By B Izzak &Agencies

KUWAIT: Foreign Minister Sheikh Salem Al-Abdullah Al-Sabah denied on Monday that a Zionist delegation arrived at Kuwait airport on Oct 3. In response to a parliamentary question claiming that the delegation arrived at the VIP lounge at Kuwait airport, the foreign minister said the arrival and departure records at the lounge clearly show no Zionist delegation arrived. He reiterated Kuwait’s total support for the Palestinians’ legitimate rights, including the right to confront the Zionist occupation and a just and comprehensive solution to the Palestinian cause.

Hospitals in northern Gaza have been forced out of service amid fuel shortages and intense combat, with the death toll inside the territory’s largest facility rising, the health ministry said Monday. UN agencies and doctors in the Al-Shifa hospital complex warned a lack of generator fuel was claiming lives, including infants.

Witnesses reported intense overnight air strikes, with tanks and armored vehicles just meters from the gate of the sprawling Al-Shifa compound at the heart of the Gaza City, now an urban war zone. The Hamas government’s deputy health minister Youssef Abu Rish said the death toll inside Al-Shifa rose to 27 adult intensive care patients and seven babies since the weekend as the facility suffered fuel shortages.

Gaza has been reliant on generators for over a month after the Zionist entity cut off power supplies and the besieged territory’s only power plant ran out of fuel. Abu Rish said all hospitals in the north of the embattled territory were “out of service”. The World Health Organization in the Palestinian Territories said early Monday that at least 2,300 people — patients, health workers and people fleeing fighting — were inside the crippled Al-Shifa.

The Zionist entity is facing intense international pressure amid its massive air and ground operation, which Gaza authorities say have killed 11,180 people, including4,609 children. The Zionist entity said 44 of its troops have been killed in the Gaza offensive. International attention has focused on the plight of Palestinians, and protests have been held worldwide in solidarity with the 2.4million under bombardment and siege for more than five weeks. A Turkish vessel carrying materials for field hospitals arrived Monday in Egypt’s port of ElArish near the Rafah border crossing with Gaza.

Meanwhile, the National Assembly holds its first regular session of the new term on Tuesday and is likely to start the session by debating a grilling against Commerce and Industry Minister Mohammad Al-Aiban. The grilling was filed by MP HamdanAl-Azmi over alleged irregularities, violations, squandering of public funds and others. The minister can demand to delay the debate for two weeks, and ifhe asks, it is expected that the Assembly will accept.

In his grilling, MP Azmi accused the minister of committing financial and administrative violations at a trading company that he chaired before his appointment as a minister. Azemi alleged that financial violations were committed by the minister and the company filed a lawsuit against him, but he utilized his post as a minister to refuse summons by the public prosecution. He also alleged that there are several cases of fraud at the public prosecution against the minister, who is using his post by not going to the public prosecution.

The Assembly is also expected to discuss a draft law calling to increase the minimum pension for retired Kuwaitis to KD 1,000 monthly and also to increase interest-free loans to retired people.

Separately,Education Minister Dr Adel Al-Mane announced suspending Kuwaiti students’ enrollment in medical schools in Egypt and Jordan temporarily for further evaluation. According to the decision, Kuwaitis will not be able to register in universities in Egypt and Jordan to study medicine (medicine, dentistry,pharmacy and pharmacology) starting from next year.

As for freshmen who obtained approval to study medicine at their own expense in Egypt and Jordan universities for the 2023/2024 academic year, the minister announced that they can register in the ministry’s scholarship program, provided they meet the required conditions. The ban will remain until comprehensive evaluation is done, taking into account maintaining educational quality in Kuwait.