Israeli warplanes destroy heavy machinery critical for rescue efforts in Beit Lahiya
Israeli warplanes have destroyed all heavy machinery in the Beit Lahiya area north of the city of Jabalia.
Al Jazeera’s Anas al-Sharif reports from northern Gaza, where locals say this destruction of essential equipment is part of a larger effort by the Israeli military to impede rescue efforts for people trapped under the rubble.
What is this, some sick twist of "This hurts me more than it hurts you"
Hagari says Israeli military fighting with ‘with a heavy heart’ in Gaza
In an op-ed for The Wall Street Journal, Israeli military spokesperson Daniel Hagari has said that “Hamas has systematically embedded its terror infrastructure inside and under civilian areas in Gaza”, adding that Israeli forces are fighting “with a heavy heart” and are “aware of the tragic loss of civilian lives on both sides”.
“Our war is against Hamas, not against the people of Gaza, which is why we take extensive measures to minimise harm to the civilians Hamas puts in the crossfire,” he wrote. Hagari added that Israel’s goal is to “dismantle Hamas and bring our hostages home” and “not to destroy Gaza or displace its people”.
The Israeli military has killed almost 30,000 Palestinians in Gaza since it began its offensive in October.
More on Israeli army’s plans for Gaza
As we reported earlier, the Israeli war cabinet has approved an Israeli army plan for “providing humanitarian assistance” in the Gaza Strip.
According to a brief statement from the Israeli prime minister’s office, the plan is reportedly designed to “prevent the looting that has occurred in the northern Strip and other areas”. However, the UN humanitarian organisation, OCHA, has said that people in Rafah are so desperate they are eating food immediately after taking it from trucks.
Rafah has been the only entry point for aid trucks into the Gaza Strip, but UNRWA says fewer than 35 trucks entered the besieged enclave on average per day last week. Aid convoys have struggled to move through Rafah to reach other areas after Israeli forces targeted and killed Palestinian police who were trying to help aid convoys navigate hungry and desperate crowds.
Israel’s military is targeting Palestinian police delivering aid
The Biden administration has called on Israel to stop attacking Palestinian police officers who escort aid trucks in Gaza, warning that a “total breakdown of law and order” is exacerbating an already severe humanitarian crisis in the besieged enclave.
That’s as the Israeli military is also destroying infrastructure from the north to the south, including hospitals, schools, roads, communication networks and the water system.
Israeli forces still firing near Nasser Hospital
Despite the Israeli military’s statement that it has completed operations inside Nasser Hospital, snipers are still in the vicinity of the hospital and, tragically, are still shooting at anything moving near it.
There is also still an ongoing blockade of relief convoys, stopping fuel or water supplies from reaching those inside the hospital.
The Israeli military previously conducted mass arrests of about 200 people in or around the hospital, including medical staff and patients. Their fate is unknown. Nobody knows where they are or what’s going to happen to them.
‘Not in our name’ – Jewish activists campaign against war on Gaza
Jewish people around the world are adding their voices to calls for a ceasefire in Gaza.
In New York City, home to the largest population of Jewish people globally outside of Israel, demonstrations demanding a halt to the bombardment of the besieged enclave have intensified in recent months.
Journalist associations mark international day for Palestinian journalists
Journalist unions and associations from more than 100 countries are marking today, Monday, February 26, as the International Day for Palestinian Journalists. The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) and the Federation of Arab Journalists (FAJ) say they are holding the day in support of colleagues in Palestine.
The associations described the killing of 100 journalists in the four months since the war began as a “terrible and unjustified tragedy”. “Palestinian journalists are the eyes of the world in Gaza, and without them, the humanitarian crisis would go unseen,” the Australian journalists union MEAA said in a post on social media.
Palestinian journalists are the eyes of the world in Gaza, and without them the humanitarian crisis would go unseen. Today is the @IFJGlobal International Day to #SupportPalestinianJournalists, donate and share this post to spread the word: https://t.co/Ty6sLWkk3I#MEAAmedia pic.twitter.com/rpAchXwspT
— MEAA (@withMEAA) February 25, 2024
Aid trucks allowed to go to northern Gaza
Israel has allowed the entry of 10 aid trucks into the northern part of the Gaza Strip amid reports of starvation, according to Al Jazeera correspondents. This is likely to be only a trickle compared with the needs of the population, who are reportedly facing famine-like conditions and have been largely cut off from aid deliveries.
Last week, the World Food Programme announced it had to suspend its already limited operations in northern Gaza due to unsafe conditions, citing Israeli gunfire as well as “complete chaos and violence due to the collapse of civil order” in the area.
Return of displaced Palestinians to northern Gaza not something Israel will ‘allow’: Report
One of the points of dispute in the negotiations between Israel and Hamas is the Palestinian group’s request to allow the return of displaced Gaza residents to their homes in the north of the Strip, says Israeli army radio correspondent Doron Kadosh in a post on X.
According to the post, Israel rejects the notion altogether, saying it’s not something it will “allow” as it wants to avoid a potential return of Hamas members.
Separately, Israel is reportedly considering setting up tent cities in Gaza’s central area and Khan Younis for residents who have lost their homes.
Doctors in Rafah’s tent hospital speak of spread of infectious diseases
Doctors in Rafah have built a tent hospital to treat patients in the Sultan neighbourhood. In a video posted on Instagram by Palestinian journalist Hassan Aslih, doctors spoke of the spread of infectious diseases as well as gastroenteritis, respiratory diseases, rashes and jaundice due to water contamination and lack of hygiene.
Lack of medicines and medical equipment is also affecting patients’ treatment, according to doctors. Israel’s bombardment has left only one-third of Gaza’s hospitals functional. Last week’s attacks on the Nasser Hospital, the second-largest hospital in the strip left the facility nonoperational.
Al Jazeera’s Hani Mahmoud said the Israeli military partially withdrew from the hospital, but snipers were still positioned in the vicinity and were shooting at anything moving near it.
Makeshift tent school in Deir el-Balah brings glimmer of hope amid war
Some 625,000 Palestinian children in Gaza have been out of school as Israeli strikes destroyed or damaged nearly half of Gaza’s 700 schools. More than 12,300 children have been killed since Israel launched its brutal military offensive on October 7.
However, in Deir el-Balah, one makeshift school convening in a tent is giving hundreds of children a moment to step out of the death and destruction surrounding them and think about a future after the war.
