AFP Video

Rafah (Palestinian Territories) (AFP) – A group of barbers in Rafah is offering free haircuts and shaves to Palestinians who have been forced to flee to the southern Gaza Strip. The hope is that keeping hair short, particularly among children, will help keep the displaced communities healthy and prevent the spread of disease in an area where UNICEF warns inhabitants are in “imminent danger” from epidemics. On 7 October Hamas launched an attack on southern Israel, killing some 1,200 people, mostly civilians and taking 239 hostages, according to Israel. Since then Israeli bombardment of the besieged Gaza Strip has killed more than 11,000 people, also mostly civilians, according to the Hamas-run health ministry.

Sao Paulo (AFP) – As much of Brazil bakes in an extreme heatwave, Sao Paulo’s residents have been forced to shield themselves from the sweltering temperatures, with one street vendor telling AFP that having to work in the street in these conditions was “unbearable”. Authorities have issued a red alert for various regions in the country, anticipating temperatures to surpass the norm for Spring by more than 5 degrees Celsius.

Jabalia (Palestinian Territories) (AFP) – Palestinians searching for survivors pull dead and injured children from the rubble after a strike on the Jabalia refugee camp in the Gaza Strip. Israel has vowed to crush Hamas after the Palestinian militant group launched unprecedented cross-border attacks that Israel says left 1,200 people dead, mostly civilians, with another 239 taken hostage. The Hamas-run health ministry in Gaza says Israel’s ensuing air and ground offensive has killed more than 11,000 people, most of them civilians, including thousands of children.

Aguascalientes (Mexico) (AFP) – A non-binary Mexican magistrate whose death sparked protests and anger among the LGBTQ community appears to have been the victim of a murder-suicide committed by their partner, investigators said Tuesday. The body of Jesus Ociel Baena — the first Mexican citizen to be granted a non-binary passport — was found with that of another person at Baena’s home in Aguascalientes state on Monday, the prosecutor’s office said. Despite prosecutors ruling out the presence of a third person at the scene, protesters gathered in Mexico City insisting Baena was the victim of a hate crime.

Washington (AFP) – “Forty days ago, a terrorist army invaded the sovereign state of Israel and butchered hundreds upon hundreds of Israelis in the largest massacre since the Holocaust. Let us cry out together. Never again. Never again. Never again is now,” President Isaac Herzog says during a virtual address to a pro-Israel rally in Washington from the Western Wall in Jerusalem.

Washington (AFP) – After weeks dominated by largely pro-Palestinian protests in the United States, thousands gather for a high-profile pro-Israel demonstration on the National Mall in Washington, DC.

Berlin (AFP) – Chancellor Olaf Scholz says Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s accusation of fascism against Israel is “absurd”, days before the German leader is due to host the Turkish president for talks in Berlin. Erdogan has been an increasingly vocal critic of Israel’s war against Hamas, following the Islamist gunmen’s deadly attack on October 7 which Israel says killed around 1,200 people, mostly civilians. The Turkish leader has accused Israel of committing war crimes as it heavily bombards the Gaza Strip, where the death toll has mounted past 11,000, according to the territory’s Hamas-run health ministry. of Olaf Scholz

Mexico City (AFP) – Hundreds take to the streets of Mexico City after Jesus Ociel Baena, a prominent magistrate who was the country’s first citizen to be granted a non-binary passport, was found dead at his home on 13 November, triggering outrage from the country’s LGBTQ community. “I want justice from a gender perspective, so that there may be no more homicides of any kind,” a non-binary protester who gave their name as Sam tells AFP.

Dura (Palestinian Territories) (AFP) – Harvest season in the occupied West Bank has coincided with the eruption of war between Israel and Hamas this year. Since Hamas’s 7 October attacks on southern Israel, Palestinian olive farmers have seen an uptick in assaults by Israeli settlers. Uncowed by the threat, Rabbi Arik Ascherman, a veteran activist, is trying to protect the farmers: “In the field, we continue to see rampant settler violence. It’s not checked,” he says.

Brasília (AFP) – Brazil’s president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva accuses Israel of “killing innocent people without any criteria” in the Gaza Strip, deeming its actions there “as grave” as the October 7 attacks by Palestinian militant group Hamas. Lula’s comments come as he welcomes the return of 22 Brazilians and ten members of their families, who had been evacuated from Gaza on Sunday via the land border with Egypt after more than a month of waiting in the conflict zone. On 7 October Hamas launched an attack on southern Israel, killing some 1,200 people, mostly civilians and taking 239 hostages, according to Israel. Since then Israeli bombardment of the besieged Gaza Strip has killed more than 11,000 people, also mostly civilians, according to the Hamas-run health ministry.