Jerusalem: Israeli strikes have killed at least 71 people in southern and central Gaza during roughly the past 24 hours, the territory’s health officials said Thursday.
And tensions are rising in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, where three gunmen opened fire Thursday morning on a road near a checkpoint, killing one Israeli and wounding at least five, police said. Two of the attackers were killed. A third was found later and detained.
European diplomats are stepping up calls for a ceasefire, as alarm grows over the worsening humanitarian crisis in the Gaza Strip.
In a small sign of progress amid ongoing international efforts to broker a cease-fire agreement between Israel and Hamas, Yoav Gallant, Israel’s defence minister, said Thursday that Israel “will expand the authority” of its hostage negotiators.
Israel’s war in Gaza has driven some 80 per cent of the territory’s 2.3 million people from their homes. Most heeded Israeli orders to flee south and around 1.5 million are packed into Rafah near the border with Egypt.
Gaza’s Health Ministry estimates more than 29,000 Palestinians have been killed.
The war began when Hamas-led militants stormed into southern Israel on October 7, killing some 1,200 people and taking around 250 hostage. About a fourth of some 130 captives still being held are believed to be dead. Israel has laid waste to much of the Palestinian territory in response.
Currently:
— Suspected Houthi rebel missile sets cargo ship ablaze. Israel intercepts separate attack near Eilat
— British couple waits for the return of a relative held by Hamas
— Iran accuses Israel of a sabotage attack after explosions strike a natural gas pipeline
— United Airlines says it will restart flights to Israel in March
— Why isn’t desperately needed aid reaching Palestinians in Gaza?
Here’s the latest:
INDEPENDENT REVIEW OF UNRWA WILL FOCUS ON WHETHER U.N. AID AGENCY DID ENOUGH TO STAY NEUTRAL
UNITED NATIONS — The head of an independent review of the embattled UN agency for Palestinian refugees says its focus will be on whether it is operating with the required neutrality of all United Nations organisations.
Former French foreign minister Catherine Colonna told reporters after meeting UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres Thursday that his message to her when he asked her to undertake “this very sensitive and hopefully useful mission” was to find ways and means to see if UNRWA “does everything it can to ensure neutrality”.
Guterres announced on February 5 that Colonna would lead the review which will be conducted by three independent research organisations —- the Raoul Wallenberg Institute in Sweden, the Chr. Michelsen Institute in Norway, and the Danish Institute for Human Rights.
UNRWA’s Commissioner-General Philippe Lazzarini requested an independent review of the agency following Israeli allegations that 12 of its 13,000 Gaza staff participated in Hamas’ October 7 attacks in southern Israel, which led to the current war. More than 16 countries suspended aid to UNRWA because of the allegations.
Colonna said the review team started work on February 13 and sent letters to Israeli and Palestinian officials several days ago requesting meetings, which she called “absolutely necessary.” She said she also plans to meet as many countries as possible, especially donor nations, including some foreign ministers attending Friday’s UN commemoration of the second anniversary of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Colonna said the independent review group will specifically clarify the mechanisms and structures in place in UNRWA to ensure neutrality, and how they are being implemented in practice.
An interim report to the secretary-general is expected in late March and a final report, which will be made public, in late April, which will include recommendations.
Colonna said the review group will not be cooperating with a separate investigation of the Israeli allegations against UNRWA staff ordered by Guterres which the UN’s internal watchdog, the Office of Internal Oversight Services, is conducting.
ISRAELI STRIKES KILL AT LEAST 23 PEOPLE IN CENTRAL GAZA, HEALTH MINISTRY SAYS
DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip — At least 23 people were killed in Israeli strikes and their bodied taken to a hospital in central Gaza, the territory’s Health Ministry said late Thursday.
These casualties raise the approximate death toll to 71 from Israeli bombing during the past 24 hours. The Health Ministry says the number could still rise. The bodies were taken to Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in Deir al-Balah, the ministry said.
Earlier strikes had killed at least 48 people in southern and central Gaza overnight, half of them women and children, the ministry said.
UN MIDEAST ENVOY RETURNS FROM GAZA WITH AN URGENT PLEA FOR CEASE-FIRE
UNITED NATIONS — The UN Mideast envoy is calling for an urgent cease-fire in Gaza and the immediate release of hostages taken on October 7, saying the situation in the embattled territory is “shocking and unsustainable” and warning that it could quickly “spiral out of control in the region.”
Tor Wennesland, who was in Gaza earlier this week, told the UN Security Council via video on Thursday that a possible full-scale Israeli military operation in the southern Gaza city of Rafah, where 1.4 million Palestinians have sought safety, makes a cease-fire and hostage deal even more urgent.
Wennesland said over 2 million of its 2.3 million people face “extreme food insecurity” — meaning extreme hunger — as well as increasing shortages of water, shelter and medicine along with unsanitary conditions.
“This desperation and scarcity has led to a near total breakdown in law and order,” Wennesland said. “Keeping Gaza on a drip-feed not only deprives a desperate population of life-saving support, it drives even greater chaos that further impedes humanitarian delivery.”
The UN special coordinator for the Middle East peace process said there must be a clear path toward restoring a single, effective Palestinian government across Gaza and the West Bank, and “a timebound political framework” to end Israel’s occupation and establish a two-state solution.
Wennesland’s speech to the Security Council comes just days after United States vetoed a widely supported U.N. Resolution demanding an immediate humanitarian cease-fire in Gaza. It was the third time Washington vetoed a cease-fire resolution since the war began. The US said the resolution would interfere with negotiations on a deal to free hostages.
50 PATIENTS EVACUATED FROM BESEIGED NASSER HOSPITAL BY WHO
CAIRO — The World Health Organization has evacuated more than 50 patients from the besieged Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis, the main medical complex in the southern Gaza Strip, but at least 140 patients are still inside.
Hundreds of staff, patients and others inside the hospital have struggled under heavy fire and dwindling supplies, including food and water. The medical complex was raided by Israeli forces last week, after troops besieged the facility for nearly a week beforehand. The army said it was seeking the remains of hostages taken by Hamas.
Ayadil Saparbekov, WHO Health Emergencies Team Lead in the Palestinian territories, said his agency has so far helped evacuate 51 patients in three missions, relocating them to other medical facilities.
“We still have around 140 patients remaining in the hospital but these figures unfortunately change every hour,” he said, adding that some patients end up succumbing to their wounds while others choose to flee.
Since the conflict erupted, Israeli forces have targeted several hospitals, arguing that Hamas uses them as cover for its fighters.
ISRAEL CONFIRMS IT HAS BUILT A ROAD ACROSS THE CENTER OF GAZA
JERUSALEM — The Israeli military confirms it has built a road crossing the Gaza Strip from east to west.
It says the road, which expanded an already existing corridor, is being used “to move logistics and soldiers.”
It gave no additional details, but Israeli leaders have said that Israel intends to maintain long-term security control over Gaza after the war.
WORLD HEALTH ORGANIZATION WARNS THAT DISEASE IN GAZA COULD KILL MORE PEOPLE THAN THE WAR ITSELF
CAIRO — The continuous outbreak of infectious diseases in the Gaza Strip may ultimately cause more deaths among Palestinians than the ongoing Israeli military operations, a senior World Health Organization warned on Thursday.
“Infectious disease is a major concern for us in Gaza,” Richard Brennan, regional emergency director at the U.N. Health agency, told reporters in Cairo. “WHO estimates that if we did have severe outbreaks of diarrheal diseases and respiratory infections and so on, there could potentially be more deaths due to disease outbreak than due to trauma.”
So far, WHO has confirmed 200,000 cases of diarrheal diseases, an increase of more than 20 per cent compared to last year, Brennan said.
WHO also confirmed a hepatitis A outbreak with around 8,000 cases, and another 200,000 respiratory infections, he added, blaming the situation on poor sanitation, lack of access to clean water, and overcrowding in areas where displaced civilians have fled the conflict. Some 80% of Gaza’s 2.3 million people have been driven from their homes.
“The risk remains for other disease outbreaks. We are certainly not out of the woods at this stage,” Brennan said, stressing his agency’s fear of a potential outbreak of dysentery as doctors are seeing more cases of bloody diarrhea.
Only 13 out of Gaza’s 36 hospitals are partially functioning, according to WHO. Gaza’s Health Ministry estimates more than 29,000 Palestinians have been killed.
AP