World War J: March 1-15

3:20 pm

The process of transferring a massive shipment of flour sent by the US to Gaza has started after it was held up by Israel for nearly two months, US State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said. Miller does not specify when trucks carrying this flour capable of feeding 1.5 million Gazans for five months began entering Gaza, but says during a briefing that Israel recently agreed to release flour from its Ashdod port and was “mak[ing] its way into Gaza — something we’ve been support for some time.” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu privately informed the Biden administration that Israel approved the shipment in early January. The White House announced the development on January 19. The shipment arrived at the port in Ashdod, but Smotrich blocked its transfer to UNRWA, which came under fire in January over allegations that 12 of its staffers participated in the October 7 terror onslaught.

The IDF and Shin Bet say a Palestinian who was heading to carry out an imminent terror attack was killed by troops of the elite Duvdevan unit a short while ago in the West Bank. Muhammad Jaber, a resident of the West Bank city of Jenin, was killed by Duvdevan commandos in the town of Zeita, close to the West Bank security barrier. Jaber was killed while “en route to Israeli territory to carry out a suicide attack in the immediate time-frame,” the IDF and Shin Bet say. Jaber was armed with a firearm and a primed explosive device.

Biden has submitted a likely dead-on-arrival 2025 budget proposal to Congress, which renews his request for $14 billion in funding for Israel and $100 million in humanitarian support for Palestinian civilians, which has been blocked by Republican congressional leaders for months. Those funding requests were first made in October as part of a national security supplemental request, which passed in the Senate, but has since been held up by Republicans in the House who oppose funding for Ukraine and are under pressure from former president Donald Trump not to cooperate with his successor in an initiative aiming to also settle the ongoing southern border crisis.

The proposal does not include funding for the UN relief agency for Palestinian refugees UNRWA, which is currently being investigated after 12 of its members allegedly participated in Hamas’s October 7 terror onslaught. UNRWA funding was already dropped from Biden’s national security supplemental request, with the White House seeking to divert that spending to other agencies that support Palestinian civilians.

Asked about the lack of UNRWA funding during a State Department briefing, a senior budget official said:  “We have a pause on our funding to UNRWA until the investigation is complete. That doesn’t mean we are not providing funding for humanitarian needs in Gaza and the West Bank. [This budget includes] a significant commitment [to Palestinians living there]. But until that particular investigation concludes itself, we’re going to look to other organizations such as the World Food Program, UNICEF, and other outlets.” Funding for UNRWA does not necessarily have to be specified in the budget proposal, and the agency can receive funds from the $3.3 billion earmarked for migration and refugee assistance. The 2024 fiscal year budget request did specify funding for UNRWA, but the agency was not as politically toxic then as it is now.

Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz bashed UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres ahead of a UN Security Council session called to discuss a report by the world body detailing Hamas’s use of sexual violence on and after October 7. Katz charged that Guterres’s response to the report has been milquetoast, signaling “a distressing bias,” and maintains that, had the victims not been Jews or Israelis, his office “would have responded in a much more vigorous way.” “The indifference displayed toward the report on Hamas’ sexual violence — crafted with bravery — is deplorable,” he writes, accusing the UN chief of trying to push off discussion on the report until April. “Your tenure at the UN is set to be remembered for diminishing the organization’s stature to an all-time low, allowing it to become an epicenter of antisemitism and anti-Israel incitement,” he writes.

Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant hinted at an Israeli strike on Hamas’s third-highest-ranking leader in Gaza, Marwan Issa, in remarks released by the Defense Ministry following a meeting with IDF Chief Herzi Halevi and the army’s general staff. “There have been successes, including in recent days, and there will be more successes, the operations are persistent and headed in the right direction,” he says. “Alongside that, we need to take into account that we may have more challenges in front of us, primarily in the north, with all its significance.” Hamas has yet to acknowledge whether Issa was among five people reportedly killed in a strike on an area where the terror leader was said to be hiding. The Defense Minister also aims not-so-veiled criticism at instances of squabbling within his own government, calling for “the political system to take an example” from the army’s ability to work together under harsh conditions.

Opposition Leader Yair Lapid accused PM Netanyahu and his government of picking a fight with the Biden administration for domestic political gain, advising pro-Israel activists attending the AIPAC conference in Washington to “not defend the government, defend the country.” “The fight between our governments is unnecessary. It is meant for domestic politics,” he says via video conference. “We have people here, at the highest levels, who mistakenly think that it will help them with their political base. That is stupid, and you are allowed to say so out loud. It is also not what Israel feels.” The comments appear to echo criticism coming out of the White House in recent days claiming that Netanyahu’s policies do not reflect most Israelis’ stances. Netanyahu has pushed back against the allegation. “It is hard to defend a policy when you are not sure you understand it. When you are not sure there is one,” Lapid said in a speech largely focused on decrying resurgent antisemitism and pushing Israel’s right to defend itself. He largely avoided commenting on differences between Biden and Netanyahu, such as a threatened offensive in Rafah and the two-state solution. Lapid praised the US for “pushing forward the debate about the ‘day after’” fighting ends in Gaza. “It is essential,” he says, without elaborating.

A 50 year old man has been shot to death in Lod, medics and the Abraham Initiatives organization say, marking the seventh slaying in the Arab community since March 8. In the southern community of Segev Shalom, a 30-year-old man has been rushed to a hospital in serious condition after being shot, the Magen David Adom rescue service said. According to the Abraham Initiatives, 39 members of the Arab community have been killed in violent circumstances so far this year. At this point in 2023, which saw violent deaths among Arabs skyrocket to record levels, there had been 30 killings.

Israeli radio reported that an Israeli strike in the central Gaza Strip that may have killed Hamas’s third in command Marwan Issa targeted an underground complex in the Nuseirat refugee camp where he was suspected of hiding. According to the vaguely sourced report, Israeli intelligence does not think hostages were being held at the site, with a source quoted as saying that had they been present “the strike would not have gone ahead.”

AIPAC is meeting in Washington DC while ties between the Biden administration and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government appear to have hit a new low. Over 1,600 AIPAC activists will hear from Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson, Democratic House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, Democratic Senate Majority Leader Charles Chuck Schumer and Republican Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell during the conference, which began on March 10.  “The priority lobbying message will be to House Republicans to urge their leadership to urgently pass a bipartisan emergency funding bill for Israel without conditions and that can be signed into law by the president,” says an AIPAC spokesperson. GOP lawmakers have blocked the legislation due to disagreements regarding Ukraine and immigration reform.

7:45 am

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on March 10 in response to President Biden that he, too, has a red line: “You know what the red line is? That October 7 doesn’t happen again.” 

Referring to Biden's comments that day, in which the president was asked by MSNBC host Jonathan Capehart: “Do you have a red line with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu? … For instance, the invasion of Rafah, which you have urged him not to do—would that be a red line?” Biden didn't refer to Rafa specifically, saying:  “You cannot have another 30,000 dead as a consequence [of pursuing Hamas],” citing a figure presented by Hamas for casualties in Gaza. However, Biden said “I’m never going to leave Israel. The defense of Israel is still critical. So there’s no red line [where] I’m going to cut off all weapons so they don’t have the Iron Dome to protect them.” Of Netanyahu, Biden said, “He is hurting Israel more than he is helping.” When Netanyahu was asked by a German reporter what he thought Biden meant, said, “I don’t know exactly what the president meant, but if he meant by that, that I’m pursuing private policies against the wishes of the majority of Israelis and that this is hurting the interests of Israel then he’s wrong on both counts.”

Biden expressed Ramadan greetings to Muslims in the US and overseas: “The sacred month is a time for reflection and renewal,” the president began. “This year, it comes at a moment of immense pain. The war in Gaza has inflicted terrible suffering on the Palestinian people.” He again cited official but unverified statistics used by Hamas—which Washington has designated a terror organization for nearly 26-and-a-half years—claiming that “more than 30,000 Palestinians have been killed, most of them civilians, including thousands of children.” “Some are family members of American Muslims, who are deeply grieving their lost loved ones today,” he said. “Nearly two million Palestinians have been displaced by the war; many are in urgent need of food, water, medicine and shelter.” “As Muslims gather around the world over the coming days and weeks to break their fast, the suffering of the Palestinian people will be front of mind for many,” he said. “It is front of mind for me.”

Biden said his administration will “continue to lead international efforts to get more humanitarian assistance into Gaza by land, air and sea,” noting that the United States plans to create “a temporary pier on the coast of Gaza that can receive large shipments of aid” and is airdropping aid in the Strip. He said, "We’ll continue to work with Israel to expand deliveries by land, insisting that it facilitate more routes and open more crossings to get more aid to more people.” Biden said his administration will “continue working non-stop to establish an immediate and sustained  ceasefire for at least six weeks as part of a deal that releases hostages” and that it will push for a “two-state solution,” which he called “the only path toward an enduring peace.” Also, Biden said that there has been “an appalling resurgence of hate and violence toward Muslim Americans.” “Islamophobia has absolutely no place in the United States, a country founded on freedom of worship and built on the contributions of immigrants, including Muslim immigrants,” he stated. “No one should ever fear being targeted at school, at work, on the street, or in their community because of their background or beliefs.”  
“To Muslims across our country, please know that you are deeply valued members of our American family,” he added. “To those who are grieving during this time of war, I hear you, I see you and I pray you find solace in your faith, family, and community.”

According to the Times of Israel, Biden's comments drew criticism. “Not only is Biden using Hamas talking points but he’s using Hamas statistics. The Jews have officially been abandoned by this White House,” wrote Dovid Margolin, senior editor at Chabad. “Biden administration working very hard to recapture the CAIR, Code Pink, JVP demographic,” wrote Alberto Miguel Fernandez, a former U.S. State Department official and current vice president at the Middle East Media Research Institute.“Biden’s Ramadan  message is all about Gaza and ‘Islamophobia.’ Of course,” he added. “This is pandering. But completely predictable. While a majority of Americans are pro-Israel, here Biden seeks to appeal to a very specific single (or dual) issue demographic he needs to win back and hopefully energize before November.”

7:30 am

Hezbollah claimed it launched a multi-drone attack on an Israeli air defense outpost across from Lebanon in the Golan Heights. The Hezbollah terrorists deployed four drones, hit its target with “accuracy”. It described it as an operation in support of Palestinian groups in Gaza. Israel captured the Golan Heights from Syria in 1967. The IDF claimed this morning that two “suspicious aerial targets” struck open areas in the northern Golan Heights, and there are no reports of any damage of casualties.

Citing the Palestinian Prisoner Society (PPS), Palestinian news agency Wafa reports that overnight and into the morning Israeli security forces have detained at least a further 25 people in the West Bank. It reports that most of the detentions happened in Ramallah. The PPS now states that about 7,530 Palestinians have been detained since 7 October by Israeli security forces in the Israeli-occupied West Bank.

Senior Hamas official Basem Naim responded to attempts to deliver aid to the Gaza Strip via a sea bridge. While he confirmed the news as “positive”, he said: "Ensuring all the needs of the population in the Gaza Strip are met is not a favour from anyone; it is a guaranteed right under international humanitarian law even during times of war. If the US administration is serious about solving the humanitarian crisis, the easiest and shortest path is to stop using veto power to allow a ceasefire to be reached, and to compel Israel to open all land crossings and allow entry of all required aid."

Hamas has warned Palestinians not to collaborate with Israeli attempts to exercise control inside Gaza. It reportedly said: "The occupation’s attempt to communicate with the leaders and clans of some families to operate within the Gaza Strip is considered direct collaboration with the occupation and is a betrayal of the nation that we will not tolerate. The occupation’s efforts to establish bodies to manage Gaza are a ‘failed conspiracy’ that will not materialise." Those who work in concert with Israel do will be treated as collaborators and be handled with an iron fist, the Hamas Al-Majd security website said, quoting a security official in Palestinian terror forces. The warning comes in response to reports that Israel is considering arming some Palestinian individuals or clans in Gaza to provide security protection for aid convoys into the enclave as part of wider planning for humanitarian supplies after the fighting ends. “The occupation’s attempt to communicate with the leaders and clans of some families to operate within the Gaza Strip is considered direct collaboration with the occupation and is a betrayal of the nation that we will not tolerate,” the Hamas-linked website says, quoting the official. “The occupation’s (Israel) efforts to establish bodies to manage Gaza are a ‘failed conspiracy’ that will not materialize.”

British maritime security firm Ambrey says it is aware of a missile-related incident west of Yemen’s Red Sea port city of Hodeidah. Yemen’s Iran-aligned Houthis have been attacking ships in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden since November in what they say is a campaign of solidarity with Palestinians during Israel’s war against Hamas in Gaza

France’s former foreign minister Catherine Colonna, who is heading the independent review of UNRWA, began her visit to Israel. She met Israeli Foreign Ministry Director General Kobi Blitstein, and will be presented with intelligence on Hamas tunnels in and around UNRWA facilities, terrorist attacks by UNRWA employees, and the use of UNRWA sites to launch rockets at Israel, according to the Foreign Ministry. Foreign Minister Israel Katz says that Israel is cooperating fully with the investigation. Israel will also present evidence that the UN body responsible for Palestinian refugees incites against the Jewish state in its schools. In January, UNRWA announced that it had commissioned an independent review “to assess whether the Agency is doing everything within its power to ensure neutrality and to respond to allegations of serious breaches when they are made.” Colonna is working with three organizations on the review – the Raoul Wallenberg Institute in Sweden, the Chr. Michelsen Institute in Norway, and the Danish Institute for Human Rights. Her interim report is expected in late March, and a final report a month later. In February, UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres ordered the UN’s Office of Internal Oversight Services to investigate allegations that 12 UNRWA staffers took part in Hamas’s October 7 terror onslaught in southern Israel.

Freed Israeli  hostage Mia Schem, kidnapped on October 7 from the Supernova desert rave, attended singer Elton John’s party for the Oscars in Los Angeles. Schem wore a white gown decorated with an oversized yellow rhinestone ribbon pin to raise awareness of the hostages still in Gaza, as she attended the annual 32nd Elton John AIDS Foundation Academy Awards Viewing Party. Schem, a tattoo artist, is still wearing a cast, having been shot in arm during the devastating Hamas attack on October 7. She underwent surgery while being held in Gaza, and was freed during a weeklong truce in November. Schem and her family are in the US to speak about the remaining hostages, visiting New York, Toronto, and Washington, DC, where she attended US President Joe Biden’s State of the Union address. Pro-Palestine protesters thronged outside the Oscars venue.

The Israeli military reportedly attempted to kill Marwan Issa, the deputy head of the of Hamas’s military wing, in a recent airstrike in the central Gaza Strip. Issa was hiding in the Nuseirat camp. Overnight between March 9-11, the IDF carried out an airstrike on a building where he was believed to be. Five Palestinians were killed in the strike, although it is unknown if Issa is among them. According to the reports, Hamas is still checking if Issa was killed in the strike. Issa is considered to be number three in the terror organization in Gaza.

7:15 am

An aid ship carrying 200 metric tonnes of food to alleviate hunger in the Gaza Strip remained docked in Cyprus on March 10, despite the push for maritime aid in the face of stalling ceasefire talks and the beginning of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan. The Cypriot spokesman, Konstantinos Letymbiotis, told the island’s official news agency that the exact timing of the vessel’s departure would not be made public for “security reasons”. It was later reported that due to “technical difficulties”, it might not depart until March 11. While it reports he described the move as “positive”, he said: "Ensuring all the needs of the population in the Gaza Strip are met is not a favour from anyone; it is a guaranteed right under international humanitarian law even during times of war. If the US administration is serious about solving the humanitarian crisis, the easiest and shortest path is to stop using veto power to allow a ceasefire to be reached, and to compel Israel to open all land crossings and allow entry of all required aid."

A Hamas-linked website warned Palestinians not to act in concert with Israeli attempts to exercise control inside Gaza. It reportedly said: "The occupation’s attempt to communicate with the leaders and clans of some families to operate within the Gaza Strip is considered direct collaboration with the occupation and is a betrayal of the nation that we will not tolerate. The occupation’s efforts to establish bodies to manage Gaza are a ‘failed conspiracy’ that will not materialise."

The IDF issued a disciplinary note to a top commander after he ordered the destruction of a university compound in southern Gaza City without the approval of his superior. Al-Asraa university building was blown up about two months ago. The IDF claimed that its investigation “revealed that Hamas used the building and its surroundings for military activity against our forces, but the process of collapsing the building was done without the required approvals.”

Israel’s president, Isaac Herzog, is in the Netherlands, where he was present for the opening of the first Holocaust museum in the country at the weekend. Today, he met with Geert Wilders, the leader of the anti-Islam Freedom party (PVV) who won a shock 26% of the vote in November’s elections, but has not yet been able to form a coalition government. Wilders, who has campaigned to ban the Qur’an and mosques in the Netherlands, posted to social media to say:"I just had a great meeting in Amsterdam with the president of Israel, Isaac Herzog. I told him I am proud that he visits the Netherlands and that Israel has, and always will have, my full support in its fight against terror."

At least 31,112 Palestinians have been killed and 72,760 wounded since since Oct 7 in Gaza, reports the territory’s Hamas-controlled health ministry said today. It has not been possible for journalists to independently verify the casualty figures being issued during the conflict.

Israel’s military claimed that “IDF troops struck terrorist operatives who endangered the forces in the central Gaza Strip” and that “special forces are continuing to operate in the area of Hamad in Khan Younis.” It “killed approximately 15 terrorists in the central Gaza Strip in close-quarters encounters” and that in the area of Hamad “IDF special forces conducted targeted raids on a number of residences used for terrorist activities, apprehended Hamas operatives, and located weapons, ammunition, and additional military equipment.” Highlighting one of the risks of attempting to deliver aid via the sea without a ceasefire in place, the IDF also claims that “Israeli Naval troops operating in the northern Gaza Strip directed a helicopter that struck a vessel used by terror organisations in the area.” The claims have not been independently verified.

The Muslim holy month of Ramadan begins today as the king of Saudi Arabia using the occasion to call for an end to the “heinous crimes” taking place in war-torn Gaza. Saudi Arabia said through its official SPA news agency on Sunday that the Supreme Court had announced “Monday, 11 March 2024, the beginning of the blessed month of Ramadan for this year”. Speaking as custodian of Islam’s two holiest sites, King Salman gave thanks in his Ramadan message on Sunday evening for the “blessings bestowed upon the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia”, but noted the war in Gaza would cast a shadow over the month of fasting and prayer. “As we witness the arrival of Ramadan this year, our hearts are heavy with sorrow for the ongoing suffering of our Palestinian brothers facing relentless aggression,” he said. “We call upon the international community to uphold its responsibilities to put an end to these heinous crimes and ensure the establishment of safe humanitarian and relief corridors.” 

A ship carrying aid for Gaza is to set sail from Cyprus “as soon as possible”, a spokesperson for one of the organisations behind the shipment said after “technical difficulties” prevented it from leaving at the weekend as planned. The ship in Cyprus is expected to take two to three days to arrive at an undisclosed location in Gaza. The World Central Kitchen spokesperson said that construction work began on Sunday on the jetty for it.

Meanwhile a US military vessel carrying equipment for the construction of a second temporary pier in Gaza was en route to the Mediterranean, officials in Washington said, though it will be weeks before it is functional. The opening of the sea corridor comes as the Muslim holy month of Ramadan begins without the much-hoped for ceasefire. Speaking as custodian of Islam’s two holiest sites, Saudi Arabia’s King Salman said the “heinous crimes” in Gaza cast a shadow over the period.

Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu rejected President Biden’s comment that his approach to the war in Gaza is “hurting Israel more than helping Israel”, escalating a dispute between the leaders. If Biden meant “that I’m pursuing private policies against the majority, the wish of the majority of Israelis, and that this is hurting the interests of Israel, then he’s wrong on both counts”, Netanyahu said in an interview with Politico.

Egypt was in contact with senior Hamas and Israeli figures as well as other mediators on March 10 in an effort to restart negotiations for a truce in the Gaza Strip during Ramadan, which begins on Monday or Tuesday, two Egyptian security sources told Reuters. Egypt’s contacts with Hamas and Israeli intelligence agency, the Mossad, on Sunday were reportedly carried out under a mandate from the Egyptian presidency in a bid to bring the two sides’ divergent positions together.

Hamas’ top leader, Ismail Haniyeh, blamed Israel for the failure to reach a deal before Ramadan and said that the militant group is keen to resume negotiations in any framework as long as it guarantees a permanent ceasefire.
The UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees said on March 10 that hunger is “everywhere” in Gaza and described the situation in the north of the enclave as “tragic”, saying that aid via land is “denied despite repeated calls”.

The US and Jordan carried out a new airdrop of humanitarian aid to Palestinians in Gaza on Sunday, parachuting in more than 11,500 meals, the US military said. The American military’s central command said that the latest airdrop took place over northern Gaza and included rice, flour, pasta, and canned food.

Lebanon’s Hezbollah terrorist organiation said it had fired dozens of rockets into northern Israel after Israeli strikes the day before killed five people in southern Lebanon, including three of the group’s members. Hezbollah said it had launched “dozens of katyusha-type rockets” in the morning on the Israeli village of Meron, eight kilometres (five miles) from the border.

At least 31,045 Palestinians have been killed and 72,654 injured in Israeli strikes on Gaza since October 7, the Gaza health ministry said in a statement on Sunday. The Civil Defense Department said 10 people were killed Sunday in an Israeli airstrike on a house of the Ashour family in the Tal al-Hawa area of Gaza City.

March 11, 2024

 

9:45 am

Israel's Mossad intelligence agency said Hamas is "fortifying its position" with regard to a potential hostage deal, and instead is looking to "ignite the region during Ramadan." "At this stage, Hamas is fortifying its position as if it is not interested in a deal, and it strives to ignite the region during Ramadan at the expense of the Palestinian population of the Gaza Strip," according to the Mossad.

Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez said on March 9 that he will propose that Spain's parliament recognize a Palestinian state. “I will propose granting Spain’s recognition to the Palestinian state,” Sánchez said. "I do this out of moral conviction, for a just cause and because it is the only way that the two states, Israel and Palestine, can live together in peace.”

President Biden stated on March 9 that he has not nor will he present any kind of “Red Line” to Israel regarding their War against Hamas, with him further stating that the United States will never cut-off weapons from Israel nor abandon its people. He also said that he believes that he believes Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is “hurting Israel more than helping Israel” in how he is approaching its war against Hamas in Gaza. Biden expressed support for Israel’s right to pursue Hamas after the Oct. 7 attack, but said of Netanyahu that “he must pay more attention to the innocent lives being lost as a consequence of the actions taken.”

Israeli Defense Force Spokesperson, Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari said on March 9: Hamas cares only about one thing: the survival of Hamas leaders."” ”Hamas has been stealing humanitarian aid and stockpiling equipment and food for Ramadan for Hamas terrorist leaders instead of the Gazan civilians in need."

The IDF says it carried out strikes on a series of Hezbollah targets in southern Lebanon on March 9. Sites hit by fighter jets included buildings where members of the terror group were operating in Ayta ash-Shab, command centers in Majdal Zoun and Kafra, and additional infrastructure in Mhaibib, according to the IDF.

A Spanish ship laden with humanitarian aid intended for Gaza is preparing to leave Cyprus, amid acute international concern as conditions in the territory continue to deteriorate. A US charity said it was loading aid on to a boat in Cyprus, which will be the first shipment to Gaza along a maritime corridor the European Commission hopes will open by today.

Today, the Biden administration announced that the USS General Frank S. Besson had departed from a Virginia base en route to the eastern Mediterranean to provide humanitarian aid to Gaza by sea. In its statement, the US central command said the Besson, a logistics support vessel, departed “less than 36 hours after President Biden announced the US would provide humanitarian assistance to Gaza by sea”, adding that it was “carrying the first equipment to establish a temporary pier to deliver vital humanitarian supplies”.

Efforts to secure a deal on a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas are continuing, according to a statement by Israel’s intelligence agency, the Mossad, on March 9. The Mossad chief, David Barnea, met onMarch 8 with CIA director William Burns, to promote a deal to release the hostages, the Mossad said in a statement distributed by Netanyahu’s office. Biden said it was “looking tough” to secure a ceasefire in Gaza before the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.

On March 9, Hamas chief Ismail Haniyeh vowed the Palestinians would continue to fight Israel “until they regain freedom and independence” during the month of Ramadan.

Three Palestinian children reportedly died of dehydration and malnutrition at the northern al-Shifa hospital overnight, the Gaza health ministry on Saturday said. Its spokesperson Ashraf Al-Qidra said this raised to 23 the number of Palestinians who had died of similar causes in nearly 10 days.

The Israeli military said it conducted arrests, located weapons and killed more than 30 fighters in Khan Younis, including in the Hamad area, in central Gaza and in the area of Beit Hanoun in the north, according to a statement on March 9, summarising its operations in Gaza over the past day.

Gaza’s Hamas-controlled health ministry said on March 9 that at least 82 people were killed in Israeli attacks across the Gaza Strip in the last day, and the total number of deaths had risen to 30,960. The figures have not been independently verified.

In Khan Younis, medics said at least 23 people were killed in military raids on homes and in Israeli shelling of a housing project in the Hamad area of the city. In the northern Gaza Strip, Israeli fire killed a Palestinian fisher along the beach, medics said.

Israel struck one of the largest residential towers in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip on March 9. The 12-floor building, located about 500 metres from the border with Egypt, was damaged in the strike. Dozens of families were made homeless though no casualties were reported, according to residents. The IDF said it had warned residents of the 12-floor Al-Masry Tower ahead of the strike, and said they all evacuated in time. The Palestinian news agency Wafa reported that “scores of civilians sustained various injuries”.

Canada and Sweden confirmed that they will restore funding for the UN Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA). According to CBC News, Canada’s international development minister Ahmed Hussen confirmed the move at a press conference on Friday, while the Swedish government announced on Saturday that it would resume suspended payments with a grant of $20 million.

Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said on March 9y that Ankara “firmly backs” the Palestinian militant group Hamas. “No one can make us qualify Hamas as a terrorist organisation,” he said in a speech in Istanbul. “Turkey is a country that speaks openly with Hamas leaders and firmly backs them.” He recently announced that he will not run for reelection.

Hundreds of thousands of Pro-Palestinian activists marched through London calling for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza, during a National Day of Action for Palestine on March 9. The demonstration, organised by the Palestine Solidarity Campaign (PSC), made its way from Hyde Park Corner to the US embassy in Nine Elms. The British Commissioner for combatting extremism, Robin Simcox, recently wrote that there are now "no-go zones" for Jews in London.

Philippe Lazzarini, UNRWA’s commissioner-general told Swiss broadcaster RTS that the UN Palestinian refugee agency is at the “risk of death” after Israel alleged some of its staff took part in the October 7 Hamas attack. But, he said he was “cautiously optimistic” that “a number of donors will return” over the next few weeks and after an independent review of UNRWA is due to be published next month.
Egyptian president Abdel Fattah al-Sisi said the cost of rebuilding Gaza could exceed $90bn (£70bn). He made the comment during a speech marking Martyrs’ and Veterans’ Day in Egypt on Saturday.
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March 10, 2024

Israeli robots used in Gaza

8:00 am

A US nonprofit said it was loading aid for Gaza on to a boat in Cyprus, the first shipment to the war-ravaged territory along a maritime corridor the European Commission hopes will open this weekend. The Spanish-flagged vessel Open Arms docked three weeks ago in the port of Larnaca in Cyprus, the closest EU country to the Gaza Strip. “World Central Kitchen teams are in Cyprus loading pallets of humanitarian aid on to a boat headed to northern Gaza,” World Central Kitchens stated on March 8. World Central Kitchens is a contractor to the US government to supply food in disaster situations. It was founded by chef Jose Andres, an American citizen born in Spain.

“World Central Kitchen teams are in Cyprus loading pallets of humanitarian aid on to a boat headed to northern Gaza,” the charity said in a statement on March 8. “We have been preparing for weeks alongside our trusted NGO partner Open Arms for the opening of a maritime aid corridor that would allow us to scale our efforts in the region,” it added. The charity said it plans to tow a barge loaded with provisions for the people of Gaza, where dire humanitarian conditions more than five months into the Israel-Hamas war have led some countries to airdrop food and other assistance. “The endeavor to establish a humanitarian maritime corridor in Gaza is making progress, and our tugboat stands prepared to embark at a moment’s notice, laden with tons of food, water, and vital supplies for Palestinian civilians,” Open Arms said on social media platform X.

Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Treasury for Asia and the Middle East Jesse Baker visited with Lebanese authorities and reportedly pressed them to prevent funds from being funneled to Hamas by way of Lebanon. His visit came as negotiations for a cease-fire between Israel and Hamas in Gaza appear to have stalled. Should the war continue during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, which could begin late on March 10, many fear a regional escalation, including in Lebanon. Near-daily low-level clashes have taken place between the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah, a Hamas ally, and Israeli forces for more than five months. Baker had shared with Lebanese authorities “specific concerns” about “the movement of Hamas funds through Lebanon, Hezbollah funds from Iran into Lebanon and then out into other regional areas” and called for “proactive measures” to combat it. The official said that the groups need the flow of funds to pay their fighters and conduct military operations and cannot achieve their aims otherwise. Compliance with global anti-money-laundering and counterterrorism financing standards is key to attracting investment from the U.S. and the rest of the world to Lebanon and to pulling the country out of its protracted crisis. Baker pushed for Lebanon to crack down on the large sector of illicit financial service companies that have flourished amid the collapse of the country’s formal banking system over four years of economic crisis, including illegal money exchange and unlicensed money transfer operations, the Treasury official said. Those businesses — along with a cash economy that the World Bank has estimated amounts to nearly 46% of Lebanon’s GDP — have offered workarounds for people and groups barred from the formal financial system by U.S. sanctions, including Hamas and Hezbollah, both of which Washington considers terrorist organizations. Walid Kilani, a spokesperson for Hamas in Lebanon, said he had “no information” about the matter. Halim Berti, spokesperson for Lebanon’s central bank, confirmed that officials with the institution had met with Baker and described the meetings as “very positive.” He said that the central bank is doing its part to regulate licensed financial services businesses but that those operating without a license are “not in our jurisdiction” and should be dealt with by law enforcement.

Three Palestinian children reportedly died of dehydration and malnutrition at the northern al-Shifa hospital overnight, said the Hamas-run Gaza health ministry. Its spokesperson Ashraf Al-Qidra said this raised to 23 the number of Palestinians who had died of similar causes in nearly 10 days. “This brutal war has ruptured any sense of a shared humanity,” said Mirjana Spoljaric, president of the International Committee of the Red Cross. According to Reuters, she called for an end of hostilities to allow for meaningful aid distribution in Gaza, for Hamas to release all hostages without conditions and for Israel to treat Palestinians in its custody humanely and to permit them to contact their families.

Israel struck one of the largest residential towers in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip today, stepping up pressure on the last area of the territory it has not yet invaded and where over a million displaced Palestinians are sheltering. The 12-floor building, located about 500 metres from the border with Egypt, was damaged in the strike. Dozens of families were made homeless though no casualties were reported, according to residents. However, the Palestinian news agency Wafa reported that “scores of civilians sustained various injuries”.

Canada has confirmed it will restore funding for the UN Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA). Canada’s international development minister Ahmed Hussen confirmed the move at a press conference on March 8. Canada, along with a number of major donors, suspended funding to UNRWA in January after Israel alleged that 12 UNRWA employees were involved in the October 7 Hamas attack on Israel. The Canadian government intended to resume funding after Ottawa received an interim report from the UN’s investigation of Israel’s allegations.

Sweden said today it will resume suspended payments to the UN Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA), with a grant of $20 million. Several countries, including the US and the UK, paused their funding to UNRWA after accusations by Israel that 12 of the agency’s 13,000 staff in Gaza took part in the 7 October Hamas attack on Israel. The Swedish government said it had resumed payments after UNRWA agreed to strengthen internal controls and to extra checks on its employees, among other measures. The Swedish government said: “The government has allocated 400m kronor to UNRWA for the year 2024. Today’s decision concerns a first payment of 200m kronor.” It said that to unblock the aid, UNRWA had agreed to “allow controls, independent audits, to strengthen internal supervision and extra controls of personnel.” The Swedish move came after the European Commission earlier this month said it would release €50 million ($55 million) in UNRWA funding.

Today, Iran denounced Meta’s decision to remove the Facebook and Instagram accounts of its supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, calling it a “violation of freedom of expression”. Instagram and Facebook are among the most popular social media platforms for Iranians, but while the government blocks their use, officials in the Islamic republic have accounts on them. Meta said last month it had removed Khamenei’s accounts from Facebook and Instagram for having “repeatedly violated” its policy on “dangerous organisations and individuals." Iranian foreign minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian said the move was “not only a violation of freedom of speech, but also an insult to millions of followers of his positions and news”. “The mottoes of freedom of expression by some western claimants are hollow and showy slogans and a cover for their illegitimate political goals,” he told the Middle East Eye news outlet in remarks also published by Iran’s foreign ministry. 

President Biden doused expectations of a ceasefire in Gaza before the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, which is expected to begin in the coming days. Biden was visiting Rose Valley, Pennsylvania, on March 8 when reporters asked him about developments in talks between Hamas and Israel, to which he responded: ‘It’s looking tough.’ Biden also expressed concern about the prospect of violence during Ramadan between Israeli authorities and Palestinians in occupied East Jerusalem, the location of the third holiest site in Islam, al-Aqsa mosque

Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said today his government “firmly backs” the Palestinian militant group Hamas. “No one can make us qualify Hamas as a terrorist organisation,” he said in a speech in Istanbul. “Turkey is a country that speaks openly with Hamas leaders and firmly backs them.” He also said Turkey "firmly backs’ Hamas leaders. Erdoğan has been one of the most virulent critics of Israel since the start of the war in Gaza, which began after an October 7 attack by Hamas in Israel that claimed at least 1,160 lives.  Erdoğan has called Israel a “terrorist state” and accused it of conducting a “genocide” in Gaza.

The UN’s top aid official, Martin Griffiths, renewed his call for a ceasefire in Gaza and outlined six priorities in the humanitarian response. He wrote:

The hostilities in Gaza entered their sixth month. These six facts should keep us all awake at night:

1) More than half a million people are on the brink of famine. Children are dying of hunger.

2) In February, only half of the 224 aid missions planned were allowed by the Israeli authorities.

3) Lawlessness is rampant and is hindering aid distribution.

4) Aid delivery methods of last resort like airdrops are increasingly common.

5) More than 160 UN staff have been killed.

6) The remaining hostages have yet to be released.

He continued: “We know what to do to save lives, but we need the right conditions and guarantees.” Griffiths then listed six “things that would make a difference”:

1) A ceasefire and full adherence to the rules of war.

2) Additional entry points, supply routes and storage capacity in Gaza.

3) Better protection for aid convoys.

4) Free and safe movement of humanitarian supplies through checkpoints.

5) Road repairs and clearance of unexploded ordnance.

6) A bigger role for the commercial sector.

In Larnaca, European Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen had earlier expressed hope that a maritime corridor could open this Sunday, although details remained unclear. She said a “pilot operation” would be launched on March 8, aided by the United Arab Emirates which secured “the first of many shipments of goods to the people of Gaza“. There are no functioning ports in Gaza and officials did not say where the initial shipments would go, whether they would be subject to inspection by Israel, or who would distribute aid. The Pentagon said on Friday that a US plan to establish a “temporary offshore maritime pier” in Gaza would take up to 60 days and would probably involve more than 1,000 US personnel.

An attack by Yemen’s Houthi rebels set off explosions ahead of a Singapore-flagged vessel in the Gulf of Aden, authorities said. The attack on March 8 targeted the bulk carrier Propel Fortune, which continued on its way, according to Centcom. “The missiles did not impact the vessel,” the US military said, adding that there were “no injuries or damages reported”. Today, the Houthis said they were behind the attack. Houthi military spokesperson Brig. Gen. Yahya Saree claimed that along with targeting the Propel Fortune, the Houthi forces also launched 37 drones targeting US warships. The March 8 attack on Propel Fortune came after a Houthi missile struck a commercial ship in the Gulf of Aden on March 6, killing three of its crew members and forcing survivors to abandon the vessel. That was the first fatal strike in the Houthi’s campaign over the war in Gaza. The Houthis describe the attacks as trying to pressure Israel into stopping the war, but their targets increasingly have little or nothing to do with the conflict. 

US and allied forces shot down 15 one-way attack drones fired by Iran-backed Yemeni rebels into the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden, the US military said today.  It was one of the Houthis’ largest attacks since they began a campaign of drone and missile strikes against ships in the Red Sea area in November, in professed solidarity with Palestinians during Israel’s war against Hamas militants in the Gaza Strip. The US Central Command (Centcom) said the “large-scale” Houthi attack occurred before dawn into the Red Sea and adjacent Gulf of Aden. Centcom and coalition forces said they determined that the drones “presented an imminent threat to merchant vessels, US Navy and coalition ships in the region”. It stated on X that “US Navy vessels and aircraft along with multiple coalition navy ships and aircraft shot down 15” of the drones. “These actions are taken to protect freedom of navigation and make international waters safer and more secure.”

Thousands of protesters are expected to gather again in central London to call for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza, the fifth major pro-Palestine demonstration in the capital so far this year. It comes a day after Dame Sara Khan, a UK government adviser on social cohesion, said attempts to portray protesters on pro-Palestinian marches as extremist were “outrageous” and dangerous.

The Palestine Solidarity Campaign (PSC) said its latest march was due to begin at noon at Hyde Park Corner and would finish at the US embassy in Nine Elms. 

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President Biden’s plan to build a floating military port to speed up aid to Gaza could take up to 60 days to become a reality and involve more than 1,000 US troops, the Pentagon said on March 8. Aiir force Maj Gen Patrick Ryder, the Pentagon’s chief spokesperson, described the planning for the port system as still in its early stages, with deployment orders just starting to go out to those troops who will head to the Middle East. It came as Biden warned that it would be “tough” to secure a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas by the Muslim holy month of Ramadan. Biden announced in his State of the Union speech, amid warnings of a widespread famine among the territory’s 2.3 million Palestinians. He promised “no US boots will be on the ground”, and said: “This temporary pier would enable a massive increase in the amount of humanitarian assistance getting into Gaza every day.

Sigrid Kaag, the UN senior humanitarian and reconstruction coordinator for Gaza, told reporters late March 7 that air and sea deliveries cannot make up for a shortage of supply routes on land. Kaag said that while airdrops represented a “symbol of support for civilians in Gaza” and were “a testament to our shared humanity”, they were “a drop in the ocean”. “It’s far from enough,” she added. The European Commission, Cyprus, the UAE, UK and US put out a joint statement on what it described as the activation of a maritime corridor to deliver humanitarian assistance to Gaza. “This maritime corridor can – and must – be part of a sustained effort to increase the flow of humanitarian aid and commercial commodities into Gaza through all possible routes,” it added.

The UK foreign secretary David Cameron said on March 8 that the US-led plan to build a temporary harbour in Gaza to bring in aid would take time, reiterating his call for Israel to open the port of Ashdod in the meantime. He said it was “crucial” for the Israelis to “confirm that they’ll open the port”. Cameron also urged Israel to allow more aid trucks into Gaza.

Five people have been killed and 10 injured in Gaza when they were hit by a pallet of aid parachuted into the territory as part of a humanitarian airdrop. Witnesses said the accident happened on Friday morning near the coastal refugee camp known as al-Shati, one of the most devastated parts of Gaza, after a parachute attached to the pallet failed to deploy properly.

The UN’s expert on torture said on March 8 she was investigating allegations of torture and mistreatment of Palestinian detainees in Israel, and was in talks to visit the country. Speaking to Reuters on the sidelines of the UN human rights council in Geneva, Dr Alice Jill Edwards said she had recently received allegations of torture and ill-treatment of Palestinians being detained in the Israeli-occupied West Bank or as a result of the conflict in Gaza.

March 9, 2024

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Israel will provide security for the temporary port being built  by the United States in order to receive humanitarian aid off the coast of Gaza City, President Biden said. Israeli officials have yet to confirm this detail, though they did welcome Biden’s announcement of the maritime corridor for aid. Biden said in his State of the Union speech last night that the US military mission to build the temporary port will not require any US boots on the ground. Senior administration officials briefing reporters on the project before his speech, however, said that US military personnel would be operating in vessels along the shore, even though they won’t be docking.

The Republican National Committee has elected Donald Trump allies, including his daughter-in-law, to top leadership positions, tightening the former president’s grip over the party ahead of the November election.  Michael Whatley, the leader of the Republican Party in North Carolina, and Trump’s daughter-in-law Lara Trump were elected respectively RNC chair and co-chair by voice vote at a meeting of the 168 RNC members in Houston. Both were unopposed. “The RNC is going to be the vanguard of a movement that will work tirelessly every single day to elect our nominee Donald J. Trump as the 47th president of the United States,” Whatley says in his acceptance speech. “We will work relentlessly in every state to ensure that it is easy to vote and hard to cheat.”

Lara Trump, who is married to the former president’s middle son Eric, says the party has “one goal” on election day. “The goal on November 5 is to win, as my father-in-law says, ‘bigly,'” she says. “This isn’t just about right versus left, Republican versus Democrat. It’s about good versus evil.” The former president , 77,endorsed another ally, campaign strategist Chris LaCivita, to be the chief operating officer of the RNC. “This group of three is highly talented, battle-tested, and smart,” Trump says in a statement. He describes his daughter-in-law as “an extremely talented communicator” who is “dedicated to all that MAGA stands for,” a reference to his “Make America Great Again” slogan.

Jewish singer Matisyahu announces that his concert tonight in Chicago “has been cancelled due to the threat of protests.” “While the true details surrounding this decision remain opaque, and while the responsible parties all point fingers at one another over the decision; I can assure you there have been no threats of violence received by our security team who have been vigilant in knowing what is happening in each city,” he says in a post on social media. The singer says he will be donating the proceeds to the Hostages and Missing Families Forum as well as United Hatzalah. This is the third time radical, pro-Palestinian protesters have succeeded in canceling Matisyahu’s US concerts over the past month.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan indicated that he won’t seek re-election when his current presidential term concludes in 2028. Erdogan said this month’s municipal election will be the last with him at the helm. The next municipal election won’t take place until 2030. Erdogan last won re-election last year. The 70-year-old has served as president since 2014 and was prime minister for a decade before that. 

The US military carried out its fourth airdrop of aid into Gaza,amid an unfolding humanitarian catastrophe in the crowded coastal enclave. No further details on the airdrop, including its location or number of meals delivered, were offerd by a US military spokesperson. Yesterday’s airdrop led to reports of five fatalities after some of the parachutes carrying the food did not properly open, landing on several civilians below at high speeds. Approximately five were killed outright, and several were hospitalized.

Biden administration officials met with the UN’s special envoy on sexual violence in conflict, Pramila Patten, to discuss the latter’s report issued earlier this week that confirmed the sexual violence allegations made on October 7 and by hostages held by Hamas since. Among the officials who met with Patten are US Deputy National Security Adviser Jon Finer, White House Gender Policy Council Director Jennifer Klein and US Deputy National Security Adviser to the Vice President Rebecca Lissner. “During the meeting, Patten detailed the scope and methodology of her team’s January 29 – February 14 mission to Israel and the West Bank and her report on the findings of this travel,” according to a White House readout. “The White House officials conveyed President Biden and Vice President Harris’s deep concern about the horrific reports of sexual violence committed by Hamas terrorists on October 7 and reports of ongoing acts of gender-based violence against those in captivity,” the readout adds. “Attendees also discussed the need for all credible allegations to be investigated and steps taken, as appropriate, to hold accountable those responsible,” it continues. “White House officials underscored the importance of preventing harm to Israeli and Palestinian civilians and shared deep concern about the loss of innocent life in this conflict and about the disturbing reports of sexual violence.”

Secretary of State Antony Blinken reiterated that Hamas is the party holding up a possible six-week ceasefire. “In this hour, we’re also intensely focused on seeing if we can get a ceasefire with the release of hostages, the expansion of humanitarian assistance and an environment for working on an enduring resolution,” Blinken says in remarks to reporters alongside visiting Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan. “The issue is whether Hamas will decide or not to have a ceasefire that would benefit everyone. The ball is in their court, we’re working intensely on it, and we’ll see what they do. But there’s no doubt in my mind that getting to this ceasefire with the release of hostages would be a profound benefit to everyone involved,” he says, highlighting the surge in humanitarian aid that a truce would allow.

Several dozen families of hostages in Gaza reportedly received signs of life regarding their loved ones this week. 

The IDF says fighter jets struck Hezbollah targets in southern Lebanon today. The sites included a building used by the terror group in Marwahin, infrastructure in Labbouneh and a position in Ayta ash-Shab from which rockets were fired at northern Israel earlier. The IDF says secondary explosions were seen after the strike on the Hezbollah position, indicating weapons were stored there.

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At least five people were killed and others injured today in Gaza after aid packages airdropped by the US hit them directly, west of Gaza City. Earlier this week, a Gazan "unboxing" aid packages on social media revealed that they contain four nutritious meals, Tabasco sauce, salt and sugar, and, in addition to the meals, Skittles candies. The casualties were taken to Gaza City’s Al-Shifa hospital after the parachutes holding the aid didn’t open properly, causing some of the packages to land on civilians at high speeds, the emergency room’s head nurse, Mohammed al-Sheikh, tells AFP.

On  the evening of March 7, President Joe Biden gave his State of the Union speech to a Joint Session of Congress. “I pledge to all the families that we will not rest until we bring all of your loved ones home,” he said. “Hamas could end this conflict today by releasing the hostages, laying down arms, and surrendering those responsible for October 7th,” said Biden, who stressed that Israel has the right to go after Hamas but also “has an added burden” since Hamas hides behind civilians. Biden also claimed that Israel has a “fundamental responsibility” to protect civilians in Gaza, adding, “This war has taken a greater toll on innocent civilians than all previous wars in Gaza combined.” “Tonight, I’m directing the US military to lead an emergency mission to establish a temporary pier in the Mediterranean on the coast of Gaza that can receive large shipments carrying food, water, medicine and temporary shelter,” Biden said.

Biden was caught on a hot mic telling Democratic Sen. Michael Bennet after his State of the Union speech, “I told him, ‘Bibi’ — and don’t repeat this — but ‘you and I are going to have a Come to Jesus meeting,'” referring to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu by his nickname. After an aide told him he was being recorded, Biden smiled and appeared to respond, “I’m on a hot mic being recorded… that was good.” Bennet was heard praising his speech and urging Biden to continue to push Israel to allow more humanitarian aid into Gaza. According to Merriam-Webster, a “Come to Jesus” moment refers to a “sudden realization, comprehension, or recognition that often precipitates a major change.” Biden has had a checkered, decades-long relationship with Netanyahu, but those ties have come under particular strain in recent months, as Washington sours over Israel’s prosecution of the war in Gaza amid a growing feeling that the premier is not doing enough to address the ongoing humanitarian crisis.

Pro-Palestinian criminal spraypainted and slashed a painted portrait of Lord Balfour in Trinity College, University of Cambridge. The Balfour Declaration was issued in 1917 announcing support for the establishment of a "home for the Jewish people" in Palestine.

An Israeli professor at Columbia University in New York says the school “has opened an investigation into my advocacy for the Jewish and Israeli students, faculty and staff at the university.” “This is a clear act of retaliation and an attempt to silence me,” Shai Davidai tweeted. It is unclear what the investigation is specifically about. A video of the Columbia Business School assistant professor denouncing university president Minouche Shafik’s “cowardice” for allowing the proliferation of “pro-terror student organizations” on campus and telling parents that students were not safe went viral in October.

Traffic has resumed flowing on the Route 1 highway between Jerusalem and Tel Aviv after police say they successfully cleared the road of hostage family protesters who are demanding the government do more to secure the release of their loved ones after 145 days in captivity.

Seven rockets were fired from Lebanon at the Upper Galilee a short while ago, the IDF said. Two were were successfully intercepted by the Iron Dome air defense system, while the other five hit open areas, causing no damage or injuries. Sirens had sounded in the communities of Dishon, Malkia and Ramot Naftali.

Israeli officials have discussed arming some civilians in Gaza to provide security protection for aid convoys into the besieged enclave, as part of wider planning for humanitarian supplies after fighting ends, the Israel Hayom daily reports. With civil order increasingly strained in Hamas-run Gaza and municipal police refusing to provide security to convoys because of the risk of being targeted by Israeli forces, the issue of secure distribution of supplies has become a major problem. The civilians would not be linked to militant groups including Hamas but it remained unclear who they might be, the newspaper says. It says Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had postponed a decision on the issue.

The office of Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu declined comment, which comes a week after dozens of Palestinians were killed in an incident in which crowds surrounded a convoy of aid trucks entering northern Gaza and troops opened fire at those the IDF said had tried to rush them. The incident underlined the chaotic conditions in which aid has been delivered to Gaza, where the United Nations has warned of the growing threat of famine after more than five months of war. “We were not carrying weapons or anything, we are civilians. We wanted to get food because we are starving here in Gaza,” says Mustafa Lolo, who said he was shot in the legs trying to get aid.

The United Nations Security Council will hold an emergency session on March 11 to discuss the report issued this week by the UN’s envoy on sex crimes detailing the sexual violence perpetrated by Palestinian terrorists on October 7 and against hostages who have been held since. Requests for the session were made by Security Council members the US, UK and France.

Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz in a statement says he will attend the session along with relatives of the hostages still being held by Hamas and will use the opportunity to demand that the UN declare Hamas a terror organization and demand the immediate release of the hostages. (The Security Council has adopted several resolutions already demanding the release of the hostages.)

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Long Beach, CA families of high school students are being paid up to US$1,400 to participate in social and restorative justice leadership programs.

A pro-Palestinian vandal spray-painted and slashed a portrait of Lord Balfour at Trinity College. As foreign secretary, Balfour issued the 1917 Balfour Declaration, which supported a “home for the Jewish people.”

Air-dropped US aid packages reportedly killed 5 people and injured more.

Psychologist Jordan Peterson characterizes Bill C-63, the online harms bill as “Trudeau’s illiberal manifesto.”

March 8, 2024

Italy rejected the appointment of Israeli politician Benny Kashriel as the new Israeli ambassador.  The Meloni government did not want an ambassador who was mayor of a West Bank settlement and had also headed the Yesha Council, the main political arm of the settlement movement. Kashriel had been appointed as envoy by current Energy Minister Eli Cohen, who headed the Foreign Ministry until earlier this year. Kashriel will be envoy to Hungary. The Foreign Ministry is now looking for a career diplomat to fill the role, potentially Yoni Peled, who had been appointed as ambassador to Hungary.

Israel accused South Africa of acting “as the legal arm of Hamas” after Pretoria again petitioned the International Court of Justice (ICJ) to take additional measures against Israel. “South Africa continues to act as the legal arm of Hamas in an attempt to undermine Israel’s inherent right to defend itself and its citizens, and to release all of the hostages,” Israel’s foreign ministry says.

The US military said it carried out its third airdrop of aid into Gaza today, dropping more than 38,000 meals amid an unfolding humanitarian crisis in the war-torn coastal enclave. The Israeli offensive in Gaza, triggered by Hamas’s October 7 massacre, has displaced most of the enclave’s 2.3 million people and led to critical shortages of food, water and medicine. In a statement, the US military says the aid was dropped by US and Jordanian C-130 aircraft in northern Gaza. Aid dropped by air is an expensive and insufficient alternative to aid that is trucked in, given the scale of the humanitarian crisis, US officials say. The Biden administration is pressing for greater access by land and also exploring a maritime option.

Defense Minister Yoav Gallant took an apparent jab at Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu during a speech today. “The ability to lead consists of three things: a commitment to the mission, personal example, and the internalization that taking responsibility is the source of authority,” Gallant says at a cadets graduation ceremony at the IDF’s officers school in southern Israel, known as Bahad 1. Netanyahu has refused to accept direct responsibility for the failures of leadership that led to the October 7 massacre. On March 6, an official commission of inquiry found Netanyahu personally responsible for the April 2021 Mount Meron disaster, in which 45 people were killed in a crush at the hilltop gravesite of a second-century sage in northern Israel despite numerous safety warnings ahead of time. It did not propose sanctions against Netanyahu, however.

Gallant spoke of the “difficult” war Israel has been fighting on many fronts, in the north and the south and in places that are “far way” and “secret.” Hamas, he has, has only two options: “Surrender or death, there is no third option.” “We are achieving the goals of the war: the dismantling of Hamas as a military system and a governing system, and the return of all the hostages to their homes,” he said. “This is a fight for our home, for our values as a nation, and for our right to exist as a Jewish, democratic society in our country, our homeland, the State of Israel,” said Gallant. He said Israel has a moral duty to keep fighting “until we defeat Hamas in all of Gaza and return our hostages.”

Eurovision organizers have officially approved Israel’s revised song for the contest, securing the country’s spot in the competition amid a range of boycott calls. Israeli singer Eden Golan will be performing the new song, titled “Hurricane,” at the contest this year in Malmo, Sweden, in May. The new version of the song, which had been originally titled “October Rain,” was approved for participation, after the earlier version was disqualified for purported political messaging. The new version has the same melody but entirely new lyrics.

Speaking at the INSS conference in Tel Aviv, US Ambassador to Israel Jack Lew says “it’s a mistake” to think hostage negotiations have ended. “There are still conversations going on, there is still back and forth, the differences are being narrowed.” “It is not yet the case that it is broken down,” he said. While the goal of getting a deal by Ramadan “is very important,” the ambassador says, it is more important to get it done whenever it can be achieved. He says finding a way to achieve a deal with Hamas is important first of all because of the welfare of the hostages. “Every day it’s getting harder and harder to be optimistic” about the hostages, he said.

A pause would increase the likelihood of a diplomatic solution in the north. A pause would increase the likelihood of Saudi normalization going forward..”  In order for normalization to happen, however, there must an “over the horizon” conversation about a Palestinian state, he said. If the hostage issue is not resolved, he says, “I don’t know how to put the other pieces in a place where I can get them resolved,” referring to normalization with Arab countries in the region and a diplomatic solution to fighting against Hezbollah. He calls such a deal “achievable.” “What has to be accomplished diplomatically is smaller than it was,” he says, pointing out that both sides don’t want to go to war.

Turning to the “day after” the war, Lew says that future administration of Gaza is “at the heart of every plan” for the future. “The workforce is going to have to come from the people from the area, many of whom have worked for the Palestinian Authority,” he said. “It’s going to have to be a vetted group of people.” The key, he says, is security on the streets. He points at the deadly melee around an aid convoy in Gaza City last week as an example of what a breakdown in security leads to.

IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Herzi Halevi says all members of Israeli society should be drafted into the military, in an apparent reference to some religious Israelis who are exempt from military service. “At this time, it is not enough to praise the existing diversity in the IDF, but to call for it to be expanded, and to add troops from all corners of society,” Halevi says at a cadets graduation ceremony at the IDF’s officers school in southern Israel, known as Bahad 1. “This is the need of the hour, not only because the IDF needs to fill the missing ranks and expand its ranks, but mainly to strengthen social cohesion, the source of our resilience and strength and an important component of Israeli antifragility,” he said. Israel is “in an existential war” that it “has to win,” says Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu this afternoon at a cadet graduation ceremony at the IDF’s officers school in southern Israel, known as Bahad 1.

Netanyahu vowed that Israel will “strike our enemies until total victory,” a phrase he has used repeatedly in the past months of war against Hamas. He promised to eliminate the “murderous regime of Hamas, eliminate terrorists, destroy tunnels,” and pursue the perpetrators of the October 7 attack while doing everything possible to “locate the hostages.”

The IDF is advancing impressively to reach its war goal, he said, while minimizing civilian casualties in Gaza, says Netanyahu, slamming Hamas for its tactics of using Gazan “civilians as human shields, and using “subterranean tunnels spanning many kilometers.” The IDF “will continue to act against Hamas in all corners of Gaza, including in Rafah, Hamas’s last stronghold,” the premier vowed. “Whoever tells us not to operate in Rafah is telling us to lose the war and that will not happen,” he says. “Our enemies have brought on themselves [destruction]. He who spoke about spiderwebs is seeing lions,” a reference to Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah calling Israel a “fragile spiderweb” following the October 7 Hamas massacre. Netanayahu said Israel will resist international pressure to end the war because its aim is “total victory in war.” “There is international pressure and it’s growing, but particularly when the international pressure rises, we must close ranks, we need to stand together against the attempts to stop the war,” he said. Western leaders should understand that “when we defeat the murderers of October 7th, we prevent the next September 11th,” he says. “That is why you must stand behind Israel and behind the IDF,” he added. “We will all stand together, heart to heart, [and] remember our fallen and ensure… victory,

The IDF says it carried out airstrikes on buildings used by Hezbollah in the southern Lebanon towns of Aitaroun and Ayta ash-Shab today.  

The United States is threatening future action against Iran at the UN nuclear watchdog if Tehran keeps “stonewalling” the watchdog by denying it the cooperation and answers it seeks on issues including long-unexplained uranium traces. At a meetin gof the International Atomic Energy Agency’s 35-nation Board of Governors, the Biden administration told Iran to cooperate with IAEA inspectors who for years have been seeking explanations from Tehran on the origin of uranium particles at undeclared sites. The United States has stopped short, for now, of seeking a resolution against Iran, however. Diplomats have cited the US presidential election in November as a reason Washington has been reluctant to do that. Tehran bristles at such resolutions and often responds by stepping up its activities. “We believe we have come to the point that we and the broader international community must consider anew how to respond to Iran’s continued stonewalling,” the United States says in a statement to the board meeting. “We cannot allow Iran’s current pattern of behavior to continue.” “It is our strongly held view that Iran’s continuing lack of credible cooperation provides grounds for pursuing further Board of Governors action, including the possibility of additional resolutions and consideration of whether Iran is once again in noncompliance with its safeguards obligations,” it adds.
 

March 7, 2024

 

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British Foreign Secretary David Cameron spoke with Israeli war cabinet member Benny Gantz earlier today about Israel’s duty to provide aid to Gaza and Britain’s concern at the prospect of a military offensive in Rafah on the Egypt/Gaza border. “I made clear the steps Israel must take to increase aid into Gaza, and the UK’s deep concern about the prospect of a military offensive in Rafah,” Cameron says. “These are tough but necessary conversations.” On March 5, Cameron said he would tell Gantz that patience was running thin over the “dreadful suffering” in Gaza.

Interior Minister Moshe Arbel of the ultra-Orthodox Shas party demands Likud retract the “shameful statement” made by the party earlier today in which it derided the inquiry into the deadly Meron crush as a ‘political weapon’ used against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu by his opponents. The Meron Crush was an incident in 2021 where 45 men and boys died when a crowd of 100,000 pilgrims overwhelmed the burial site of a revered spiritual leader. It was the worst civil disaster in Israeli history. “I call on the Likud spokesman to withdraw his shameful response to the commission of inquiry into the Meron disaster and its findings,” Arbel says. “We must all respect the dead and their families and guarantee that we will do everything to implement the committee’s findings in full to save human lives.” Likud MK Eli Dallal also appears to criticize his own party, writing on X that “if there is nothing good/smart/or leaderly to say, it’s better not to say anything!”

In comments apparently aimed at the ultra-Orthodox community, IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Herzi Halevi says enlisting in the military is the only way to ensure the deaths of soldiers amid the war are not in vain. “We paid heavy prices in the war and lost commanders and troops. We will guarantee at all times that their sacrifice will not be in vain. There is no way to do this except to enlist for meaningful service, wear the uniform, and become commanders,” Halevi says at a Navy officers’ graduation ceremony in Haifa.

National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan met today at the White House with several families of the American hostages in Gaza. Top US officials have met repeatedly with the relatives of the hostages since October 7, as Washington has been closely involved in efforts to secure their release. Of the 134 Israelis still being held by Hamas, six of them are American citizens believed to still be alive.

The IDF and Shin Bet security agency say the commander of Hamas’s rocket unit in central Gaza was killed in an airstrike in the past day. Amar Atiya Darwish Aladini was responsible for Hamas’s rocket fire from the so-called central camps over the past several decades, at least from the 2008 war, according to a joint statement. Aladini “played a central role in the preparations” for the terror group’s October 7 onslaught, and directed rocket fire on Israeli cities and IDF troops in Gaza amid the fighting. The IDF says it also carried out strikes on several Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad targets in northern Gaza’s Jabaliya over the past day, in response to rocket fire on Sderot. The targets included hideout apartments where terror operatives were gathered and weapons were stored, other weapon depots, rocket launchers, and tunnels, it says.

A missile fired from Yemen hit a bulk carrier in the Gulf of Aden today. Another six crew members abandoned ship. The missile caused “significant damage” to the Barbados-flagged, Liberian-owned vessel, the official says, adding that its “crew reports at least two fatalities and six injured crewmembers and have abandoned the ship.” Four crewmembers were badly burned.

After a months-long investigation, the Shin Bet has concluded that Palestinians who entered Israel from Gaza for work prior to the October 7 Hamas terror assault did not provide Hamas with intelligence information that would assist with the assault. According to the report, the Shin Bet has investigated some 3,000 Gazans who had permits to work in Israel to assess if they had provided the terror group with information about the communities they were planning on attacking and concluded that no such concerted effort had been made. “There’s no concern that the people who were investigated passed information to Hamas as a result of their work in Israel,” Channel 12 states. The report adds that 16,000 Gazans had permits to work in Israel, meaning that the Shin Bet investigation examined roughly 18% of the workforce.

Many countries that paused funding to the UN Palestinian refugee agency are likely having second thoughts and payments could resume soon, Norwegian Foreign Minister Espen Barth Eide said. Canada has confirmed that it will commence funding UNRWA again. Several countries, including the United States and Britain, paused their funding to UNRWA after accusations that some of its 13,000 staff in Gaza took part in the October 7 Hamas assault on Israel that launched the current war in Gaza. Norway, a top donor to UNRWA, has maintained its funding and transferred 275 million crowns ($26 million) in February, its regular annual contribution, and says more could come. It is also lobbying countries that have paused funding to resume. “I think that a large number of those countries who suspended are (having) second thoughts,” Barth Eide tells Reuters in an interview, citing the recognition from these nations that “they cannot punish the whole Palestinian society.” “This is increasingly recognized and agreed by many,” he says after meeting Norwegian aid organizations to take stock of the humanitarian situation in Gaza. “But then, of course, they need an honorable way out, which means they are hoping, I think — without speaking for individual countries — that they will get something from these investigations that suggest that they can say: “Well, we needed to suspend, but now we’re back.'” The UN is conducting an internal probe into the UNRWA allegations, while former French Foreign Minister Catherine Colonna is leading an independent review. Earlier today, Qatar and Iraq both pledged to give an extra $25 million to the UN agency.

The Israeli Labor party submitted a no-confidence motion against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu after a state commission of inquiry finds him personally responsible for the April 2021 Mount Meron disaster, in which 45 people were killed in a crush at the hilltop gravesite of a second-century sage in northern Israel despite numerous safety warnings ahead of time. “The State Commission of Inquiry regarding the disaster at Mount Meron placed personal, direct and clear responsibility on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, stating that he knew about the danger, ignored the many warnings that were sent to him and did not oversee the implementation of the government’s decisions on the matter,” Labor says in a statement asserting that the government “must be replaced now.” “This is a government that is dangerous to the State of Israel, that does not know how to take responsibility, neither for the Mount Meron disaster nor for the October 7 disaster,” the statement says. Labor’s announcement came after Netanyahu’s Likud party accused former prime ministers Yair Lapid and Naftali Bennett of turning the 2021 Mount Meron disaster “into a political weapon” against their successor. In response, Lapid accused Netanyahu of “harming the memory” of the victims in an attempt to evade responsibility.

Labor leader Merav Michaeli called Netanyahu “dangerous for as long as he sits in the prime minister’s chair.” Multiple no-confidence motions against Netanyahu brought by Labor and Lapid’s Yesh Atid have failed in recent months.

Defense Minister Yoav Gallant visited the Eli premilitary academy today and met with the students to discuss the importance of serving in the IDF and of balancing religious obligations with national service, his office says in a statement. There is currently fierce debate over the military draft exemptions currently enjoyed by members of the ultra-Orthodox community, and after he vowed last month to put an end to the practice. Gallant met with the students and teachers and heard about the graduates of the school who fell amid the ongoing war against Hamas in Gaza. The students at the religious Zionist academy, he said, are proof that “it is possible to hold a weapon in one hand and a [Jewish study] book in the other.” “I think that faith and Torah study are one of the most important foundations of the people of Israel, and when I see that it takes place alongside similar excellence on the battlefield, I want to tell you that as the defense minister, I am proud that there are soldiers like you in the IDF,” Gallant added. “Study and fighting are the two areas that guarantee our future, and in both there is also a mutual gua

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The Egyptian pound slipped sharply against the dollar today after the Central Bank of Egypt raised its main interest rate and said it would allow the currency's exchange rate to be set by market forces. The measures were meant to combat inflationary waves and attract foreign investment as the country experiences a staggering shortage of foreign currency.

Teachers at a Brooklyn high school were victims of another troubling antisemitic act  on March 5 when they received a disturbing email calling for the extermination of Jewish people. The threatening message was sent from an address called “killalljewsnow” to history teacher Danielle Kaminsky and another colleague at Origins HS in Sheepshead Bay — which, as exposed by The Post, has been plagued by shocking displays of antisemitism carried out by students. “All Jews need to be exterminated. Their doors kicked in in the middle of the night. A bullet put in each of their heads,” read part of the email, which was obtained by The Post.

Hezbollah claimed to have targeted an IDF base on the Lebanon border. According to the IDF, one rocket was fired from Lebanon at the Zar'it area, setting off sirens in several communities.

The IDF announced that it has completed destroying and sealing Hamas' largest-ever attack tunnel, which the military initially revealed in December. In recent weeks, the IDF says it worked to complete its investigation of the tunnel and then destroy it. Parts of the tunnel were blown up by combat engineers, while later the IDF pumped concrete into the remaining underground passages.

Troops of the elite LOTAR counter-terrorism unit located a weapons depot adjacent to a school used as a shelter for civilians in southern Gaza's Khan Younis, the IDF said. 

On March 5, Turkish police detained seven more people suspected of selling information to the Israeli spy agency Mossad, authorities said, the latest in a wave of such arrests in Turkey. The suspects were taken into custody during simultaneous raids in Istanbul, Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya said on the social media platform X, formerly Twitter. The raids were a joint operation with Turkey’s National Intelligence Organization.

Israeli fighter jets struck a Hezbollah rocket launching position in Taybeh, southern Lebanon, from which the terror group fired a massive barrage at Kiryat Shmona this evening.
 

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European Commission president Usrula von der Leyen is due to travel to Cyprus later this week as the bloc is working towards establishing a possible humanitarian corridor in support of the population in Gaza through the Mediterranean island, her spokesperson said on Wednesday.

The Houthis mistakenly sank a ship, the Rubymar, in the Red Sea it believed to be British owned when its only link to the UK was an insurance cover that is now being disputed by the insurers. The ship is predicted to cause severe environmental damage. Both the British government and Centcom acknowledged that the Rubymar had limited British links but it emerged that the owner of the ship’s reported address – a private apartment inside a residential block of flats in Southampton recorded in the Equasis public database – has not been owned by Rubymar’s owner, a Lebanese businessman, Hassan Chahadah. 

Canada will restore funding to the UN relief agency for Palestinians (UNRWA), a government official said, weeks after the agency lost hundreds of millions of dollars in support following Israeli allegations against some of its staffers in Gaza. The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation first reported that Canada will restore funding and that international development minister, Ahmed Hussen would announce the decision on Wednesday. But the government official told the AP the announcement had been delayed, speaking on condition of anonymity as they were not authorised to comment on the matter. Canada’s foreign minister is in the Middle East and plans to visit Israel. 

The US called on Iran today to dilute all of the uranium it has enriched to up to 60% purity, close to the weapons-grade level of roughly 90%, in a statement denouncing many of Tehran’s recent nuclear moves. The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said in a confidential report to member states last week that Iran’s stock of uranium enriched to up to 60% had fallen slightly in the past quarter as it had diluted, or “downblended”, more of its most highly enriched material than it had produced. Iran still has enough of that material, if enriched further, to fuel two nuclear weapons by a theoretical IAEA definition, and enough for more bombs at lower enrichment levels, the report said. “Iran should downblend all, not just some, of its 60% stock pile, and stop all production of uranium enriched to 60% entirely,” the US said in a statement on Iran to a quarterly meeting of the 35-nation IAEA board of governors. It is not clear why Iran downblended the material. It denies seeking nuclear weapons and says it has the right to enrich to high levels for civil purposes. Western powers say there is no credible civil justification for enriching to such high levels. “We continue to have serious concerns related to the stockpile of highly enriched uranium that Iran continues to maintain,” the US statement said. “No other country today is producing uranium enriched to 60% for the purpose Iran claims and Iran’s actions are counter to the behavior of all other non-nuclear weapons states party to the NPT (Non-Proliferation Treaty),” it added. The US also condemned various moves by Iran, many of which the IAEA has also criticised, such as barring some of the IAEA’s most experienced and expert inspectors last year.

Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, the director-general of the World Health Organization, posted a video to social media about malnutrition affecting the youngest children in Gaza, alongside the message “Children who survived bombardment but may not survive a famine”. He called for more aid for the beseiged Gaza Strip and a ceasefire. Israel has again insisted that the failure to get humanitarian aid into Gaza is being caused by issues with supply, rather than any delays caused by Israeli inspections.

Shimon Freedman, a spokesperson for the Israeli COGAT unit, reportedly said “Israel is inspecting more aid than the  international community can distribute. 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.” The UN’s refugee agency for Palestine UNRWA is among international aid groups to have sharply disagreed with the assessment. The number of aid trucks being allowed to enter Gaza in February dropped from the level that had been entering in January, and the border crossing at Kerem Shalom has been the scene of repeated demonstrations by Israelis seeking to prevent any aid entering the Gaza Strip until Hamas releases the hostages it abducted on 7 October.

Maritime security firm Ambrey reported today an “explosion” near a Barbados-flagged, US-owned bulk carrier transitting south-west of the Yemeni port city of Aden. “A nearby vessel reported an explosion in the proximity of the Barbados-flagged, publicly US-owned, bulk carrier,” Ambrey said, cautioning other ships to steer clear of the bulker which matches the “targeting profile” of Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthi rebels. The Houthis have vowed to strike Israeli, British and US ships as well as vessels heading to Israeli ports, disrupting traffic through the vital trade route off Yemen’s shores. Before the latest reported attack, Ambrey said the bulk carrier was “hailed by an entity declaring itself to be the ‘Yemeni Navy’,” a title adopted by the Houthi rebels.

According to the UN World Food Programme (WFP), a 14-truck food convoy – the first by the WFP since it paused deliveries to northern Gaza on 20 February – was turned back by the Israeli Defence Force (IDF) after a three-hour wait at the Wadi Gaza checkpoint. “Although today’s convoy did not make it to the north to provide food to the people who are starving, WFP continues to explore every possible means to do so,” said Carl Skau, WFP’s deputy executive director in a statement issued by the UN agency. The WFP say that after being turned away the trucks were rerouted and later stopped by a “large crowd of desperate people who looted the food, taking about 200 tons, from the trucks”. Road routes are the only option to transport the large quantities of food needed to avert famine in northern Gaza, said the humanitarian agency. The WFP turned to airdrops, it said: “Earlier today, with the help of the Royal Jordanian air force, WFP food supplies for 20,000 people (6 tons) were dropped in northern Gaza.”

UN experts have condemned the violence they say was unleashed by Israeli forces last week on Palestinians gathered in Gaza City to collect flour as a “massacre”. There are several versions of the event, in which Israel claims Hamas gunmen fired on civlilians crowded around trucks seeking aid. An Israel report contended that many of the dead were crushed by the rolling trucks. In a statement, a group of UN special rapporteurs accused Israel of “intentionally starving the Palestinian people in Gaza since 8 October,” adding: “Now it is targeting civilians seeking humanitarian aid and humanitarian convoys.” “Israel must end its campaign of starvation and targeting of civilians,” said the UN experts, who warned there was mounting evidence of famine in the Gaza Strip. At least 112 people died and 760 were injured on Thursday when desperate crowds gathered to collect flour.

Witnesses in Gaza and some of the injured said Israeli forces opened fire on the crowd, causing panic. Israel said people died in a crush or were run over by aid lorries although it admitted its troops had fired on what it called a “mob”. “The attack came after Israel has denied humanitarian aid into Gaza City and northern Gaza for more than a month,” said the experts, who described “a pattern of Israeli attacks against Palestinian civilians seeking aid”.

The latest figures from the Hamas-controlled Gaza health ministry, which is run by Hamas, said 86 Palestinians were killed in Israeli strikes and 113 were injured in the past 24 hours. According to the statement, at least 30,717 Palestinians have been killed and 72,156 have been injured in Israeli strikes on Gaza since the October 7 Hamas invasion. The ministry does not distinguish between combatants and non-combatants.

UK Foreign Secretary David Cameron is to tell the Israeli cabinet minister Benny Gantz that UK patience is wearing thin at the lack of humanitarian aid reaching the people of Gaza at a meeting in London today. Cameron said that Israel, as the occupying power, had a duty under international humanitarian law to supply aid. During a six-hour foreign affairs debate Cameron also set out new plans for a coalition of like-minded states to use frozen Russian assets as a bond that Ukraine could spend in the knowledge that eventually Moscow would be forced to pay reparations. “We are facing a situation of dreadful suffering in Gaza,” he said. “I spoke some weeks ago about the danger of this tipping into famine, and the danger of illness tipping into disease. And we are now at that point. People are dying of hunger, people are dying of otherwise preventable diseases. We’ve had a whole set of things we’ve asked the Israelis to do, but I have to report that the amount of aid they got in in February was about half what they got in January,” he added. “So patience needs to run very thin, and a whole series of warnings need to be given, starting with the meeting I have with minister Gantz when he visits the UK tomorrow.”

Three days of negotiations with Hamas over a ceasefire in Gaza and the release of Israeli hostages failed to achieve a breakthrough on March 5, Egyptian officials said. The US, Qatar and Egypt have spent weeks trying to broker an agreement in which Hamas would release up to 40 hostages in return for a six-week ceasefire, the release of some Palestinian prisoners and an major influx of aid to the isolated territory. Two Egyptian officials said that the latest round of discussions ended on March 5. They said Hamas presented a proposal that mediators would discuss with Israel in the coming days. One of the officials said that mediators would meet on Wednesday with the Hamas delegation, which didn’t leave Cairo.

Hamas has refused to release all of the estimated 100 hostages it holds, and the remains of 30 more, unless Israel ends its offensive, withdraws from Gaza and releases a large number of Palestinian prisoners, including senior militants serving life sentences. US officials have said that they are skeptical that Hamas actually wants a deal, because the group has balked at a number of what the US and others believe are legitimate requests, including giving the names of hostages to be released. “It is on Hamas to make decisions about whether it is prepared to engage,” US secretary of state, Antony Blinken said on March 5. “We have an opportunity for an immediate ceasefire that can bring hostages home, that can dramatically increase the amount of humanitarian aid getting in to Palestinians who so desperately need it, and can set the conditions for an enduring resolution,” Blinken said.

Senior Hamas official, Osama Hamdan said on March 5 that his group demands a permanent ceasefire, rather than a six-week pause, and a “complete withdrawal” of Israeli forces. “The security and safety of our people will be achieved only by a permanent ceasefire, the end of the aggression and the withdrawal from every inch of the Gaza Strip,” Hamdan told reporters in Beirut. Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu has publicly rejected Hamas’ demands and repeatedly vowed to continue the war until Hamas is dismantled and all the hostages are returned. Israel did not send a delegation to the latest round of talks.

Israel was still waiting for Hamas to hand over a list of hostages who  are alive as well as the hostage-to-prisoner ratio it seeks in any release deal, an Israeli official told the AP. It wasn’t clear if that information was included in the latest proposal.

On March 5, President Joe Biden called on Hamas to accept a Gaza ceasefire deal by the Muslim holy month of Ramadan. Envoys from Hamas and the US have been meeting Qatari and Egyptian mediators in Cairo for negotiations over a six-week truce. Biden told reporters: "It’s in the hands of Hamas right now …There’s got to be a ceasefire because Ramadan – if we get into circumstances where this continues to Ramadan, Israel and Jerusalem could be very, very dangerous." He did not elaborate, but the US urged Israel last week to allow Muslims to worship at the al-Aqsa mosque compound in Jerusalem during Ramadan.

Presidential candidate and former president  Donald Trump expressed his support for Israel’s war in Gaza, in his most explicit comments yet on the fighting. When asked during an interview on Fox News if he was “in Israel’s camp”, Trump responded “yes”. The interviewer then asked if the former president was “on board” with the way Israel was executing its offensive in Gaza. “You’ve got to finish the problem,” Trump responded.

Police say they have detained the alleged stabber who attacked a man waiting at a bus station in northeast Jerusalem's Neve Yaakov neighborhood. The assailant, a 14-year-old East Jerusalem Palestinian, initially fled the scene, but was caught a short while later in the area, police said. The victim was taken to a hospital in Jerusalem with light-to-moderate injuries, medics say.

Israel's State Commission of Inquiry into the 2021 Meron disaster found today that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was personally responsible for the Oct. 7 attack by Hamas that killed over 1000 Israelis. “The prime minister has the responsibility to proactively locate issues that require the attention of his office and, if necessary, his intervention, in particular those related to the risk to human life,” the report said.

Israel has approved the construction of 3,500 new housing units in Ma’ale Adumim, Efrat and Kedar in Judea. The Higher Planning Council of the Civil Administration in Judea and Samaria announced the decision on Wednesday.

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Canada announced that it will resume funding the controversial UNRWA: the UN agency responsible for so-called refugees in Gaza and the West Bank. Israel accused the agency of harboring employees who participated in the raid by Hamas terrorists on October 7. Several countries, including the US and Canada, responded by pausing their funding of the agency while a UN investigation advances.

Negotiations aimed at brokering a ceasefire in Israel’s war in Gaza appear to have stalled, days before an unofficial deadline of the beginning of Ramadan. Hamas negotiators stayed in Cairo for a third day of ceasefire talks on March 5 after two days yielded no breakthrough. Two days of talks between Hamas and international mediators broke up in the Egyptian capital without any significant breakthroughs, Palestinian officials said, after Israel declined to send a delegation to the latest round of negotiations. But leaders from Hamas were reportedly expected to hold more talks in Cairo with Egyptian and Qatari mediators over the prospects of reaching a ceasefire deal.

President Joe Biden said on March 5 that it was in the hands of Hamas whether to accept a deal for a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip in exchange for the release of Israeli hostages.
An internal UN report described widespread abuse of Palestinian detainees in Israeli detention centres, including beatings, dog attacks, the prolonged use of stress positions and sexual assault. Compiled by the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine (UNRWA), the report was largely based on interviews of Palestinian detainees released at the Kerem Shalom crossing point since December, when UNRWA staff were present to provide humanitarian support.

Children are dying of starvation in northern Gaza, the World Health Organization (WHO) chief, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, claimed. On X, he wrote that the organisation’s visits over the weekend to the al-Awda and Kamal Adwan hospitals, in northern Gaza, were the first since early October, and produced “grim findings”. The WHO chief described severe levels of malnutrition, children dying of starvation and serious shortages of fuel, food and medical supplies at the health facilities. Adding to concerns about the widespread malnutrition in the enclave, Richard Peeperkorn, WHO representative for Gaza and the West Bank, said on Tuesday that “the situation is particularly extreme in northern Gaza”. He said that 1 in 6 children under two years of age were acutely malnourished in northern Gaza. “With children starting … to die from starvation, that should be an alarm like no other,” Jens Laerke, spokesperson for the UN humanitarian agency, told reporters in Geneva, separately. At least 15 children have died from starvation and dehydration in a single hospital, according to the health ministry in the Hamas-run territory, reports Agence France-Presse.

UN experts have condemned the violence they claimed was unleashed by Israeli forces last week on Palestinians gathered in Gaza City to collect flour as a “massacre”. In a statement, a group of UN special rapporteurs accused Israel of “intentionally starving the Palestinian people in Gaza since 8 October,” adding: “Now it is targeting civilians seeking humanitarian aid and humanitarian convoys.” Video evidence is circulating on social media that appears to show armed Gazans shooting at civilians to deter them from taking aid from trucks that had entered the enclave.

Israel’s defence minister, Yoav Gallant, said the continuing tension with Hezbollah militants at the border with Lebanon was moving the situation nearer to a military escalation, Reuters reported. “We are committed to the diplomatic process, however Hezbollah’s aggression is bringing us closer to a critical point in the decision-making regarding our military activities in Lebanon,” he said in a statement after a meeting with US special envoy Amos Hochstein.

NBC News was told by US officials that V.P. Kamala Harris’ speech on March 3, in which she called for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza and urged Hamas to accept a deal to release hostages in return for a six-week cessation of hostilities, was watered down by officials at the national security council.

At least 30,631 Palestinians have been killed and 72,043 injured in Israeli strikes on Gaza since October, the Hamas-run Gaza health ministry said. An estimated 97 Palestinian people were killed and 123 injured in the past 24 hours, the ministry added.

American forces shot down three drones and a missile fired toward a destroyer in the Red Sea on March 5, the US military said, after Yemen’s Houthis announced they had targeted two U.S. warships. “US Central Command (Centcom) forces shot down one anti-ship ballistic missile and three one-way attack unmanned aerial systems launched from Iranian-backed Houthi controlled areas of Yemen toward USS Carney (DDG 64) in the Red Sea,” the military command said in a statement. Houthi military spokesperson Yahya Saree said earlier in the day that their forces had targeted two US destroyers in the Red Sea “with a number of naval missiles and drones.” 

The sinking of a bulk carrier MV Rubymar off the coast of Yemen after a Houthi missile attack poses grave environmental risks as thousands of tonnes of fertiliser threaten to spill into the Red Sea, officials and experts have warned.

Pro-Palestinian and human rights advocates in Canada on have filed a lawsuit against the federal government to stop it from allowing companies to export military goods and technology to Israel. 

Chile will exclude Israeli firms from Latin America’s biggest aerospace fair, to be held in Santiago in April. It did not give a reason, but the government of leftist President Gabriel Boric has been critical of what he has called Israel’s “disproportionate” response to the 7 October attack by Hamas, reports Agence France-Presse.

March 6,2024

 

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US forces  shot down an anti-ship ballistic missile and three one-way attack unmanned aerial systems launched from Iranian-backed Houthi-controlled areas of Yemen toward the USS Carney in the Red Sea, the US Central Command says. US forces later destroyed three anti-ship missiles and three unmanned surface vessels in self-defense, CENTCOM said. 

A large US shipment of flour for Gaza remains stalled, nearly two weeks since Israel agreed to a new framework for its delivery and 46 days since it was first announced by the White House, a US official told The Times of Israel. The official does not identify the cause of the delay but said the flour capable of feeding 1.5 million Gazans for five months should be delivered in the coming days. US State Department spokesman Matthew Miller spoke of the flour when asked at a press briefing about Israeli ministers blocking aid from reaching Gaza. “You have seen ministers in the Israeli Government block the release of flour from the port at Ashdod; you have seen ministers of the Israeli Government supporting protests that blocked aid from going in to Kerem Shalom,” he says, referring to far-right cabinet members Bezalel Smotrich and Itamar Ben Gvir respectively. “All of those things are obstacles coming from ministers inside the Israeli Government that we have called out, that we have said are unacceptable, and that we have said should end.” The flour would be ferried into Gaza by the World Food Program rather than the UNRWA relief agency for Palestinian refugees, the official said.

Israeli War Cabinet Minister Benny Gantz wrapped up his visit to Washington and is en route to London, where he will meet with British Foreign Minister David Cameron before returning to Israel on March 6. Today, he met with  Secretary of State Antony Blinken, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries. He also briefed the Senate Foreign Relations Committee

National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan and visiting Qatari Prime Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al-Thani “underscored that the release of sick, wounded, elderly and women hostages would result in an immediate ceasefire in Gaza over a period of at least six weeks,” according to a White House readout of their meeting earlier today. “This first phase of a ceasefire would also enable a surge of humanitarian assistance to the people of Gaza, and provide time and space to secure more enduring arrangements and sustained calm,” the readout adds.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin expressed alarm during their respective Washington meetings with visiting war cabinet minister Benny Gantz regarding the humanitarian situation in Gaza, their offices say.

Blinken “emphasized the need for Israel to act urgently to enable the delivery of humanitarian assistance to Gaza and to improve the distribution of that aid inside Gaza. The current situation is unacceptable and unsustainable,” US State Department spokesman Matthew Miller says during a press briefing. “While the United States is doing everything it can to increase deliveries into Gaza, Israel must take additional steps as well,” Miller said. Blinken also “reiterated that the United States continues to support Israel’s right to ensure that the terrorist attacks of October 7 can never be repeated,” Miller said. 

The pair discussed ongoing hostage negotiations, which Miller said hinge on Hamas accepting the deal that is currently on the table that would see a six-week truce put in place during which the hostages would be released and aid would surge into Gaza.

Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin also met with Gantz, expressing "strong concerns over the humanitarian situation in Gaza and requested Minister Gantz’s support in enabling more humanitarian assistance and distribution into Gaza.” Austin also reiterated his condemnation of Hamas’s October 7 terror onslaught and called for the release of all hostages. Austin reaffirmed the US demand for Israel to present a “credible and implementable plan for protecting civilians and addressing the humanitarian situation” before launching its major ground incursion into the southern Gaza city of Rafah.

IDF fighter jets struck a Hezbollah rocket launching position in southern Lebanon’s Taybeh, from which the terror group fired a barrage at Kiryat Shmona this evening. Additionally, an anti-tank missile launch position in Aarab El Louaizeh, also used in attacks on Kiryat Shmona today, was struck by an aircraft, the IDF said. Earlier, the IDF said it struck a building used by Hezbollah in Dibbine, and additional infrastructure in Ayta ash-Shab.

The office of Israeli Prime Minsiter Benjamin Netanyahu has suggested a national day of mourning should be established on a day close to the Jewish holiday of Simhat Torah in honor of the roughly 1,200 people killed on October 7, 2023, during the Hamas massacre in southern Israel, the Kan public broadcaster reports. As October 7 fell on Simhat Torah last year, a national day of mourning would be held not on the day of the holiday itself, but on a date close to it. The events of the day would include two official state ceremonies, one for the victims of the terror onslaught and one for the IDF soldiers who fell fighting Hamas on October 7 and inside the Gaza Strip, the report added. 

US State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said the Biden administration supports Israel’s demand that Hamas present a list of the living hostages it is prepared to release in order to move forward with the negotiations. Hamas has said it doesn’t know where all the hostages are, but Miller was dismissive of the claim. “They took these hostages, they continue to hold them. If they continue to hold them, they must know where they are,” Miller said during a press briefing. “If you are Israel, and you are in discussions about an agreement where you would see the return of a certain number hostages, it is a fair question to Hamas to show you that they can actually deliver on that deal, show you who those hostages are and confirm that they are alive,” the spokesman continues. “We think that is very much a legitimate request by the State of Israel.”

7:30 pm

The British Foreign Office held a seminar at which officials were told that calling Hamas terrorists was an “obstacle to peace” and it was suggested  that Israel was a “white, settler colonialist nation," the UK Jewish Chronicle revealed. Four academics, led by Professsor Jeroen Gunning of King’s College London, delivered the session to civil servants, including those specializing in the Middle East, at the British diplomatic service’s London headquarters on Feb. 27. Many of the claims made during the 75-minute meeting directly contradicted Britain’s foreign policy, with Gunning claiming that there could be “no future without Hamas”. A Foreign Office spokesman vowed to “review guidance on internal seminars to ensure speakers invited are appropriate.” The lecturers had previously co-authored a paper arguing that Britain’s tough line on Hamas had contributed towards provoking the October 7 pogroms.The seminar was attended by about a hundred government officials, most of them online via a Microsoft Teams network which is only accessible to security vetted Foreign Office staff, 

Hamas negotiators are expected to stay in Cairo for more ceasefire talks with Egyptian and Qatari mediators over the prospects of reaching a ceasefire deal.

Negotiations aimed at brokering a ceasefire in Israel’s war in Gaza appear to have stalled, days before an unofficial deadline of the beginning of Ramadan. Hamas negotiators stayed in Cairo for a third day of ceasefire talks on Tuesday after two days yielded no breakthrough. Two days of talks between Hamas and international mediators broke up in the Egyptian capital without any significant breakthroughs, Palestinian officials said, after Israel declined to send a delegation to the latest round of negotiations. But leaders from Hamas were reportedly expected to hold more talks in Cairo with Egyptian and Qatari mediators over the prospects of reaching a ceasefire deal.

Israel’s defense minister, Yoav Gallant, has said the continuing tension with Hezbollah militants at the border with Lebanon was moving the situation nearer to a military escalation, Reuters reported. “We are committed to the diplomatic process, however Hezbollah’s aggression is bringing us closer to a critical point in the decision-making regarding our military activities in Lebanon,” he said in a statement after a meeting with US special envoy Amos Hochstein.

NBC News has been told by US officials that Vice President Kamala Harris’ speech on Feb. 3, in which she called for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza and urged Hamas to accept a deal to release hostages in return for a six-week cessation of hostilities, was watered down by officials at the national security council.

At least 30,631 Palestinians have been killed and 72,043 injured in Israeli strikes on Gaza since October 7, the Gaza health ministry said. An estimated 97 Palestinian people were killed and 123 injured in the past 24 hours, the Hamas-controlle health ministry added.

Children are dying of starvation in northern Gaza, claimed the World Health Organization (WHO) chief, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, In a post on X, he said the organisation’s visits over the weekend to the al-Awda and Kamal Adwan hospitals, in northern Gaza, were the first since early October, and produced “grim findings”. The WHO chief described severe levels of malnutrition, children dying of starvation and serious shortages of fuel, food and medical supplies at the health facilities. Adding to concerns about the widespread malnutrition in the enclave, Richard Peeperkorn, WHO representative for Gaza and the West Bank, said today that “the situation is particularly extreme in northern Gaza”. He said that 1 in 6 children under two years of age were acutely malnourished in northern Gaza. “With children starting … to die from starvation, that should be an alarm like no other,” Jens Laerke, spokesperson for the UN humanitarian agency, told reporters in Geneva, separately.  The claim of starvation appealed to be be brought into question after videos emerged on social media showing open-air markets where food aid was being sold, Gazans cooking and shopping for food, and other Gazans throwing away food donated by the United STates.

7:10 am

India’s embassy in Israel is advising nationals working in Israeli border areas to move to safer parts of the country. The advisory comes a day after an anti-tank missile attack near the border with Lebanon killed Indian national Patnibin Maxwell and seriously wounded two other Indians.

Jordan’s official news agency says the country’s army and allies deployed eight airdrops over Gaza today, the largest such operation to date. Three Jordanian planes, three US planes, and one each from France and Egypt took part in the operation aimed at delivering aid to various locations around the crisis-wracked Strip, a statement carried by the Petra news agency says. The planes dropped unspecified relief supplies, including food provided by the World Food Program. “These airdrops are a continuation of Jordan’s commitment to providing medical, relief, and food aid to the people of Gaza, aimed at alleviating the humanitarian crisis exacerbated by the ongoing Israeli war on the Gaza Strip,” the statement says. According to Jordan, there have been 43 airdrops over Gaza since war broke out on October 7, the majority of them carried out by Amman.

Border Police, the Shin Bet, and IDF say troops detained a prominent terror operative in the Balata refugee camp near Nablus in the northern West Bank in an overnight raid. Israeli authorities say Muhammad Tanji was planning an “imminent” terror attack with other operatives. Tanji was “one of the main operatives in the terror infrastructure in Balata over the past year,” the statement said. Palestinian media identify Tanji as a leader and founder of the so-called Balata Battalion, a local wing of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad terror group in the refugee camp. The IDF says troops also operated in the northern West Bank village of Kafr Dan to demolish the home of a Palestinian accused of taking part in a deadly terror attack last year. Abed Massad was allegedly involved in the killing of Shay Silas Nigreker, 60, and his 28-year-old son Aviad Nir, in the West Bank town of Huwara last August. The attack itself was carried out by Osama Bani Fadl, and his home was demolished in December. In other raids across the West Bank, another 20 wanted Palestinians were arrested, the IDF said. Since October 7, the IDF says troops have arrested some 3,450 wanted Palestinians across the West Bank, including more than 1,500 affiliated with Hamas.

A cloud of black smoke is billowing on the Israel-Lebanon border after rocket sirens sounded in the area of Zarit. There is no immediate word from Israeli authorities on the cause of the smoke. Hezbollah-linked media in Lebanon claim it is from a military site hit by a rocket.

A statement from war cabinet minister Benny Gantz’s office says he told senior US officials that Israel was committed to reaching its goal of removing the Hamas terror group, as well as finding a way to get humanitarian aid to civilians in Gaza. “Gantz iterated the imperative of completing the mission of removing the threat Hamas poses to Israel, finding a sustainable solution to ensuring humanitarian aid reaches civilians and not terrorist Hamas, and the importance of completing all of the operation’s military objectives in Gaza in a manner that enables stability and prosperity for the region entirely,” the statement reads. The statement says Gantz also called for an international mechanism to run the aid operation, which he said could advance efforts to normalize with regional countries.

Gantz, who met with Vice President Kamala Harris, National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan, Mideast envoy Brett McGurk and others, thanked the US for its support and for efforts to free hostages kidnapped on October 7, the statement says. Gantz told Harris that Israel’s main goal was returning the hostages “and concluded by conveying his gratitude for the significant pressure the US is applying to advance the matter.”

The Daily Telegraph accused the BBC of relying on a journalist working for a news outlet associated with the Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps in its reporting on the deadly melee around an aid convoy in Gaza last week. Citing investigative journalist David Collier, the Telegraph accuses BBC Verify — the public broadcaster’s fact-checking arm — of leaning on the eyewitness account of Mahmoud Awadeyah, who it alleges works for the semi-official Iranian Tasnim news agency. “Israelis purposefully fired at the men… they were trying to get near the trucks that had the flour,” the BBC quoted Awadeyah as saying in its coverage of the chaos around the aid convoy early on February 29. “They were fired at directly and prevented people to come near those killed.” Hamas has claimed Israel killed over 100 Palestinians desperately attempting to reach aid trucks in Gaza City. Israel says it only fired at a small number of Palestinians who threatened troops and that most people were trampled or crushed in a stampede. On X, Awadeyah has praised a January 2023 terrorist attack outside a synagogue in the Neve Yaakov neighborhood of Jerusalem, which killed seven Israelis, and posted a picture in which he sits for a meal with Khalil Bahtini, a senior Islamic Jihad commander who Israel killed in May. The BBC rejected the allegations leveled by Collier. “We stand by our journalism,” responds the BBC. “The BBC is not allowed access into Gaza, but we use a range of accounts from eyewitnesses and cross reference these against official statements and footage, including from the IDF. The fact that someone has expressed an opinion on social media doesn’t automatically disqualify them from giving eye-witness testimony.”

India’s embassy in Israel is advising nationals working in Israeli border areas to move to safer parts of the country. The advisory comes a day after an anti-tank missile attack near the border with Lebanon killed Indian national Patnibin Maxwell and seriously wounded two other Indians.
 

6:50 am

Negotiations over a ceasefire broke down between Hamas and various mediating powers today in Cairo with no breakthrough, with just days left to halt fighting in time for the start of Ramadan. Senior Hamas official Bassem Naim said the terrorist organization presented its proposal for a ceasefire agreement to the mediators during two days of talks, which included the US and Egypt, and was waiting for a response from the Israelis, who stayed away from this round. “(Prime minister Benjamin) Netanyahu doesn’t want to reach an agreement and the ball now is in the Americans’ court” to press him for a deal, Naim said. Israel has declined to comment publicly on the talks in Cairo. Israel has demanded a list of the 40 elderly, female, and ailing hostages to be released as part of a truce that would initially last six weeks. Meanwhile, Hamas demands that large-scale humanitarian aid should be allowed into Gaza and that Palestinians displaced from their homes in the north of the coastal strip should be allowed to return.

NBC News has been told by US officials that  Vice President Kamala Harris’ speech on March 3, in which she called for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza and urged Hamas to accept a deal to release hostages in return for a 6-week cessation of hostilities, was watered down by officials at the national security council.

At least 30,631 Palestinians have been killed and 72,043 injured in Israeli strikes on Gaza since 7 October, the Gaza health ministry said. An estimated 97 Palestinian people were killed and 123 injured in the past 24 hours, the ministry added.

Children are dying of starvation in northern Gaza, the World Health Organization (WHO) chief, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, has said. In a post on X, he said the organisation’s visits over the weekend to the al-Awda and Kamal Adwan hospitals, in northern Gaza, were the first since early October, and produced “grim findings”. The WHO chief described severe levels of malnutrition, children dying of starvation and serious shortages of fuel, food and medical supplies at the health facilities. Adding to concerns about the widespread malnutrition in the enclave, Richard Peeperkorn, WHO representative for Gaza and the West Bank, said on Tuesday that “the situation is particularly extreme in northern Gaza”. He said that 1 in 6 children under two years of age were acutely malnourished in northern Gaza.

March 5, 2024

8:10 pm

Mohamed Hadid, the real estate tycoon and father of models Gigi and Bella Hadid, called President Biden a “Zionist criminal” and claimed in a scathing social media rant that he and others would be “hunted down” like the Nazis for their support of Israel. Hadid, who is Palestinian who lives in the US, posted a clip of a woman saying “F**k Israel until the end of time,” claims that Israel is committing genocide in the Gaza Strip and the slogan “Free Palestine” — adding an ominous “or else.” “This is Biden’s war on the Palestinian people. He will be in the court with the rest of the Zionist Criminals. We will hunt them down like they did the Nazis,” Hadid wrote in his Instagram Story on March 3. Hadid has been vocal in his criticisms of Israel since Hamas attacked the Jewish state on October 7.

8:00 pm

Steel barriers have been thrown around the venue for the 95th Oscars which take place on March 10, after pro-Palestine demonstrators targeted other red carpet events. The area around the Dolby Theatre on Hollywood Boulevard in Los Angeles has been blocked off with chainlink fencing as part of early preparations which will eventually involve thousands of law enforcement and security personnel. Police and organizers will want to avoid a repeat of the Grammy Awards – when arrivals at LA’s Crypto.com Arena were brought to a halt by pro-Palestinian supporters blocking traffic – by using a security fence as in previous years.

Israel ramped up its criticism of the embattled UN agency for Palestinian refugees Monday, saying 450 UN employees were members of militant groups in the Gaza Strip, though it provided no evidence to back up its accusation. Major international funders have withheld hundreds of millions of dollars from the agency, known as UNRWA, since Israel accused 12 of its employees of participating in the Oct. 7 Hamas attacks on Israel that killed 1,200 people and left about 250 others held hostage in Gaza, according to Israeli authorities. However, the UN envoy focusing on sexual violence in conflict, Pramila Patten, said today there were “reasonable grounds” to believe Hamas committed rape, “sexualized torture,” and other cruel and inhuman treatment of women during the attack.

7:45 pm

A professor who appeared beside a top Hamas leader was due to speak on “genocide” at Harvard University today on the same day as a deadline for the university to comply with a congressional subpoena demanding answers on its responses to campus antisemitism. Rutgers University professor Noura Erakat was scheduled to speak on “We Charge Genocide; The Potential and Limits of International Law,” at the school’s Center for Middle Eastern Studies — after months of making anti-Israeli speeches. The lecture by the controversial academic, who is also a human rights attorney, came amid mounting accusations that Harvard has failed to tackle antisemitism on its campus in the wake of the Hamas massacre of hundreds of innocent Israelis on October 7.

“Any condemnation of violence is vapid if it does not begin & end with a condemnation of Israeli apartheid, settler colonialism, and occupation,” Erakat posted on X to her more than 176,000 followers on Oct. 7, which was the day Hamas terrorists invaded Israel. A few days later, on Oct. 16, she tweeted to President Biden “…@POTUS repeated the lie about beheaded [Israeli] babies [by Hamas], directed US diplomatic corps to avoid calls for ceasefire [between Israel and Hamas], & backs Israel’s genocidal warfare [in Gaza]…” In 2020, she participated in an online workshop along with senior Hamas leader Ghazi Hamad that was hosted by Palestinian nonprofit the Masarat Center, according to a post advertising the event.

5:30 pm

The White House accused some Israeli cabinet members of blocking efforts to get more aid into Gaza. “There have been some obstacles to getting the aid in that are organic to the fact that we’re talking about a war zone, but also inorganic obstacles [have been] thrown up in some cases by some members of the Israeli cabinet that have made it hard to get that aid in,” National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said. He did not name the cabinet members he is referring to, though some ministers from several coalition parties have pushed back on US calls to expand aid into Gaza, viewing it as a reward to Hamas or not deserved, given that the terror group continues to hold onto some 130 hostages. “That’s why you heard the president so very clearly make certain on Friday when he was meeting [Italian] Prime Minister [Giorgia] Meloni that this is not a time for excuses. We’ve got to get more aid in,” Kirby says.

According to the IDF, the Iron Dome defense system intercepted most rockets in latest barrage from Lebanon. No one on the ground was hurt where the missiles struck inWestern Galilee. One of the rockets landed next to a utility pole and damaged a transporter, causing power cuts in the area, the IDF added. The electricity company is repairing the damaged equipment. 

Vice President Kamala Harris “expressed her deep concern about the humanitarian conditions in Gaza,” but also credited Israel’s “constructive approach” in the ongoing hostage negotiations, during her meeting with visiting Israeli war cabinet minister Benny Gantz earlier today, according to the White House. Harris is one of several top Biden administration officials meeting with Gantz, who embarked this week on a visit to Washington seen as partially aimed at smoothing over tensions in Israel-US ties, as the latter increasingly loses patience with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s prosecution of the war. Netanyahu refused to authorize Gantz’s visit, which he views as part of an effort to undermine his authority, and ordered the Israeli embassy in Washington not to provide the war cabinet minister with any assistance while Gantz is in town.

The White House again condemned Hamas’s October 7 terror onslaught, and expressed support for Israel right to defend itself; the need for Israel to present a “credible and implementable humanitarian plan” for how it will protect civilians if it chooses to expand its ground incursion into the southern Gaza city of Rafah; the need for Israel to take additional measures to increase the flow of aid into Gaza; and the need for a six-week ceasefire that would allow for the release of the hostages and the entry of aid into and throughout Gaza. Harris “expressed her deep concern about the humanitarian conditions in Gaza and the recent horrific tragedy around an aid convoy in northern Gaza,” the US readout says.

Ships will have to obtain a permit from Yemen’s Houthi-controlled Maritime Affairs Authority before entering Yemeni waters, according to Houthi Telecommunications Minister Misfer Al-Numair today. The Iran-backed Houthi rebels have repeatedly launched drones and missiles against international commercial shipping in the Gulf of Aden since mid-November, saying they are acting in solidarity with Palestinians in Gaza during the ongoing war with Israel, sparked by Hamas’s October 7 attacks. The near-daily attacks have forced firms into long and costly diversions around southern Africa, and stoked fears that the Israel-Hamas war could destabilize the wider Middle East. The United States and Britain have bombed Houthi targets in response. “(We) are ready to assist requests for permits and identify ships with the Yemeni Navy, and we confirm this is out of concern for their safety,” Al Masirah TV, the main television news outlet run by Yemen’s Iran-aligned Houthi movement, quotes Al-Numair as saying. Last week, the Houthis sank a Belizean-flagged vessel carrying fertilizer, causing a major ecological disaster in the Red Sea.

Dismantling the UN Palestinian refugee aid agency (UNRWA) would sacrifice a “generation of children,” its chief Philippe Lazzarini warned, during an increasingly bitter row between the UN and Israel. Following the discovery that at least 12 UNRWA staffers directly took part in the October 7 massacre – which saw 1,200 people killed, mostly civilians, and 253 taken hostage – and at least another 30 UNRWA workers provided assistance, Israel has called for Lazzarini to resign and for the agency to be replaced. “Dismantling UNRWA is shortsighted. By doing so, we will sacrifice an entire generation of children, sowing the seeds of hatred, resentment, and future conflict,” Lazzarini tells the UN General Assembly. Today, Israel released an intercepted audio recording in which it appears an UNRWA employee declared that he was inside 'with the Jews' one of the buildings assailed by Hamas.

The Israeli The Foreign Ministry “welcomes the explicit recognition by a UN official of sexual crimes committed by Hamas” during its October 7 massacres in southern Israel, after the United Nation’s envoy on sex crimes during conflict presented a report earlier today indicating that rape likely occurred during the October 7 Hamas onslaught against southern Israel. The 24-page report gathers “clear and convincing” evidence that hostages were raped while being held in Gaza, and that those currently held captive are still facing such abuse. “For the first time, a UN official explicitly acknowledges the commission of sex crimes by Hamas and other terrorist organizations on October 7,” the Foreign Ministry statement continued. “The UN also recognizes that the crimes were committed simultaneously in different areas and points to a pattern of rape, torture, and sexual abuse.” The statement also reiterates Israeli calls for the UN Security Council to declare Hamas a terror group and impose sanctions on it.

White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby was asked by the media to discuss the controversy in Israel over war cabinet minister Benny Gantz’s meetings with top US officials in Washington against the wishes of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. “This was a request by Minister Gantz to come to the United States and have meetings. He’s a member of the war cabinet. There is a war going on between Israel and Hamas. We have been dealing with all members of the war cabinet, including Minister Gantz since… he joined the war cabinet… We see this as a natural outgrowth of those discussions,” Kirby said. “A member of the war cabinet from Israel wants to come to the United States, wants to talk to us about the progress of that war, giving us an opportunity to talk about the importance of getting humanitarian assistance increased, an opportunity to talk about the importance of this hostage deal. We’re not going to turn away that sort of opportunity,” he adds, not revealing whether the US would take up Netanyahu if he made the same request.

A US official speaking on condition of anonymity says the administration is not bothered by the perception that the meetings with Gantz send a message of its displeasure over Netanyahu’s handling of the war.

In response to a anti-tank missile attack near Margaliot, the IDF says it struck a series of Hezbollah sites in southern Lebanon. Sites hit by fighter jets in Bint Jbeil, Sultaniyeh, and Seddiqine included buildings used by Hezbollah and a command center, according to the IDF. A foreign worker was killed and seven others were wounded after a missile fired from Lebanon struck an orchard near Margaliot where they were working this morning.

The Israeli Hostages Family Forum reacted to the release of UN report earlier today that found “reasonable grounds to believe” Hamas terrorists perpetrated sexual violence during the terror group’s October 7 massacres, calling on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to secure a deal for the release of hostages held by terror groups in Gaza. “What more needs to be said or done for Netanyahu and the cabinet members to be determined to stop the cruelty that the female hostages and male hostages endure day after day?” the forum says in a press release. “It’s glaringly obvious that the female hostages are going through hell every moment, every minute,” the statement adds. Pramila Patten, the UN special representative on sexual violence in conflict, said that hostages held in Gaza by Hamas since October 7 were likely subject to “sexual violence including rape, sexualized torture, cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment,” and that her office believes such treatment may be ongoing. “The people of Israel will not forgive Prime Minister Netanyahu and the cabinet if they fail to put an end to the horrific acts the hostages have already endured for 150 days,” the press release adds.

The Israeli Prime Minister’s Office “outright rejects” what it calls “fake news” regarding Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s health, insisting that he has “contracted a seasonal flu.” The statement adds that a large number of PMO employees also contracted the flu. Posts circulating on social media in recent days suggested unfounded speculations, including that the prime minister was trying to dodge a discussion on security plans for the Temple Mount over Ramadan, and that he took the day off to celebrate his wedding anniversary with his wife Sara. There were also questions as to who was in charge while the premier was unwell. “Prime Minister Netanyahu continues to make decisions, hold consultations, lead the war, and manage all the affairs of the state,” the statement said. The Times of Israel reported that Netanyahu had canceled his entire schedule and was home sick with the flu.

5:15 pm

The IDF released audio recordings that it says incriminate two UNRWA employees who allegedly participated in the Hamas-led October 7 onslaught. “I’m inside, I’m inside with the Jews,” Mamdouh al-Qali, an Islamic Jihad terrorist whom the IDF says was employed as a teacher in a UNRWA school, is heard saying in the recordings.

 

7:55 am

Enough!” “Stop!” Pope Francis repeated from the window of the Vatican’s Apostolic Palace on March 3 during his Sunday address as he called for Israel and Palestine to reach an agreement for “an immediate cease-fire in Gaza.” Speaking in his Angelus address, the pope made an emotional plea for negotiations to reach a deal that both frees the hostages immediately and grants civilians access to humanitarian aid. “I carry daily in my heart, with sorrow, the suffering of the peoples in Palestine and Israel due to the ongoing hostilities,” the pope said. “The thousands of dead, the wounded, the displaced, the immense destruction, causes pain, and this with tremendous consequences on the little ones and the defenseless who see their future compromised. I wonder: do you really think you are going to build a better world this way? Do you really think you are going to achieve peace? Enough, please! Let us all say: Stop! Please stop!”

7:36 am

A new bill in Congress aims to stress the holiness and ancient Jewish history of the Holy Land. Rep. Claudia Tenney (R-N.Y.). introduced the “Recognizing Judea and Samaria Act” on Feb. 29. The legislation would require all official U.S. documents and materials to reference “Judea and Samaria” rather than the “West Bank.”

7:35 am

Israeli emergency services say a foreign worker was killed and several others wounded by an anti-tank missile fired from Lebanon. The Magen David Adom rescue service said today it was treating seven people, including two in serious condition. Associated Press reporters saw the Israeli army transporting several Thai workers, some limping and bleeding, to ambulances near the northern Israeli town of Kiryat Shmona. Hezbollah has not directly claimed the attack, but AP reports that in statements on Monday it claimed it had stopped two attempts by Israeli forces to cross into Lebanese territory overnight and that it had launched an artillery attack on an Israeli barracks. Lebanese media has reported that Israel has launched air raids inside Lebanon this morning. 

7:30 am

The NYPD opened an investigation following an incident where a vehicle as seen in a surveillance video from which an occupant fired an Orbeez gun at a visibly Jewish child riding his bicycle in the Willowbrook area of Staten Island.

7:15 am

Hamas declared that it will continue to negotiate at talks in Cairo aimed at securing a ceasefire in Gaza despite Israel’s decision not to attend. “Talks in Cairo continue for the second day regardless of whether the occupation’s delegation is present in Egypt,” a Hamas official said today. The proposal understood to be under discussion is for a ceasefire of about 40 days, during which militants would release about 40 of the more than 100 hostages they are still holding in return for about 400 detainees held in Israeli jails. In Lebanon, Hamas spokesman Osama Hamdan called on Palestinians to “make every moment of Ramadan a confrontation.” Hamdan added that “What they [Israel and the US] have not gained in the battlefield, they will not gain through political machinations.” Ramadan begins on March 10. 

A 16-year-old boy has been shot and killed by Israeli security forces during an overnight raid in the al-Amari camp in the West Bank city of Ramallah in Judea and Samaria. Palestinian news agency Wafa also reports that 55 Palestinians were detained overnight by Israeli security forces. The Palestinian Prisoner’s Society states that about 7,400 Palestinians have now been detained by Israel since 7 October.

Vice President Kamala Harris called for an immediate six-week ceasefire in a March 3 speech in Alabama. She said “people in Gaza are starving” and that the Israeli government must do more to increase the flow of aid. “The conditions are inhumane,” she added. “Our common humanity compels us to act”. Israel’s interior security minister Itamar Ben-Gvir responded on Monday morning by posting “It’s time to destroy Hamas, Kamala” to social media.
Israeli war cabinet member Benny Gantz is in Washington to meet Harris. An official from Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud party said Gantz did not have approval from the prime minister for his meetings, underscoring the widening crack within Israel’s wartime leadership nearly six months into the war.

In its latest operational briefing, Israel’s military claims to have apprehended suspected members of Hamas and Islamic Jihad who were attempting to flee “under the protection of the civilian population”, and to have destroyed a cell who were firing rockets from Gaza into Israel. It claimed that over the past day, IDF troops killed 15 terrorists using sniper, tank, and aerial fire. The claims have not been independently verified.

At least 30,534 Palestinians have been killed and 71,920 injured by Israel’s military offensive on Gaza since October 7, according to the latest figures from the Hamas-controlled health ministry in the Palestinian territory. Over the same time period, in its latest briefing, the UN office for the coordination of humanitarian affairs (OCHA) noted that at least 409 Palestinians have been reported killed, including 103 children, in the Israeli-occupied West Bank. It has not been possible for journalists to independently verify the casualty figures being issued during the conflict. 

Mohammad Shtayyeh, caretaker prime minister of the Palestinian Authority, has accused Israel of “systematic criminality” and said countries that support Israel should “feel ashamed”.

A planned meeting to discuss Israeli “security preparations for Ramadan” scheduled for today has been cancelled, due to the personal health of Israeli PM Netanyahu. He was reportedly absent from government meetings on March 3. 

Family members of those still being held hostage by Hamas in Gaza have staged a silent march today in the Knesset in Jerusalem, demanding their release after 150 days in captivity.

Lebanese media reported Israeli airstrikes in the south of the country, near the UN-drawn blue line that separates Lebanon from Israel. Earlier Israeli media reported that one person had been killed and at least seven wounded by fire from inside Lebanon that crossed into Israel at Margaliot.

Volker Türk, the UN high commissioner for human rights, said in Geneva the risk that the Israel-Hamas conflict could spread much wider. He described military escalation in southern Lebanon between Israel, Hezbollah and other armed anti-Israeli groups as “extremely worrying”.

 

March 4, 2024

8:30 pm

Update regarding negotiations with Hamas on a deal to release hostages:

The Prime Minister of Qatar called the head of Israel's intelligence service, Mossad, Dedi Barna and informed him that Hamas had decided not to address Israel's demands: to receive a list of the names of the hostages who are still alive, who are to be released as part of the deal, as well as the key to the number of terrorists that will be released against each Israeli.

According to information that reached Israel today, the mediators, Qatar and Egypt are furious with Hamas, and made it clear to the leaders of the murderous organization that in this situation it is not possible to start negotiations with Israel. In their estimation, the meaning of the announcement is a proactive explosion of the talks by the organization, and a decision by its leaders to set the area on fire ahead of Ramadan, thus continuing the harm to the residents of Gaza.

It is estimated that in the coming days the US will put pressure on Qatar, to use its levers of pressure on Hamas, in order to start the process of a deal. One of these levers may be harming the good living conditions of Hamas leaders living in Qatar.

It should be noted that in light of this update in Israel, there is unanimity among the Israeli political echelon and the professionals that there is no point in sending a negotiating delegation to Cairo, since in the current situation there is no point of reference from which to start negotiations.

5:30 pm

Hamas has refused to provide details about the welfare of Israeli hostages it still holds, nor will it declare how many it is still retaining.

Vice President Kamala Harris today called for an “immediate ceasefire” in Gaza, referring to the six-week truce the Biden administration is trying to negotiate, which would see the Israeli hostages released and humanitarian aid surge into Gaza. “Given the immense scale of suffering in Gaza, there must be an immediate ceasefire,” Harris begins, causing the crowd in Selma to erupt in applause, before she can finish her sentence, when the seemingly thrown off vice president adds: “for at least the next six weeks, which is what currently is on the table,” Harris continues, barely heard over the sustained cheers from ostensibly progressive supporters who have long pushed the administration to call for an immediate ceasefire. “This is what will get the hostages out and a significant amount of aid in,” Harris added. “This would allow us to build something more enduring to ensure Israel is secure and to respect the right of the Palestinian people to dignity, freedom and self determination,” the vice president said. 

The IDF says it struck a building and other infrastructure used by Hezbollah in the south Lebanon towns of Ayta ash-Shab and Kafr Kila today, in response to attacks on northern Israel earlier. Rockets and missiles were fired today the Metula, Ghajar, and Malkia areas, causing no injuries, according to the IDF.

Several hundred Israel supporters held a weekly rally outside the office of the American Red Cross in Washington, urging the agency to act in order to secure the release of the remaining hostages being held in Gaza by Hamas. Among the speakers are Boaz Atzili — whose nephew Aviv was killed during Hamas’s October 7 terror onslaught and whose body is being held in Gaza — and Hillel International CEO Adam Lehman. “Israel’s government told us in early December that only military pressure would bring Hamas to comply and would bring the release of the hostages. Yet, 134 hostages are still there, in the dark tunnels of Gaza for 150 days! Five months! Within these five months only three hostages were rescued by forces, and who knows how many lost their lives,” Atzili says. “I’m begging the government of Israel to take the deal now — there is no time. There is no choice,” he adds.

The IDF killed a senior Hamas operative in an airstrike in the central Gaza Strip today. Mahmoud Muhammad Abed Khad had recruited terrorists for Hamas, specifically to the terror group’s Zeitoun Battalion, according to a joint statement. Khad was also involved in raising funds for Hamas military activity.

Jordan has asked Israel to extend a water supply deal by an additional year, and Israel has responded by seeking to smooth overall tensions between the nations. Relations between Amman and Jerusalem have been markedly tense since the start of Israel’s war against Hamas. Israel has replied to Jordan with a request that Jordanian officials moderate their vocal criticism of Israel, and to return their ambassadors to their respective posts.

In an unpublished report by UNRWA, the UN agency for Palestinian refugees accused Israeli troops of abusing hundreds of Palestinians detained in Gaza and brought to Israel for questioning, according to The New York Times. NYT said UNRWA alleges that some detainees were “beaten, stripped, robbed, blindfolded, sexually abused, and denied access to lawyers and doctors, often for more than a month.” The report claims that such alleged behavior was “used to extract information or confessions, to intimidate and humiliate, and to punish.” The IDF said that any mistreatment is “absolutely prohibited,” denied all allegations of sexual abuse, and said it is investigating any complaints of inappropriate behavior, the report said. UNRWA is itself being investigated on claims that more than a dozen of its employees took part in the October 7 onslaught on southern Israel alongside Hamas.

President Isaac Herzog welcomed President Umaro Sissoco Embaló of Guinea-Bissau to his office, the first visiting African leader since the start of Israel’s war against Hamas. Herzog told Embaló, “You are a true friend of Israel, and I was pleased to hear that you studied here in Israel,” according to his office. “We will never forget our friends and you were with us even in this difficult time. You supported our position in the African Union and showed true friendship.” Embaló told Herzog that he is coming as a “messenger of peace.,”“We know very well the price and the burden of war, and that war is always the last and most terrible resort,” he said. “Anything that Guinea-Bissau can contribute in this modest effort to bring about negotiations, know that Guinea-Bissau and the people who live there are by your side and ready to help in any way possible to promote understandings, agreements and dialogue between you and your neighbors.”

Iran’s judiciary has executed a “terrorist” over a drone attack that targeted a defense ministry site in central Iran last year. According to state TV, the person “planned to explode the workshop complex of the Ministry of Defense in Isfahan under guidance of the intelligence officer of Mossad,” Israel’s spy agency. The date of the execution and the identity of the accused person were not immediately clear. Iran has several known nuclear research sites in the Isfahan region, including a uranium conversion plant. The country’s sanction-hit nuclear program has been the target of sabotage, assassinations of scientists and cyber-attacks. Tehran has accused Israel of carrying out several covert actions on its soil.

Israeli officials are reportedly increasingly pessimistic over the likelihood of reaching a hostage and truce deal with Hamas before Ramadan. According to similar comments from unnamed officials cited in several Hebrew media reports — generally indicating a coordinated leak — officials now believe that Hamas chief Yahya Sinwar has no intention of agreeing to a temporary ceasefire in the coming days. Israel believes Sinwar wants to escalate the violence further over Ramadan. Israel is wary of an escalation not just along its borders with Gaza and Lebanon, but also across the West Bank, where tensions are high, as well as in Jerusalem, where clashes over the Temple Mount and access to the holy site are widely expected.

COGAT, the Israeli Defense Ministry body which coordinates Israeli activity in Palestinian territories, says that 50 baby incubators designated for hospitals in Gaza entered the territory this morning. COGAT did not say who provided the incubators and through which point of entry they crossed into the strip. The incubators are designated for Shifa Hospital, Kamal Adwan Hospital, European Hospital, Nasser Hospital and Aqsa Hospital, according to COGAT.

War cabinet Minister Benny Gantz arrived in the US ahead of a series of meetings with high-level officials, his office says. On March 4, Gantz is slated to meet with Vice President Kamala Harris, National Security adviser Jake Sullivan and White House Middle East adviser Brett McGurk. On March 5, Gantz is scheduled to sit down with Secretary of State Antony Blinken. After his trip to DC, Gantz is slated to fly to London and meet with Foreign Secretary David Cameron as well as other officials. Gantz left Israel without PM Netanyahu's approval

US envoy Amos Hochstein is expected to visit both Israel and Lebanon on March 4 to continue diplomatic efforts aimed at de-escalating the conflict across the Lebanon-Israel border, according to officials. Lebanon’s deputy parliament speaker Elias Bou Saab, one of the officials due to meet Hochstein, tells Reuters that he believes the timing of his visit points to progress in efforts to secure a Gaza truce “within the next few hours or days.” “If this happens, I believe that Hochstein’s visit this time will be of great importance to follow up on the truce on our southern borders and to discuss what is needed for stability and ending the possibility of the expansion of the war with Lebanon,” he said. Israeli media reported that Hochstein is also expected to visit Israel tomorrow and meet with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, Mossad chief David Barnea and other senior officials.

Ultra-Orthodox Jews blocked Route 4 in Israel during a protest against the drafting of their Jewish sect into the IDF. Police say they have finally succeeded in clearing an extremist Haredi protest which blocked off a central highway for more than three hours. According to police, hundreds of protesters shut down Route 4 at the Coca Cola junction next to Bnei Brak and clashed with police, including shouting “Nazis” at officers. Police did not indicate if any arrests were made during the clashes.

5:00 pm

A Hamas delegation arrived in Cairo to hold sensitive ceasefire talks on Gaza. The delegation is being led by Hamas’ deputy chief in Gaza, Khalil Al-Hayya, and is being viewed as a potential final hurdle towards an agreement that would halt the fighting for six weeks. A senior Hamas official told AFP that if Israel were to meet its demands – which include a military withdrawal from Gaza and stepped-up humanitarian aid – this would “pave the way for an agreement within the next 24-48 hours”. A Palestinian official familiar with the truce talks told Reuters that they were not yet close to finalising a deal, when asked if one was imminent.

Benny Gantz, a retired Israel Defense Forces (IDF) chief of staff who is part of Israel’s war cabinet, headed to Washington today for talks with US officials, sparking a rebuke from Benjamin Netanyahu, according to an Israeli official. An official from Netanyahu’s Likud party said Gantz’s visit was without authorization from the Israeli leader, the Associated Press reported. The official said Netanyahu, Israel’s prime minister, had a “tough talk” with Gantz about the trip and told him the country has “just one prime minister”.

Yemen’s Houthis have vowed to continue targeting British ships in the Gulf of Aden after the sinking of UK-owned vessel Rubymar. “Yemen will continue to sink more British ships, and any repercussions or other damages will be added to Britain’s bill,” Hussein al-Ezzi, deputy foreign minister in the Houthi-led government, wrote on X. “It is a rogue state that attacks Yemen and partners with America in sponsoring ongoing crimes against civilians in Gaza.”

Israel’s military has completed a preliminary review of the killing of over 100 Palestinian people near aid trucks last week, which determined that Israeli forces did not strike the convoy and that most Palestinians died in a stampede, the military spokesperson said. “The IDF has concluded an initial review of the unfortunate incident where Gazan civilians were trampled to death and injured as they charged to the aid convoy,” IDF spokesperson R Adm Daniel Hagari said. Palestinian authorities say, however, that Israeli forces carried out a massacre, opening fire on a crowd of people who had gathered in the hope that food would be distributed.

At least 30,410 Palestinians have been killed and 71,700 injured in Israeli strikes on Gaza since October 7, the Hamas-controlled Gaza health ministry said in a statement today.

Born about a month into Israel’s war in Gaza, infant twins Wesam and Naeem Abu Anza were buried today, the youngest of 14 members of the same family whom Gaza health authorities say were killed in an Israeli airstrike in Rafah overnight. There are continued warnings that hunger and severe malnutrition are widespread in the Gaza Strip, where about 2.2 million Palestinians are facing severe shortages resulting from Israel destroying food supplies and severely restricting the flow of food, medicines and other humanitarian supplies.

Osama Hamdan, a Lebanon-based Hamas official, told Qatar’s Al-Araby TV that the terrorist group insists on a complete, rather a  than “temporary” ceasefire, and on “ending the aggression against our people”. Israel’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, has so far rejected pulling troops out of Gaza before Hamas is “eliminated” and all hostages are freed. The Hamas official also said the group would demand “the entry of at least 400 to 500 trucks per day” carrying food, medicine and fuel as part of a truce deal. Israel had yet to confirm that it has accepted the truce plan or whether it would attend the Cairo talks.

7:40 am

 A US official meeting with Hamas, Egyptian, and Qatari counterparts in Cairo told the media regarding a possible pause in fighting: "The path to a ceasefire right now literally at this hour is straightforward. And there’s a deal on the table. There’s a framework deal.” The components of the deal:

Dozens of hostages held by Hamas would be freed in return for hundreds of Palestinian detainees.

Aid to Gaza would be ramped up to save the lives of Palestinians pushed to the verge of famine.

Fighting would cease in time to head off a massive planned Israeli assault on Rafah, where more than half of Gaza’s 2.3 million people are sheltering.

Israeli forces would pull back from some areas and allow Palestinians to return to homes abandoned earlier in the war.

But a deal would stop short of fulfilling the main Hamas demand for a permanent end to the war, while also leaving unresolved the fate of more than half of the more than 100 remaining hostages - including Israeli men of fighting age not covered by a deal to free women, children, elderly and the injured.

7:35 am

A fan of the Israeli-Palestinian soccer team Hapoel Umm al-Fahm has been arrested and questioned for waving a Palestinian flag at a match against Maccabi Haifa last week. The police say that the 18-year old resident of Umm al-Fahm was arrested on March 1 after an “operative and strenuous investigation” by police officers in the Umm al-Fahm police station.

Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthis vow to continue targeting British ships in the Gulf of Aden following the sinking of UK-owned vessel Rubymar. The US military confirmed on March 2 that the UK-owned vessel Rubymar had sunk after being struck by an anti-ship ballistic missile fired by Yemeni Houthi militants on Feb. 18. “Yemen will continue to sink more British ships, and any repercussions or other damages will be added to Britain’s bill,” Hussein al-Ezzi, deputy foreign minister in the Houthi-led government, says in a post on X. “It is a rogue state that attacks Yemen and partners with America in sponsoring ongoing crimes against civilians in Gaza,” he claims.

The IDF says it has “coordinated” a total of 21 airdrops in the Gaza Strip in recent weeks, by the United States, Jordan, France, the UAE, and Egypt, with more than 450 packages of food and medical aid distributed to Palestinian civilians. The latest airdrop was carried out March 2 by the US and Jordan. “We will continue expanding our humanitarian efforts to the civilian population in Gaza while we fulfill our goals of freeing our hostages from Hamas and freeing Gaza from Hamas,” says IDF Spokesman Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari in an English-language video statement.

Police in Zurich, Switzerland, said they suspect antisemitism as the motive in the stabbing attack last night in which an ultra-Orthodox man was critically wounded. Police say they received a report of an argument involving several people at 9:35 p.m. According to their initial findings, the perpetrator attacked the 50-year-old man “and critically injured him with a stabbing weapon.” Police describe the perpetrator as 15-year-old Swiss citizen, and said they arrested him at the scene. Eyewitnesses told Swiss media the attacker shouted “Death to all Jews.”

Israel announced that it will be working with Eurovision organizers to ensure that one of its two contending songs be accepted to this year’s song contest, so that it can participate in the competition especially in a year when it has faced boycott calls. The European Broadcasting Union, which runs the annual competition, disqualified the Israeli submission for being too political, and the Kan broadcaster had originally stated that it would refuse to alter or change the song it submitted. Israeli President Isaac Herzog called for a change that would allow the Israelis to compete, “particularly at a time when those who hate us are trying to push us out and boycott the State of Israel on every stage, Israel must have its voice heard with its head raised high and fly its flag in every global forum, particularly this year.” Activists had called for barring Israel. Kan says that it reached out to the writers of the two top songs, “October Rain” and “Dance Forever,” and asked them to “readjust the texts, with full artistic freedom,” so it can then choose one to send to the EBU, which will still have to approve the song. The EBU told The Times of Israel over the weekend only that “the EBU and KAN are still in the process of discussing their entry and that remains a confidential process until a final decision has been reached.” Kan says that the song to be performed by Eden Golan in Malmo this year will be announced duri

Overnight, the IDF says it carried out a wave of airstrikes against some 50 Hamas targets in western Khan Younis, within just six minutes. The concentrated wave of strikes was to enable ground troops of the 98th Division to maneuver into new areas of the city in the southern Gaza Strip. The IDF says the targets included underground infrastructure, buildings used by Hamas, anti-tank launch positions, booby-trapped buildings, and staging grounds where operatives were gathered. After the wave of strikes, the 98th Division “began a surprise assault on the area, during which the troops raided terror targets and eliminated terrorists,” the IDF said. Intensive fighting was ongoing this morning. Meanwhile, in central Gaza, the IDF says the Nahal Brigade killed dozens of Hamas operatives over the past day, including by calling in airstrikes, as well as captured weapons.

7:22 am

A senior Hamas official told AFP that if Israel were to meet its demands - which include a military withdrawal from Gaza and stepped-up humanitarian aid - this would “pave the way for an agreement within the next 24-48 hours”. Envoys from the US, Qatar and Hamas havearrived in Cairo, as all sides have been scrambling to agree a truce before Ramadan, the Muslim fasting month that begins on March 10/11.

The official added that Hamas had demanded the entry of “at least 400 to 500 trucks per day” carrying food, medicine and fuel as part of a truce deal. Despite charging that Israel’s unwillingness to accept the terror group’s demands was the reason a deal hasn’t progressed, a Hamas official told the UK-based Qatari outlet Al-Araby Al-Jadeed that it will not provide any further details on the hostages without Israel paying a “big price” for it. “A big price must be paid in terms of alleviating the suffering of the people of Gaza and establishing a ceasefire,” he told the news outlet, signaling that the group was not prepared to accede to the demand.

A Hamas delegation has arrived in Cairo to hold sensitive ceasefire talks on Gaza. The delegation is being led by Hamas’ deputy chief in Gaza, Khalil Al-Hayya, and is being viewed as a potential final hurdle towards an agreement that would halt the fighting for six weeks. A senior Hamas official told AFP that if Israel were to meet its demands - which include a military withdrawal from Gaza and stepped-up humanitarian aid - this would “pave the way for an agreement within the next 24-48 hours”.

At least 30,410 Palestinians have been killed and 71,700 injured in Israeli strikes on Gaza since October, 7 the Hamas-controlled Gaza health ministry said in a statement today.

Yemen’s Houthis have vowed to continue targeting British ships in the Gulf of Aden following the sinking of UK-owned vessel Rubymar. “Yemen will continue to sink more British ships, and any repercussions or other damages will be added to Britain’s bill,” Hussein al-Ezzi, deputy foreign minister in the Houthi-led government, wrote on X. “It is a rogue state that attacks Yemen and partners with America in sponsoring ongoing crimes against civilians in Gaza.”

Israel’s military has completed a preliminary review of the killing of over 100 Palestinian people near aid trucks last week, which determined that Israeli forces did not strike the convoy and that most Palestinians died in a stampede, the military spokesperson said. “The IDF has concluded an initial review of the unfortunate incident where Gazan civilians were trampled to death and injured as they charged to the aid convoy,” IDF spokesperson R Adm Daniel Hagari said. Palestinian authorities say, however, that Israeli forces carried out a massacre, opening fire on a crowd of people who had gathered in the hope that food would be distributed.

Born a month into Israel’s war in Gaza, infant twins Wesam and Naeem Abu Anza were buried on Sunday, the youngest of 14 members of the same family whom Gaza health authorities say were killed in an Israeli airstrike in Rafah overnight. There are continued warnings that hunger and severe malnutrition are widespread in the Gaza Strip, where about 2.2 million Palestinians are facing severe shortages resulting from Israel destroying food supplies and severely restricting the flow of food, medicines and other humanitarian supplies.

March 3, 2024

10:10 am

A Muslim male patient shot to death a Jewish dentist in San Diego on March 1. At least one other person was wounded. The motives of the killing have not been clarified.

US Air Force C-130 cargo planes dropped food in pallets over Gaza today. Three planes  air dropped 66 bundles containing about 38,000 meals into Gaza in the early afternoon in Gaza. The airdrop is expected to be the first of many announced by President Biden on March 1. The aid will be coordinated with Jordan, which has also conducted airdrops to deliver food to Gaza. National security spokesperson John Kirby said that the airdrops were being planned to deliver emergency humanitarian assistance in a safe way to people on the ground.

Many of the Palestinians killed or injured in the chaos as they tried to get bags of flour from an aid convoy were hit by Israeli army fire, the EU’s diplomatic service claimed today while urging an international investigation. Desperate Gazans thronged around aid trucks on Feb. 29. When shooting ensued, 100+ Gazans died. Israel claimed that many were killed after being rolled over by trucks. “The responsibility for this incident lays on the restrictions imposed by the Israeli army and obstructions by violent extremist(s) to the supply of humanitarian aid,” the European External Action Service said. Israel has disputed claims that IDF troops killed Gazans during the incident.

Officials say the the Belize-flagged Rubymar cargo ship that was attacked by Yemen’s Houthi rebels has sunk in the Red Sea after days of taking on water. This is the first ship sunk by the Houthis amid their months-long attacks on shipping in the vital waterway. The Rubymar had been drifting northward after being struck by a Houthi anti-ship ballistic missile on February 18 in the Bab el-Mandeb strait, a crucial waterway linking the Red Sea d the Gulf of Aden. The US Central Command  warned the vessel’s cargo of fertilizer, as well as fuel leaking from the ship, could cause ecological damage to the Red Sea. The sinking could see further detours and higher insurance rates put on vessels plying the waterway – potentially driving up global inflation and affecting aid shipments to the region.

8:30 am

At least 10 Palestinians were killed by an Israeli airstrike on March 2 that hit a tent in Rafah, the Gaza health ministry said. The airstrike took place over an area where displaced Palestinians have been taking shelter, outside the Emirate hospital in the suburb of Tel Al-Sultan of southern Gaza’s Rafah. The Hamas-run health ministry in Gaza said a medic working at the hospital was among those killed. The figures have not been independently verified.

A tenth child in a Gaza hospital has been registered as having died from starvation, said the UN on March 1, warning that the “real figure is likely to be higher”. “The official records yesterday or this morning said there was a tenth child officially registered in a hospital as having starved to death,” said UN health agency spokesperson Christian Lindmeier. “A very sad threshold …[but] the unofficial numbers can unfortunately be expected to be higher,” she added. The UN said the development followed media reports overnight that four children had died in northern Gaza’s Kamal Adwan hospital, in addition to six others who died on March 28 at the same facility and at Al-Shifa hospital in Gaza City.

UN aid coordination office Ocha had previously warned that a deepening food insecurity crisis in Gaza had left one in four facing catastrophic levels of food insecurity. “The system in Gaza – we’ve said it many times that it’s on its knees – it’s more than on its knees,” Lindmeier told journalists in Geneva, explaining that all of Gaza’s “lifelines have more or less been cut”, notably water and electricity, since immediately after Hamas-led terror attacks on Israeli communities on Oct. 7. Ocha spokesperson Jens Laerke said that before the conflict “people had food; people were able to produce their own food”, but added that now finding food within Gaza itself, whether from farming or fishing, “is almost impossible”. “Putting food on the table … has completely stopped. The very foundation for people’s daily sustenance is being ripped away,” said Laerke. Ocha said that the latest humanitarian food insecurity assessments indicate that the entire population of Gaza – 2.2 million people – face “crisis” levels of food insecurity. Of that number, about 1.17 million face “emergency” levels of food insecurity, while for another 500,000 it is at “catastrophic” levels, say Ocha.

President Biden said on March 1 that the US would begin airdropping humanitarian assistance into “Ukraine”, a day after more than 100 Palestinians were killed during a chaotic encounter with Israeli troops. Biden said the airdrops would begin soon and that the US was looking into additional ways to facilitate getting badly needed aid into the war-torn territory to ease the suffering of Palestinians. “In the coming days we are going to join with our friends in Jordan and others who are providing airdrops of additional food and supplies” and we will “seek to open up other avenues in, including possibly a marine corridor,” said Biden. The president twice referred to airdrops to help Ukraine, but White House officials clarified he was referring to Gaza.

More than 200 legislators from 12 countries have committed themselves to trying to persuade their governments to impose a ban on arms sales to Israel, arguing they will not be complicit in “Israel’s grave violation of international law” in its assault on Gaza. The letter, organised by Progressive International, a network of socialist parliamentarians and activists focused on international justice, is seen as the best practical measure possible to bring public anger over the 30,000 deaths of Palestinians in Gaza into the heart of parliaments, where calls for an immediate unconditional ceasefire have so far fallen on deaf ears or been rejected by national governments.

According to the Times of Israel, Israeli war cabinet minister Benny Gantz, who leads the National Unity party, will travel to Washington on March 3 on a trip that is believed to have not been coordinated with Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu. According to Israeli media, Netanyahu “fuming”. The Times of Israel wrote: "The upcoming trip has created tensions between Gantz and Netanyahu, whose associates were cited by Hebrew media as saying that the premier has “made it clear to minister Gantz that the state of Israel only has one prime minister.” Media reports that the trip was not organized by Netanyahu, and was contrary to government regulations that require “every minister to clear travel in advance with the prime minister, including approval of the travel plan.”

Pro-Palestine protests are to continue across the UK on March 2 after the UK prime minister, Rishi Sunak warned that democracy was being targeted by “extremists”. Speaking to the public on March 1, the prime minister spoke about “forces here at home trying to tear us apart”, in the aftermath of the October 7 attacks by Hamas against Israel. He described the victory of Labourite George Galloway in the Rochdale byelection as “beyond alarming”. He also spoke directly to those taking part in pro-Palestine protests, urging organisers to demonstrate peacefully and “with empathy”. Galloway has long been a critic of Israel and has met with Hamas leaders. He has been deemed an anti-zionist and antisemite. Sunak told senior police chiefs the public expected the protests to be policed rather than simply managed. Sunak said: “I want to speak directly to those who choose to continue to protest: don’t let the extremists hijack your marches. You have a chance in the coming weeks to show that you can protest decently, peacefully and with empathy for your fellow citizens. Let us prove these extremists wrong and show them that even when we disagree, we will never be disunited.”

An Israeli military strike killed three Hezbollah fighters in south Lebanon today. Three Hezbollah fighters, including a weapons technician, were killed when the car they were in was targeted on a coastal road near the town of Naqoura. The Israeli army said one of its aircraft had struck a vehicle in south Lebanon transporting “a number of terrorists who launched rockets into Israeli territory”. It also said its jets struck “Hezbollah terrorist infrastructure” in the Labbouneh area at the Israeli border on March 2, in addition to two Hezbollah military compounds hit overnight in another frontier area. Hezbollah have said it carried out an attack on an Israeli military headquarters in the village of Liman using an explosive drone at 5.40am (3.40am GMT) on Saturday, reporting a direct hit.

As Israelis are called up to join the war effort in Gaza, anger is mounting at the ultra-Orthodox community which has long been spared the compulsory military service required of most citizens.  That community sees army service as conflicting with their religious duties. Others believe they should be obliged to serve, sparking debate and leading to protests against their decades-long exemptions. “That’s how it is when you’re a normal Israeli. The whole society has to do its part,” Oren Shvill, one of hundreds of Israelis at a recent demonstration in Jerusalem, told AFP. The 52-year-old engineer, who lives in a settlement in the occupied West Bank, is among about 340,000 reservists called up in nearly five months of war.

Israel is facing growing international pressure for an investigation after more than 100 Palestinians in Gaza were killed when desperate crowds gathered around aid trucks and Israeli troops opened fire on Feb. 29. Israel said people died in a crush or were run over by aid trucks although it admitted its troops had opened fire on what it called a “mob”. But the head of a hospital in Gaza said 80% of injured people brought in had gunshot wounds. 

A UN team that visited some of the wounded in Gaza City’s al-Shifa hospital saw a “large number of gunshot wounds”, UN chief Antonio Guterres’s spokesman said. The hospital received 70 of the dead and treated more than 700 wounded, of whom around 200 were still there during the team’s visit, spokesman Stéphane Dujarric said. “I’m not aware that our team examined the bodies of people who were killed. My understanding from what they saw in terms of the patients who were alive getting treatments is that there was a large number of gunshot wounds,” he said. The UK called for an “urgent investigation and accountability”. In a statement, David Cameron, the foreign secretary, said: “The deaths of people in Gaza waiting for an aid convoy were horrific … this must not happen again.” Israel must allow more aid into Gaza, Lord Cameron added.

The Palestinian Authority hopes a ceasefire can be agreed in Gaza in time for Ramadan, its foreign minister, Riyad al-Maliki, said today. Speaking at a news conference at a diplomatic forum in Antalya, Tukrey, Maliki said the Palestinian Authority would be “the only legitimate authority” to run Gaza after the war, reports Reuters. The Palestinian Authority, which exercises limited self rule in parts of the Israeli-occupied West Bank, lost control of Gaza to the Hamas militant group in 2007.

The latest figures from the Gaza health ministry, which is run by Hamas, said 92 Palestinians were killed in Israeli strikes and 156 were injured in the past 24 hours. According to the statement, at least 30,320 Palestinians have been killed and 71,533 have been injured in Israeli strikes on Gaza since October 7. The figures do not distinguish between civilians and combatants, nor have they been independently verified.

Hezbollah signalled this week that it would halt its attacks if Israel’s Gaza offensive stops, but it is also ready to keep on fighting if the Gaza war continues. On Feb. 29, Hezbollah announced the deaths of four members killed in Lebanon. Israeli defense minister Yoav Gallant said on March 25 that Israel planned to increase attacks on Hezbollah in the event of a Gaza ceasefire, but was open to a diplomatic deal to withdraw Hezbollah fighters from the border.

Lebanon’s caretaker prime minister Najib Mikati  said on Feb. 29 that a halt to fighting in Gaza as early as next week would trigger indirect talks to end hostilities at the border.

African Union chief Moussa Faki Mahamat on Saturday strongly condemned “the mass killing of Palestinians queueing for humanitarian aid” and urged an international probe after dozens died after a rush on an aid convoy in Gaza. “Mahamat strongly condemns an attack by Israeli forces, that killed and wounded more than 100 Palestinians seeking life-saving humanitarian aid,” the bloc said in a statement dated Friday but posted on X on Saturday.

French president Emmanuel Macron said on April 29 he was angered by what Gaza authorities said was the shooting of more than 100 Palestinians seeking humanitarian aid and demanded “truth and justice” regarding the role of Israeli soldiers in the incident. Hamas said Israeli forces shot dead more than 100 Palestinians as they waited for an aid delivery, but Israel blamed the deaths on crowds that surrounded aid trucks, saying victims had been trampled or run over. However, there is video evidence of armed Gazan men firing into the crowds that surrounded aid trucks. An Israeli official also said troops had “in a limited response” later fired on crowds they felt had posed a threat. He dismissed the casualty toll given by Gaza authorities but gave no figure himself. Macron wrote: "Deep indignation at the images coming from Gaza where civilians have been targeted by Israeli soldiers. I express my strongest condemnation of these shootings and call for truth, justice, and respect for international law.” He said it was imperative for an immediate ceasefire in the war to be put in place.
 

8:15 am

World leaders have called for an investigation and a ceasefire in the Israel-Gaza war after more than 100 Palestinians were killed as they rushed at an aid convoy and Israeli troops opened fire. There are conflicting reports about the incident: Israeli sources said that IDF troops fired in the air to deter what were said to be Gazans who approached an IDF position. Aerial surveillance revealed that armed men at the place where trucks bearing aid had stopped and were surrounded by Gazans fired on civilians. Egyptian truck drivers were assaulted and injured by Gazans and their trucks were damaged. An IDF spokesman said that many of the dead were in a “stampede” which occurred when thousands of Palestinians surrounded the convoy of trucks, leading to dozens of deaths and injuries, including some who were run over.

A United Nations team that visited some of the wounded in Gaza City’s al-Shifa hospital on March 1 saw a “large number of gunshot wounds”, said a spokesperson for the UN secretary general, António Guterres. The hospital received 70 of the dead and treated more than 700 injured, of whom about 200 were still there during the team’s visit, the spokesperson said.

President Biden said on March 1 he was “hoping” for an Israel-Hamas ceasefire deal by the Muslim holy month of Ramadan – which will start on 10 or 11 March – but that agreement was still not sealed. “I’m hoping so, we’re still working real hard on it,” he said in Washington of a deal. “We’re not there yet.”

The US will start airdrops of food and emergency supplies into Gaza in the next few days, Biden has announced, amid UN warnings of famine and after the food aid deaths. The March 1 announcement suggests the US president has given up on being able to persuade Israel in the near future to coordinate a large-scale ground-based relief effort under the threat of mass starvation across Gaza, reports Julian Borger in Washington.

At least 30,228 Palestinians have been killed and 71,377 injured in Israel’s military offensive in Gaza since October 7, the Hamas-controlled Gaza health ministry has said. It gave the total casualties in the past 24 hours as 193 Palestinians killed and 920 injured, which included those killed or hurt in the aid convoy incident. No independent verification of the figures has been released.

The US military struck a Houthi missile it said was prepared to launch from Houthi-controlled areas of Yemen towards the Red Sea. US central command claimed on March 1 the surface-to-air missile “presented an imminent threat to US aircraft in the region”. It also said the Iran-backed Houthis launched an anti-ship ballistic missile into the Red Sea in the late evening, causing no impact or damage to vessels.

Hamas said on March 1 that seven more hostages seized during its October 7 attack on Israel had died because of Israeli military operations in Gaza. The claim was in a statement attributed to a spokesperson for its military wing, the Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigades.

The EU has said it will resume funding the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine (UNRWA) next week, after the two parties came to an agreement to allow EU-appointed experts to audit the way it screens staff to identify extremists. Israel has accused 12 UNRWA employees of taking part in the Hamas attack inside Israel on October 7. A month after the Israeli allegations, UN investigators have yet to receive any evidence from Israel to support the claims.

A member of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards navy serving as a military adviser in Syria was killed in a suspected strike by Israel on March 1. Israel also launched air raids over Lebanon.

Nearly 20,000 worshipers were able to reach the al-Aqsa mosque for Friday prayers on March 1 in Jerusalem despite significant restrictions on the entry of worshipers imposed by Israeli security forces. There were arrests, and some worshippers were denied entry and forced to pray outside the compound.
 

March 2, 2024

4:30 pm

White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said that “a deal triggering a six-week ceasefire is currently on the table.” While President Biden said on Feb. 29 that the mass-casualty incident surrounding a Gaza aid convoy would complicate ongoing hostage negotiations, Kirby said, “it’s too soon to know whether yesterday’s incident will impact the talks.” “With the fighting stopped, aid will be able to flow more freely at an increased level, and the hostages — starting with women, the elderly and the wounded — can be released in stages,” Kirby says. “We’re going to keep our shoulder to the wheel on that and work very, very hard in the coming days.”

Kirby said the first US airdrop of humanitarian aid into Gaza will take place “in the coming days” and that the operation will be replicated in the following weeks. “The third and fourth and fifth one won’t look like the first and second one,” Kirby said following the military airdrop announcement made by Biden earlier today. “There are few military operations that are more complicated than humanitarian assistance airdrops… because so many parameters have to be exactly right,” Kirby says, noting that the US military will have to make sure that the aid lands in a location in the densely populated Gaza warzone that is accessible to aid organizations tasked with distribution. While airdrops are a faster method of delivery than trucks have been in Gaza, Kirby notes that the new tactic is only meant to supplement ground shipments, given that the latter can deliver at a far larger scale. The first airdrop will consist of food, likely US military MREs (Meals Ready to Eat). The US is still working to finalize details regarding who will distribute the aid once it hits the ground, he said.

Kirby said that the US will redouble its efforts to establish a humanitarian maritime corridor to deliver large amounts of humanitarian assistance by sea. A maritime route would be able to deliver aid at a larger scale than airdrops, but Kirby admits that this effort is still in its earlier planning stages. The idea has been something government officials in the region and beyond have talked about for years but has never been implemented. Even before the war broke out, Gaza’s port was barely equipped to handle large maritime shipments of aid. When asked whether the airdrops had anything to do with the stampede that killed 100+ in Gaza on Feb. 29, Kirby isaid that the idea had been in the works for “some time.” He adds that the stampede highlighted the need for more aid to enter Gaza through additional methods. Kirby says the US has been in touch with Israel about this effort and notes that Israel recently conducted its own airdrop and is supportive of the US initiative. Kirby said the Biden administration is pushing Israel to open additional crossings into Gaza in order to facilitate the delivery of more aid. Jerusalem has been reluctant to answer calls to open the Erez Crossing into northern Gaza where it is seeking to prevent a resurgence of Hamas activity. Kirby said that the US trusts Israel will be able to investigate yesterday’s incident in Gaza City, noting that they have sufficiently carried out similar probes in the past.

The IDF says it carried out airstrikes and artillery shelling against Hezbollah positions in southern Lebanon, killing members of the terror group. An infrastructure and two buildings belonging to Hezbollah are targeted in the village of Ramyeh, the IDF said. Several Hezbollah operatives were spotted coming out of one of the buildings, and were then targeted by an aircraft, the IDF adds.

President Biden criticized Israel for the lack of humanitarian aid entering Gaza in remarks to the press ahead of his Oval Office meeting with visiting Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni. “In addition to expanding deliveries by land, as I said, we’re going to insist that Israel facilitate more trucks and more routes to get more and more people the help they need. No excuses.” “Aid flowing to Gaza is nowhere near enough… Innocent lives are on the line and children’s lives are on the line,” Biden continues. “We should be getting hundreds of trucks in, not just several. And I won’t stand by, we won’t let up and we’re… trying to pull out every stop we can to get more assistance in.”

“People are so desperate that innocent people got caught in a terrible war unable to feed their families and you saw the response when they tried to get aid in,” Biden told  reporters while sitting alongside Meloni ahead of their Oval Office meeting. He said that US planes will soon airdrop aid to Gaza.  “The United States will do more and in the coming days, we are going to join with our friends from Jordan and others to provide airdrops of supplies into Ukraine and seek to open up other avenues into Ukraine, including the possibility of a marine corridor delivering large amounts of humanitarian assistance,” Biden says, mistaking Gaza for Ukraine. The White House later confirms that he was referring to Gaza, not Ukraine.

Washington will continue to work to secure a truce between Israel and Hamas that would allow for the release of the hostages and the entry of more humanitarian aid into Gaza, Biden said. “Hopefully we will know shortly…. We are trying to work out a deal between Israel and Hamas — the hostages being returned and the immediate ceasefire in Gaza for at least the next six weeks, and to allow the surge of aid to the entire Gaza Strip, not just the south.” Referring to the Feb. 29 incident in which over 100 Gazans died while thronged around aid trucks, resulting in trucks running them over, Biden said he discussed with Meloni “the Middle East and yesterday’s tragic and alarming event in north Gaza, trying to get humanitarian assistance in there…The loss of life is heartbreaking.”

Socialist Nicaragua filed a case at the International Court of Justice against Germany for giving financial and military aid to Israel and for defunding the embattled UN Palestinian refugee agency UNRWA, the UN’s top court announces. Nicaragua asked the ICJ, also known as the World Court, to issue emergency measures requiring Berlin to stop its military aid to Israel. The court usually sets a date for a hearing on any requested emergency measures within weeks of a case being filed. According to Nicaragua’s claim, Germany is violating the 1948 genocide convention and the 1949 Geneva convention on the laws of war in the occupied Palestinian territories. 

Under the genocide treaty countries not only agree not to commit genocide but also to prevent and punish any possible genocide. It also makes complicity in genocide and attempting a genocide a violation of the treaty. Germany is one of the largest arms exporters to Israel together with the United States.

US Agency for International Development chief Samantha Power tweets footage from her visit this week to a Palestinian youth center in the West Bank that has been repeatedly vandalized by Israeli settlers. “This youth center in the West Bank was once a place where thousands of Palestinians came together. Repeated attacks by extremist Israeli settlers have forced its doors to close and sent shock waves of fear through the community. This violence is intolerable and must stop,” Power tweeted.

A roadside bomb exploded near an Iraqi army patrol north of Baghdad on Friday, killing one soldier and wounding four others, the Iraqi defense ministry said in a statement. The attack took place in the town of Tarmiya, 25 km (15 miles) north of Baghdad, the ministry said. Islamic State formally claimed responsibility for the attack, saying it killed one soldier and wounded nine others, the group said in a statement. Iraq’s Defence Minister Thabit al-Abbasi reached the area where the attack took place and ordered an investigation, the ministry’s statement said. Despite the defeat of the Islamic State militant group in 2017, remnants of the group switched to hit-and-run attacks against government forces in different parts of Iraq.

1:12 pm

A Palestinian terrorist who was shot after ramming his vehicle into security personnel is scheduled to undergo cosmetic surgery in an Israeli hospital later this year. Azmi Nafa is serving a 20-year sentence over the Nov. 24, 2015, terrorist attack at the Tapuach Junction in Samaria, in which four Israel Defense Forces soldiers were lightly wounded.

11:50 am

IDF fighter jets carried out strikes against a building used by Hezbollah in Ayta ash-Shab, as well as another building and infrastructure belonging to the terror group in Jabal Blat in Lebanon. The strikes come in response to repeated Hezbollah attacks on northern Israel. Later today, projectiles were fired from Lebanon at the Margaliot area, striking open areas, the IDF says.

10:00 am

Germany’s foreign minister Annalena Baerbock demanded that Israel’s army “fully explain” how Palestinians ended up dead yesterday while they were gathered to receive humanitarian aid, an event which she said had shocked her. On social media, she stated: "People wanted relief supplies for themselves and their families and found themselves dead. The reports from Gaza shock me. The Israeli army must fully explain how the mass panic and shooting could have happened. My condolences go out to the families of the victims. In Gaza people are closer to dying than to living. More humanitarian aid needs to come in. Immediately. We now finally need humanitarian action #Feuerpause (#ceasefire) so that the hostages are finally released from the hands of Hamas and more people don’t die in Gaza. And help can be distributed safely."

On Feb. 29, planes from the US, Israel, and Jordan dropped humanitarian supplies via parachute in Gaza.

The EU has said it will resume funding the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine (UNRWA) next week, after the two parties came to an agreement to allow EU-appointed experts to audit the way it screens staff to identify extremists. Israel accused 12 UNRWA employees of taking part in the Hamas attack inside Israel on 7 October. A month after the Israeli allegations, UN investigators have yet to receive any evidence from Israel to support the claims though they expect some material to be forthcoming “shortly”. The European Union said today that it will pay $54 million next week. It said that the agency has now “indicated that it stands ready to ensure that a review of its staff is carried out to confirm they did not participate in the attacks and that further controls are put in place to mitigate such risks in the future.” The commission said that two further tranches of funding worth $17.3 million each will be given to UNRWA as it complies with the agreement. UNRWA commissioner-general Philippe Lazzarini welcomed the EU’s announcement and said that the commitment to provide money next week “comes at a critical time.”The allegations against the 12 employees led 16 major donors to suspend contributions totalling $450m at a time when more than two million Gazans are facing famine. A month after Israeli allegations that a dozen United Nations staff were involved in the October 7Hamas attack, UN investigators have yet to receive any evidence from Israel to support the claims though they expect some material to be forthcoming “shortly”.

The allegations against the 12 employees of the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine (UNRWA) led 16 major donors to suspend contributions totalling $450 million at a time when more than two million Gazans are facing famine. UNRWA says it is approaching “breaking point” and only has sufficient funds to continue functioning for the next month at most. The UN Office of Internal Oversight Services (OIOS) launched an investigation on January 29 in the wake of the Israeli allegations initially presented to UNRWA in January, and delivered an update on its work to the UN secretary general, António Guterres, on Feb. 27.

The Wall Street Journal reported last week that an assessment by the US national intelligence council, assessed with “low confidence” that UNRWA staffers had participated in the October 7 attack on southern Israel, in which 1,200 people, mostly civilians, were killed.

Since the initial allegations against 12 UNRWA workers, nine of whom are believed to be still alive, Israel has claimed that a total of 190 UNRWA employees, including teachers, have also been Hamas or Islamic Jihad militants. The Israeli military also said that a tunnel had been found under UNRWA’s headquarters in Gaza and that guns and ammunition had been found in the headquarters building.

The head of UNRWA, Philippe Lazzarini, said the agency” ​​did not know what is under its headquarters in Gaza”, which he pointed out had been abandoned since an Israeli order to evacuate in October. He said that in times of relative peace, UNRWA inspected its premises every quarter, and always protested if its neutrality had been violated.

“It is a little bit shortsighted to believe that UNRWA can just technically hand over all its activities to other UN agencies or NGOs,” Lazzarini told journalists in Jerusalem on Feb. 29. “It’s an agency [that’s] quite unique because we are … primarily providing government-like services to one of the most destitute communities in the region,” he said.

“The World Food Programme itself has said that it cannot stave off starvation which is already impacting hundreds of thousands of people,” Christopher Gunness, a former UNRWA spokesperson, said. “That can only be done by UNRWA, with its 13,000 workers, its warehouses and its food distribution centres.” “The OIOS report is a ladder on which all the defunding donors can climb down if they wish to and avoid accusations of complicity in starvation and genocide, as well as bowing to the political agenda of Israel’s far right,” Gunness said.

A broader review of UNRWA’s activities and neutrality is under way, led by a former French foreign minister, Catherine Colonna, and supported by three Nordic research organizations.

Egypt’s foreign minister Sameh Shoukry said he is hopeful that talks initiated by Qatar can agree a cessation of hostilities in Gaza before the start of Ramadan.

Speaking at the Antalya diplomacy forum in Turkey, he said: "We are hopeful that we can reach a cessation of hostilities and exchange of hostages. Everyone recognises that we have a time limit to be successful before the start of Ramadan." Ramadan begins Mrch 10.

World Health Organization spokesperson Christian Lindmeier has said that the health system in Gaza is “more than on its knees”, and he also cautioned people not to forget that food supplies to the territory had been “cut off deliberately”. He said in Geneva, "The system in Gaza is on its knees, it’s more than on its knees. All the lifelines in Gaza have more or less been cut. People are so desperate for food, for fresh water, for any supplies that they risk their lives in getting any food, any supplies to support their children, to support themselves. The food supplies have been cut off deliberately. Let’s not forget that."

A senior UN aid official told the UN security council on Feb. 26, that one quarter of the population of Gaza is one step away from famine, and widespread famine could be “almost inevitable” without action.

A member of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards navy serving as a military adviser in Syria was killed in a suspected Israeli strike today, according to official news agency IRNA. Other Iranian media reports said Reza Zarei was killed along with two fighters from Lebanon’s Iran-backed Hezbollah group. Israel usually does not comment on repeated reports of raids on Syria.

State media in Lebanon is also reporting Israeli air raids, which it said targeted the southern Lebanese town of Aita al-Shaab, and also villages near the outskirts of Jabal Blat, all close to the UN-drawn blue line which separates Israel and Lebanon.

India says the situation in Gaza remains “a concern”. India's foreign ministry said “Such loss of civilian lives and the larger humanitarian situation in Gaza continues to be a cause for extreme concern.”

President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen has added her voice to those who have expressed concern over events in Gaza on Feb. 29. On social media she wrote: "Deeply disturbed by images from Gaza. Every effort must be made to investigate what happened and ensure transparency Humanitarian aid is a lifeline for those in need and access to it must be ensured. We stand by civilians, urging their protection in line with international law."

The Brazilian government said that the killing of over 100 people seeking humanitarian aid in Gaza shows that Israel’s military action in Gaza has no “ethical or legal limits,” once again calling for an immediate ceasefire in the conflict. Brazil’s foreign ministry said: "Humanity is failing the civilians of Gaza. And it’s time to prevent further massacres."

9:45 am

France has called for an independent investigation into the deaths of Palestinians in Gaza who were gathered to receive humanitarian aid, Foreign minister Stéphane Séjourné said “We will ask for explanations, and there will have to be an independent probe to determine what happened. France calls things by their name. This applies when we designate Hamas as a terrorist group, but we must also call things by their name when there are atrocities in Gaza”. It follows earlier comments by president Emmanuel Macron, who said he felt “deep indignation at the images coming from Gaza where civilians have been targeted by Israeli soldiers.”

Lebanon’s foreign ministry has echoed the call for an investigation, condemning what it said was the “deliberate killing of dozens of defenseless Palestinian civilians and the wounding of hundreds”. The White House called the deaths of more than 100 Palestinians as they gathered around aid trucks “tremendously alarming”. There were starkly different accounts of how victims died in the chaos on  Feb 29. Israel’s military denied shooting into large crowds of hungry people and said most were killed in a crush or run over by trucks trying to escape.

At least 30,228 Palestinians have been killed and 71,377 have been injured in Israel’s military offensive in Gaza since October 7 the Hamas-controlled Gaza health ministry said in a statement. The ministry gave the total casualties in the past 24 hours as 193 Palestinians killed and 920 injured, which included those killed or hurt in the aid convoy incident.

In its latest operational briefing, Israel’s military says it continues to operate in Khan Younis, where it claims to have “located a weapon storage facility containing numerous AK-47 rifles and ammunition”. It also claims to have targeted “a pit in which rocket launchers were concealed” and to have killed several fighters. The claims have not been independently verified.

A demonstration took place outside the US embassy in Tel Aviv calling for the Biden administration to do more to help free the 134 hostages still believed held in Gaza by Hamas. A separate march calling for the release of the hostages has entered its third day. The march, featuring family and friends of those being held, is heading for Jerusalem.

Israeli security forces erected barricades at Lion’s Gate in Jerusalem to prevent worshippers from reaching the al-Aqsa mosque for Friday prayer today. Several arrests appear to have been made according to videos circulating on social media. This has been a regular occurrence since October 7. However, media reports show that 20,000 worshippers were able to access the mosque.

More than 200 MPs from 12 countries have committed themselves to trying to persuade their governments to impose a ban on arms sales to Israel, arguing they will not be complicit in “Israel’s grave violation of international law” in its assault on Gaza.

In the UK, veteran political agitator George Galloway has been elected to parliament after running a byelection campaign in Rochdale chiefly about Gaza. He said established political parties in the UK “will pay a high price for the role that you have played in enabling, encouraging and covering for the catastrophe presently going on in occupied Gaza.”

March 1, 2024