Add it onto the pile of all the other urgent probes we never hear back from...
US calls for urgent probe into deadly Israeli attack on UN aid facility
The White House called for a swift investigation into an Israeli air raid on a UN food distribution facility in Gaza. On Wednesday, the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, UNRWA, said one staff member was killed in the attack and 22 others were wounded. Gaza health officials said the attack killed four other people.
Israel said the attack killed a Hamas commander that it targeted.
Egypt says ‘long line of trucks waiting’ to enter Gaza
Egypt’s foreign minister calls on Israel to open its land crossings to let more aid into the Gaza Strip. “Israel controls six other crossings that it should open,” Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry said at a news conference during a visit to Cairo by his Spanish counterpart.
“There is a long line of trucks waiting to enter but are subject to the procedures of vetting that must be complied to so that the trucks can enter safely, that the drivers are not targeted, that they are received on the other side,” Shoukry said.
“We have the capacity to increase the number of trucks, but the authorisation has to come,” he added. Egypt, which fears the displacement of Palestinians crowded near its border with Gaza if Israel carries through with its threatened ground offensive on Rafah, has previously said Israel was blocking aid.
Trucks carrying humanitarian aid for Gaza wait on the main Ismailia desert road, about 300km (185 miles) east of the Egyptian border with Gaza, on their way to the Rafah crossing
Satellite imagery shows pier construction on Gaza coast
Images taken by the space technology firm Maxar show the beginnings of the construction of what looks to be a jetty off the coast of the Gaza Strip.These photos were taken on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday, Maxar said, and show the progression of the construction out into the water.
Last week during his annual State of the Union address to the US Congress, Biden announced that the US would set up a temporary pier off Gaza to deliver humanitarian supplies to the besieged enclave as Palestinians begin to starve during Israel’s blockade of the strip.Four days ago, the US said a ship equipped to construct the pier had departed the US.
Video shows starving Palestinians rushing to collect airdropped aid
Video posted to Instagram – and verified by Al Jazeera – shows people in north Gaza running towards falling aid packages.
The US and its allies have been carrying out aid missions via air for several weeks now, but they have been criticised by many for their ineffectiveness compared to land aid delivery routes. They have also been considered humiliating for the Palestinian people who desperately need this aid, as they are forced to chase the boxes that contain the food that could save their lives.
Moreover, there is danger involved in these missions, as seen last week when malfunctioning parachutes during one airdrop mission killed five Palestinians in north Gaza.
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UNRWA says only 12 hospitals partially operational in Gaza
The UN agency for Palestinian refugees says of those dozen hospitals, only two are able to provide maternity services despite about 180 women giving birth on a daily basis.
Only 12 hospitals are still partly operational in #Gaza 📍
According to @UNFPA, just 2 provide maternity services, with some 180 women giving birth every day.@UNRWA continues to offer medical care in health centres & shelters, including for post-natal & high-risk pregnancies pic.twitter.com/cT57lxkPj7
— UNRWA (@UNRWA) March 14, 2024
