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Forums - Politics Discussion - Israel-Hamas war, Gaza genocide

SvennoJ on 05 March 2024

Israel denies entry of UK relief items to Gaza: MP

Rosena Allin-Khanm, a Labour member of the UK Parliament, says in a post on X that Israeli authorities have denied entry of a British shipment of water filters and solar lights to Gaza.

In October, the UK had said it had delivered essential supplies, including 76,800 wound care packs, 1,350 water filters and 2,560 solar lights “to address the unfolding humanitarian crisis” in the Gaza Strip.




Another journalist killed in Gaza: Media Office

“Journalist Mohamed Salama, broadcaster … on Al-Aqsa satellite channel … was killed in the bombing of a house in the city of Deir al-Balah,” the Government Media Office has said. The number of journalist killed in Gaza since the war began on October 7 has increased to 133, Gaza’s Government Media Office has said.

Journalists working in conflict areas are protected under international humanitarian law.

Palestinian journalists accuse Israel of repeatedly violating that law by targeting the media.

Children are dying of malnutrition in Gaza

Gaza’s Health Ministry says that 15 children have died of malnutrition in a single hospital in northern Gaza, in recent days.


Yet there are still people claiming it's not genocide. Starvation by design, crippling an entire generation on Palestinians, those that survive.

This never led to anything good, I fear for what Israel is planning to do during the outage

Network connectivity disrupted in Gaza: Watchdog

NetBlocks says there was a notably “high impact” to connectivity in southern Gaza. “The incident will be experienced as a near-total telecommunications outage by many residents, after months of overall decline since the start of the war,” it added.

Telecommunications have been partially or totally down in the Gaza Strip several times during the course of Israel’s war on the territory, making life harder for Palestinians enduring bombardment and deprivation to receive potentially life-saving information and contact loved ones outside of the Strip.



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SvennoJ on 05 March 2024

UN accuses Israel of 'intentionally starving' people in Gaza





Canadian media can't ignore starvation any longer, footage is spreading

Children in Gaza are now dying of starvation, says WHO



However they still try to 'balance it' blaming Hamas stealing from trucks and the UN being incompetent with aid delivery...


More on the flour massacre




More Miller lies and deflections

Extended (aggressive) interview with Hamas



Why won't the media grill any Israeli spoke persons like this. Over the top victim blaming. Yet in the end Khalid Qaddoumi is correct in saying it took the scale of October 7th for the world to wake up to 75 years of brutal occupation and apartheid.

Hamas is a product of the ongoing occupation and will be replaced with either another (likely worse) militant group (if the occupation continues) or more moderate political parties if a 2 state solution comes around.



SvennoJ on 06 March 2024

Pressure on Netanyahu after probe holds him accountable for 2021 crowd crush

A probe into Israel’s worst civilian disaster found PM Netanyahu “bears personal responsibility” for the deadly 2021 crowd crush which killed 45 Jewish pilgrims. It found that Netanyahu’s office had been forewarned of hazards at a pilgrimage site but did not act to address them.

The probe looked into the April 2021 pilgrimage to a rabbi’s tomb at Mount Meron near the Lebanese border attended by tens of thousands of ultra-Orthodox Jews. A crush occurred when crowds of pilgrims got stuck in a narrow entrance to the tomb.


Medics respond to a crowd crush at the tomb of a second-century rabbi in Mount Meron, Israel, on April 30, 2021

The probe’s finding further adds to pressure facing Netanyahu, who has also been blamed for intelligence failures leading up to Hamas’s October 7 attack and for failing to secure the release of some 130 Israeli captives thought to still be inside Gaza. Five months into the war, Netanyahu is also struggling to keep a divided war cabinet on his side and to resist pressure from Western allies to rein in Israeli military operations.

Netanyahu should face jail time, says Israeli opposition leader

Yair Lapid says PM Netanyahu should be prosecuted and jailed for the 2021 crowd crush at Mount Meron, which resulted in the deaths of 45 Jewish pilgrims.

Earlier today, a government probe found Netanyahu’s office responsible for the incident. “The report published today shows that the disaster could have been prevented,” Lapid said in a post on X. “It indicates criminal negligence, arrogance and disconnection, it indicates complete irresponsibility. If Netanyahu were an ordinary citizen, he would stand trial today for causing death by negligence and go to prison.”

If Netanyahu stays in power, “the next disaster is only a matter of time”, Lapid added.

Israeli official blames aid agencies for slow aid delivery

Shimon Freedman, the spokesperson for COGAT, the Israeli unit tasked with administering security matters within Gaza, has denied that Israeli restrictions are blocking the flow of aid into Gaza. Instead, he claimed that Israel is inspecting and clearing so much aid that humanitarian groups can’t keep up.

“Israel is inspecting more aid than the international community can distribute,” Freedman claimed in an interview with Israel’s I24NEWS. “The real issue is for the organisations to increase their capacity so we can see more humanitarian aid making its way to the people of Gaza.”

International aid groups have for months warned that drawn-out Israeli inspections and restrictions on aid deliveries are making it impossible for them to get enough aid into Gaza, especially the northern part of the enclave where widespread famine has set in. Israel’s aid restrictions were especially suffocating in February, blocking all but 100 trucks from getting into the enclave each day, a 50 percent drop from January and well below the population’s needs, according to UNRWA head Philippe Lazzarini.

Israeli forces also repeatedly opened fire on aid seekers in northern Gaza, killing at least 119 people in the most deadly attack on February 29.

WFP says attempt to resume northern Gaza food deliveries ‘largely unsuccessful’

The World Food Programme (WFP) said it was “largely unsuccessful” in its attempt to resume deliveries to northern Gaza which is nearing famine. In a statement, it said it dispatched a 14-truck food convoy to northern Gaza on Tuesday but it was turned back by the Israeli army after a three-hour wait at the Wadi Gaza checkpoint.

The trucks were rerouted and later stopped by a large crowd of desperate people who grabbed the food, taking about 200 tonnes, the WFP said. Last month, the WFP said it was pausing deliveries of life-saving food aid to northern Gaza until conditions are in place that allow for safe distributions.

Israel seeks to depopulate northern Gaza, Palestinian foreign ministry says

The Palestinian Foreign Ministry says Israeli occupation is attempting to depopulate the northern Gaza Strip by intensifying its attacks and escalating famine.

“The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates condemns in the strongest terms the war of genocide that Israel is carrying out against our people in the Gaza Strip for the 152nd day,” the ministry said in a statement.

“The ministry confirms that more than 500,000 people live in northern Gaza under the most horrific acts of genocide: constant bombardment, deepening famine, and creating strife and chaos.”


Aerial shots show scale of destruction in Shati camp

Aerial footage has captured the scale of the destruction in the Shati refugee camp, also known as “Beach Camp”, near Gaza City. Gutted buildings and piles of rubble appear to be all that is left of one of the world’s most densely populated areas after intense and prolonged Israeli bombing.

Shati is the third-largest refugee camp among the eight in the Gaza Strip and one of its most crowded. Before the war, more than 90,000 people lived in the area, which is less than half a square kilometre.




Israeli army targets areas in Rafah, Khan Younis, central Gaza

Our colleagues at Al Jazeera Arabic are reporting several casualties amid bombing and artillery shelling in the central and southern Gaza Strip.

  • Israeli bombing on al-Qarara area north of Khan Younis, in the southern Gaza Strip, killed two people and injured several.
  • A child was killed by Israeli artillery shelling east of Rafah, in the southern Gaza Strip.
  • An air strike hit a residential apartment in the Nuseirat camp, in the central Gaza Strip, causing several casualties.
  • A number of Palestinians were injured in the bombing of a house south of Deir el-Balah, in the central Gaza Strip.
  • At least one person was killed and another injured after the Israeli army bombed Bani Suheila, east of Khan Younis.
  • Artillery shelling in the vicinity of al-Shoka School, east of Rafah, caused several injuries.



SvennoJ on 06 March 2024

US, UK leaders growing more ‘assertive’ with Israel over Gaza aid, ceasefire

Shifting public opinion in the US and Europe on Israel’s war on Gaza could push political leaders in the West to lobby more aggressively for lasting ceasefire conditions and more aid to Gaza, according to Luciano Zaccara, an assistant professor of Gulf politics at Qatar University.

Zaccara told Al Jazeera that the large number of US Democratic primary voters who voted “uncommitted” as a protest vote to Biden’s pro-Israel policies, along with George Galloway’s UK parliamentary election victory on a pro-Gaza platform, shows that voters are thinking more and more about their state’s “foreign policy behaviour” when they go to the ballot box.

While there are indications that US and UK leaders are responding to this trend – and being more assertive to Israel about the need for a ceasefire and to supply more aid to Gaza – it remains to be seen what tangible effect this will have as Israeli officials remain “uncommitted”, said Zaccara.

Israel will allow aid from UAE to enter Gaza Strip by sea

Israeli Channel 13 has reported that Israel will, for the first time, allow the entry of humanitarian aid into the Gaza Strip by sea.

The report said that the aid will be financed and provided by the UAE, which will send a ship loaded with wide-ranging humanitarian aid to Cyprus first. The aid will then be examined by Israeli representatives and then transported and emptied on Gaza’s beach.

The UAE has requested that the first trial of this aid take place before the month of Ramadan starting next week.

EU’s von der Leyen heading to Cyprus to pursue Gaza maritime corridor

The European Commission president will head to Cyprus this week to work towards opening a humanitarian corridor into Gaza from the island, her spokesperson has said. “We all hope that this opening [of the corridor] will take place very soon”, said von der Leyen’s spokesperson.

Cyprus, located some 370km (230 miles) northwest of Gaza, is the closest EU member state to the besieged enclave.

The EU’s push for a maritime corridor into the enclave follows reports that the US government is considering a similar option.

Palestinian Foreign Ministry demands opening of all crossings to allow aid into Gaza

The ministry has called on the Israeli authorities to open the border crossings to allow aid into the Gaza Strip while condemning the prevention of the entry of aid, especially into northern Gaza.

“Israel’s focus on giving approvals to open sea lanes and preventing the passage of aid through land is aimed at the occupation government’s plan to perpetuate the occupation, the separation of the West Bank from the Gaza Strip, and the displacement of our people,” a ministry statement said.

Biden’s allies stepping up pressure on White House over Gaza: Report

Joe Biden is facing increased demands from some of his closest allies in the US Senate to do more to ease Palestinian suffering in Gaza, according to The Associated Press news agency. Some of these senators are even joining calls to cut the US’s military aid to Israel if Netanyahu refuses to change course, it said. This includes Chris Coons, Biden’s closest confidant in Congress.

In recent days, the senator has called for the US to cut military aid to Israel if Netanyahu goes ahead with a threatened offensive on the southern city of Rafah without significant provisions to protect the more than one million civilians sheltering there, according to the AP.

Senator Jack Reed, head of the Senate Armed Services Committee, has also appealed to Biden to deploy the US Navy to get humanitarian aid to Gaza, the AP said, while the president’s ally Senator Tim Kaine has challenged the US strikes on the Houthis as unlikely to stop the Red Sea attacks.

Patty Murray, the most senior Democrat in the Senate, has meanwhile called for Israel to “change course”, it noted. “Israel needs to understand that the casualties they’ve inflicted on the people of Gaza – the devastation they have caused – cannot continue,” Murray, the Senate’s temporary president, said in a blistering speech on the chamber floor. “It is not in line with American interests, nor does it make Israel safer.”

 

US flour shipment to Gaza still stalled weeks later: Report

A large US shipment of flour intended for Gaza remains stalled 46 days after the White House first announced it and nearly two weeks since a new framework was agreed with Israel for its delivery, a US official has told the Times of Israel.

The official did not elaborate on what was causing the delay to the delivery of the flour, which is capable of feeding 1.5 million Palestinians in Gaza for five months. The official said the shipment “should be delivered in the coming days”, the Times of Israel reports.

Far-right Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich blocked the flour’s transfer in early February, stating that it would be distributed through UNRWA, which he called “a central part” of Hamas’s “war machine”. The revised framework stated that the US flour shipment would be distributed by the UN’s World Food Programme.



More than 8,000 patients need to be evacuated from Gaza: WHO

An official for the World Health Organization (WHO) has said that more than 8,000 people needed to be referred outside Gaza for medical treatment. Dr Richard Peeperkorn, the WHO representative for Gaza and the West Bank, told reporters on Tuesday that some 6,000 people needed to be referred for war-related injuries and ailments.

These include patients with multiple trauma injuries, burns and amputations. The other 2,000 were patients requiring care for cancer and other serious chronic illnesses. The WHO said moving such patients out of Gaza would relieve some of the strain on the medics and hospitals that are struggling to keep functioning in a war zone.



SvennoJ on 06 March 2024

Media watchdog calls out bias reporting in UK on Israel’s war on Gaza

A report by a media watchdog has revealed the UK’s media bias in covering the Hamas attack on October 7 and Israel’s response. “Much of the news coverage of 7 October refers to Hamas’s attacks on Southern Israel as ground zero, with guests or commentators who try and explain the 75-year-old occupation of Palestine being accused by some presenters and columnists as justifying the attacks,” the report by Centre for Media Monitoring said.

By ignoring the context and history of the occupation of Palestine and Gaza in particular, the report said the media landscape has been “favourable to an Israeli narrative which has constantly promoted the attacks on Gaza and in the West Bank as a war between light and darkness”.

The report also called out treating the Israeli military as a credible source without subjecting it to further verification as “one of the glaring failures of journalists and media outlets”.

Difference in the use of language has also been a regular feature of coverage, the report says, with Palestinian deaths often underplayed compared with those of Israelis.

Pro-Palestinian voices and activists have been routinely denounced, misrepresented and targeted by many national media outlets, it says, adding the right-wing media have been particularly hostile towards pro-Palestinian voices, framing them as supporters of terrorism and anti-Semites as well as being hostile to British values.

 

Journalist Mehdi Hasan launches Gaza misinformation series

British-American journalist Mehdi Hasan has launched a new series which sets out to debunk misinformation around Israel’s war on Gaza.

“Israeli officials have told so many lies since October 7 with so little pushback from the media that it’s hard to keep up. So here, from Zeteo, is the first in a new segment we’re calling, ‘The top seven lies about Gaza debunked’,” he says in a video posted on X.

Hasan, who most recently worked for MSNBC, launched his own media company, Zeteo, in January.




Sudden silence from Palestinian fighters on attacks against Israeli forces: Monitors

Five Palestinian armed groups fighting against Israeli forces in the Gaza Strip did not report any attacks on Tuesday, while two other groups reported one attack each against Israel’s military in the enclave. In what monitors described as “anomalously low” reports of fighting, the drop followed a day after Palestinian armed groups said on Monday that they had launched at least 15 onslaughts against Israeli forces in Gaza.

“This drop in claims represents a sharp decrease in Palestinian militia activity across the Gaza Strip, but it does not indicate that Israeli action has destroyed or defeated Hamas,” the Institute for the Study of War (ISW) and the Critical Threats Project (CTP) said.

According to the ISW and CTP, both US-based defence think tanks, there are two possible conclusions to be drawn from the silence: Israeli forces are no longer permanently present in Gaza City, therefore there are fewer targets for Palestinian fighters to attack. Or, Palestinian fighters have encountered communications problems – though this would hardly affect all groups simultaneously, the monitors said.

“Palestinian militias appear to conduct a spirited defence when Israeli forces do present themselves as targets deep in the Gaza Strip,” the ISW/CTP also noted, adding that Palestinian fighters attacked Israeli forces 92 times in 11 days during Israel’s recent operation to clear the Zeitoun neighbourhood.



Israeli ministers hail plans to build 3,500 new settlement homes

An Israeli settlement-planning authority has pushed forward permits for 3,500 new settlement homes in the occupied West Bank, according to an announcement by Israeli Minister of National Missions Orit Strock.

Pending final approval, the homes are to be built in the Israeli settlements of Maale Adumim, Kedar and Efrat, which are all close to Jerusalem, reports The Times of Israel. Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich said the new planned settlements will add to a record number approved for the occupied West Bank this year. “The enemies try to harm and weaken us but we will continue to build and be built up in this land,” he wrote on X.

Israel is avoiding ceasefire demands, Hamas says

Hamas says it has shown the flexibility required to reach a truce that stops the Israeli aggression against the Palestinian people but Israel is evading demands for a ceasefire. These demands include a permanent ceasefire, the return of the displaced Palestinians in Gaza to their homes, the withdrawal of Israeli troops from the Gaza Strip and the entry of humanitarian aid.

“We will continue to negotiate through our brotherly mediators to reach an agreement that fulfils the demands and interests of our people,” Hamas said in a statement.


No more weapons to Israel, says Bernie Sanders

Senator Bernie Sanders has once again urged the US government to halt arms shipments to Israel, saying “there should be no more money for the Netanyahu war machine”. Sanders, an independent senator from Vermont, has in recent months grown more vocally critical of Israel’s war in Gaza and US military backing for Israel.

In January, Sanders introduced a resolution to condition US security aid to Israel on whether the country is committing human rights abuses in its war in Gaza. The Senate overwhelmingly voted to kill the resolution.




Canada said to resume funding for UNRWA: Report

Canada’s CBC News is reporting that the Canadian government has decided to resume funding for UNRWA after seeing an interim report examining Israeli claims that around a dozen of the agency’s staff took part in Hamas’s October 7 attacks. The Canadian broadcaster cited a senior government official in its report.

The source, who was not authorised to speak publicly, told CBC News that the Canadian government “is comfortable resuming funding” based on the interim findings of the UN inquiry into Israel’s allegations. UNRWA has previously said that Israel has failed to provide additional information to back its claims.

CBC News said Canada will go ahead with a scheduled payment in April of $25m and is set to announce further funding.

 

Bombed, starved, displaced – Israel’s war on Gaza’s children


A Palestinian child suffering from malnutrition receives treatment at a healthcare centre in Rafah, in the southern Gaza Strip, March 4, 2024


Palestinian children suffering from malnutrition receive treatment at a healthcare centre in Rafah on March 5, 2024


Palestinian children receive cooked food rations as part of a volunteer youth initiative in Rafah on March 5, 2024

 

Death toll in Gaza rises

At least 30,717 people have been killed and 72,156 wounded by Israeli attacks on Gaza since October 7, the Palestinian Health Ministry said. In the last 24 hours, Israeli attacks have killed 86 people and wounded 113 in Gaza. The Palestinian Health Ministry says the death toll from malnutrition and dehydration in Gaza has risen to 18.



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SvennoJ on 06 March 2024

South Africa asks ICJ for more measures against Israel

South Africa has asked the International Court of Justice (ICJ) to order additional emergency measures against Israel, which it says is breaching the measures already in place, the United Nations’ top court says.

In January the World Court, as the ICJ is also known, ordered Israel to refrain from any acts that could fall under the UN’s Genocide Convention and to ensure its troops commit no genocidal acts against Palestinians, after South Africa accused Israel of state-led genocide.

In February, South Africa had lodged an “urgent request” with the ICJ to consider whether Israel’s military operations targeting Rafah breach provisional orders the court handed down on January 26.




The court can't do anything though, and the UNSC, supposed to enforce the ICJ's rulings, can't act due to US' veto.
But good to keep the broken international justice system in the spotlight.

South Africa asks ICJ for immediate ceasefire in Gaza, citing famine

The South African presidency says the country has “approached the International Court of Justice (ICJ) with an urgent application for the provisional measures the court ordered on 26 January 2024 to be strengthened” to prevent famine in Gaza.

“The urgent application has been necessitated by widespread starvation in Gaza, which has claimed the lives of at least 15 children in the past week alone, with the actual numbers believed to be much higher,” the presidency said in a statement.

“United Nations experts warn that the number of deaths will increase exponentially unless military activities are halted and the blockade is lifted,” the statement continued, demanding that the court order an immediate ceasefire in Gaza.

“The situation is urgent. South Africa has no choice but to approach the Court for the strengthening of the Provisional Measures in place to try [to] prevent full-scale famine in the Gaza Strip.”



No justification for arms sales to Israel: UN special rapporteur

Mary Lawlor, United Nations special rapporteur on human rights defenders, says no moral arguments exist that can justify the continued sale of weapons to Israel by states that respect the principle of the universality of human rights.

In an op-ed in The Irish Times, Lawlor says: “The international human rights architecture is creaking under the weight of the hypocrisy of states professing absolute support for a rules-based order yet continuing to facilitate this war by providing weapons to Israel to kill more innocent Palestinians.”

She calls the Israeli onslaught on Gaza “a war on women and children”, who account for 70 percent of the more than 30,000 Palestinians dead. She adds that human rights defenders have been explicitly targeted, including journalists, killed at work covering the conflict, while clearly visible in press vests and helmets. “This is also a war on journalists,” she says, and “a war against humanitarian personnel.”

US ‘quietly’ approved military sales to Israel since Oct 7: Report

The Washington Post reports that the United States has “quietly approved and delivered more than 100 separate foreign military sales to Israel since the Gaza war began on October 7, US officials told members of Congress in a recent classified briefing”.

All but a couple of weapons transfers were processed without public debate “because each fell under a specific dollar amount that requires the executive branch to individually notify Congress, according to US officials and lawmakers”, reported the newspaper.

Houthis claim attack on cargo ship True Confidence

The Yemeni group’s military spokesman Yahya Saree says in a televised speech that its fighters targeted the ship in the Gulf of Aden with missiles, causing a fire to break out onboard. “The targeting operation came after the ship’s crew rejected warning messages from the Yemeni naval forces,” Saree said.

We reported earlier that the Barbados-flagged and Greek-operated ship came under attack around 90km (56 miles) southwest of the Yemeni port city of Aden, becoming adrift.

Two dead in Houthi attack on US ship: Official

A senior US official says at least two people have been killed in the Houthi attack on the US cargo ship True Confidence in the Gulf of Aden, the Reuters news agency reports. The UK embassy in Yemen also confirmed the death toll, calling it a “sad and predictable” result of the Houthis’ attacks on international shipping.

Earlier, we reported the Yemeni group’s military spokesperson Yahya Sarea said its fighters targeted the ship with missiles, causing a fire to break out onboard. These are the first recorded casualties since November when the Houthis began attacking commercial vessels they say are linked to Israel.

US says Houthis will be held accountable for attack that killed two sailors

State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller told reporters that the US will “continue” to hold the Yemeni group accountable for attacks on international shipping. Earlier, the US and UK said that a missile attack on a cargo ship, the True Confidence, around 90km (55 miles) southwest of the Yemeni port city of Aden, killed two. The attack was claimed by the Houthis in a televised speech by the group’s military spokesman Yahya Sarea.

Miller declined to specify to reporters whether this attack would trigger a new round of US air raids on Houthi positions in Yemen, which have been ongoing throughout 2024.


Lebanon’s Hezbollah, Israel trade cross-border fire

Israel has launched an air raid targeting the town of Yaroun, in southern Lebanon’s Nabatieh governorate, the Lebanese state news agency NNA has reported. The attack comes hours after Hezbollah claimed to have hit Metula, in northern Israel.

Two missiles that did not explode were launched on the Lebanese towns of Kafra and Yater, while the outskirts of al-Fardeis were hit by artillery shelling, NNA reported. Hezbollah earlier said its fighters targeted the Avivim settlement in northern Israel with “appropriate weapons”.



SvennoJ on 06 March 2024

Germany calls on Israel to withdraw occupied West Bank settlement approvals

Germany has called on the Israeli government to immediately withdraw the approval of further settlements in the West Bank, saying building settlements in occupied Palestinian territories was a serious violation of international law.

Commenting on Israel’s Supreme Planning Authority approving plans for constructing around 3,500 new housing units in the settlements of Maale Adumim, Kedar and Efrat, the ministry said: “We strongly condemn the approval of further settlement units in the West Bank.”

Seven injured in Israeli raid on Bethlehem refugee camp: Official

Mohammed Taha, who heads the committee overseeing services for residents of Dheisheh camp in the Bethlehem area, says the seven were shot with live rounds by Israeli soldiers, and have been evacuated to Beit Jala Governmental Hospital. Taha tells Al Jazeera that clashes erupted earlier this evening as soldiers raided the camp, looking for two men. When they couldn’t find them, they detained their parents, he says.

“The camp has been raided on an almost daily basis since October 7, and since then, three residents have been killed, dozens injured, and more than 100 detained by Israeli forces,” he adds.

Nablus a primary target for Israeli settlers, says governor

Nablus Governor Ghassan Daghlas says attacks by settlers have risen since October 7, citing the killing or injuring of residents, expansion of settlements and expropriation of land, as well as the looting and vandalising of Palestinians’ property.

“This is all happening under the watchful eye of Israeli soldiers,” Daghlas told Al Jazeera.

“Nablus is also being subjected to a large-scale siege – one that is driven by politics and not security. It is happening because of settler pressure to break the city of Nablus because it is the economic capital of the West Bank,” he said.

“The international community must apply adhere to its laws and expose Israel as criminal. If there is no real international pressure on the occupying state, the situation is liable to explode,” he added.

More than 200 aid trucks entered Gaza on Tuesday, still not enough: US

Approximately 250 aid trucks entered Gaza on Tuesday through the Rafah and Karem Abu Salem border crossings, State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller told reporters.

“We need to see dramatically more go in,” Miller said, adding there has been some improvement in the distribution of aid but enough is still not entering Gaza.

At least Miller is not as delusional as COGAT. They reached half of the daily amount before October 7th, for one day. Still over 60,000 trucks behind.


Palestinians in Gaza say aid airdrops too little and at times, unusable

Mahmoud Shalabi, senior programme manager for Medical Aid for Palestinians (MAP), says food aid in Gaza is not enough to “preserve people’s dignity”.

The aid that is being airdropped is scarce and at times, unusable. “Some meals have to be microwaved, but we don’t have electricity here in Gaza,” Shalabi said in a voice message to Al Jazeera. He added that at the once bustling market in the Jabalia refugee camp, close to his home in Beit Lahiya, there are no longer stalls, as “there is no more food to sell.”

“There are only a few very expensive nuts and spices,” he said. “Everyone I know has lost weight, between 15 and 20 kilos (33-44 pounds), some people even more. Some drink some coffee and give the food to their children,” he added. “I have seen a man in the market buying a scrap of bread and giving it to his children, telling them this is your food for the day. We don’t have rice, lentils, beans … Nothing.”



Health Ministry: Two more Palestinians die of starvation

A 15-year-old child died at al-Shifa Hospital and a 72-year-old man died at Kamal Adwan Hospital in northern Gaza, as a result of malnutrition and dehydration, Gaza Health Ministry spokesman Ashraf al-Qudra says in a statement. This brings the official death toll of those who have succumbed to malnutrition and dehydration to 20.

Al-Qudra emphasised that the announced death toll only reflects cases that have reached hospitals. “We believe that dozens are dying silently as a result of starvation without reaching hospitals,” he said.


Another Israeli attack on aid seekers in Gaza City: Al Jazeera correspondent

Eight people have been wounded after Israeli forces fired live rounds at people waiting for humanitarian aid at the Nabulsi roundabout in the southwest of Gaza City, an Al Jazeera correspondent reports.

Palestinian journalist killed in strike on Deir el-Balah

Palestinian journalist Muhammad Salama has been killed with his family in an air raid on his home in the city of Deir el-Balah, according to the Gaza Media Office. Salama was a television presenter for the Palestinian Al-Aqsa channel.

The Health Ministry in Gaza said 132 journalists have been killed in the strip since the start of the war. The US-based Committee to Protect Journalists has confirmed the deaths of 94 journalists and media workers since October 7, including 89 Palestinian, 2 Israeli, and 3 Lebanese.



At least five killed in Israeli bombing of mosque in north Gaza

Exclusive video obtained by Al Jazeera shows the aftermath of a bombing of the Salah Mosque in Jabalia al-Balad earlier today. Civil defense crews rushed to the scene to begin rescue efforts, and recovered the bodies of at least five Palestinians, as well as many wounded. Children were among the injured, our video shows.

Our cameras captured an interview with a witness to the bombing, who said the mosque was targeted without prior warning, and that many children were nearby at the time of the attack. The final death toll of this attack is unclear, but we will update you as soon as we get new information.


The aftermath of an Israeli attack on the Salah Mosque in Jabalia al-Balad, Gaza Strip, March 6, 2024

‘Stop our daily death’

Children in Gaza are protesting against the lack of food and water entering the besieged enclavve after health authorities said 18 people were confirmed to have died of malnutrition and dehydration.

“Stop our daily death,” a banner held by children in the southern city of Rafah said. Some carried burial shrouds on stretchers to symbolise those who have died of hunger. The protest is the latest in a series of similar demonstrations staged by children to demand swift action on the part of Arab countries and the international community.



SvennoJ on 06 March 2024

Backed into a corner, lashing out at everyone, that's Israel today

Israel demands UN chief invoke Article 99 for captives

Israel’s UN ambassador, Gilad Erdan, has warned of strict actions if UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres does not invoke Article 99 of the UN Charter regarding Israeli captives held in Gaza and initiate a UN Security Council discussion on alleged sexual crimes committed by Hamas.

“Israel should ‘break the tools’ and take severe actions, including closing the UN headquarters in Jerusalem, deporting senior UN officials from Israel and evacuating UNRWA compounds from Jerusalem,” he said in a post on X.

Article 99 allows the secretary-general to “bring to the attention of the Security Council any matter which in his opinion may threaten the maintenance of international peace and security”.

In December, Guterres invoked Article 99, urging the UN Security Council to act on the war in Gaza. The US vetoed the resulting resolution.

UK’s Cameron tells Israel’s Gantz ‘must change’ aid flow into Gaza

British Foreign Secretary David Cameron has said he pushed Israel to increase the flow of aid into Gaza, amid a dire humanitarian crisis due to Israel’s policy of blocking aid from getting into the strip and from reaching its most needy. “We are still not seeing improvements on the ground. This must change,” Cameron said he told Israeli war cabinet member Benny Gantz during a meeting.

Israeli media is also reporting that Gantz met with the UK’s PM Rishi Sunak. The United Nations last week described the likelihood of famine within the Gaza Strip as “almost inevitable” as aid into the small strip of land is choked off under Israel’s siege.

Jordan FM Safadi tells Blinken ‘immediate’ ceasefire needed in Gaza

The call between Jordan’s Minister of Foreign Affairs Ayman Safadi and US Secretary of State Antony Blinken focused on the efforts made to reach a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip, in addition to efforts to deliver much-needed humanitarian aid, a statement from the Jordanian Foreign Ministry said on X.

“Al-Safadi emphasised the need to reach an immediate and permanent ceasefire, stop the aggression, and open all crossings to bring in enough aid to confront the humanitarian catastrophe facing the [Gaza] Strip,” it added.

Iraq pledges $25m donation to UNRWA: Report

Iraqi government officials told Reuters news agency that the country will donate $25m to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA). They did not say when Baghdad will pay the sum, according to Reuters.

UNRWA chief Philippe Lazzarini told the UN General Assembly on Monday that the agency is “functioning hand-to-mouth” after 16 countries paused a total of $450m in funding when Israel in January accused 12 of its staff of taking part in the October 7 attacks.

Qatar pledges $25m to UNRWA

The Gulf country’s ambassador to the UN, Sheikha Alya Ahmed bin Saif Al-Thani, tells the General Assembly that the additional funds are to help meet the emergency needs that the UN agency for Palestinian refugees is currently facing, “especially in light of the unprecedented humanitarian catastrophe in the Gaza Strip”.

She said Qatar condemns “the systematic targeting campaign aimed at dismantling UNRWA and expresses its regret over the suspension of some donor countries’ funding allocated to the agency”.

The ambassador stressed that there is no alternative to UNRWA, on which five million Palestinians depend, especially in light of the catastrophic humanitarian conditions in the besieged coastal enclave.

Qatar also said it urges countries that have suspended their support for the agency to review their decision and resume their funding.


‘Thou shalt not starve’: Aid convoy heading to Gaza crossing

A Palestinian-Jewish social justice group says it will be leading tomorrow morning an aid convoy to the Karem Abu Salem crossing, known to Israelis as Kerem Shalom. “Join us to demand from the Israeli government – stop the mass starvation in Gaza,” the group said in a post on X.

“The collection centres in Haifa, Tel Aviv, Jerusalem and Be’er Sheva are starting to receive food items for the aid convoy for residents of Gaza tomorrow. We must stop the starvation and allow the entry of humanitarian aid.”

Despair so high any passage of trucks an attraction to hungry people: UNRWA

As we’ve been reporting, the UN has described food shortages in Gaza as a “nutrition crisis” and part of a wider humanitarian catastrophe. Speaking to Al Jazeera from Cairo, UNRWA spokesperson Tamara Alrifai said the situation was “so dire” and the despair “so high” that any passage of trucks becomes an attraction to people who are hungry.

“Ninety percent of the population today in Gaza is facing a high level of acute food insecurity,” Alrifai said. “Therefore anyone seeing a convoy of aid trucks going through their part of Gaza will jump on these trucks out of hunger, despair and fear and will try to help themselves onto these convoys – especially as we’re hearing more and more about children under the age of two now dying of hunger-related diseases and dehydration,” she added.

Alrifai also said that accessing northern Gaza has been “a real challenge”. “More than half the requests by the UN altogether to bring much-needed food, medical supplies and clean water to the north have been rejected by the Israeli authorities,” she said, adding that UNRWA has UNRWA has not been permitted to reach the area since January 23.

“That’s almost six weeks of us not being able to bring food and medical supplies to people who are desperate and isolated in the north of Gaza.”

‘Existing land crossings best way to bring aid into Gaza’: UNRWA

The UNRWA spokesperson has also commented on the reported plans of a maritime corridor to bring humanitarian assistance into the besieged and bombarded territory. “The most straightforward way of getting aid into the Gaza Strip is to use the existing crossings, namely Karem Abu Salem [called Kerem Shalom by Israel] and Rafah from Egypt,” Tamara Alrifai told Al Jazeera, saying the existing land crossings are “faster, safer and more economical” than a maritime route and airdropping attempts.

“Why should we reinvent the wheel? Let us use what exists and what has worked before,” Alrifai said, stressing that there are “constant requests for a ceasefire that would allow an influx of humanitarian assistance”.



SvennoJ on 06 March 2024

Israel detaining more than 9,000 Palestinians: Human rights group

Israeli rights group HaMoked says that as of March, Israel is imprisoning 9,077 Palestinians, including more than 3,500 held without charge in administrative detention. The data, HaMoked says, was provided by the Israel Prison Service.

“Holding prisoners and detainees from the [occupied Palestinian territories] inside Israel constitutes a blatant violation of the Fourth Geneva Convention, prohibiting the transfer of prisoners and detainees outside the occupied territory, and also violates basic human rights enshrined, inter alia, in Israeli law,” the organisation says.



SvennoJ on 07 March 2024

Hamas delegation leaves Cairo after Israel ‘thwarted’ negotiation attempts

A Hamas delegation has left Cairo with the group saying ceasefire talks will continue until an agreement is reached.

Earlier, an official from the Palestinian group told the Reuters news agency that negotiations in Cairo failed to achieve a breakthrough as Israel rejected the group’s demands to end its offensive in the enclave, withdraw its forces, and ensure freedom of entry for aid and the return of displaced people.

Israel “thwarted” all attempts by mediators to reach an agreement, Sami Abu Zuhri said.


Netanyahu wants ‘Armageddon’, says former Israeli PM

Ehud Olmert, a former Israeli PM and a fierce critic of Netanyahu, has warned that the current Israeli leader could jeopardise the country’s longstanding peace treaty with Egypt if he expands military operations into Rafah.

Speaking on the Haaretz Podcast, Olmert said Netanyahu and his allies in the war cabinet have no interest in stopping the war and even want to go further by inflaming tensions in the occupied West Bank.

Netanyahu and his cohort want “Armageddon that will make it possible to expel many of the Palestinians in the West Bank”, said Olmert.



EU to review Israel’s human rights compliance in Gaza

The European Union has agreed to launch a probe into whether Israel is complying with human rights obligations stipulated in its trade deal with the bloc, according to the EU’s top diplomat.

Josep Borrell, in a blog post, said the Spanish and and Irish governments have asked European institutions to check whether Israel’s actions in Gaza comply with the human rights clauses in the EU-Israel Association Agreement. “We will carry out this work,” he said.

The accord, signed in 2000, sets out a framework for free trade in goods, services and capital, based on “respect for human rights and democratic principles”.

Israel’s aims in Gaza appear to ‘go beyond destroying Hamas’: EU top diplomat

More on Josep Borrell’s announcement of an EU probe into Israel’s compliance with rights obligations in Gaza. The EU’s top diplomat used strong language to denounce Israeli actions in the Palestinian territory.

He expressed concern over Israel’s killing of more than 100 Palestinian aid seekers and said the incident shows that “the international community needs to take decisive steps to save Gazan civilians from both starvation and violence”.

After five months of war, “the actions of the Israeli government in Gaza give the impression that its objectives go beyond destroying Hamas”, Borrell said, quoting an Israeli general who pledged to “turn Gaza into a place that is temporarily or permanently impossible to live in”.

“And indeed,” Borrell said, “almost everything that allows a human society to function has been destroyed: civil register, property register, cultural and health infrastructure, most of the schools built by UNRWA”.

In addition to taking steps to end the fighting, the international community must also help secure a state for the Palestinian people, he said.  “Despite the refusal of the Netanyahu government, the international community is united on the question of the two-state solution and will have to advance swiftly on its implementation,” he wrote.