Israel-Hamas war: Israeli troops shoot Gazans scrambling for food
The US is demanding answers after more than 100 people were killed in Gaza when Israeli troops opened fire on starving Palestinians during a food aid delivery. Warning: Graphic
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The United States has asked Israel to provide answers and ensure safe aid delivery after dozens were killed in a scramble for food shipments in Gaza, calling the situation “desperate.” “We are urgently seeking additional information on exactly what took place,” State Department spokesman Matthew Miller told reporters as he offered condolences for those killed.
“We have been in touch with the Israeli government since early this morning and understand that an investigation is underway. We will be monitoring that investigation closely and pressing for answers,” he said.
He called for a deal on a ceasefire, after US President Joe Biden warned earlier in the day that the killings would complicate negotiations.
The Israeli military said a “stampede” occurred when thousands of Gazans surrounded a convoy of 30 aid trucks, leading to dozens of deaths and injuries, including some who were run over by the lorries.
An Israeli source acknowledged troops had opened fire on the crowd, believing it “posed a threat.”
The health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza condemned what it called a “massacre” and said 104 people were killed and more than 750 others wounded.
Mr Biden on Thursday spoke with the leaders of Egypt and Qatar in hopes of progress.
Hamas carried out an unprecedented attack on Israel on October 7 that resulted in the deaths of around 1160 people, and Israel responded with a relentless assault on Gaza.
The health ministry said that more than 30,000 people have been left dead by the nearly five-month conflict in the coastal territory.
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AUSSIE TROOP BOOST IN MIDDLE EAST
Australia is boosting the number of defence personnel supporting the US and UK to fight off Houthi rebel attacks in the Red Sea.
The extra staff will be deployed under the newly-formed Operation Hydranth, supporting strike action on Houthi targets in Yemen.
“The ongoing attacks by Houthi rebels continue to threaten the safety of seafarers, navigational rights and freedoms, and international commerce and maritime security,” Defence Minister Richard Marles said in a statement on Thursday.
“Australia will continue to work with our international partners to de-escalate tensions and restore stability in the Red Sea.”
Mr Marles said an additional six staff will be embedded within US operational headquarters.
The additional staff are separate to Australia’s contribution of up to 16 ADF personnel deployed to support the Combined Maritime Forces in Bahrain, under Operation Manitou.
Since January 2024, Australia has provided support to coalition strikes aimed at protecting international shipping transiting the Red Sea.
It comes as several merchant vessels were struck this week in the region, including the fertiliser-filled Rubymar, whose crew had to abandon ship after it was hit on Sunday and began taking on water.
Ship-tracking site TankerTrackers.com confirmed that the Rubymar had not sunk but warned that the vessel was leaking fuel oil.
It was attacked as it sailed through the Bab el-Mandeb Strait that connects the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden.
The attack on the Rubymar has inflicted the most significant damage yet to a commercial ship since the Huthis started firing on vessels in November - a campaign they say is in solidarity with Palestinians in Gaza during the Israel-Hamas war.
British maritime security agency UKMTO reported another attack on an unspecified ship near the port of Djibouti on Saturday night, saying there had been an “explosion in close proximity to the vessel, no damage is reported to the vessel and there are no injuries to the crew.” “Vessel is proceeding to next port of call,” it added in a bulletin.
QATAR ‘HOPEFUL’ OF ISRAEL-HAMAS WAR CEASEFIRE
Qatar said it is “hopeful” of a Gaza war ceasefire and is pushing for an agreement before Ramadan, its foreign ministry spokesperson said.
The gas-rich Gulf state, which hosts Hamas’s political bureau, has been a key mediator in negotiations involving the Palestinian militants, Israel, the United States and Egypt.
“We remain hopeful, not necessarily optimistic, that we can announce something today or tomorrow, but we remain hopeful that we can get to some kind of agreement,” Majed al-Ansari told a regular briefing on Thursday.
“Obviously, we said that Ramadan is going to be a point of contention, it’s going to be a point of confrontation, that we are going to push for a pause before the beginning of Ramadan.
“We are all aiming towards that target, but the situation is still fluid on the ground,” he added.
Ansari was speaking after US President Joe Biden said a new ceasefire and hostage release could start as soon as Monday, ahead of the Muslim holy month that will begin around March 11.
“Till now we don’t have an agreement, we are still working on the negotiations on all sides,” Ansari said.
HEZBOLLAH AND ISRAEL EXCHANGE FIRE
Hezbollah and Israel exchanged fire on Wednesday following deadly Israeli strikes on east Lebanon a day earlier, while the UN special co-ordinator for Lebanon, Joanna Wronecka, in a statement urged “an immediate halt to this dangerous cycle of violence and return to a cessation of hostilities”.
Lebanon’s Hezbollah, a Hamas ally, has exchanged near-daily fire with the Israeli army since war erupted between Israel and the Gaza-based Palestinian militant group on October 7.
Israeli raids near east Lebanon’s Baalbek on Monday were the first in the area since hostilities began, and hit far beyond the usual border regions.
The Israeli army said the strikes targeted Hezbollah air defences after the group downed an Israeli drone.
JORDAN DROPS AID IN GAZA
The Jordanian army carried out a series of humanitarian aid drops of food and other supplies into the besieged Gaza Strip, one of them by a French army plane.
Jordanian forces made “four air drops carrying aid for the people of Gaza”, under the directive of Jordanian King Abdullah II, a statement said.
The operation came on the same day that two human rights groups accused Israel of further limiting humanitarian aid into Gaza – where the UN has warned of famine – despite an order from the UN’s top court.
Jordan has conducted a total of 16 air-drop operations since the war broke out on October 7 between Israel and Hamas militants in Gaza.
US SUPPORTS ‘TEMPORARY CEASEFIRE’ NEGOTIATIONS IN RESOLUTION
The US Mission to the United Nations has circulated a draft resolution to members of the UN Security Council (UNSC) that expresses support for diplomatic efforts to “urgently” reach a “temporary ceasefire” agreement, according to a copy seen by Al Jazeera.
US Ambassador to the UN Linda Thomas-Greenfield said in an interview on Monday that she believed the US “alternative resolution” is “more relevant to supporting the efforts on the ground to get us to that temporary ceasefire”.
The new proposed text comes after the US vetoed a UNSC resolution put forward by Algeria last week. Thomas-Greenfield claimed at the time that Algeria’s resolution could interfere with the ongoing truce talks.
NEW: @USUN circulated revised draft resolution to #UNSC members that now "unequivocally supports international diplomatic efforts to expeditiously and urgently conclude and begin implementing an agreement for a temporary ceasefire in #Gaza together with the release of all… https://t.co/hVzgFCB5d3pic.twitter.com/FsvY4oWmV4
— Rami Ayari (@Raminho) February 26, 2024
ISRAEL PREPARING FOR RAFAH INVASION
Israel said on Monday its army had readied a plan to evacuate Gaza ahead of a feared invasion of far southern Rafah, which the UN chief warned would “put the final nail in the coffin” of aid operations.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said that Rafah – where 1.4 million Palestinians live in crowded shelters near the Egyptian border – is also “the core of the humanitarian aid operation” in the besieged Gaza Strip.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu stressed that, despite ongoing talks toward a ceasefire, the army will launch a ground invasion of Rafah to achieve “total victory” over Hamas.
But no details have been released on where those displaced people could go in war-torn Gaza.
Neighbouring Egypt has built a large walled enclosure next to Gaza, but Cairo has denied any plans to allow the mass flight of refugees across the border.
Foreign governments and aid groups have issued dire warnings that a Rafah invasion would inflict mass casualties.
ISRAEL ACCUSED OF BLOCKING AID, DEFYING UN COURT
Two human rights groups on Monday accused Israel of further limiting humanitarian aid into Gaza despite an order from the UN’s top court.
The International Court of Justice (ICJ) in The Hague exactly one month ago said Israel must do everything to prevent genocidal acts in the besieged territory. It must also take “immediate and effective measures” for aid provision, the ICJ said.
But Israeli authorities have “failed to take even the bare minimum steps to comply” with the ICJ ruling issued on January 26, Amnesty International said.
PALESTINIAN GOVERNMENT RESIGNS
Palestinian prime minister Mohammad Shtayyeh on Monday announced the resignation of his government which rules parts of the occupied West Bank, saying “new political measures” were needed given the changing reality in Gaza.
“I submit the government’s resignation to Mr President (Mahmud Abbas),” Shtayyeh said, adding that it comes in the wake of the “developments related to the aggression against the Gaza Strip and the escalation in the West Bank and Jerusalem”.
He said he had offered the resignation last Tuesday but was formally submitting it “in writing” on Monday.
Abbas has faced mounting anger since war erupted on October 7 between Israel and the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas, with many criticising the Palestinian president for not severely condemning the Israeli offensive there and the rising violence in the West Bank.
Since 2007, the Palestinian leadership has been divided between the Palestinian Authority of Abbas, which exercises limited power in the West Bank, and Hamas which rules Gaza.
ISRAEL PROPOSES EVACUATION PLAN FOR GAZANS
Israel’s military has proposed a plan for “evacuating” civilians from the Gaza Strip, after Mr Netanyahu said a ground invasion of the Palestinian territory’s southern city Rafah was necessary for “total victory”.
Foreign governments and aid organisations have repeatedly expressed fears that such an operation will inflict mass civilian casualties in Rafah.
It is also the entry point for desperately needed aid, brought in via neighbouring Egypt.
Israel’s military “presented the War Cabinet with a plan for evacuating the population from areas of fighting in the Gaza Strip, and with the upcoming operational plan”, a statement in Hebrew from Mr Netanyahu’s office said on Monday.
The statement did not give any details about how or where the civilians would be moved.
— with AFP
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Originally published as Israel-Hamas war: Israeli troops shoot Gazans scrambling for food
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