‘Trump’s words are a direct endorsement of genocide’

“To the People of Gaza: A beautiful Future awaits, but not if you hold Hostages. If you do, you are DEAD! Make a SMART decision. RELEASE THE HOSTAGES NOW OR THERE WILL BE HELL TO PAY LATER!”

These were not the words of some far-right provocateur lurking in a dark corner of the internet. They were not shouted by an unhinged warlord seeking vengeance.

No, these were the words of the president of the United States, Donald Trump, the most powerful man in the world. A man who with a signature, a speech or a single phrase can shape the fate of entire nations. And yet, with all this power, all this influence, his words to the people of Gaza were not of peace, not of diplomacy, not of relief – but of death.

This is not just absurd. It is evil.

Trump’s words are criminal. They are a direct endorsement of genocide. The people of Gaza are not responsible for what is happening. They are not holding hostages. They are the hostages – trapped by an Israeli war machine that has stolen everything from them. Hostages to a brutal siege that has starved them, bombed them, displaced them, left them with nowhere to go.

To people in Gaza, Trump’s threats make little difference

For many in Gaza, US President Donald Trump’s recent threats feel like nothing more than a justification for further violence and collective punishment against them.

Late on Wednesday, Trump had threatened the people of Gaza, saying they would all be “dead” if captives continued to be held there.

As Gaza continues to grapple with the devastating aftermath of war – mass displacement, widespread destruction, and dire humanitarian conditions – people are exhausted and sceptical about international efforts to resolve the war.

“Everywhere you look is destruction, ruin, and misery. Is there anything left for us to grieve?” asked Yasser al-Sharafa, 59, who runs a makeshift stand selling candy and snacks to children.

“Trump or whoever, it makes no difference.”

Two Palestinian cvilians killed in Israeli drone strike: Report

The two were killed and others were injured after Israeli drones targeted a group of people in the Shujayea neighbourhood of Gaza City in the northern Strip, Wafa reports.

According to the Palestinian news agency’s correspondent, the civilians were targeted near Al-Mu’tasim Mosque on Mansoura Street, in the east of the neighbourhood.

Although a ceasefire agreement came into effect on January 19 after more than 15 months of war, Israel has frequently carried out attacks that claim the lives of civilians, Wafa said.

Gaza aid groups scramble as pledged US cash flow suspended: Report

Earlier we reported The Associated Press news agency quoting USAID officials who said hundreds of millions of dollars to buy humanitarian aid for the desperate people of Gaza have been shut off by the US government, threatening to derail the fragile ceasefire.

“The US established very specific, concrete commitments for aid delivery under the ceasefire and there is no way… to fulfil those as long as the funding freeze is in place,” said Jeremy Konyndyk, president of Refugees International and a former USAID official.

Termination letters severing the contracts between USAID and Gaza partners were sent out to organisations providing shelter, child protection, and logistical support in the Gaza aid operation, one USAID official told AP.

The move comes as Israel prevents any food, water, fuel, and medicine from entering the besieged Palestinian territory for a sixth day. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu now says he’s considering cutting off electricity to raise pressure on Hamas.

Fuel and medical supplies scarce amid Israel’s aid blockade

The situation is hanging by a thread. The Israelis’ ban on the entry of all sorts of aid into the Gaza Strip has done nothing but complicate both the humanitarian and medical situation.

We have seen throughout Gaza’s barely functional hospitals that medical teams are trying to do everything possible in order to continue to provide essential medical services. We’re talking about more than 100,000 wounded people who have injuries from Israel’s military attacks on Gaza, and now this ban has triggered huge concerns regarding two important issues: fuel and medical supplies.

Hospitals and medical centres are in desperate need of fuel in order to help medical teams continue to provide services. The vast majority of hospitals rely on emergency generators and now with the ban on fuel trucks entering the situation is getting much worse.

And it’s expected to get even worse within the coming days if there is not any serious intervention.

Aid organisations warn conditions are worsening in Gaza amid Israeli aid block

For six days, Israel has blocked all humanitarian aid from entering Gaza, triggering dire consequences.

Food and fuel supplies are depleting, and the rainy weather is making living conditions unbearable for families sheltering in makeshift camps. Aid groups, including CARE, report that trucks carrying food, medical supplies, and shelter materials were scheduled to reach Gaza but have been halted.

Al Jazeera’s Hani Mahmoud reports from a temporary shelter in Gaza City, where people describe their worsening struggle against hunger and cold.

Houthis to resume attacks if Israel’s Gaza blockade not lifted

Yemen’s Houthis will resume naval operations against Israel if Israel does not lift its blockage of aid into Gaza within four days, the group’s, leader, Abdul Malik al-Houthi, has said.

The Houthis – who control most of western Yemen, including the capital city Sanaa – have launched attacks throughout the Gaza war in stated solidarity with Palestinians in Gaza.

Since November 2023, the group has carried out more than 100 attacks on commercial and military ships in the Red Sea and launched missiles and drones towards Israel. It said it would limit attacks after Israel and Hamas reached a ceasefire deal aimed at ending the war last month.

Main events on March 7th

Aid groups warn conditions in Gaza worsening as Israel blocks vital supplies

For almost a week, Israel has blocked all humanitarian aid from entering Gaza, triggering dire consequences.

Food and fuel supplies are depleting, and the rainy weather is making living conditions unbearable for families sheltering in makeshift camps.

Aid groups, including CARE, report that trucks carrying food, medical supplies, and shelter materials were scheduled to reach Gaza, but have been halted by Israeli authorities.

People in Gaza ‘need an immediate and massive scale-up of humanitarian supplies’

A humanitarian worker with Doctors Without Borders (MSF), who recently returned from Gaza, has denounced Israel’s blockade on the Strip, saying the move worsens the already dire humanitarian situation there.

Sarah Vulstyeke was among MSF staff who set up mobile health clinics in Jabalia in northern Gaza following the Israel-Hamas ceasefire.

“The devastation we found in Jabalia is hard to describe; there was nothing left, only rubble. We tried to assess the conditions of health centres. But we visited the first one, and it was flattened. Then the second, the third… Everything was in ruins and reduced to piles of rubble. It’s breathtaking and heartbreaking,” she said.

It took a week for the team to clear up enough rubble just to set up a temporary structure for health consultations, she said.

Vulstyeke said Palestinians in Gaza are determined to try to rebuild what they lost, despite the “unbearable difficulties” they face every day.

“The situation is still very precarious, and we are really worried about the consequences that a blockade of humanitarian aid into Gaza could have,” she said.

“People in Gaza still need an immediate and massive scale-up of humanitarian supplies, and it is unacceptable that an entire population is now once again being prevented from receiving humanitarian aid.”

Muslim nations endorse Egypt-led plan for Gaza’s reconstruction

The Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) has endorsed an Egyptian-led counter-proposal to US President Donald Trump’s controversial plan to take over Gaza and displace its residents.

The decision by the 57-member grouping came at an emergency meeting in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, three days after the Arab League ratified the plan at a summit in Cairo.

“The emergency ministerial meeting of the OIC adopted the Egyptian plan, which has now become an Arab-Islamic plan,” Egyptian Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty said.

“It is certainly a very positive thing,” he said.

Egypt seeks EU backing for Gaza reconstruction plan

The Egyptian foreign minister said Cairo will seek endorsement for its Gaza plan from more countries after Arab and Muslim nations supported the proposal.

“The next step is for the plan to become an international plan through adoption by the European Union and international parties such as Japan, Russia, China and others,” Abdelatty said.

“This is what we will seek, and we have contact with all parties, including the American party.”

Earlier, a spokesperson for the US State Department said the Egypt-led plan “does not meet” Washington’s expectations, though Trump’s Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff gave a more positive reaction, calling it a “good-faith first step from the Egyptians”.

Europe created this mess in the first place, so yeah it's time for Europe to step up, especially UK, France and Germany.

Hundreds killed in Syria clashes, rights monitoring group says, in worst violence since ouster of Assad regime

https://www.cnn.com/2025/03/07/middleeast/syria-army-assad-deadly-clashes-intl/index.html

In the worst outbreak of unrest since Syria’s transitional government took power, hundreds of people have been killed or wounded in clashes between the security forces and supporters of former President Bashar al Assad this week, according to a human rights monitoring group.

The clashes broke out Thursday in the Latakia and Tartous regions on the Mediterranean coast, areas where support among Syrian Alawites for Assad was strong and which has seen outbreaks of sectarian violence over the past three months.

More than 225 people have been killed since Thursday in the clashes, the Syrian Network for Human Rights (SNHR) said on Friday.

At least 100 Syrian government “security personnel” are included in the death toll, the UK-based independent human rights monitoring group said, while 125 civilians were killed when joint forces from Syria’s Ministries of Defense and Interior “launched a large-scale security operation in dozens of villages across the countryside of Latakia, Tartous, and Hama.”

Dozens killed in Syria after Assad loyalists ambush government forces

Security forces in Syria have battled gunmen loyal to deposed President Bashar al-Assad in the country’s coastal region for a second day, with dozens of people reported killed in the deadliest violence since opposition fighters toppled the regime last year.

Hasan Abdel-Ghani, spokesperson for the Syrian Defence Ministry, told Al Jazeera that fighters loyal to al-Assad on Thursday attacked security forces in several places in Latakia and Tartous governorates that are home to the Alawite minority sect to which the al-Assad family belongs, killing “a number of security forces” in well-planned operations.

The violence spiralled on Thursday when the authorities said groups of Assad-aligned militias targeted security patrols and checkpoints in the Jableh area and surrounding countryside, before spreading more widely.

On Friday, gunmen loyal to the government stormed the villages of Sheer, Mukhtariyeh and Haffah near Syria’s coast and killed dozens of men, according to the SOHR. The Beirut-based Al Mayadeen TV said more than 30 men were killed in Mukhtariyeh after they were separated from women and children.

Syrian state news agency SANA, citing a security source, said “individual violations” had been perpetrated after large, unorganised crowds had headed to the coastal region following the attacks on government security personnel.

Peace ‘threatened’

Groups of people gathered Friday outside the main Russian air base in Syria near the town of Jableh, asking for protection from Moscow.

Russia intervened in Syria’s war in 2015, siding with al-Assad, although it has since opened links with the new authorities after his fall. Al-Assad has been living in Moscow since leaving Syria in December as the opposition offensive neared Damascus.

Russia’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesperson Maria Zakharova said Moscow was ready to coordinate “de-escalation” efforts with foreign partners. She urged “authoritative Syrian leaders who can influence the development of the situation on the ground to do their utmost to put an end to the bloodshed as soon as possible”.

Iran, a longtime backer of al-Assad, warned on Friday that violence in Syria could cause regional instability, state media reported. “Iran strongly opposes insecurity, violence, killing and harming innocent Syrians from every group and tribe, and sees it as a catalyst for regional instability,” spokesperson Esmaeil Baghaei was quoted as saying.

Neighbour Turkiye on Friday warned against “provocations” in Latakia province, saying they threatened peace. “Such provocations must not be allowed to become a threat to the peace of Syria and our region,” Turkish Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesperson Oncu Keceli wrote on X.

Alawite activists say their community has been subjected to violence and attacks since al-Assad fell, particularly in rural Homs and Latakia.

While al-Sharaa has pledged to run Syria in an inclusive way, no meetings have been declared between him and senior Alawite figures, in contrast to members of other minority groups such as the Kurds, Christians and Druze.

Under al-Assad, members of the Alawite community held top posts in the army and security agencies. The new government has blamed his loyalists for attacks against the country’s new security forces over recent weeks.

Trump appoints new US ambassador to Lebanon

The US president says he has appointed Michel Issa to be the next US ambassador to Lebanon.

“Michel is an outstanding businessman, a financial expert, and a leader with a remarkable career in Banking, Entrepreneurship, and International Trade,” Trump said in a post on Truth Social.

Issa, who does not appear to have any prior diplomatic experience, replaces career diplomat Lisa Johnson, who was confirmed by the Biden administration in December 2023.

Israel strikes towns in southern Lebanon during biggest assault since ceasefire

As we previously reported, the Israeli military has conducted 15 air strikes on southern Lebanon within a 30-minute period, in the highest concentration of Israeli attacks since the ceasefire with Hezbollah came into force in November.

Our Al Jazeera Arabic colleagues now report that at least some of those strikes targeted the Wadi Barghaz area and the town of al-Ahmadiya in southern Lebanon.

Israel’s military – which has repeatedly violated the terms of the ceasefire agreement – said it targeted Hezbollah “military sites” where “weapons and rocket launchers” were located.

Israeli drones fire on Gaza City

Al Jazeera’s sources say that the Israeli army has fired on citizens’ homes in the Tuffah neighbourhood of Gaza City, in the northern Strip.

Earlier, the Israeli army reported that its air force attacked targets in Gaza City, saying that its targets were militants.

Wafa news agency said that the drones fired on civilians.

France, Germany, Italy, UK welcome Arab plan for Gaza rebuild

The foreign ministers of the four countries have issued a joint statement in support of the Arab initiative for the reconstruction of the Gaza Strip, adopted at an emergency summit in Cairo earlier this week.

“The plan shows a realistic path to the reconstruction of Gaza and promises – if implemented – swift and sustainable improvement of the catastrophic living conditions for the Palestinians living in Gaza”, the statement reads.

“We are clear that Hamas must neither govern Gaza nor be a threat to Israel any more. We explicitly support the central role for the Palestinian Authority and the implementation of its reform agenda”, the statement adds.

The Arab plan did not explicitly exclude Hamas, but rather called for swift elections to determine control of the Palestinian territories. Hamas welcomed these calls for elections days ago, signalling they may be acceptant of stepping down from control of Gaza.

‘Palestinian women at the heart of struggle for survival’

The Palestinian Authority has urged on International Women’s Day that the international community take responsibility for ensuring protection for Palestinian women.

Its Foreign Ministry highlighted that “519 days of Israel’s war on Gaza have resulted in the killings of more than 12,298 women with thousands more subjected to forced displacement”.

“Palestinian women stand at the heart of the struggle for survival, bearing the greatest burden of genocide, crimes against humanity, and attempts at forced displacement and ethnic cleansing,” the ministry said in a statement.

It added that 21 Palestinian women are currently being held in “harsh and inhumane conditions in Israeli prisons where they endure torture, solitary confinement, and medical neglect”.

Killing of 12,000 women in Gaza a ‘stain on humanity’: Hamas

Hamas has reacted to a Gaza government tally of the number of women who were killed by Israel’s war.

“The killing of 12,000 women in Gaza, the injury and arrest of thousands, and the displacement of hundreds of thousands are a stain on humanity,” the group said. “Palestinian female prisoners are subjected to psychological and physical torture in flagrant violation of all international norms and conventions.”

Hamas added the suffering endured by Palestinian female prisoners revealed the “double standards” of Western countries, including the United States, in dealing with Palestinians.

More Israeli raids in the occupied West Bank

Al Jazeera has verified footage on local media channels showing Israeli soldiers storming the town of ar-Ram, north of occupied East Jerusalem.

Earlier, we reported on several ongoing incursions in the occupied West Bank, including around Al-Quds Open University, the town of Qusra, and the Fawwar refugee camp, south of Hebron.

Settlers storm Palestinian village, Israeli forces arrest three

Israelis from illegal settlements have attacked Palestinians and their homes in a village in the Masafer Yatta area, south of Hebron, in the occupied West Bank.

The local residents told Al Jazeera that Israeli troops then stormed the village following the settler attacks and arrested three Palestinians.

From the title any sane person would conclude 3 Settlers were arrested. But if know 10% of what's going in the West Bank, it's always the victims that get arrested.

Israeli settlers attack West Bank village, steal 800 sheep: Report

Israeli settlers have attacked the Palestinian village of Ein al-Auja, north of Jericho, in the occupied West Bank, according to the Palestinian Information Center.

The settlers stole 800 of the village’s sheep, the centre reported.

Israeli settler attacks against Palestinians have risen since Israel’s war on Gaza began after Hamas led attacks on Israel on October 7, 2023.