Entire Gaza population now 100 percent severely food insecureUS Secretary of State Antony Blinken highlighted Gaza’s deteriorating food situation where hundreds of thousands of people face famine.
“According to the most respected measure of these things, 100 percent of the population in Gaza is at severe levels of acute food insecurity. That’s the first time an entire population has been so classified,” said Blinken during an official visit to the Philippines.
“We also see, according to the United Nations, 100 percent the totality of the population is in need of humanitarian assistance. Compare that to Sudan; about 80 percent of the population there is in need of humanitarian assistance; Afghanistan, about 70 percent.”
Humanity needs to ‘look at ourselves in horror and dismay’South Africa accused Israel of setting a precedent for some world leaders to defy the top UN court as she again alleged a campaign of “mass starvation” in Gaza.
Foreign Minister Naledi Pandor said Israel defied a January ruling by the International Court of Justice to prevent “acts of genocide” during its bloody war.
“The provisional measures have been entirely ignored by Israel,” Pandor said at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace in Washington, DC.
“We’re seeing mass starvation now and famine before our very eyes. I think we, as humanity, need to look at ourselves in horror and dismay and to be really worried that we have set an example.”
Israel’s actions may mean other nations will believe “there’s licence – I can do what I want and I will not be stopped.”
At least 23 dead in Israeli attack on Gaza aid committeeAl Jazeera’s correspondent and local Palestinian sources say that at least 23 people were killed in the Israeli army’s attack on the Kuwaiti roundabout in the south of Gaza City.
The attack was directed at a tribal committee coordinating the distribution of aid in Gaza City, and our correspondent says they were at a location belonging to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA), deemed “safe” from attack.
New video challenges Israeli explanation for killing Gaza journalistsAn investigation by The Washington Post is raising “critical questions” about Israeli justification for the killing of two journalists in Gaza in January.
Hamza Dahdouh, the eldest son of Al Jazeera’s Gaza bureau chief Wael Dahdouh, was killed in an Israeli missile attack in Khan Younis, along with another journalist Mustafa Thuraya and their driver. Two others were seriously wounded.
In a statement following the attack, the Israeli army said a military aircraft “identified and struck a terrorist who operated an aircraft that posed a threat to [Israeli] troops”. It added, “We are aware of the reports that during the strike, two other suspects who were in the same vehicle as the terrorist were also hit.”
According to The Post, the journalists were operating a consumer model drone to capture footage of a building hit during Israeli bombardment. The video from Thuraya’s drone, obtained by The Post, showed no “Israeli soldiers, aircraft, or other military equipment” were visible.
The newspaper also interviewed witnesses and colleagues of the reporters, who provided detailed accounts.
“The Post found no indications that either man was operating as anything other than a journalist that day. Both passed through Israeli checkpoints on their way to the south early in the war. Dahdouh had recently been approved to leave Gaza, a rare privilege unlikely to have been granted to a known militant,” it said.
Despite global claims, US says Israel not using starvation as a weapon of warUS Department of State spokesman Vedant Patel has told reporters that the US has “not yet seen conclusive evidence indicating that Israel is using starvation as a weapon in the Gaza war”.
These comments come as top officials of the EU, UN and major NGOs worldwide have accused Israel of weaponising hunger in its war on Gaza.
Yesterday, EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said that the widespread starvation in the Gaza Strip is “unacceptable”.
Starvation is being used as “a weapon of war”, said Borrell.
Also, in a new report, UK charity Oxfam said Israel’s policies of obstructing aid are creating the “perfect storm for humanitarian collapse”, and earlier today a spokesman for the UN’s human rights office said that these policies may amount to a war crime.
Still, the State Department’s Vedant said that the US is “concerned” about a UN-backed report, which found that famine is imminent in Gaza.
Top Trump adviser: ‘Gaza’s waterfront property could be very valuable’Video has emerged of Jared Kushner, former US President Donald Trump’s son-in-law who served as one of the chief Middle East dealmakers during Trump’s tenure in the White House, giving his vision for the future of post-war Gaza during an interview at Harvard University.
“Gaza’s waterfront property could be very valuable … if people would focus on building up livelihoods,” Kushner told Harvard Professor Tarek Masoud on March 8.
Kushner also said that it’s a shame that “all the money” in the territory went towards building tunnel networks and arms instead of education and “innovation”.
He suggested that, were he in charge, he would move civilians in Gaza to somewhere in the Negev desert while Gaza is “cleaned up.”
“I do think right now opening up the Negev, creating a secure area there, moving the civilians out, and then going in and finishing the job would be the right move,” he said.
When asked if this is something that’s being discussed by decision-makers in Israel and the US, Kushner did not elaborate.
“I’m sitting in Miami Beach right now,” Kushner said. “And I’m looking at the situation and I’m thinking: What would I do if I was there?”
Should Donald Trump be re-elected to the US presidency this November, Kushner could again feature prominently in his administration. His comments give a window into what Trump’s policy on Palestine could be during his second term.
‘Unimpeded’ access of food, medical supplies needed for Gaza: World BankThe bank has called for “urgent action” to deal with the hunger crisis in Gaza.
“We join the international community in calling for immediate, free, and unimpeded access of medical supplies, food and life-essential services through all available means at speed and scale to the people of Gaza,” it said in a statement.
Israel says ‘dozens’ killed at Gaza’s al-Shifa HospitalThe Israeli army has alleged that it also apprehended some 300 people during its operations at the largest hospital in the coastal enclave.
“The forces apprehended dozens of prominent Hamas and Islamic Jihad terrorists at the Shifa Hospital, involved in directing terrorist activities in Judea and Samaria, and operatives in the Rocket Unit of Islamic Jihad,” it said in a post on X.
The Israeli army on Monday launched a new attack on al-Shifa, raiding and opening fire on the facility where thousands are taking shelter.
Hezbollah attacks Israeli positions near Lebanese borderThe Lebanese armed group says it struck Israeli positions at Baranit site in southern Lebanon.
Fighters also targeted Israeli soldiers and a military logistical vehicle on al-Tayhat Hill by a guided missile, which the group said led to an unknown number of casualties.
Moreover, the group said it hit Israeli soldiers at the al-Malikiyah site in southern Lebanon with missiles.
Exchanges of fire between Israeli forces and Hezbollah have largely remained confined to border regions, but several Israeli bombings on Lebanese territory have hit areas further north in recent weeks, raising fears of a full-blown conflict.
Israel’s Lieberman calls for war on LebanonOpposition lawmaker Avigdor Lieberman has called on Prime Minister Netanyahu’s war cabinet to take the war to Lebanon, as Hezbollah and Israel trade fire across the border.
“After 165 days it is clear to everyone that the Israeli government has given up the north,” Lieberman said in a post on X.
Israel and Lebanon-based Hezbollah began trading fire at the beginning of the war on Gaza. Some 80,000 residents have been displaced from northern Israel due to incoming rockets.
“I call on the war cabinet, the chief of staff and the general of the northern command to come to their senses and transfer the war to the enemy’s territory,” Netanyahu’s former defence minister added.
‘Time has long passed’: US must end arms sales to Israel, HRW and Oxfam sayThe US should immediately suspend arms transfers to Israel, Oxfam and Human Rights Watch (HRW) say, citing evidence that Israel is violating international law.
“There are good reasons why US law prohibits arms support for governments that block life-saving aid or violate international law with US weapons,” Sarah Yager, HRW’s Washington director, said in a statement. “Given ongoing hostilities in Gaza, the Israeli government’s assurances to the Biden administration that it is meeting US legal requirements are not credible.”
The organisations submitted a report to the US government listing a wide range of Israeli violations of international law, including indiscriminate or disproportionate attacks on or near hospitals and systematic blocking of humanitarian assistance, despite Israeli assurances to the contrary.
“The time has long passed for the Biden administration to end lethal arms sales to Israel, and we call on them to do so now and work to end the death and suffering in Gaza,” Scott Paul, associate director for peace and security at Oxfam America, said in a statement.
Israeli aggression against civilians as means of pressure won’t work: Hamas officialIzzat al-Rishq, a member of Hamas’s political bureau, has said that the Israeli attack on al-Shifa Hospital and its surroundings is “evidence of the state of confusion that [Israeli PM Benjamin] Netanyahu and his army are living in”.
He added that “the victory that Netanyahu imagines is a mirage and a distant dream thanks to the steadfastness of our people and our valiant resistance”.
Al-Rishq also said Israel’s attempt to use the escalation of “barbaric aggression” against civilians as a means of pressure to achieve its goals would not work.
Houthis say fired missiles at US tanker in Red Sea, southern IsraelYemen’s Houthi rebels have launched naval missiles at a US tanker — the Mado — in the Red Sea, according to spokesperson Yahya Sarea.
He also said the group fired winged missiles at Israel’s coastal region of Eliat, which borders the Red Sea,
There were no immediate reports of casualties.
The Houthis have pledged to continue attacks on Israeli, US, or British-linked warships in the Red Sea as long as Israel continues its war on Gaza.
Last week, senior Houthi and Hamas leaders held a rare meeting to discuss ways to coordinate their “resistance” during the war, according to reports.
‘Israel has launched Rafah invasion quietly to avoid international reactions’The Palestinian Foreign Ministry said Israel began its aggression on Rafah without announcing the move to avoid international reactions.
In a statement, the ministry condemned the escalating bombardment and systematic destruction carried out by the Israeli forces in Rafah, saying that by carrying out these attacks, Israel is purposely ignoring international warnings about the danger of invading the city.
The population of Rafah has swelled to about 1.5 million, which includes hundreds of thousands of displaced people from the centre and northern areas of the Gaza Strip.
Gaza death toll climbsAt least 31,819 people have been killed and 73,934 wounded by Israeli attacks in Gaza since October 7, according to the latest figures shared by the Health Ministry.
The statement added that 93 people were killed and 142 wounded in the past 24 hours.
The West is giving Israel weapons while discussing delivering aid to GazaSimon Speakman CordallAs lawmakers across much of the West debate the extent to which Israel may be hampering the passage of life-saving aid into Gaza, the weapons exports that underpin much of Israel’s war on the besieged enclave continue to flow.
Since the war began, the volume of weapons entering Israel has increased as huge volumes of ordinance are used to flatten areas of Gaza as well as kill, maim and displace its civilian population.
“On the one hand, we have this dire humanitarian need, on the other hand, we have this continual supply of weapons to the country Israel, [which is] creating that need,” Akshaya Kumar, director of crisis advocacy at Human Rights Watch (HRW), said.
While “Western states have recently been going to great lengths to have Israel recognise its role in creating the suffering we’re seeing in Gaza”, she said, “we’re not seeing any corresponding reduction in the flow of weapons from states such as the US, Germany and beyond”.
How the uncommitted vote against Biden’s Gaza policy is going ‘national’Joseph StepanskyReporting from Washington, DC[/i]The organisers of Listen to Michigan – an effort to protest against Joe Biden’s policy towards Israel’s war in Gaza – have a message for the United States president: The conflict is not a “niche” issue for only some segments of the political left.
Listen to Michigan emerged earlier this year as a grassroots movement focused on the state’s primary. It called on voters to cast “uncommitted votes” instead of backing Biden’s re-election effort, in an attempt to signal displeasure over the president’s stance on the war.
But that movement has kicked off a domino effect in other key states, with similar “protest votes” emerging. On Monday, Listen to Michigan unveiled plans to take its campaign to the national stage.
Al Jazeera journalist describes ordeal in Israeli custodyIsmail al-Ghoul, an Al Jazeera Arabic correspondent who was held for 12 hours at Gaza’s al-Shifa Hospital, says Israeli forces rounded up Palestinian journalists at the facility and made them kneel on the ground for hours, while naked and blindfolded.
“The occupation forces handcuffed and blindfolded us for about 12 hours from the early morning to the afternoon, until the arrival of Israeli military intelligence units,” he said.
“They interrogated the journalists that work at this location. We were left in the room we were kept in, where we stayed for several hours, in cold conditions, naked and blindfolded.”
Al-Ghoul said that he has heard that some of his colleagues have been released but he does not have enough information on their whereabouts to confirm any details.
Israel has issued 100,000 new gun licences since October 7Israel’s far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir has announced approving 100,000 new gun licences since Hamas’s attacks on October 7.
“This week, we reached a milestone at the National Security Ministry: The 100,000th citizen received their firearms license,” Ben-Gvir said at the Israeli parliament, according to The Times of Israel. He made the announcement standing in front of a poster with an image of a handgun and the slogan “100K Israelis armed”.
“In fact, out of 299,354 applications submitted since the war… more than 100,000 citizens have already been approved to arm themselves, because weapons save lives,” he was quoted as saying.
Former Israeli PM hails Chuck Schumer’s call for new electionsFormer Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert has labelled US Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer a “great friend of Israel” for calling for an election to be held to replace Netanyahu, The Times of Israel reported.
Olmert, a vocal Netanyahu critic, sent a letter to Schumer praising him for the “courage that you have showed in saying [what] so many of us Jews across the world and traditional supporters of Israel feel today”.
He added that the “prime minister of Israel is not worthy of the responsibilities bestowed upon him”.
Schumer, the US’s highest-ranking Jewish politician, said last week that Israel must make “significant course corrections” to achieve lasting peace, adding that “so many Israelis have lost their confidence” in Netanyahu’s government.
US ‘complicit in starvation of Palestinians’, says UN expertMichael Fakhri, the UN special rapporteur for the right to food, has urged the United States to do more to end the ongoing hunger and starvation crisis in Gaza.
“If the US was very serious about preventing famine, it would pressure Israel for a ceasefire. It would no longer supply weapons and financial support to Israel,” he told Al Jazeera.
“The United States is complicit in this starvation of the Palestinian people in Gaza.”
Fakhri said US airdrops and plans to build a temporary pier on the coast of Gaza were largely a political move.
“It might alleviate hunger for a small number of people and for a very short amount of time but in the grand scheme of things, these are political performances done for political purposes,” he added.
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/liveblog/2024/3/19/israels-war-on-gaza-live-israel-holds-al-jazeera-reporter-for-12-hours