Gaza death toll reaches 30,000; UN warns of imminent famine | 10 updates

Gaza aid truck massacre

On Thursday a strike was reported on a crowd of people waiting for aid in Gaza City.  At least 104 people were killed as Palestinians lined up for humanitarian assistance, said Gaza’s Health Ministry spokesman Ashraf al-Qidra.

According to Reuters citing an Israeli source, Israeli troops opened fire at ‘several people’ among a crowd that surrounded aid trucks in the Gaza Strip after feeling under threat.

Palestinians hold onto keys to lost homes in Gaza

Palestinians displaced by Israel’s military offensive on Gaza are holding onto keys to damaged or destroyed homes as a symbol of their loss, a tradition dating back to the mass displacement of 1948.

Famine looms Gaza

While mediators say a truce deal between Israel and Hamas could be just days away, aid agencies have sounded the alarm about the dire humanitarian conditions and warned of a looming famine in Gaza’s north.

Palestinians starved, killed

The war that began as retaliation from Israel, only to have progressed into something akin to a genocide, has driven 80% of Gaza’s population of 2.3 million Palestinians from their homes, and UN officials say a quarter of the population is starving.

The war has unleashed a humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza and sparked global concern over the situation in Rafah, Gaza’s southernmost town along the border with Egypt, where 1.4 million Palestinians have sought safety from Israel’s daily bombardments.

Food aid reaches north Gaza for first time in weeks, and Israeli hostages’ families push for release.

Israel mulls ground offensive in Rafah

Israel has planned ground assault on Rafah in the Gaza Strip. UN human rights chief  has stated that the attack would contravene the orders issued by the United Nations’ highest court.

Netanyahu refuses to budge

Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said that he will not stop the genocide unless “all Hamas fighters ” are dead. The Hamas and Netanyahu both have refused ceasefire requests even from Tel Aviv’s biggest ally United States.

Israel Hamas hostage crisis

Hamas fighters had reportedly abducted roughly 250 people, according to Israeli authorities, following the 7 October attack. Roughly 100 were freed about 50 days into their captivity. Some 130 hostages remain and Israel says about a quarter of them are dead.

Israel appropriates 650 acres of West Bank land near big settlement

According to Reuters report, Israel appropriated on Thursday several tracts of land near a major Jewish settlement in the occupied West Bank. The Israeli administration however, has no plan for construction there.

Israel fears war with Lebanon’s Hezbollah

In the green hills of the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights near Lebanon, Arye and Ditza Alon are hiking through a tranquil nature reserve, wondering whether the wider region could become a war zone.

While mediators hope for a truce soon in the Israel-Hamas war raging in Gaza to the south, fears are growing that months of cross-border clashes in the north could escalate into a bigger conflict.

Red Sea Crisis

Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthi rebels have been targeting ships in the Red Sea since November in a campaign they say is in solidarity with Palestinians amid the Gaza war. The US had also launched retaliatory and preventive strikes on Yemen and Houthi vessels. 

The Red Sea attacks have raised insurance premiums for shipping companies, forcing many to avoid the vital route that normally carries about 12 percent of global maritime trade.

Many companies are opting for a lengthy detour around Africa, which adds considerable fuel and other costs.

(With agency inputs)

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Published: 29 Feb 2024, 06:02 PM IST