#Israel has said it has informed the families of 31 people held in the territory since 7 October that their relatives are dead. The news came as the Qatari prime minister said #Hamas had given a “generally positive” response to proposals for a deal trading a break in the fighting and release of #Palestinian prisoners for the return of more #hostages.
Nazzal told #AlJazeera that #Hamas fear that the Israelis are “not seriously committed to this deal”. He said the inclusion of the permanent ceasefire in the second stage of the agreement has been put there to test whether they are. #Israel#Gaza#GazaCeasefire
Israeli prime minister Benjamin #Netanyahu says he has ordered the military to prepare a plan to evacuate the population of #Rafah ahead of an expected Israeli invasion of the southern #Gaza town, reports the Associated Press (AP).
Netanyahu made the announcement Friday after international criticism of #Israel’s plan to invade the crowded town on #Egypt’s border.
#Moody's downgraded #Israel's #CreditRating on Friday, citing material political and fiscal risks for the country from its war with the Palestinian militant group #Hamas.
The #CampDavidAccords have been one of the foundations of peace between #Israel and #Egypt since they were struck in the wake of the 1973 #ArabIsraeliWar. Revoking them would spread further uncertainty in the volatile region
Former UK foreign secretary #WilliamHague says the decision to go into #Rafah where more than 1m #Palestinians are crammed “represents the most crucial strategic moment since the war,” and the moment #Israel has to choose between those that want to rely wholly on #deterrence and those that believe a #TwoStateSolution is the only route to peace."
A #Hamas source has told news agency Agence France-Presse that a delegation is heading to #Cairo to meet Egyptian and Qatari mediators, after Israeli negotiators held talks with the mediators on Tuesday. #Egypt
#Netherlands argues that #Israel cannot be singled out for an #embargo, because the Dutch government exports parts to all countries in the #F35 programme under a single licence, labelled AV009.
Named “#Philadelphi” after a randomly chosen Israeli military code name for what is also called the “#SaladinAxis”, the strategic corridor is a 14 kilometre-long and 100 metre-wide buffer zone. It was set up in accordance with the terms of the 1978 #CampDavidAccords between #Egypt and #Israel.
The longer transits around the #CapeOfGoodHope are delaying the arrival of the empty vessels going back to #Asia to pick up more #US imports. The delays are impacting the consistency of trade which can impact the supply chain. #MaerskHangzhou
The strikes were the heaviest since cross-border exchanges began between militant groups in #Lebanon and the #IsraelDefenseForces (IDF) on 8 October, the day after #Hamas’s incursion in southern Israeli in which about 1,200 people were killed.
#Israel has asked the #ICJ to dismiss a request by #SouthAfrica to issue additional emergency measures because of Israel’s plan to extend its offensive in #Gaza into the city of #Rafah. Israel argued that the emergency measures issued three weeks ago already cover “the situation of hostilities in Gaza as a whole”. #TheHague
#Egypt is preparing an area at the #Gaza border which could accommodate #Palestinians in case an Israeli offensive into #Rafah prompts an exodus across the frontier, four sources told news agency Reuters, in what they described as a contingency move by Cairo. #Israel#Gaza
With 1.5 million people now in #Rafah, these visuals show how destruction has travelled from north to south, leaving Gazan civilians with nowhere to turn. #Israel#Egypt
Sudan is on the verge of becoming a failed nation-state - just like #Yemen.
Attacks by #Houthi forces against ships in the #RedSea are holding up shipments of vital aid to #Sudan and driving up costs for cash-strapped humanitarian agencies in the east African country, where conflict has put millions at risk of famine. #Israel#Gaza
#Russia has invited #Hamas and other Palestinian factions including #Fatah to Moscow for talks on the #Israel-Hamas war and other issues in the #MiddleEast
The #ICJ's judges acknowledged that the recent developments "'would exponentially increase what is already a #HumanitarianNightmare with untold regional consequences'" but, although #Israel needed to act immediately to ensure the safety and security of #Palestinians, that did not require "the indication of additional provisional measures" #TheHague#Rafah
Rabbi #JonathanWittenberg created controversy last week with a moving plea about the pain of Israelis after 7 October and the plight of #Rafah’s Gazans. #Israel#UK
Gantz made similar comments on a timeline on Friday, according to the Times of Israel, but otherwise, the Israeli government has not previously specified a deadline for its planned assault on the city where most of the 1.7 million displaced #Palestinians have sought refuge. #Gaza#BennyGantz
#Ramadan, the Muslim holy month, is expected to begin on 10 March.
#Israel indicates timeline for planned #Rafah offensive
After the attacks, 200,000 people were evacuated from #Israel's border areas - both the southern border with #Gaza and the northern border with #Lebanon, where the #Iran-backed group #Hezbollah, in support of Hamas, has been exchanging fire with Israeli forces.
#UN agency #Unicef has warned the #Gaza Strip is poised to witness an increase in what an official said was “the already unbearable level of #ChildDeaths” due to a worsening #FoodCrisis. #Israel
SINGAPORE (Reuters) - The use of anti-ship ballistic missiles (#ASBMs) in the #RedSea has spurred interest in #Asia about the systems used to shoot them down, experts and industry officials say - although #China, with its huge ASBM arsenal, presents a tougher challenge. #Israel#Gaza#Houthi
Though slower than an airborne #SuicideDrone, a #UUV is harder to detect and more likely to hit a slow, vulnerable cargo ship below the waterline - with deadly effect.
The principals of the Inter-Agency Standing Committee (#IASC), the coordinating body of global humanitarian organisations, released a statement on Wednesday in which it said “civilians in #Gaza are in extreme peril while the world watches on”. It listed ten requirements “to avoid an even worse catastrophe”. #Israel
#UN attempt to deliver 10 convoys of food aid to northern #Gaza over seven days was suspended earlier this week after trucks were looted by crowds, a driver was beaten and gunfire reported amid chaotic scenes. #Israel
The intelligence report, released last week, declared it had “low confidence” in the basic claim that a handful of staff had participated in the attack.
It also cast doubt on accusations that the #UN agency was collaborating with #Hamas in a wider way.
The panel of experts said there was evidence of a least two cases of #rape, alongside other cases of #SexualHumiliation and threats of rape. #ReeAlsalem, the UN special rapporteur on violence against women and girls, said the true extent of #SexualViolence could be significantly higher.
According to the #Israel Hayom newspaper, the song references the victims of the 7 October #Hamas attacks, with lyrics including: "They were all good children, each one of them."
#Eurovision organiser The EBU said it was currently assessing the song. The contest's rules forbid #PoliticalMessages, in a gesture to neutrality.
"There is a tiny, reed-thin chance that something better might come out of this horror show of a war. To grasp it, the #Palestinians need to be free of #Hamas and #Israelis free of #Netanyahu. Every day those men remain in power is a curse on both peoples – who have surely been cursed long enough."
"The population is fast losing patience with a leadership that they see as fanatical and corrupt, and willing to sacrifice democracy and hostages" #Israel#gaza
Vietnamese buddhist monks used to set themselves aflame to protest the #VietnamWar. It's a fatal form of protest with great symbolic power.
"A video posted online showed a man in a uniform shouting '#FreePalestine' as he burned while identifying himself as an active air force member. The man was reportedly on fire for about a minute before law enforcement put it out." #US#Israel#Gaza
The #Houthis have been targeting vessels with connections to #Israel and Western countries, forcing dozens of shipping companies to take a 4,000-mile detour around the continent of #Africa at significantly higher costs and extra shipping days.
Unfortunately, resurging attacks coming from notorious piracy hotspots have shipping companies worried about the new route. #Gaza
#US President #JoeBiden said #Israel has agreed not to engage in military activities during #Ramadan in the #GazaStrip, where it is at war with #Hamas militants, and said the Jewish state risked losing support from the rest of the world as #Palestinians die in high numbers.
Biden also said Israel had committed to make it possible for Palestinians to evacuate from #Rafah in #Gaza's south before its campaign against Hamas. #GazaCeasefire
#US president appears upbeat as #Hamas reportedly mulls 40-day
halt in fighting with Palestinian #prisoners swapped for Israeli #hostages. Additionally, hospitals and bakeries in #Gaza would be repaired, 500 aid trucks would enter into the strip daily and thousands of tents and caravans would be delivered for shelter. #Israel
"The [#Houthi attacks] threaten a key maritime route essential for a significant share of global container traffic and over $1 trillion in annual merchandise,” Zera Zheng, #Maersk’s global head of business resilience consulting, said in a report by the World Economic Forum. #Israel#Gaza
The loss of civilian lives was the biggest in weeks. #Hamas said the incident could jeopardize talks in #Qatar aimed at securing a #ceasefire and the release of #IsraeliHostages it is holding. When asked if he thought it would complicate the talks, US President #JoeBiden said: “I know it will.” #Israel
The march is taking place amid complex and slow #hostage negotiations as the war churns on, so far claiming the lives of more than 30,000 people.The marchers are scheduled to arrive in #Jerusalem on Saturday. #Gaza
The #US said an extended #ceasefire was the most direct route to getting large-scale aid deliveries into #Gaza, and suggested that agreement was close.
At least 576,000 people in Gaza are “one step away from #famine” according to the #UN, and one in six #children under the age of two in northern Gaza are suffering from #AcuteMalnutrition and #wasting.
That's true, but it won't be Netanyahu for much longer. #BennyGantz#Israel
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”.
"On March 2, 2024 #CaioDuilio, in her role of flagship of #OperationAspides, the vessel shot down a #drone launched by #Houthi rebels in the #RedSea using her 76 mm main gun. The drone, with characteristics similar to those used in previous attacks, was located about six kilometres (3.7 mi) from the Italian ship, flying towards it." - Caio Duillo [Wikipedia]
The strong messages #Gantz received in private, which were accompanied by stronger public criticism from the #Biden administration in the last 48 hours, signal the #WhiteHouse has lost its patience with the Israeli government.
The #AidConvoy disaster in #Gaza last Thursday, during which more than 100 #Palestinians were killed, was a turning point for the Biden administration, #US officials tell Axios. #BennyGantz#Israel
#MANILA, #Philippines — Two #Filipinos have been killed while two were severely injured following a missile strike on a cargo vessel off #Yemen, the Department of Migrant Workers (DMW) confirmed on Thursday.
The U.S. military said a missile attack by #Houthi rebels against the commercial ship #TrueConfidence on Wednesday killed three of its crew members and forced survivors to abandon the vessel. #Israel#Gaza#GulfOfAden
The Indian Navy warship #INSKolkata successfully rescued 21 crew members, including one Indian national, from the Barbados-flagged bulk carrier #MVTrueConfidence after a maritime incident in the #GulfOfAden. The vessel was reportedly hit by a missile from #Yemen's #Houthi militants, resulting in three deaths and several people injured. #TrueConfidence#India#Israel#Gaza
Israeli war cabinet member #GadiEisenkot said #Hamas was under “very serious pressure” from mediators to make a “counter-offer”. “Then it will be possible to advance it and take a position,” he said.
US Central Command (#Centcom) said it carried out six strikes on Monday, claiming it destroyed an unmanned underwater vessel and 18 anti-ship missiles in #Houthi controlled areas.
Despite reprisals from the #US,# UK and other coalition partners, the Houthis have escalated their campaign of attacks on commercial vessels in one of the world’s busiest shipping lanes. #RedSea#Israel#Gaza
#Palestinians observe #Ramadan, the holiest month on the #IslamicValendar, in Rafah in the southern #GazaStrip on March 11, 2024. The month of fasting and prayer takes place this year amid a war between #Israel and #Hamas, with millions dislocated from their homes and food and other necessities in short supply. Ramadan runs through April 9.
A ship carrying aid is nearing #Gaza about 48 hours after it left #Cyprus, with further aid preparations being made aboard a second “much bigger” vessel. It came as the #EU foreign policy chief said starvation was being used as a weapon of war.
After the 240-mile voyage, the ship will dock at a jetty being built by the #WorldCentralKitchen (WCK), the organisation that will distribute the aid. #Israel#OpenArms
Straight to the Israeli public. And he's Jewish - they can't call him anti-Semitic can they?
In remarks from the #Senate floor, Schumer said he had a longstanding relationship with #Netanyahu but believed he “has lost his way by allowing his political survival to take precedence over the best interests of #Israel”. #Gaza
The foreign minister, #PennyWong, announced the decision to unfreeze $6m in emergency funding for #UNRWA on Friday, as part of a broader package of support.
Mustafa faces a huge task of management and diplomacy. Swathes of #Gaza are now rubble and most of its 2.3 million people have been displaced and need aid. In addition to overseeing billions in expected international aid, Mustafa will need both political buy-in from #Hamas and its supporters and cooperation from #Israel, which wants to eradicate Hamas.
This has got to stop. Innocent ship crewmen have already been maimed or killed by these attacks
Their #RedSea attacks have disrupted global shipping, forcing firms to take longer and more expensive journeys around southern #Africa, and stoked fears that the #Israel-#Hamas war could spread and destabilise the wider #MiddlEast. #RedSeaCrisis
#AFP video footage and photographs showed the Spanish aid vessel visible off #Gaza coast towing a barge which the Spanish charity (#WorldCentralKitchen) operating it says is carrying 200 tonnes of food for #Palestinians threatened with #famine after more than five months of war. #Israel
Why it matters: #Biden's backing of #Schumer's remarks is another sign of the growing divide between the president and #Netanyahu over the war in #Gaza, and will likely give backwind to other #Democrats to publicly criticize the Israeli government more forcefully. #Israel#Gaza#Netanyahu
The WCK is expected to deliver 37 million meals to Gaza where about 2 million Palestinians have been forcibly displaced by Israeli attacks across the narrow strip. #Israel
An Indian navy warship has intercepted the hijacked cargo ship #MVRuen and demanded the #SomaliPirates on board surrender, a navy spokesperson said on Saturday.
Until the Ruen was seized, there had been no successful hijacking of a merchant ship by Somali pirates since 2017. #India#Somalia#GulfOfAden
Sources close to #Hamas said its leaders now recognise that they need to show #Palestinians “a big victory” to avoid a popular backlash after the immense destruction and loss of lives in five months of war.
“They know now that they need to demonstrate that they are really on the side of the people,” said one source.
“It’s like we are stuck in 6 October, but with the pictures from 7 October in our mind,” Shita said. “We were naive, or maybe it was hubris … They took everything we thought about reality and shook it.” #Lebanon#Gaza
The nuances reflect the tightrope the #US is still trying to walk, seeking to claw back leadership on the issue at the #UN, while keeping pressure on #Hamas to agree a limited deal that would exchange 40 of the most vulnerable hostages for a six-week pause.
Representatives of the Yemeni #Houthi movement have engaged in discussions with Russian and Chinese diplomats to secure safe passage for their fleets through the #RedSea. The agreement entails that the #Houthis ensure their ships will not be targeted for attacks. #Israel#Gaza
#US Secretary of State #AntonyBlinken landed in #Israel Friday for talks with Prime Minister Benjamin #Netanyahu, ahead of a #UNSecurityCouncil vote on a US draft resolution noting the need for an "immediate" #ceasefire that would allow in more aid.
The #US abstained and the 14 other council members all voted in favour of the #SecurityCouncil#ceasefire resolution, put forward by the 10 elected council members who voiced their frustration with more than five months of deadlock between the major powers. Applause broke out in the chamber after the vote.
In the #Hebrew-language newspaper Ma’ariv, #BenCaspit described the approach of the Israeli prime minister as “delusional”, “madness” and “terrifying”, adding: “This man is putting us all at risk: our future, our children’s future, the strategic alliance that is the keystone of Israeli national security.” #Israel#Gaza
Announcing the move, Foreign Minister #MichealMartin said that while it was for the #WorldCourt to decide whether #genocide is being committed, he wanted to be clear that #Hamas' Oct. 7 attack and what is happening in #Gaza now "represents the blatant violation of international #HumanitarianLaw on a mass scale."
A panel of judges at the #UN’s top court, which is already considering a complaint from #SouthAfrica that #Israel is committing #genocide in the #Palestinian territory, issued the ruling after an emergency measure in January obliging Israel to admit emergency aid. Under international law, using starvation as a weapon of war is explicitly prohibited
#Lazzarini told Switzerland’s Keystone-ATS news agency on Tuesday that #UNRWA had secured funding until the end of May after previously warning the agency could be forced to halt operations in March. #Israel#Gaza
“If the families knew how small the gap is, which #Netanyahu is refusing to close in negotiations with #Hamas, they would explode,” said #AmosMalka, a former head of the #IsraelDefenseForces’ military intelligence directorate who was among the speakers at the rally in #TelAviv. “This is more evidence of his unsuitability to serve.”
The investigation determined that a colonel had authorized the series of deadly #DroneStrikes on the convoy based on one major’s observation — from grainy drone-camera footage — that someone in the convoy was armed. That observation turned out to be untrue. #WorldCentralKitchen#Gaza
“Let’s be very clear. This is tragic, but it is not an anomaly,” #ScottPaul, of the humanitarian group #Oxfam, “The killing of aid workers in #Gaza has been systemic.”
#Iran warned of harsh retaliation, raising the spectre of a wider war and prompting the Israeli armed forces to suspend leave for all combat units on Thursday, a day after they said they were mobilising more troops for air defence units. #Israel#Gaza#Syria
This year's #Eurovision istaking place in #Malmö, an international city with a young and diverse population (around a third of which was born outside #Sweden) and a strong #PalestinianCommunity- many of whom have been attending regular protests against the #Gaza invasion by #Israel.
Finally. Maybe the tragic and completely unnecessary deaths of 7 #WCK#AidWorkers will not have been in vain.
He promised to “streamline #SecurityChecks” that aid organisations have blamed for choking the flow of assistance to the territory’s more than 2 million people through six months of war. #Israel
"Another refugee crisis from #Gaza into #Egypt, I can assure you... would make the resolution of the #Palestinian refugee question as a consequence of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict impossible," Grandi told Reuters at #UNHCR headquarters in #Geneva. #Israel
Israeli newspaper #YediothAhronoth reported Thursday that #Indonesia had agreed to normalise its ties with #Israel. The media outlet said #Jakarta needed Israel to approve its request to join the #OECD.
The #TimesOfIsrael, confirmed the report, citing an Israeli official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity about Indonesia’s possible normalisation of ties with Israel. #Gaza#TootSEA
#Israel has won battle after battle against #Hamas, but its central aims in #Gaza remain unfinished. WSJ’s #ShayndiRaice explains how Israel is on a path to lose the war.
Few members of the organisation’s top echelons have been harmed so far and much of its extensive #TunnelNetwork remains intact. However, the organisation’s ability to effectively #govern is much reduced, its #MilitaryStores are depleted, and thousands of #fighters are dead.
A hastily assembled coalition including the #US and #UK has helped #Israel shoot down Iranian drones over #Jordan, #Iraq and #Syria in an effort to blunt the attack and prevent an uncontrollable escalation.
Jordanian jets had also downed dozens of Iranian drones flying across northern and central Jordan heading towards Israel.
#JoeBiden rushed back to Washington on Saturday afternoon from a weekend trip to Delaware as it became clear from Iranian leadership signals that some sort of an attack by Iran was imminent.
Most of the #missiles launched by #Iran were intercepted outside #Israel’s borders, while a limited number fell inside the country’s territory, IDF spokesperson, Avichay Adraee has said.
“I am deeply alarmed about the very real danger of a devastating region-wide escalation. I urge all parties to exercise maximum restraint to avoid any action that could lead to major military confrontations on multiple fronts in the #MiddleEast,” Guterres said in a statement.
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