnight daily.
A second physician is currently in the Saskatchewan International Physician Practice Assessment (SIPPA) program and is expected to begin providing services in Porcupine Plain in July.
The SHA is committed to restoring 24/7 emergency services in Porcupine Plain and full ED and acute care services will continue to expand when additional local physician resources become available. Alternate Level of Care (ALC) admissions will remain in place in the meantime.
In the event of an emergency, residents should call 911. If residents have questions about their health or mental health, professional advice is available by calling 811 to reach the Saskatchewan HealthLine toll-free 24 hours per day.
Recruiting and retaining health professionals is a top priority for the SHA and the government. Expanding the Rural Physician Incentive Program is part of the Government of Saskatchewan’s nearly $100 million investment in 2023-24 to support the Health Human Resources Action Plan, which includes several initiatives to recruit, train, incentivize, and retain doctors and other health care professions.
Recently, the provincial government announced enhancements to the Rural Physician Incentive Program (RPIP) to help attract more family physicians to rural and northern communities across Saskatchewan. More information on the enhanced RPIP program, including program eligibility, may be found at saskatchewan.ca/rural-physician-incentive.
The Saskatchewan Health Authority issued an advisory on July 14, after confirming individuals at several businesses in the Swift Current had tested positive for COVID-19 as of July 11.
The Saskatchewan Health Authority issued an advisory on July 14, after confirming individuals at several businesses in the Swift Current had tested positive for COVID-19 as of July 11.
Anyone who attended these businesses during the listed times should be monitoring for symptoms.
If symptoms develop, please isolate immediately and contact 811. For information on self-monitoring please go to www.saskatchewan.ca/covid19 and click on the About COVID-19 link. Individuals who want to be tested can contact 811 for a referral.
Protective Services Bike Officers (PSBO) are hitting the road this summer in Saskatoon and Regina. All PSBO receive intensive training, similarly utilized by law enforcement like police forces, which is developed by the Law Enforcement Bike Association (LEBA), an international body. Four PSBO began patrolling the Royal University Hospital (RUH) and surrounding area in June, while a team of PSBO based at Regina General Hospital will begin in early July.
In response to safety incidents on the grounds and parking lots of Saskatchewan Health Authority facilities, Protective Services have launched the bike patrol initiative to increase visibility and response times to safety issues. With large areas to cover, bicycles provide a way for Protective Services Officers to be visible, which deters crime, and respond quickly to incidents. Both RUH and RGH are located close to other urban SHA facilities, so when operational numbers allow, Protective Services Bike Officers have the ability to deter criminal activity though uniform presence in and around SHA property outside of their base facility.
Similar to law enforcement, Protective Services Bike Officers will operate primarily April 1 to October 31. The Saskatchewan Health Authority (SHA) is committed to ensuring a safe and secure environment that is free from danger or threat for patients, visitors, staff, physicians, and volunteers in all SHA facilities, parking lots, and grounds at all times.
International students and advocacy groups in Canada say Ottawa’s temporary removal of the cap on hours the students can work off campus each week should be made permanent.
Last year, the federal government removed the ceiling of 20 hours of off-campus work per week while classes are in session. The pilot, which affected more than 500,000 students, is set to end this year.
“The past year has been quite good in terms of finances because I could work 40 hours a week and have been able to pay off my tuition fees,” said Krunal Chavda, an international student at the University of Saskatchewan.
The 20-year-old said he has around $40,000 in student loans and was able to pay off $10,000 with full-time work — an opportunity that will be gone come the new year.
Krunal Chavda, an international student at the University of Saskatchewan, says inflation and rising tuition have him worried. (Pratyush Dayal/CBC)
He said inflation has upped his grocery budget from as low as $100 to as much as $300 a month.
“I’ve found myself in situations where I was like, ‘OK, should I buy this or not?’ It basically comes down to necessities and not the wants,” he said.
Chavda’s classmate, Meghal, who goes by one name, says students are struggling.
“There is a lot of uncertainty and anxiousness in the air. We’re on the edge,” she said.
“It’s becoming more and more difficult to sustain.”
Domenici Medina, an international student from Ecuador, says students should not be put in a situation where they constantly have to worry about money. (Pratyush Dayal/CBC)
Domenici Medina, an international student at the university from Ecuador, said being allowed to work full time “allows us to get more money and not have that financial burden, or worry so much about money.”
Even though her mother assists with her education, working off-campus up to 40 hours helped her contribute to tuition “which went up three times.”
“That extra money also helps with medical appointments like a dentist, which is not covered by the university’s insurance.”
The 22-year-old has already started looking for on-campus jobs.
“Making this policy permanent will have an impact on our well-being and mental health,” she said.
Doris Yim says if the government can make the policy permanent, international students like her will be able to keep up with inflation and tuition. (Pratyush Dayal/CBC)
Pharmacy student Doris Yim said making the switch permanent would also help employers. She is trying get a pharmacy cashier job, but said they are looking for people who can work full-time during the holidays — a role she won’t be eligible for after Dec. 31.
“Sometimes healthier options are a bit too expensive for my financial situation, which means I have to pick the ones that I can afford versus the ones that I really need,” she said.
In an email statement sent Monday, the federal immigration department said it is in the process of assessing the impact the policy has had, including how many eligible international students have taken advantage of it.
“The temporary lifting of the 20-hour limit for off-campus work is helping to address Canada’s labour shortage,” the statement said.
It said the ministry would let the public know if there were any changes to the current plan.
WATCH | International students say Canada should permanently lift 20-hour work cap:
International students say Canada should permanently lift 20-hour work cap
Featured VideoInternational students and advocacy groups in Canada say Ottawa’s temporary removal of the cap on hours the students can work off campus each week should be made permanent.
Discouraging and unfair, say international students
Ana Sofía Díaz, a fourth-year psychology student at the University of Manitoba, said working a full-time job helped her.
She was able to contribute $10,000 to her student loans in the past year, but worries about the future.
“It is definitely frustrating and discouraging,” she said. “Not only do we have to pay more expensive fees, but the resources we’re trying to use to pay those fees or not to be in high debt are being taken away from us.”
Ana Sofía Díaz is an international student from Colombia studying psychology at the University of Manitoba. (Submitted by Ana Sofía Díaz)
She said it’s upsetting that international students were recently blamed for the housing crisis, when in reality they are being priced out.
“The extra money I was making was allowing me some self-care activities that before I had to cut back on,” she said. “It’s just very unfair.”
Karandeep Singh Sanghera, the student union president at Capilano University in North Vancouver, agreed.
“Most of the students have to work on minimum wage, which is some $16 right now. It’s not possible to live working 20 hours in this condition,” he said.
He said international students like him are feeling the pressures of the housing market. Sanghera shares a three occupancy space with five people.
He said their union has asked MPs in Ottawa to make the policy permanent.
Karandeep Singh Sanghera is the president of the Capilano University Students’ Union. (Submitted by Karandeep Singh Sanghera)
Vital to safeguard international students: advocates
James Casey, a policy and research analyst at the Canadian Federation of Students that represents more than 530,000 post-secondary students across Canada, said 40 per cent of its members are international students.
“Because international students are not given any federal or provincial loans or grants or housing vouchers, they’re experiencing disproportionate effects for rising cost of living and housing affordability,” he said.
Casey said tuition for international students is much higher than for domestic students.
“At the University of Toronto’s nursing program, one of the best in the country and the most well sought out internationally, domestic students pay just over $22,000 [for two years], whereas international students pay over $90,000.”
Casey said many food banks are seeing a lot of international students coming in.
“It’s a very dire situation that speaks to the huge gap between what life is for an international student in this country versus the average Canadian student,” Casey said.
James Casey, a policy and research analyst at the Canadian Federation of Students, says international students could be caught up in human trafficking and exploitative labour practices. (Pratyush Dayal/CBC)
Casey said many international students have to share beds and single rooms, and some even end up homeless or sleep under bridges.
“It’s going to put international students in very difficult positions to choose between whether to break this policy or afford housing,” he said.
“If this decision is not made permanent, we’re going to have mass amounts of international students being caught up in human trafficking and exploitative labour practices.”
The Afternoon Edition – Sask7:45International students say Canada should permanently lift 20-hour work cap
Featured VideoInternational students and advocacy groups in Canada say Ottawa’s temporary removal of the cap on hours the students can work off campus should be made permanent. CBC’s Pratyush Dayal joins Afternoon Edition host Garth Materie to explain.
Advocacy group Migrant Workers Alliance for Change has been calling for this change since 2017 and has been fielding increasing calls from concerned students.
“This is a question about whether we want to live in a society where everybody has equal rights and protections, or if we’re going to allow a system that sections off a group of people on the basis of their immigration status and denies them the same rights,” she said.
“There are six weeks left until the end of this temporary policy. Every day matters and the clock is ticking. We’re calling on Prime Minister Trudeau and Immigration Minister Mark Miller to do the right thing and permanently remove the 20-hour work limit.”
Sarom Rho, an organizer with Migrant Workers Alliance for Change, says many international students are going to classes and work hungry. (Daniel Dadoun/CBC)
Rho said current and former international students are the largest group of non-permanent residents in the country.
“Many are going to classes and work hungry, stressed, taking food out of their carts at grocery stores because they can’t afford it,” she said.
“Many are facing exploitation and mistreatment from bosses who want them to work harder for longer and for less.”
She said employers often threaten these students with deportation or jeopardizing their permanent residency.
“Even the United Nations rapporteur recently said that Canada’s system of temporary migration is a breeding ground,” she said. “But we can change it.”
International students and advocacy groups in Canada say Ottawa’s temporary removal of the cap on hours the students can work off campus each week should be made permanent.
Last year, the federal government removed the ceiling of 20 hours of off-campus work per week while classes are in session. The pilot, which affected more than 500,000 students, is set to end this year.
“The past year has been quite good in terms of finances because I could work 40 hours a week and have been able to pay off my tuition fees,” said Krunal Chavda, an international student at the University of Saskatchewan.
The 20-year-old said he has around $40,000 in student loans and was able to pay off $10,000 with full-time work — an opportunity that will be gone come the new year.
Krunal Chavda, an international student at the University of Saskatchewan, says inflation and rising tuition have him worried. (Pratyush Dayal/CBC)
He said inflation has upped his grocery budget from as low as $100 to as much as $300 a month.
“I’ve found myself in situations where I was like, ‘OK, should I buy this or not?’ It basically comes down to necessities and not the wants,” he said.
Chavda’s classmate, Meghal, who goes by one name, says students are struggling.
“There is a lot of uncertainty and anxiousness in the air. We’re on the edge,” she said.
“It’s becoming more and more difficult to sustain.”
Domenici Medina, an international student from Ecuador, says students should not be put in a situation where they constantly have to worry about money. (Pratyush Dayal/CBC)
Domenici Medina, an international student at the university from Ecuador, said being allowed to work full time “allows us to get more money and not have that financial burden, or worry so much about money.”
Even though her mother assists with her education, working off-campus up to 40 hours helped her contribute to tuition “which went up three times.”
“That extra money also helps with medical appointments like a dentist, which is not covered by the university’s insurance.”
The 22-year-old has already started looking for on-campus jobs.
“Making this policy permanent will have an impact on our well-being and mental health,” she said.
Doris Yim says if the government can make the policy permanent, international students like her will be able to keep up with inflation and tuition. (Pratyush Dayal/CBC)
Pharmacy student Doris Yim said making the switch permanent would also help employers. She is trying get a pharmacy cashier job, but said they are looking for people who can work full-time during the holidays — a role she won’t be eligible for after Dec. 31.
“Sometimes healthier options are a bit too expensive for my financial situation, which means I have to pick the ones that I can afford versus the ones that I really need,” she said.
In an email statement sent Monday, the federal immigration department said it is in the process of assessing the impact the policy has had, including how many eligible international students have taken advantage of it.
“The temporary lifting of the 20-hour limit for off-campus work is helping to address Canada’s labour shortage,” the statement said.
It said the ministry would let the public know if there were any changes to the current plan.
WATCH | International students say Canada should permanently lift 20-hour work cap:
International students say Canada should permanently lift 20-hour work cap
Featured VideoInternational students and advocacy groups in Canada say Ottawa’s temporary removal of the cap on hours the students can work off campus each week should be made permanent.
Discouraging and unfair, say international students
Ana Sofía Díaz, a fourth-year psychology student at the University of Manitoba, said working a full-time job helped her.
She was able to contribute $10,000 to her student loans in the past year, but worries about the future.
“It is definitely frustrating and discouraging,” she said. “Not only do we have to pay more expensive fees, but the resources we’re trying to use to pay those fees or not to be in high debt are being taken away from us.”
Ana Sofía Díaz is an international student from Colombia studying psychology at the University of Manitoba. (Submitted by Ana Sofía Díaz)
She said it’s upsetting that international students were recently blamed for the housing crisis, when in reality they are being priced out.
“The extra money I was making was allowing me some self-care activities that before I had to cut back on,” she said. “It’s just very unfair.”
Karandeep Singh Sanghera, the student union president at Capilano University in North Vancouver, agreed.
“Most of the students have to work on minimum wage, which is some $16 right now. It’s not possible to live working 20 hours in this condition,” he said.
He said international students like him are feeling the pressures of the housing market. Sanghera shares a three occupancy space with five people.
He said their union has asked MPs in Ottawa to make the policy permanent.
Karandeep Singh Sanghera is the president of the Capilano University Students’ Union. (Submitted by Karandeep Singh Sanghera)
Vital to safeguard international students: advocates
James Casey, a policy and research analyst at the Canadian Federation of Students that represents more than 530,000 post-secondary students across Canada, said 40 per cent of its members are international students.
“Because international students are not given any federal or provincial loans or grants or housing vouchers, they’re experiencing disproportionate effects for rising cost of living and housing affordability,” he said.
Casey said tuition for international students is much higher than for domestic students.
“At the University of Toronto’s nursing program, one of the best in the country and the most well sought out internationally, domestic students pay just over $22,000 [for two years], whereas international students pay over $90,000.”
Casey said many food banks are seeing a lot of international students coming in.
“It’s a very dire situation that speaks to the huge gap between what life is for an international student in this country versus the average Canadian student,” Casey said.
James Casey, a policy and research analyst at the Canadian Federation of Students, says international students could be caught up in human trafficking and exploitative labour practices. (Pratyush Dayal/CBC)
Casey said many international students have to share beds and single rooms, and some even end up homeless or sleep under bridges.
“It’s going to put international students in very difficult positions to choose between whether to break this policy or afford housing,” he said.
“If this decision is not made permanent, we’re going to have mass amounts of international students being caught up in human trafficking and exploitative labour practices.”
Advocacy group Migrant Workers Alliance for Change has been calling for this change since 2017 and has been fielding increasing calls from concerned students.
“This is a question about whether we want to live in a society where everybody has equal rights and protections, or if we’re going to allow a system that sections off a group of people on the basis of their immigration status and denies them the same rights,” she said.
“There are six weeks left until the end of this temporary policy. Every day matters and the clock is ticking. We’re calling on Prime Minister Trudeau and Immigration Minister Mark Miller to do the right thing and permanently remove the 20-hour work limit.”
Sarom Rho, an organizer with Migrant Workers Alliance for Change, says many international students are going to classes and work hungry. (Daniel Dadoun/CBC)
Rho said current and former international students are the largest group of non-permanent residents in the country.
“Many are going to classes and work hungry, stressed, taking food out of their carts at grocery stores because they can’t afford it,” she said.
“Many are facing exploitation and mistreatment from bosses who want them to work harder for longer and for less.”
She said employers often threaten these students with deportation or jeopardizing their permanent residency.
“Even the United Nations rapporteur recently said that Canada’s system of temporary migration is a breeding ground,” she said. “But we can change it.”
June marked 40 years since Donna Thompson graduated from the Practical Nursing Program in Saskatoon. She comes from a long line of nurses – her mother and sister also pursued the profession, then later Donna’s daughter and nieces. She began her career in long-term care in Saskatoon and Spiritwood, then providing homecare in the village of Leask. In 1991, a long-term care home, Wheatland Lodge, opened in Donna’s hometown and she joined the original staff in the new facility. She is still there today.
“Two of the most important things that I learned from my instructors all those years ago are also the simplest things you can do,” Donna said.
In fact, it’s the same advice she shared with her daughter when she began work as a long-term care aide. She now shares her key lessons for new graduates or people looking to enter a ‘helping’ profession.
“First, think of every person like your grandpa or grandma or parent. Then, treat them like they are. It totally shifts your mindset. Of course, there are times when you get frustrated, tired or stressed out. But you never show the residents that. Treat every resident like they are your family, your loved one. Secondly, remember that your face is likely the last one a resident sees at night. So I make sure that I always have a smile on.”
For Donna, this has guided her approach to her work in long-term care and the relationships she builds with those she cares for.
“Honestly, I still love my job. If I didn’t love what I was doing, I probably would have retired [by now]. I don’t like the paperwork,” she laughs. “But I love the residents. And that’s why I’m still here.”
Donna was raised in Leask, a rural community located between Prince Albert and North Battleford, and in turn raised her own children there. She remembers the community fundraising to build Wheatland Lodge and was part of the original staff 32 years ago that opened the building. Donna will stay on for a few more years before retiring. Even in retirement, she plans to continue working casually at Wheatland Lodge.
“I find it easy to come to work. It warms my soul. The relationships I have with my coworkers and residents bring me so much fulfillment.”
Donna at her nursing graduation ceremony in 1983Donna stands beside the Wheatland Lodge sign, a long-term care residence she has worked at since it opened 32 years ago
Are you looking for a fast-paced and impactful career that you love to do? The Saskatchewan Health Authority has the opportunity you have been looking for across the province. Find your career at healthcareersinsask.ca.
Israeli forces pressed their offensive against Hamas in northern Gaza on Monday, battling militants around a hospital where thousands of patients and displaced people have been sheltering for weeks, and where health officials began planning the possible evacuation of dozens of wounded.
A medical worker inside the facility and the Health Ministry in Hamas-run Gaza said a shell struck the second floor of the Indonesian Hospital, killing 12 people. Both blamed Israel, which denied shelling the hospital, saying its troops returned fire on militants who targeted them from inside the 1.4-hectare compound.
The World Organization said it’s “appalled by the attack today on the Indonesian Hospital in north Gaza.”
What questions do you have about the war between Israel and Hamas? Send an email to ask@cbc.ca.
“Health workers and civilians should never have to be exposed to such horror, and especially while inside a hospital,” it said in a statement.
“According to the latest reports, the Indonesian Hospital continues to be besieged. No one has been allowed to enter or leave the hospital. There have been reports of shooting toward those attempting to leave but no injuries or fatalities thus far,” the WHO said.
The Israeli advance came as 28 premature babies evacuated from Gaza City’s Al-Shifa Hospital by a WHO team were transported to Egypt on Monday. Three others were transferred to an Emirati-run hospital in Rafah in southern Gaza, the Red Crescent said. More than 250 critically ill or wounded patients remain stranded at the compound that Israeli forces stormed days ago.
WATCH | Premature babies being evacuated from Gaza into Egypt:
Premature babies being evacuated from Gaza into Egypt
Featured VideoA first group of prematurely born babies, evacuated from Al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza, crossed through Rafah into Egypt for medical treatment on Monday.
Gaza’s hospitals play a prominent role in the battle of narratives over the war’s brutal toll on Palestinian civilians, thousands of whom have been killed or buried in rubble since the conflict was sparked by Hamas’s Oct. 7 rampage into southern Israel. In the wake of the assault, Israeli leaders vowed to eradicate Hamas, destroy its ability to rule Gaza and uproot its militant infrastructure.
Israel says Hamas uses civilians as human shields and that it operated a major command hub inside and beneath Al-Shifa, a claim hospital officials and Hamas deny.
Israeli troops were battling Hamas fighters in north Gaza’s Jabaliya refugee camp, a densely built up district on Gaza City’s northeastern side that has been heavily hit by bombardment for weeks. The military said that after moving through the centre of the city to Al-Shifa, its forces were now working to uproot Hamas fighters from eastern areas.
Influx of casualties at hospital under siege
Dozens of people killed and wounded in airstrikes and shelling overnight reached into the Indonesian Hospital, near Jabaliya, said Marwan Abdallah, the medical worker there.
He said Israeli tanks were operating less than 200 metres away and Israeli snipers could be seen on the roofs of nearby buildings. As he spoke on the phone, the sound of gunfire could be heard in the background.
Palestinian children look on as people stand on the rubble of a building destroyed during Israeli strikes on Rafah on the southern Gaza Strip on Monday. ( Mohammed Abed/AFP via Getty Images)
Health Ministry spokesperson Ashraf al-Qidra said some 600 patients, 200 health-care workers and 2,000 displaced people are sheltering at the hospital. Al-Qidra said the International Committee for the Red Cross and the WHO were prepared to evacuate roughly 150 wounded patients later Monday if a convoy of buses was able to reach the hospital.
In a separate development that could relieve some of the pressure on Gaza’s collapsing health system, dozens of trucks entered from Egypt on Monday with equipment from Jordan to set up a field hospital. Jordan’s state-run media said the hospital in the southern town of Khan Younis would be up and running within 48 hours.
After the evacuation of the premature babies and other wounded from Shifa, more than 250 patients with severely infected wounds and other urgent conditions remained in the hospital complex, which can no longer provide most treatment after it ran out of water, medical supplies and fuel for emergency generators.
Israeli forces battled Palestinian militants outside its gates for days before entering the facility on Wednesday. Four babies died in the two days before the evacuation, according to Mohamed Zaqout, the director of Gaza hospitals.
WATCH l Israel releases footage from Al-Shifa hospital in Gaza:
Israeli military releases video they say shows Hamas tunnel under Al-Shifa Hospital
Featured VideoThe Israel Defence Forces released new video Sunday of what they described as a fortified tunnel dug by Palestinian militants under Gaza’s Al-Shifa Hospital. CBC’s Irris Makler explains what the video purportedly shows and why its release is significant as Israel wages war against Hamas.
Israel’s army said it has evidence that Hamas maintained a sprawling command post inside and under the hospital’s eight-hectare complex, which includes several buildings.
On Sunday, the military released a video showing what it said was a tunnel discovered at the hospital, 55 metres long and about 10 metres below ground. It said the tunnel ended at a blast-proof door with a hole in it for gunmen to fire out of. Troops have not opened the door yet, it said.
Some hostages taken to Al-Shifa, Israel says
Israeli forces also released security camera video showing what they said were two foreign hostages, one Thai and one Nepalese, who were captured by Hamas in the Oct. 7 attack and taken to the hospital. Hamas said its fighters brought them in for medical care.
The army also said an investigation had determined that Israeli army Cpl. Noa Marciano, another captive whose body was recovered in Gaza, had been wounded in an Israeli strike on Nov. 9 that killed her captor, but was then killed by a Hamas militant in Al-Shifa.
The military has previously released images of several guns it said were found inside an MRI lab and said that the bodies of two hostages were found near the complex.
News agencies have not able to independently confirm the military’s findings.
Nearly 3 in 4 people displaced: UN
Hamas and hospital staff have denied the allegations of a command post under Al-Shifa. Senior Hamas official Osama Hamdan dismissed the latest announcement, saying “the Israelis said there was a command and control centre, which means that the matter is greater than just a tunnel.”
Israel has repeatedly ordered Palestinians to leave northern Gaza and seek refuge in the south, which has also been under aerial bombardment since the start of the war. Some 1.7 million people, nearly three quarters of Gaza’s population of 2.3 million, have been displaced, with 900,000 packing into crowded UN-run shelters, according to the UN.
Strikes in the Nuseirat and Bureij refugee camps Monday killed at least 40 people, according to hospital officials, and residents said dozens more were buried in the rubble.
Hostage talks ongoing: Israeli ambassador
About 240 hostages were taken during a deadly cross-border rampage into Israel by Hamas militants on Oct. 7, which prompted Israel to invade the tiny Palestinian territory to wipe out the Islamist movement after several inconclusive wars since 2007.
Around 1,200 people, mostly civilians including several Canadians, were killed in the Hamas assault, according to Israeli tallies, the deadliest day in Israel’s 75-year history.
A Jordanian humanitarian aid convoy enters the Gaza Strip from Egypt in Rafah on Monday. (Hatem Ali/The Associated Press)
Since then, Gaza’s Hamas-run government said at least 13,300 Palestinians have been killed, including at least 5,500 children, by unrelenting Israeli bombardment.
WATCH l Freeing hostages paramount, Israeli ambassador to Canada tells CBC News:
‘We hope for immediate release of the hostages,’ says Israel’s ambassador to Canada
Featured VideoRosemary Barton speaks with Israel’s ambassador to Canada, Iddo Moed, about reports of a U.S.-brokered deal with Israel and Hamas, Canada’s relationship with Israel, ceasefire calls, ground operations in Gaza and efforts to free hostages.
Despite continued fighting, U.S. and Israeli officials said a Qatari-mediated deal to free some of the hostages held in the Palestinian enclave and pause fighting temporarily to enable aid deliveries to stricken civilians was edging closer.
Israel’s ambassador to the United States, Michael Herzog, said in an interview on ABC’s This Week Israel was hopeful a significant number of hostages could be released by Hamas “in coming days.”
Meanwhile, Global Affairs Canada confirmed on Monday that an additional 84 people with ties to Canada made it through the Rafah border crossing between Gaza and Egypt and travelled to Cairo on Sunday.
An update from Global Affairs Canada, provided on Friday said 376 Canadians, permanent residents and their relatives have been able to leave the Palestinian territory through the Rafah crossing.
A group of 28 prematurely born babies evacuated from Gaza’s biggest hospital were taken into Egypt for urgent treatment on Monday, while Palestinian health authorities said people were killed inside another Gaza hospital encircled by Israeli tanks.
The newborns had been in north Gaza’s Al-Shifa hospital, where several others died after their incubators were knocked out amid a collapse of medical services during Israel’s military assault on Gaza City.
Israeli forces seized Al-Shifa last week to search for what they said was a Hamas tunnel network built underneath. Hundreds of patients, medical staff and displaced people left Al-Shifa on the weekend, with doctors saying they were ejected by troops and Israel saying the departures were voluntary.
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Live footage aired by Egypt’s Al Qahera TV showed medical staff carefully lifting tiny infants from inside an ambulance and placing them in mobile incubators, which were then wheeled across a car park towards other ambulances.
The babies had been transported on Sunday to a hospital in Rafah, on the southern border of Hamas-ruled Gaza, so their condition could be stabilized ahead of transfer to Egypt.
All of the evacuated babies were “fighting serious infections,” a World Health Organization spokesperson said. WHO said on Sunday that none of the infants were accompanied by family members, as Gaza’s Ministry of Health were unable to currently find close family members. Six health workers were evacuated along with the infants.
Eight infants have died since doctors at Al-Shifa originally raised an international alarm this month about 39 premature babies at risk from a lack of infection control, clean water and medicines in the neo-natal ward.
WATCH l Israel releases footage from Al-Shifa hospital in Gaza:
Israeli military releases video they say shows Hamas tunnel under Al-Shifa Hospital
Featured VideoThe Israel Defence Forces released new video Sunday of what they described as a fortified tunnel dug by Palestinian militants under Gaza’s Al-Shifa Hospital. CBC’s Irris Makler explains what the video purportedly shows and why its release is significant as Israel wages war against Hamas.
Communications down at encircled Gaza hospital
Gaza’s health ministry said at least 12 Palestinians were killed and dozens wounded by firing into the Indonesian Hospital complex encircled by Israeli tanks.
The Palestinian news agency WAFA said the facility in the northeast Gaza town of Beit Lahia had been hit by artillery fire. Palestinian health officials said there were frantic efforts to evacuate civilians out of harm’s way.
The Israeli Defence Forces (IDF), in response to a question about the hospital, said troops had fired back at fighters in the hospital while taking “numerous measures to minimize harm” to non-combatants.
Israeli soldiers operate in the Gaza Strip, in this handout image released Monday by Israel Defence Forces. (Israel Defence Forces/Reuters)
“Overnight, terrorists opened fire from within the Indonesian Hospital in Gaza toward IDF troops operating outside the hospital,” the IDF told Reuters. “In response, IDF troops directly targeted the specific source of enemy fire. No shells were fired toward the hospital.”
Like all other health facilities in the northern half of Gaza, the Indonesian Hospital, set up in 2016 with funding from Indonesian organizations, has largely ceased operations but is still sheltering patients, staff and displaced residents.
Fuel and medicines have been running out across the entire enclave under Israel’s six-week-old siege.
Fighting in north, strikes reported in south
Witnesses on Monday reported bouts of heavy fighting between Hamas gunmen and Israeli forces trying to advance into north Gaza’s Jabalia refugee camp, home to 100,000 people and, according to Israel, a significant militant stronghold.
Repeated Israeli bombardment of Jabalia, an urban extension of Gaza City that grew out of a camp for Palestinian refugees from the 1948 Israeli-Arab war, has killed scores of civilians, Palestinian medics say.
Palestinian children look on as people stand on the rubble of a building destroyed during Israeli strikes on Rafah on the southern Gaza Strip on Monday. ( Mohammed Abed/AFP via Getty Images)
Hamas and local witnesses say militants are waging guerrilla-style warfare in pockets of the congested, urbanized north, including parts of Gaza City and the sprawling Jabalia and Beach refugee camps.
The armed wing of the militant group Islamic Jihad, an ally of Hamas, said its fighters ambushed seven Israeli military vehicles during clashes in the northern areas of Beit Hanoun, Beit Lahia, and Al-Saftawi and west of Jabalia. Reuters could not independently confirm the fighting.
At the other end of the Gaza Strip, health officials said at least 14 Palestinians were killed in two Israeli airstrikes on houses in the town of Rafah, near the border with Egypt. Hundreds of thousands of Gazans who fled the north of the enclave are sheltering in southern areas including Rafah.
The Israeli military issued a statement with video of airstrikes and troops going house-to-house in Gaza, saying they killed three Hamas company commanders and a squad of Palestinian fighters, without giving specific locations.
Hostage talks ongoing: Israeli ambassador
About 240 hostages were taken during a deadly cross-border rampage into Israel by Hamas militants on Oct. 7, which prompted Israel to invade the tiny Palestinian territory to wipe out the Islamist movement after several inconclusive wars since 2007.
Around 1,200 people, mostly civilians including several Canadians, were killed in the Hamas assault, according to Israeli tallies, the deadliest day in Israel’s 75-year history.
Since then, Gaza’s Hamas-run government said at least 13,300 Palestinians have been killed, including at least 5,500 children, by unrelenting Israeli bombardment.
WATCH l Freeing hostages paramount, Israeli ambassador to Canada tells CBC News:
‘We hope for immediate release of the hostages,’ says Israel’s ambassador to Canada
Featured VideoRosemary Barton speaks with Israel’s ambassador to Canada, Iddo Moed, about reports of a U.S.-brokered deal with Israel and Hamas, Canada’s relationship with Israel, ceasefire calls, ground operations in Gaza and efforts to free hostages.
Despite continued fighting, U.S. and Israeli officials said a Qatari-mediated deal to free some of the hostages held in the Palestinian enclave and pause fighting temporarily to enable aid deliveries to stricken civilians was edging closer.
Israel’s ambassador to the United States, Michael Herzog, said in an interview on ABC’s This Week Israel was hopeful a significant number of hostages could be released by Hamas “in coming days.”
The United Nations says two thirds of Gaza’s 2.3 million population has been made homeless.
In Beijing, Arab and Muslim ministers joined international calls for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza, as their delegation visited major world capitals to push for an end to fighting and to allow humanitarian aid deliveries to stricken civilians.
Some aid has been getting in through the Rafah commercial crossing with Egypt where 40 trucks containing equipment for an Emirati field hospital were expected soon, according to a statement by Gaza’s General Authority for Crossings and Borders.
(Courtesy: Saskatchewan RCMP)
