Casualties
- 30,717+ killed* and at least 72,156 wounded in the Gaza Strip.
- 423+ Palestinians killed in the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem.**
- Israel revises its estimated October 7 death toll down from 1,400 to 1,147.
- 586 Israeli soldiers killed since October 7, and at least 3,221 injured.***
*Gaza’s Ministry of Health confirmed this figure on Telegram channel. Some rights groups put the death toll number closer to 35,000 when accounting for those presumed dead.
** The death toll in West Bank and Jerusalem is not updated regularly. According to PA’s Ministry of Health on March 6, this is the latest figure.
*** This figure is released by the Israeli military, showing the soldiers whose names “were allowed to be published.”
Key Developments
- Israeli forces block entry of 14 trucks carrying aid and food to north Gaza, prompting World Food Program to airdrop aid with help of Jordanian Air Force.
- British MP reveals that Israel denied entry of 1,350 water filters to Gaza, considered “a threat.”
- A 15-year-old Palestinian girl dies of malnutrition in Al-Shifa Hospital on Wednesday, bringing total umber of children to have died from thirst and hunger in north Gaza to 18.
- UNRWA distributes flour to over 370 thousand families in southern Gaza, including Khan Younis and Rafah.
- UNRWA says there are 17,000 orphaned children in Gaza, with one in six children under two extremely malnourished.
- Canada will resume funding to UNRWA and pledge $25m due in April.
- Dr. Richard Peeperkorn of WHO says, “6,000 people [in Gaza] needed to be referred for war-related injuries and ailments, including trauma injuries, burns and amputations.”
- Hamas source says American and Egyptian officials overstated optimism about possible deal to “embarrass the resistance,” exert pressure on Hamas, or blame it for collapse of talks.
- Joe Biden says, “If we get into circumstances where this continues to Ramadan, Israel and Jerusalem could be very, very dangerous.”
Israeli forces block WFP aid convey to north Gaza
Israeli authorities turned back 14 trucks carrying humanitarian aid to northern Gaza on Tuesday.
This prompted the World Food Program (WFP) to resort to airdropping the aid with the help of the Jordanian Air Force, delivering aid to 20,000 people in northern Gaza.
“WFP is determined to do whatever it takes to reach people in need. But to avert famine, we must have access by road,” the organization wrote on X.
Aid convoys driving on Salah al-Din Street to northern Gaza have had to stop at an Israeli military checkpoint in Wadi Gaza, which splits the enclave into northern and southern territories. WFP said its trucks waited three hours at the checkpoint before Israeli forces turned them back.
WFP had faced this issue in previous weeks, forcing the international agency to halt its operations to send life-saving aid to north Gaza until safe distribution condition are granted.
Officials of humanitarian agencies accused Israel of “engineering famine” in Gaza by blocking aid, essential equipment, and supplies for hospitals.
Israel blocks entry of water filters, considers them ‘threat‘
On Tuesday, a British MP revealed that Israel had denied the entry of 1,350 water filters into the Gaza Strip as they were considered a “threat.”
“What threat does a water filter, supplied by the UK government, have?” Rosena Allin-Khan wrote on X.
So far, 18 Palestinian children have died of thirst and hunger in north Gaza, according to the Ministry of Health. A 15-year-old girl died of malnutrition in Al-Shifa Hospital on Wednesday morning.
“The famine in northern Gaza has reached lethal levels, especially for children, pregnant women, and the chronically ill,” Dr. Ashraf Al-Qidra, the ministry spokesperson, said.
“The famine is deepening and will claim thousands of lives if [the Israeli] aggression is not stopped and humanitarian and medical aid is not immediately resumed,” he added.
Israeli forces have been hindering aid from reaching north Gaza through land, and last week, it committed a massacre on Rashid Street, killing 100 Palestinians in what is known as the “flour massacre.”
In the past 24 hours, Israeli forces committed nine “massacres” in various areas of the Gaza Strip, according to the Gaza Ministry of Health on Telegram, killing at least 86 people and injuring 113.
Canada resumes funding to UNRWA
The UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) said on Tuesday it distributed flour to over 370,000 families in southern Gaza, a territory that includes Khan Younis and Rafah.
“But the meagre supplies allowed into the besieged Gaza Strip have little effect in the face of overwhelming needs of an entire population,” it added.
UNRWA said that there are now 17,000 orphaned children in Gaza, with one in six children suffering from extreme malnourishment.
“Children dying from bombs, even more now dying from consequences of siege. These horrific deaths [are] entirely preventable,” it added.
On Tuesday, Canada appeared to respond to the UNRWA chief’s appeal for countries to resume funding to the agency.
UNRWA’s clinics have provided 2.4 million health consultations since October, despite several of the agency’s schools and offices being bombed and destroyed by Israeli forces.
Canada will go ahead with pledging $25m due in April, CBC News reported.
Canada was among the 16 countries, spearheaded by the U.S., to suspend funding to UNRWA in the wake of Israel’s allegations that it employed over 450 “military operatives” from Hamas and other resistance groups, alleging that a dozen of them took part in the October 7 attack on Israel — a claim Israel is yet to back up with concrete evidence.
CBC News reported that Canadian officials received an interim report from the UN about the issue, and “based on that information, the Canadian government is comfortable resuming funding.”
CBC News reported last month that “Canada had not seen evidence backing up [Israeli] allegations against [UNRWA’s] employees before making the decision” to suspend funding.
A total sum of $450 million in funding to UNRWA has been suspended so far. However, Canada’s relatively small funding remains crucial to delivering aid and food in the Gaza Strip.
Israel has long sought to end UNRWA, as the international agency still embodies the right of return for millions of Palestinian refugees to their homelands — an idea that threatens the demographic makeup of Israel’s Jewish majority.
“We’re necessary,” Martin Griffiths, UN under-secretary general for humanitarian affairs, told CBC News.
“We’re doing what I think is almost the most difficult humanitarian operation,” he added.
Israel’s aggression on Gaza has killed over 30,000 Palestinians and injured 70,000 others since October, 8,000 of them in need of urgent medical treatment outside the Gaza Strip.
Dr. Richard Peeperkorn, the World Health Organization (WHO) representative for Gaza and the West Bank, said “6,000 people needed to be referred for war-related injuries and ailments, including trauma injuries, burns and amputations.”
The rest of the 2,000 were “patients requiring care for cancer and other serious chronic illnesses.”
The Israeli army has decimated the health sector in the Gaza Strip, putting several medical institutions out of service. Currently, two vital hospitals, Kamal Adwan and al-Amal, remain under Israeli siege in Khan Younis, and have been since late January.
Breakthrough in ceasefire talks in Cairo appears thin
Today marked the fourth day of mediated ceasefire talks in Cairo in a bid to reach a deal between Israel and Hamas before the start of the holy month of Ramadan, due to start next weekend. However, the prospect of a breakthrough remains thin.
A source close to Hamas told Lebanon’s Al-Akhbar that American and Egyptian officials had overstated their optimism in media statements that a possible deal was imminent.
The unnamed source added that this was a tactic to “embarrass the resistance,” exert pressure on Hamas to compromise and agree to the Israeli terms, or — in the case that the talks collapse — blame Hamas for its failure.
“The resistance has provided all possible facilities and flexibility, but the enemy is keen to obstruct any progress,” the source said.
“There is no room for progress in negotiations and deals that do not ultimately lead to a complete cessation of war and a complete withdrawal of the enemy army from the Gaza Strip,” the source added.
The upcoming 24 hours could make or break the ceasefire negotiations, Al-Akhbar reported. Israeli officials are not hopeful either, painting Hamas’s leader Yahya Sinwar as the one who does not want a deal, according to Ynet.
U.S. President Joe Biden’s hopeful statement about reaching a ceasefire seems to have dissolved as well.
“There’s got to be a ceasefire because Ramadan [sic],” Biden said on Tuesday.
“If we get into circumstances where this continues to Ramadan, Israel and Jerusalem could be very, very dangerous,” he added.
The U.S. has drafted a UN Security Council ceasefire resolution, calling for “an immediate ceasefire of roughly six weeks in Gaza together with the release of all hostages.” It is yet to be put to a vote.
Hamas and Islamic Jihad release videos attacking Israeli forces in Gaza
Over the weekend, Abu Hamza, the Islamic Jihad’s spokesperson, said that Ramadan was “the month of jihad” and called Arab and Muslim countries to use their armies to support Palestinians in Gaza.
Hamas said in a statement on Wednesday that Israel is rejecting a permanent ceasefire and preventing the return of thousands of displaced Palestinians to north Gaza while blocking aid from reaching those areas.
“We will continue to negotiate through our mediating brothers to reach an agreement that fulfills the demands and interests of our people,” it added.
Over the weekend, Hamas’s armed wing, the Izz al-Din al-Qassam Brigades, released a video of two Israeli drones it shot down in the al-Zaytoun neighborhood in Gaza City. In another video, it fired mortar shells and 105mm al-Yaseen shells on Israeli tanks and armed personnel carriers in al-Zaytoun.
The al-Quds Brigades also released video of Islamic Jihad resistance fighters firing a guided missile on Israeli forces stationed in Jabalia, north of Gaza.
Israeli forces arrest 23 Palestinians in West Bank
Nour al-Din Ibrahim Yassin, 18, succumbed to his wounds on Tuesday evening. Israeli forces fatally shot Yassin in the head during a raid of Jenin last Thursday in the northern West Bank.
Yassin is from the village of Deir Abu Daif, and was in Jenin’s Jabriyat neighborhood when he was shot. He was later transferred to Jenin Governmental Hospital, and then to Ibn Sina Hospital to undergo several surgeries to save his life.
Yassin has become the 423rd Palestinian to be killed by Israeli soldiers or settlers in the occupied West Bank and Jerusalem since October, according to the Palestinian Authority’s (PA) Ministry of Health.
Overnight, Israeli forces raided the village of al-Asakra, east of Bethlehem, and raided and searched several houses while confiscating several Palestinian vehicles, Wafa reported.
Israeli forces also arrested 23 Palestinians from the West Bank’s cities of Hebron, Tulkarem, Hebron, Qalqilya, Bethlehem, and Ramallah. Wafa published a list of the detainees’ names
In occupied Jerusalem, the head of the U.S. Office of Palestinian Affairs (COPA), George Noll, visited the site of the razed home of Fakhri Abu Diab.
In mid-February, Israeli authorities demolished Abu Diab’s house in Silwan, a neighborhood that lies south of the al-Aqsa Compound and the Old City.
Abu Diab is a well-known figure in Silwan and among solidarity activists. For years, he raised awareness and warned of Israeli settler plans, digging under Palestinian houses in Silwan, as part of the City of David tourist project.
Israel has demolished 87 Palestinian homes in Jerusalem since October.
“We again condemn Israel’s demolition of this home which has spread fear in an entire community,” the U.S. Office of Palestinian Affairs wrote on X.
‘Hamas Hunting Club’ set up ‘by US soldiers serving in Israeli military’ posts images of blindfolded Palestinian captives and a bomb with ‘Send nudes’ written on it in images being reviewed by IDF
‘Hamas Hunting Club’ has published many images since its creation in November
It shows detained Palestinians and military ops while flogging merchandise
By David Averre
6 March 2024
“A group of American soldiers fighting in Israel Defence Forces (IDF) units in Gaza are under review after creating a social media profile dedicated to sharing images of blindfolded Palestinian captees and calling for people to ‘join the hunt’ for Hamas.
The ‘Hamas Hunting Club’ has published a slew of images since its creation in November showcasing dozens of blindfolded Palestinian detainees sitting on the floor with their arms bound together.
Other images bearing a location tag of Gaza City appear to show club members posing for the camera and brandishing assault rifles as dishevelled and handcuffed Palestinians stand by unable to see through the rags covering their faces.
Another photo displayed a smirking man holding an artillery shell destined for Gaza which had been emblazoned with the words ‘send nudes’.
In almost every image, soldiers are seen either wearing or holding the club’s distinct patch – an image of a Hamas fighter’s skull being crushed under an IDF boot.”
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-13163385/Hamas-Hunting-Club-set-soldiers-serving-Israeli-military-posts-images-blindfolded-Palestinian-captives-bomb-Send-nudes-written-images-reviewed-IDF.html
Day 152: time to see if Israel is complying with the ICJ ruling. The ICJ has no enforcement mechanism but let’s see what two human rights organizations say:
Human Rights Watch:
The Israeli government has failed to comply with at least one measure in the legally binding order from the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in South Africa’s genocide case, Human Rights Watch said today. Citing warnings about “catastrophic conditions” in Gaza, the court ordered Israel on January 26, 2024, to “take immediate and effective measures to enable the provision of urgently needed basic services and humanitarian aid,” and to report back on its compliance to the specific measures “within one month.”…One month later, however, Israel continues to obstruct the provision of basic services and the entry and distribution within Gaza of fuel and lifesaving aid, acts of collective punishment that amount to war crimes and include the use of starvation of civilians as a weapon of war. Fewer trucks have entered Gaza and fewer aid missions have been permitted to reach northern Gaza in the several weeks since the ruling than in the weeks preceding it, according to United Nations Office of the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA).
https://www.hrw.org/news/2024/02/26/israel-not-complying-world-court-order-genocide-case
Amnesty International:
Israel defying ICJ ruling to prevent genocide by failing to allow adequate humanitarian aid to reach Gaza…One month after the International Court of Justice (ICJ) ordered “immediate and effective measures” to protect Palestinians in the occupied Gaza Strip from the risk of genocide by ensuring sufficient humanitarian assistance and enabling basic services, Israel has failed to take even the bare minimum steps to comply, Amnesty International said today.
The order to provide aid was one of six provisional measures ordered by the Court on 26 January and Israel was given one month to report back on its compliance with the measures. Over that period Israel has continued to disregard its obligation as the occupying power to ensure the basic needs of Palestinians in Gaza are met.
https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2024/02/israel-defying-icj-ruling-to-prevent-genocide-by-failing-to-allow-adequate-humanitarian-aid-to-reach-gaza/
The US, and the other wester nations, might pretend otherwise, but this evil nation has NO intentions of ending this conflict, and will make every excuse in the book to not do so, because they have openly stated they do NOT want the Palestinians to have their OWN state. This has been made clear several times by their corrupt PM and other officials. They have said it, and their brutality against the Palestinian people, SHOW it. I am sure many here have seen the shocking statements by terrorists like Ben-Gvir, and Smotrich, who are quite open about their intentions.
“Smotrich is a settler in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, living in the settlement of Kedumim, which is deemed illegal under international law. His residence was also built illegally outside the settlement proper.[3]
Smotrich’s extremist politics and often racist and homophobic statements have led to several controversies.[4] He is a supporter of expanding Israeli settlements in the West Bank, opposes Palestinian statehood, and denies the existence of the Palestinian people”.
Then you have the notorious Daniella Weiss, who has been seen in videos stating very clearly that they want to re-settle Gaza.
This is her background, she is yet another rabid zionist who wants the Palestinians to perish.
“Daniella Weiss was born in Bnei Brak, Palestine, in 1945. Her father was from the United States and her mother was born in Poland and raised in Palestine since her first year of life.[2]Both Jewish immigrants, they were members of Lehi, an ultranationalist Jewish terrorist group, and took part in underground activities. She attended a religious high school in Ramat Gan, and studied as part of the Atuda program. She studied English literature and political science at Bar-Ilan University.[3]
Since the 1970s, Weiss has been a notable figure in the Gush Emunim settlement movement, active in the establishment of many new communities in the Shomron.[4]
Weiss became the secretary-general of Gush Emunim. In May 1987, after a Jewish woman died in a firebomb attack, Weiss led a vigilante group on a shooting and rock-throwing rampage through the town of Qalqiliya.[5] She was sentenced to a fine and a suspended sentence.”
How can ANY western leader pretend they don’t see the bigger picture, and be honest enough to admit that there is NO doubt what the intentions of the occupier are, while they keep funding these violations of international laws, and keep building illegal settlements, and killing civilians.
I wish that MSM in the U.S. reported on things like Israel blocking water filters.
Regarding the peace talks in Cairo prior to Ramadan, did Israel actually send a representative to the talks?
Let’s all hope and pray – and act!- for a deal that will release our kidnapped hostages.
Children and women and men, Jews and Arabs and foreigners, civilians and soldiers, sick and wounded…our sisters and brothers….starved and abused and neglected. Who knows how many are still alive? Time is running out!!