Israel-Hamas war: ‘I stopped counting after the ninth person was shot in front of us’
I stopped counting after the ninth person was shot in front of us on another day of protests in the West Bank.
It was clearly a tactic by the Israel Defence Forces (IDF) to send a message – to the usual suspects who regularly hurl rocks at their vehicles and security posts – that today they weren’t going to mess around.
Even as we pulled up and put our protective equipment on, I could hear the first rounds being fired.
At that stage the road was pretty empty, there were just a few youngsters getting ready for the almost daily theatre of rock throwing followed by live fire shooting.
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Israeli snipers in West Bank
The most remarkable thing to me – and I’ve reported on riots and violent protests all over the world for decades – is that everyone getting ready for this exchange of rocks and bullets knows exactly what is going to happen.
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The teenagers will set tyres on fire and use slings to throw stones, and the IDF will shoot them.
Today it was mainly in the legs – on other days it’s been in the head and the chest.
I just cannot understand why anyone thinks risking one’s life to throw a stone that mainly can’t, and certainly won’t reach the target, is a good idea.
But they do, I’ve watched them, and they have done this for generations.
I very much doubt there is a better example of the cycle of violence that has overwhelmed the Middle East for decades.
And how so often it is utterly futile, and unproductive.
My cameraman Toby Nash filmed as three youths used the burnt-out hulk of a truck for cover – and to get a better angle to hurl stones.
They go forward, a sniper shoots. The injured man is helped away from the firing line, and an ambulance screeches in to pick him up.
We then watch on as another teenager at the front takes another tyre to make more smoke to cover their movements.
A man takes cover
He skips as he crosses back, trying to outwit the snipers.
What he doesn’t know is they have another target, who had come forward from another angle.
But he didn’t get very far, he too was shot.
The ambulance crews move in.
Across the road people take cover at a petrol station, it’s where dozens come to watch all this, often with their children.
Suddenly another round is fired – this time two or three people are hit by the sniper, with the same bullet.
They weren’t even throwing stones; they were just standing watching.
Away from the violence at the check point, the streets of Ramallah echoed with echo the chants of people protesting against the actions of Israel here and in Gaza.
Two boys protesting attacks on civilians
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They’re also protesting against the countries who have given their support to Israel.
The United States and Britain are at the top of the list.
I met Palestinian activist Jamal Jomaa in the crowd. He told me this has been going on too long.
“Since 75 years we are fighting for our simple rights, like any other people in the world to have, to live in peace in our state and we didn’t find this.
“Now it’s ended up like this and it’s supported by Americans, Europeans, this is unacceptable for Palestinians,” he said.
Palestinian activist Jamal Jomaa
He continued: “You hear the people here – it’s become more clear our enemy is not just Israel, our enemy is the United States government, not people, we are appreciating every single voice that came out, especially Jewish voice for peace and all these Jewish voices standing up and saying don’t do this massacre in our names.
“These are our allies, these are the people we are allies with, not with Biden and his racist government, not with Sunak. All of them came to support genocide in Gaza. This is a shame, they should feel ashamed of themselves.”
The city centre came to a standstill. Men, women and children joined the procession as it made its way through the streets.
Many here believe Israeli soldiers will move into Gaza; all acknowledge it will lead to more violence both here in the West Bank and further afield.
A man and young boy wear matching patriotic T-shirts in the West Bank
A solution is desperately needed.
Also in the crowd is Bassam Al-Salhi, a member of the Palestinian Legislative Council.
He told me he has concerns that Israel is committing war crimes with the full support of the US, UK, France, and “all countries who came to support Israel in their war against Palestinians”.
“What we need from all of the people now is to stop this aggression against Palestinians and go through a serious process to end the occupation and implement United Nations resolutions,” he said.
The cycle of protest and violence continues. The flaming anger of Palestinians in the Arab world is burning brighter by the day.
The make-up of the crowd is always interesting – at the front there are men, in the middle there are families, and then, having decided to walk together, are groups of women.
A female protester speaks to Sky’s Stuart Ramsay
Among them was a woman who didn’t want to be named, but she agreed to speak to me about her fears.
Her anger was so passionate – and to me represented the ordinary Palestinians who aren’t involved in politics or armed resistance.
“I’ve lived all my life under occupation, now I am fearful for my children, for my co-workers,” she told me.
“I mean, this government has all the Palestinians, five million Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza, under its complete control. We are civilians, and they have the best weapons in the world to do whatever they want.”
World
Donald Trump says Vladimir Putin wants to meet – and that he and Barack Obama ‘probably’ like each other
Donald Trump says a meeting is being set up between himself and Vladimir Putin – and that he and Barack Obama “probably” like each other.
Republican US president-elect Mr Trump spoke to reporters at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida on Thursday, saying Russian president Mr Putin “wants to meet, and we are setting it up”.
“He has said that even publicly and we have to get that war over with. That’s a bloody mess,” Mr Trump said.
Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said on Friday there was a “mutual desire” to set up a meeting – but added no details had been confirmed yet and that there may be progress once Mr Trump is inaugurated on 20 January.
“Moscow has repeatedly declared its openness to contacts with international leaders, including the US president, including Donald Trump,” Mr Peskov added.
“What is required is a mutual desire and political will to conduct dialogue and resolve existing problems through dialogue. We see that Mr Trump also declares his readiness to resolve problems through dialogue. We welcome this. There are still no specifics, we proceed from the mutual readiness for the meeting.”
Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin in July 2017. Pic: AP
Trump on Obama: ‘We just got along’
Mr Trump also made some lighter remarks regarding a viral exchange between himself and former Democrat President Barack Obama at Jimmy Carter’s funeral on Thursday.
The pair sat together for the late president’s service in Washington DC on Thursday, and could be seen speaking for several minutes as the remaining mourners filed in before it began.
Mr Obama was seen nodding as his successor spoke before breaking into a grin.
Asked about the exchange, Mr Trump said: “I didn’t realise how friendly it looked.
“I said, ‘boy, they look like two people that like each other’. And we probably do.
“We have a little different philosophies, right? But we probably do. I don’t know. We just got along. But I got along with just about everybody.”
The amicable exchange comes after years of criticising each other in the public eye; it was Mr Trump who spread the so-called “birther” conspiracy theory about Mr Obama in 2011, falsely asserting that he was not born in the United States.
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Insults continued for years, with Mr Obama famously dedicating much of his final White House Correspondents’ Dinner speech in 2016 to jokes at his political rival’s expense.
Mr Trump has repeatedly attacked the Obamas, saying the former president was “ineffective” and “terrible” and calling former first lady Michelle Obama “nasty” as recently as October last year.
On Kamala Harris’s campaign trail last year, Mr Obama said Mr Trump was a “78-year-old billionaire who has not stopped whining about his problems since he rode down his golden escalator nine years ago”, while the former first lady said that “the consequences of him ever being president again are brutally serious.”
World
‘The future is in our hands’ scientists say, as 2024 becomes first year to pass 1.5C global warming threshold
Last year was the warmest on record, the first to breach a symbolic threshold, and brought with it deadly impacts like flooding and drought, scientists have said.
Two new datasets found 2024 was the first calendar year when average global temperatures exceeded 1.5C above pre-industrial levels – before humans started burning fossil fuels at scale.
The record heat has not only has real-world implications, as it contributed to deadly flooding in Spain and vicious drought in places like Zambia in southern Africa.
It is also highly symbolic.
Countries agreed in the landmark Paris Agreement to limit warming ideally to 1.5C, because after that the impacts would be much more dangerous.
The news arrives as California battles “hell on earth” wildfires, suspected to have been exacerbated by climate change.
And it comes as experts warn support for the Paris goals is “more fragile than ever” – with Donald Trump and the Argentinian president poised to row back on climate action.
What caused 2024 record heat – and is it here to stay?
Friends of the Earth called today’s findings from both the EU’s Copernicus Climate Change service and the Met Office “deeply disturbing”.
The “primary driver” of heat in the last two years was climate change from human activity, but the temporary El Nino weather phenomenon also contributed, they said.
The breach in 2024 does not mean the world has forever passed 1.5C of warming – as that would only be declared after several years of doing so, and warming may slightly ease this year as El Nino has faded.
But the world is “teetering on the edge” of doing so, Copernicus said.
Prof Piers Forster, chair of the UK’s Climate Change Committee, called it a “foretaste of life at 1.5C”.
Dr Gabriel Pollen, Zambia’s national coordinator for disasters, said “no area of life and the economy is untouched” by the country’s worst drought in more than 100 years.
Six million people face starvation, critical hydropower has plummeted, blackouts are frequent, industry is “decimated”, and growth has halved, he said.
Paris goal ‘not obsolete’
Scientists were at pains to point out it is not too late to curb worse climate change, urging leaders to maintain and step up climate action.
Professor Forster said temporarily breaching 1.5C “does not mean the goal is obsolete”, but that we should “double down” on slashing greenhouse gas emissions and on adapting to a hotter world.
The Met Office said “every fraction of a degree” still makes a difference to the severity of extreme weather.
The California fires were whipped up by strong, dry winds and likely worsened by climate change. Pic: Reuters
Copernicus director Carlo Buontempo added: “The future is in our hands: swift and decisive action can still alter the trajectory of our future climate”.
Climate action is ‘economic opportunity’
Copernicus found that global temperatures in 2024 averaged 15.10°C, the hottest in records going back to 1850, making it 1.60°C above the pre-industrial level during 1850-1900.
The Met Office’s data found 2024 was 1.53C above pre-industrial levels.
The figures are global averages, which smooth out extremes from around the world into one number. That is why it still might have felt cold in some parts of the world last year.
Greenpeace campaigner Philip Evans said as “the world’s most powerful climate denier” Donald Trump returns to the White House, others must “take up the mantle of global climate leadership”.
The UK’s climate minister Kerry McCarthy said the UK has been working with other countries to cut global emissions, as well as greening the economy at home.
“Not only is this crucial for our planet, it is the economic opportunity of the 21st century… tackling the climate crisis while creating new jobs, delivering energy security and attracting new investment into the UK.”
World
Picture shows baby girl moments after birth on packed migrant dinghy heading for Canary Islands
Photographs have captured the moments after a baby girl was born on a packed migrant dinghy heading for the Canary Islands.
The small boat was carrying 60 people and had embarked from Tan-Tan – a Moroccan province 135 nautical miles (250km) away.
One image shows the baby lying on her mother’s lap as other passengers help the pair.
The boat’s passengers – a total of 60 people, including 14 women and four children – were rescued by a Spanish coastguard ship.
Coastguard captain Domingo Trujillo said: “The baby was crying, which indicated to us that it was alive and there were no problems, and we asked the woman’s permission to undress her and clean her.
“The umbilical cord had already been cut by one of her fellow passengers. The only thing we did was to check the child, give her to her mother and wrap them up for the trip.”
Coastguards rescued all 60 people aboard the boat. Pic: Salvmento Maritimo/Reuters
The mother and baby were taken for medical checks and treated with antibiotics, medical authorities said.
Dr Maria Sabalich, an emergency coordinator of the Molina Orosa University Hospital in Lanzarote, said: “They are still in the hospital, but they are doing well.”
When they are discharged from hospital, the pair will be moved to a humanitarian centre for migrants, a government official said.
They will then most likely be relocated to a reception centre for mothers and children on another of the Canary Islands, they added.
Thousands of migrants board boats attempting to make the perilous journey from the African coast to the Spanish Canaries each year.
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In 2024, a total of 9,757 people died on the route, according to Spanish migration charity Walking Borders.
Mr Trujillo said: “Almost every night we leave at dawn and arrive back late.
“This case is very positive, because it was with a newborn, but in all the services we do, even if we are tired, we know we are helping people in distress.”
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