With as little fuel as there is
Israeli attacks hit fuel tank near European Hospital in Khan Younis
Several Palestinians have been injured and killed amid Israeli bombardment of Khan Younis in southern Gaza, reports Al Jazeera’s Tareq Abu Azzoum.
“Within the past few hours, they have targeted the facility of the European hospital,” says Abu Azzoum. Shrapnel caused damage to hospital buildings after a nearby fuel tank was destroyed, Abu Azzoum adds. The Wafa news agency, meanwhile, reports that one person was killed and six others injured when the fuel station was hit. Wafa also reports Israeli warplanes targeted the Al-Manara neighbourhood, southeast of Khan Younis and artillery shelling in the Miraj area of Khan Younis province.
No one knows the fate of 6-year-old Hind
Nepal Farsakh, the director of media at the Palestinian Red Crescent, tells Al Jazeera that only Israeli forces know what happened to Hind, a little Palestinian girl its ambulances dispatched to rescue several days ago. “We are worried about the child Hind and our team, whose fate we do not yet know,” he said. The PRCS said it lost contact with the ambulance crew it sent to undertake the rescue.
No evidence given on how US Army selects targets
We put a question to the National Security Council spokesperson, John Kirby, on Friday on how targets [following the air strikes in Iraq and Syria] were selected. We were told there was clear and irrefutable evidence that these were linked to attacks on US interests. When asked if we could see this evidence, none was provided. When we asked if this evidence would be forthcoming, we were told that we would just have to trust the US military.
You’ll remember that we were told to trust the US military back in 2003, prior to the US invasion of Iraq. And that intelligence turned out to be faulty. This time around, the US military is promising to be more transparent.
Probably "Israel told us where to strike"
Israeli settlers raid village near Jenin: Wafa
According to the report, the settlers were accompanied by Israeli occupation forces when they raided several homes in the village of Farasin, southwest of Jenin.
The report said the settlers damaged the contents of the houses and seized surveillance camera recordings. Malik Al-Zaban, a resident of the village, said the settlers ransacked a poultry farm he owns, which they destroyed after tearing down greenhouses and smashing equipment. He added that the settlers broke down the doors and windows of several houses.
Settlers also took control of a plot of agricultural land in the mountainous area of the nearby Zabda village, which they are now using for their livestock to graze. They are also preventing the Palestinian landowners from accessing their properties while under the protection of the Israeli military, Wafa reported.
Israel considering moving border crossing from Rafah over Egypt tensions
As diplomatic tensions between Israel and Egypt continue to rise over Israel’s continuing war on Gaza and its military’s plans to seize the strip’s southern border with Egypt, Israel is considering closing the Rafah border crossing with Egypt, Israeli broadcaster Channel 13 reports.
If Israel decides to go ahead with the move, the crossing would be placed at the Israel-Gaza-Egypt border triangle area, near Karem Abu Salem (Kerem Shalom), and would not have any involvement from Egyptian authorities in security checks, the broadcaster says. Its report adds that Israel has raised this issue with the Egyptians but has not yet gotten a definitive response.
Instead of sanctions, even more money for Israel
US House panel recommends $17.6bn in military aid for Israel
The funding bill, offered by a House of Representatives appropriations panel, could come to a vote in the full House sometime next week, Speaker Mike Johnson said in a letter to members. The Republican-controlled House had previously approved $14.3bn in new military aid to Israel but with the requirement that it be paid for by clawing back a chunk of money already targeted for the US Internal Revenue Service.
Likely won't go through, but shows the sentiment in the House of Representatives.
Only 450 out of 2700 Palestinians referred for treatment abroad have left Gaza: Doctor
Dr Sobhi Skaik, director general of the Turkish Friendship Hospital, who has been pushed to another hospital in Rafah like most of the internally displaced, says the referrals to be treated abroad are high but the injured are not being allowed out of Gaza fast enough.
Skaik tells Al Jazeera that the services he and his staff have been able to provide are “simple” due to a lack of equipment and medicine, and that the small number of specialists is not enough to sustain the large numbers of injured and sick. “We have no cancer medications at all in Gaza. We also don’t have the facilities to diagnose illnesses: Our doctors have been killed, our infrastructure has been destroyed, no medications to our patients, we are merely receiving patients to alleviate their pain,” he said.
Daily cry for help, still falling on deaf ears
UNRWA warns of catastrophe in Gaza
In a post on X, the UN agency for Palestinian refugees warns that “an unprecedented catastrophe is unfolding before our eyes”. “Each hour is more desperate. People are dying at the world’s watch,” it said as it displayed a picture of children, women and the elderly in Gaza trying to get their share of food being provided.
📍#Gaza: An unprecedented catastrophe is unfolding before our eyes. Each hour is more desperate.
People are dying at the world’s watch. pic.twitter.com/O9JgTsNDG8
— UNRWA (@UNRWA) February 3, 2024
Israeli soldiers continue to record their own crimes: Palestinian research centre
One week after the ICJ ruling ordering Israel to take action to prevent genocide in Gaza, its soldiers continue to film themselves as they commit crimes, according to Bisan Research and Development Center.
- In one video, a soldier can be seen smiling as a neighbourhood is blown up.
- A video shows a soldier coercing blindfolded detainees into pledging themselves as slaves.
- A video of Israeli soldiers standing over several Palestinian men after blindfolding them and tying their hands behind their backs.
- Another video of Israeli soldiers taunting Palestinians as they are forced of their homes and passing a military checkpoint in southern Gaza.
