Prime Minister Narendra Modi today praised the Singapore Deputy Prime Minister for trying to learn Sitar – an Indian musical instrument – and hoped his passion would inspire others. 

“May your passion for the Sitar continue to grow and inspire others. Best wishes on this melodious endeavour. India’s musical history is a symphony of diversity, echoing through rhythms that have evolved over millennia,” PM Modi posted on X – formerly known as Twitter.

May your passion for the Sitar continue to grow and inspire others. Best wishes on this melodious endeavour. India’s musical history is a symphony of diversity, echoing through rhythms that have evolved over millennia. @LawrenceWongST https://t.co/fewFAquSZL

— Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) November 14, 2023

Lawrence Wong had shared a video on Diwali that showed him playing Sitar. He said he had been taking Sitar lessons from an Indian-origin man. 

“Getting a quick intro to the beautiful tunes of the sitar. Karthigayan here has been learning for a while, and he has been very patient in guiding me through the basic techniques. Enjoyed the experience, and the chance to learn more about the rich classical Indian music heritage!,” he said.

Getting a quick intro to the beautiful tunes of the sitar.
Karthigayan here has been learning for a while, and he has been very patient in guiding me through the basic techniques. Enjoyed the experience, and the chance to learn more about the rich classical Indian music heritage! pic.twitter.com/yLTFCxEcu1

— Lawrence Wong (@LawrenceWongST) November 12, 2023

In the video, Lawrence Wong also extended Diwali wishes in Tamil. “Hi everyone, I am here with Mr Karthik today and he is going to teach me how to play sitar,” he said.

Israel’s security forces claim to have discovered a Hamas-operated tunnel that leads to a hospital in Gaza amid criticism that their ground operations have left medical facilities inoperative in the blockaded strip.

The tunnel is next to the house of a Hamas operative who heads the naval operations of Hamas that led the October 7 raids on Israel, said a military spokesperson.

EXCLUSIVE RAW FOOTAGE: Watch IDF Spokesperson RAdm. Daniel Hagari walk through one of Hamas’ subterranean terrorist tunnels—only to exit in Gaza’s Rantisi hospital on the other side.

Inside these tunnels, Hamas terrorists hide, operate and hold Israeli hostages against their… pic.twitter.com/Nx4lVrvSXH

— Israel Defense Forces (@IDF) November 13, 2023

Rantisi hospital is only 200 yards (183 metres) away, said Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari, as he sought to prove the accusations that the Palestinian Hamas group has been operating from hospitals.

“Inside these tunnels, Hamas terrorists hide, operate and hold Israeli hostages against their will,” said the Israel Security Forces on X, formerly Twitter.

The tunnel is electrified with the help of solar panels and leads to a bulletproof and explosives-proof door about 20 metres down the ground level, he said. “It looks like a hard and clear evidence that the hospital is connected,” he added.

The tunnel remains covered so that no one can find it and the hospital is next to a school and an UN building, the Israeli forces said.

The military spokesperson then enters the basement of the hospital where he finds “operational gears” of the Hamas in a room, including explosive body vests, hand grenades, Kalashnikov rifles, and rocket-propelled grenades (RPGs).

“Hamas is using hospitals…people shooting RPGs from hospitals. This is Hamas. The world has to understand who is Israel fighting against,” he asserted.

Hostages were brought from across the Gaza border on bike and held hostage in this basement, he claimed, pointing to a bike with bullet marks. Women’s clothes, ropes tied to a chair, diapers, and a feeding bottle in the basement added to the “suspicion for areas where hostages were held”.

A makeshift washroom complete with a commode and ventilation were also found there. “We see infrastructure like toilets, showers and a small kitchen provided the terrorists their needs,” he said.

He further claimed that a roster in Arabic on the wall of a room mentioned “Operation Al-Aqsa Flood”, the name given to the October 7 Hamas attack, and the shifts of Hamas operatives.

Fact-checker Mohammed Zubair has refuted this claim and said the text in Arabic was nothing but the days of the week.

Israel also claimed its forces were transporting incubators from hospitals in Gaza to Al-Shifa, but later deleted the social media post. In a fresh post, they claimed are in the process of coordinating the transfer of incubators from a hospital in Israel to Gaza.

Hospitals have become the latest focal point of Israel-Hamas fight in Gaza. At least six babies and nine patients have died due to fuel shortages in hospitals and all hospitals in northern Gaza are now “out of service”, said the Hamas-run health ministry yesterday. This includes the Al-Shifa hospital, the largest in the blockaded strip.

The humanitarian situation in Gaza remains grim with hundreds of patients trapped in the hospital without electricity and water, besides thousands others who have taken shelter in those complexes.

US President Joe Biden has urged Israel to protect the Al-Shifa hospital.

Seven babies have been bundled together for warmth – a desperate bid to save their lives – in a heart-breaking image shared Tuesday from Gaza City’s Al Shifa Hospital. The city’s largest hospital has been crippled by fuel shortages and is stuck inside a “circle of death” as Hamas forces and Israeli military wage a bloody war on its doorsteps; access has been blocked by tanks, and medical staff are bracing for mass casualties within its walls.

The seven babies are among 39 born prematurely – they weigh less than 1.5 kg each. Each should be in incubators so body temperatures can be regulated. Instead, they were moved to ordinary beds – placed side-by-side and covered by packets of nappies and cardboard boxes of sterile gauze – over the weekend because there is no more fuel to run the generators that power the incubators.

“Yesterday I had 39 babies… today 36,” Dr Mohamed Tabasha, the paediatric head, told Reuters Monday. “I cannot say how long they can last. I can lose another two babies today… or in an hour.”

By the end of the day three more (and nine adult patients) had died, AFP reported.

READ | 6 Babies, 9 Others Dead In Gaza Hospital After Fuel Shortage

Cold (and bullets and missiles) aren’t the only reason the babies are dying.

Dr Tabasha said the babies are contracting multiple virus in the absence of any natural immunity or infection control measures provided by an incubator.

There is also no way of sterilising their milk – what little is left – and some had contracted gastritis and were suffering from diarrhoea and vomiting, which leaves them at risk of dehydration.

“They are in a very bad situation… where you slowly kill them unless the situation improves…” Dr Ahmed El Mokhallalati, also involved in caring for the babies, told Reuters by telephone.

And to ensure the babies live – at least long enough to see the carnage and destruction wrought on Gaza by Israel and the Hamas – Dr Tabasha will need an uninterrupted supply of electricity, sterilisers for the milk and bottle teats, and support machines when any of them fall into respiratory failure.

There are over 650 patients – waiting to be evacuated by the Red Cross – at the besieged Al Shifa Hospital that lacks essentials – diesel, food, water, medicines and medical equipment.

READ | WHO Loses Contact With Gaza Hospital “Surrounded By Tanks”

Israeli forces insist the hospital sits atop a network of tunnels that form part of the Hamas’ underground headquarters, and that the group’s operatives are using the patients as a shield.

Tel Aviv also insists it has evidence to show Hamas stored weapons, including grenades, suicide vests and other explosives, in the basement of another Gaza hospital. “… we also found signs that indicate that Hamas held hostages here,” Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari, a military spokesperson, said Monday.

The Hamas, and Gaza’s health officials, have denied all such allegations.

The World Health Organization said Monday that it had finally managed to re-establish contact with the Al Shifa Hospital, and warned; “… the hospital is not functioning as a hospital anymore.”

.@WHO has managed to get in touch with health professionals at the Al-Shifa hospital in #Gaza.

The situation is dire and perilous.

It’s been 3 days without electricity, without water and with very poor internet which has severely impacted our ability to provide essential…

— Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus (@DrTedros) November 12, 2023

Al Quds, a second major hospital in northern Gaza, has been cut off from the world for a week.

The Palestinian Red Crescent said it was surrounded by heavy gunfire, and a convoy of Red Cross vehicles sent to evacuate patients and staff had been unable to reach the facility.

Hospitals, and medical personnel, are protected under international humanitarian law and parties in conflict must ensure their protection. They cannot be used to shield military objectives from attack, but any operation around or within must protect patients, staff, and other civilians, the United Nations’ Office for Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said in its Monday update from Gaza.

Israel had pledged to help evacuate the babies. That has not happened so far.

READ | Israel Offers Gaza Hospital Evacuation For Babies But Fighting Continues

Israeli forces did offer to supply the hospital would fuel but would only give 300 litres, enough only for 30 minutes and a fraction of the 8,000 to 10,000 litres needed to run the main generators.

Israel faces intense international pressure to halt civilian loss amid a brutal air and ground operation that Hamas says has already killed over 11,000 people, 40 per cent of whom were children.

With input from agencies

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