Another night the bombs keep dropping
Israeli military bombs house in Rafah, killing at least 15: Report
The Israeli military has bombed a house in the city of Rafah, southern Gaza, killing at least 15 people and injuring more, our Al Jazeera Arabic colleagues report. The building was housing displaced Palestinians and among the dead are at least four children.
Translation: Distressing scenes of dead and wounded, including children, in an Israeli raid that targeted a house in the city of Rafah, south of the Gaza Strip.
UK joins the bandwagon, air drops half a truck load
UK military makes first airdrop of food supplies into Gaza
The Royal Air Force airdropped more than 10 metric tonnes of food supplies into Gaza on Monday, in the first such operation by the UK military to deliver humanitarian aid directly into the besieged Palestinian territory, news agencies report.
The UK Ministry of Defence said in a statement on Tuesday that an RAF A400M aircraft flew from Amman, Jordan, to parachute the supplies of water, rice, cooking oil, flour, tinned goods and baby formula along Gaza’s northern coastline.
The airdrop was carried out on the same day the UK backed a UNSC resolution calling for a ceasefire in Gaza.
Humanitarian aid being airdropped over Gaza from an RAF A400M aircraft [Handout taken and released by the UK’s Ministry of Defence on March 25, 2024
Earlier drops missed, the one up there also looks like it's aiming for the ocean...
Palestinians forced to swim to retrieve aid dropped into sea off Gaza
Hundreds of Palestinians gathered at Sudaniya’s seashore in Gaza to salvage humanitarian aid that was dropped into the sea.
“The pilot knew for sure that the parachutes are going to fall into the sea. Why did they drop it on the sea? They could’ve dropped it onto the land,” said Muhammad Sobeih, a Palestinian man at the scene.
Swimming while starving, I hope everyone got back on land.
They did not :( Twelve people have drowned, and six have been killed in stampedes while trying to recover airdropped aid, according to Gaza’s media office.
Air drops are nothing but PR stunts, don't even care where it lands.
Israeli settlers attack Palestinian town, man shot in Balata camp
Israeli settlers have assaulted several Palestinians as well as attacked homes and vehicles in the town of Beit Ummar, north of Hebron, the Wafa news agency reports. The attacks by dozens of settlers from the Carmei Tzur and Gush Etzion illegal settlements coincided with Israeli forces storming Beit Ummar, Wafa reported.
In the Balata refugee camp, the Palestine Red Crescent Society reports that a man has been shot by Israeli forces during their raid on the town, while Palestinian resistance groups have targeted Israeli soldiers with explosive devices.
Israeli raids have also been reported in several locations across the occupied West Bank. They include:
- The city of Qalqilya
- The eastern area of the city of Nablus
- The town of Al-Khader, south of Bethlehem
Confrontations have also broken out between Palestinians and Israeli forces in the villages of Faqoua and Arbouna in the Jenin Governorate as well as at the Shuafat Camp military checkpoint, northeast of Jerusalem.
UN rejects US claim Gaza ceasefire resolution is ‘non-binding’
A spokesman for UN chief Guterres has rejected US claims that the UN Security Council resolution on Gaza was not binding under international law. “All the resolutions of the Security Council are international law,” Farhan Haq told reporters. “So they are as binding as international law is.”
Envoys of Palestine and Mozambique also rejected the US’s claim. “Security Council resolutions are binding,” said Riyad Mansour, Palestine’s envoy. “And if Israel is not going to implement it, then it is the duty of the Security Council to use Chapter 7 to take measures, and punitive measures, in order to make them obey the resolution of the Security Council.”
Chapter 7 of the UN charter allows the Security Council to authorise actions ranging from sanctions to military intervention.
Test of US stance on Gaza will come from decision on arms sales to Israel
Palestinian rights advocates have welcomed the US decision to let the UNSC resolution on Gaza pass but questioned whether Washington will use its leverage to pressure Israel to end its abuses in Gaza – specifically whether it will provide the “wish list” of weapons Israel is likely to seek.
“The policy of providing Israel and Netanyahu in particular with all the tools he needs to continue the assault on Gaza has continued uninterrupted since October,” said Tariq Kenney-Shawa, a US policy fellow at Al-Shabaka, a Palestinian think tank.
“In many ways, I see this as a dance,” Kenney-Shawa said. “The Biden administration is taking what it sees as the necessary public steps to make it look like they’re doing everything they can to hold Israel’s feet to the fire, when in reality they’re facilitating and enabling Israel to no end. Israel has yet to face any concrete consequences from the US for its war crimes and genocide.”
