Israeli forces bombed Gaza on the first day of Ramadan, killing two fishermen. Israel’s fortified highway has reached the Mediterranean coast, effectively splitting Gaza in two. Meanwhile, hundreds of settlers stormed the al-Aqsa Mosque compound.
Casualties
- 31,184+ killed* and at least 72,889 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.
- 589 Israeli soldiers killed since October 7, and at least 3,221 injured.***
*Gaza’s Ministry of Health confirmed this figure on its 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.”
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Key Developments
- UN chief says, “my appeal is to honour the spirit of the holy month by silencing the guns & removing all obstacles to the delivery of lifesaving aid.”
- Only 500 Palestinians perform Tarawih prayers at al-Awda Mosque in Rafah, few hundred others pray near destroyed a-Huda Mosque in al-Shabboura.
- UNRWA chief says Israeli forces turned back truck loaded with aid to northern Gaza “because it had scissors used in children’s medical kits.”
- Gaza’s Ministry of Health says very few aid trucks arrived in northern Gaza by land, and that “[Israeli] bombing of hungry people’s gatherings has become a daily routine.”
- World Central Kitchen sends ship from Cyprus bound to Gaza with “almost 200 tons of food — rice, flour, legumes, canned veggies and proteins.”
- Israeli navy boats fire at Palestinian fishermen near Nuseirat, killing brothers Muhammad and Youssef Adel Abu Riyala.
- Rescue teams recover bodies of 11 martyrs following Israeli airstrike on residential building in al-Qarara, north of Khan Younis.
- Palestinian Authority says Israel turned West Bank into “military barracks,” installing 750 military checkpoints and deploying thousands of soldiers.
- Lebanon’s Hezbollah fires over 100 missiles toward Israeli military sites in Upper Galilee and occupied Golan Heights on Tuesday morning, following Israeli bombing of Lebanese city of Baalbek.
- The Islamic Resistance in Iraq claims it launched drone attack on Ben Gurion Airport, near Tel Aviv, on Monday.
In Gaza, ‘the eyes of history are watching’
UN General Secretary Antonio Guterres called for the cessation of the bloodshed in the Gaza Strip on Monday, as Israel’s assault marks its 158th day since it started on October 7.
“My appeal is to honour the spirit of the holy month by silencing the guns & removing all obstacles to the delivery of lifesaving aid,” Guterres said on X. “The eyes of the world are watching. The eyes of history are watching. We cannot look away. We must act to avoid more preventable deaths.”
Guterres appealed for an immediate ceasefire and the release of Israeli captives.
For Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, the sounds of Israeli bombs and artillery fire drowned out the UN chief’s statement.
In the past 24 hours, Israeli forces committed eight massacres in various areas of the Gaza Strip, according to the Gaza Ministry of Health on Telegram, killing at least 72 people and injuring 129. Since March, 27 children died of malnutrition and dehydration in Gaza’s hospitals.
ISRAEL Genocide War in Gaza Continues
Israel attacked an underground space in central Gaza used by Marwan Issa, the deputy commander of Hamas’s military wing, an Israeli military spokesperson said yesterday, adding that investigators were still analyzing the outcome of the strike. A spokesperson for the Israeli military emphasized that Israel had not finished verifying the results of the attack by Israeli warplanes, which occurred overnight between Saturday and Sunday, and said the strike hit a location previously used by Issa and another senior Hamas military official responsible for the group’s weapons. Hamas has not commented at the time of writing, although if Issa were killed in the strike, he would be the highest-ranking Hamas commander to have been killed since the war erupted. Adam Rasgon reports for the New York Times.
An Israeli offensive into Rafah is not imminent, multiple Israeli officials said yesterday. The officials added that the Israeli military has yet to build up the forces needed to proceed with a Rafah offensive, and plans are yet to be finalized for a civilian evacuation of the city. Jeremy Diamond and Richard Allen Greene report for CNN.
Palestinian medical staff in Gaza have told the BBC they were blindfolded, detained, forced to strip and repeatedly beaten by Israeli troops after a raid at Nasser hospital last month. One doctor recalled having muzzled dogs set upon him and having his hand broken by an Israeli soldier, and another two medics said they were doused with cold water and forced to kneel in uncomfortable positions for hours. In response to the allegations, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) denied that medical staff were harmed during their operation, although the IDF did not deny specific claims of mistreatment.
Famine is imminent in northern Gaza if the size of aid entering the enclave does not increase “exponentially,” Executive Director of the United Nations World Food Programme Cindy McCain said yesterday. Meanwhile, a World Health Organization team and its partners has reached Al-Shifa Hospital in northern Gaza, WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said yesterday in a post on X. The team delivered food, 24,050 liters of fuel, and medical supplies for 42,000 patients, which included anesthetic drugs, surgical materials and medicine, Ghebreyesus said.
U.S. RESPONSE
President Biden said he has no immediate plans to speak with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, as tensions rose over Israel’s plans for a Rafah invasion and the humanitarian situation in Gaza. “We’ll see what happens,” the president said yesterday, when asked by reporters whether he plans to schedule a meeting. Meanwhile, CIA Director William Burns told lawmakers yesterday, “The reality is that there are children who are starving … they’re malnourished, as a result of the fact that humanitarian assistance can’t get to them. It’s very difficult to distribute humanitarian assistance effectively, unless you have a ceasefire.” Rachel Pannett reports for the Washington Post.
The U.S. ambassador to the U.N. yesterday urged U.N. Security Council members to avoid “drawing false equivalency” between allegations of sexual assaults by Hamas on Oct. 7 and claims of sexual violence against Palestinians detained by Israel. “Let me be clear, these two things are not the same,” Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield said. All parties to “this conflict must uphold their obligations under international law” regarding the treatment of detainees, the ambassador added.
A new American intelligence assessment released yesterday raised doubts over whether Netanyahu could stay in power, claiming that “distrust of Netanyahu’s ability to rule has deepened and broadened across the public from its already high levels before the war, and we expect large protests demanding his resignation and new elections.” The report predicted that Israel would struggle to achieve its goal of “destroying Hamas,” adding that “Israel probably will face lingering armed resistance from Hamas for years to come, and the military will struggle to neutralize Hamas’s underground infrastructure, which allows insurgents to hide, regain strength and surprise Israeli forces.” Julian E. Barnes reports for the New York Times.
The U.S. military conducted another airdrop into northern Gaza yesterday afternoon, U.S. Central Command announced. CENTCOM added that the Department of Defense humanitarian drops “are part of a sustained effort, and we continue to plan follow-on aerial deliveries.”
INTERNATIONAL RESPONSE
The U.N. Security Council held an emergency session yesterday — initiated jointly by the United States, Britain, and France — to discuss accusations of sexual violence against Israeli women during the Hamas Oct. 7 attacks and against hostages held in captive in Gaza. Special envoy on sexual violence and conflict, Pramila Patten, led the report and called for a full-fledged human rights investigation by U.N. bodies into what she described as “unspeakable violence perpetrated with shocking brutality.” Israel’s foreign minister also spoke at the session, asking for Hamas to be declared a terrorist organization and called on the Council to press for the immediate release of hostages in Gaza. Farnaz Fassihi reports for the New York Times.
A senior British lawyer has been appointed to oversee the International Criminal Court’s (ICC) investigation into alleged war crimes in the Palestinian territories, according to the Guardian. Andrew Cayley is expected to take responsibility for the running of the case and will work alongside American lawyer, Brenda Hollis. Cayley previously worked as the U.K.’s chief military prosecutor, and in that time, played a key part in a process that resulted in the former ICC prosecutor deciding in 2020 to abandon an investigation into allegations that U.K. military personnel committed war crimes in Iraq.
An aid ship has departed Cyprus for the Gaza Strip carrying nearly 200 tons of food, the World Central Kitchen said this morning. The maritime assistance pilot program had initially been set to begin last Friday, according to European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen. Kendra Nichols and Cate Brown reports for the Washington Post.
Australian Foreign Minister Penny Wong said today that Netanyahu was undermining Israel with his approach to the war in Gaza and urged the country to change course or lose further international support. “October 7th was a terrorist attack and the world was rightly very sympathetic to and in solidarity with Israel at that time,” Wang said, adding “I think the world is horrified with the current situation … and I would say that unless Israel changes its course it will continue to lose support.” Lewis Jackson reports for Reuters.
MILITARY CONFLICT WITH THE HOUTHIS
Yemen’s Houthis fired two anti-ship ballistic missiles at a Liberian-flagged container ship in the Red Sea but did not hit the vessel or cause injuries, U.S. Central Command said yesterday. Afterwards, the United States conducted “six self-defense strikes destroying an unmanned underwater vessel and 18 anti-ship missiles” at weapons presenting “an imminent threat to merchant vessels and U.S. Navy ships in the region,” it added.
Britain will deploy its HMS Diamond warship to the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden to take over from HMS Richmond in defending shipping in the region, the government said today.
Important video
British journalist and author Owen Jones recently made a video describing in excruciating detail Israel’s ongoing genocide against the Palestinian people in Gaza and the West Bank. Many others have also reported on this. Medical Aid CEO Melanie Ward says that “children are being starved at the fastest rate the world has ever seen.”
Jones concludes that Israel’s ruthless actions – publicly supported by Western governments at a time when the world is seeing them in real time – could prove the downfall of the West.
He points out that “Western governments have openly facilitated some of the worst crimes of our age” and concludes: “I don’t think the West is ever going to recover from this.”
Israel’s Disinformation Apparatus: A Key Weapon in its Arsenal
Disinformation is being produced at industrial scale by official Israeli sources to justify its ongoing genocide in Gaza. Journalists and open-source intelligence analysts have only added fuel to this fire of Palestinian dehumanization by propping up the false news without necessary scrutiny.In his latest policy brief, Tariq Kenney-Shawa delves into Israel’s information warfare tactics, exploring how these efforts have contributed to the decay of truth and how they hamper efforts to organize a global response. He offers recommendations for reporters, analysts, and the wider public to leverage open-source tools to refute dominant Israeli propaganda and disinformation.Read the full English text hereRead the full Arabic Text here
Threats to Impose Sanctions on Israel This Time Are a Real Issue.
The harsh criticism against Israel is not limited to demonstrations organized by students and other lobby groups, such as academics in the West or port workers in India; they have reached courts in several countries, and of course, to international courts. These legal proceedings could have a significant impact on Israel’s standing and on the ability of Israeli judicial institutions, not just the government, to operate in the international arena; on Israel’s economic growth; and ultimately on its safety as well.
An investigation into South Africa’s accusations against Israel will take years, and most Israeli jurists believe it will not be possible to prove a “special intent” to destroy a group – a condition that the agreement requires to prove genocide has been committed. However, even before the case itself, the court debated South Africa’s request for interim injunctions against Israel, the issuance of which, according to the court’s ruling, is not based on proof of a “special intention” to destroy a group (in whole or in part), but only on the basis of the possibility of violating rights protected by the Convention if the orders were not issued.
The said legal measures have, and will continue to, have a real impact on Israel’s foreign relations, and on the various countries’ dealings with Israelis in general, and with Israeli institutions and bodies in particular. Perhaps Israelis who have for years sarred the cy and unconvincing attitudes that these territories are not occupied and that there is no legal impediment to the establishment of Israeli settlements there, will begin to understand that the courts of other countries of the world, let alone international tribunals, are not in line with the tendencies of their hearts. In this sense, Israel would pay a heavy political price, not only because of its actions in the current war on Gaza, but also for its years of disregard for the binding international law of the occupying power.