This picture taken from Rafah shows flares lighting the skies over Khan Yunis in the southern gaza Strip on March 4, 2024. (Photo by SAID KHATIB / AFP)
Doha, Qatar: At least 17 killed in another Israeli bombing in Rafah, despite Israel designating it as a 'safe zone' for Gaza civilians and ordering people to move there to avoid attacks
On the other side of Palestine, in the west of Jenin in the occupied West Bank, the Israeli military has demolished the house of prisoner Abdullah Yahya Massad in the town of Kafr Dan, and carried out arrests across the West Bank, as reported by the Wafa news agency.
Meanwhile, the Palestinian Authority’s Foreign Ministry has hailed a decision by the Spanish government to begin imposing sanctions on a group of 12 Israeli settlers in the occupied West Bank.
US Department of State spokesman Matthew Miller states that the US is committed to increasing and sustaining aid in Gaza "through as many channels as possible."
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[9:30pm Doha Time] An aircraft belonging to the Qatari Armed Forces arrived in the city of El Arish in the sisterly Arab Republic of Egypt, carrying 34 tons of aid, including food supplies provided by the Qatari Red Crescent, bringing the total number of planes of aid to 83. Read more.
[12:15pm Doha Time] Health ministry in Gaza says death toll at 30,631
The health ministry in Gaza said on Tuesday that at least 30,631 people have been killed in the territory.
A ministry statement said there were 97 deaths over the past 24 hours, while another 72,043 people have been wounded since the war broke out on October 7.
[10:45pm Doha Time] US vice president wants White House to speak out on Gaza: Report
Kamala Harris has pressed the Biden administration to publicly speak out about the humanitarian tragedy continuing in Gaza, according to a report.
The New York Times report, quoting four sources familiar with Harris’s position, said she has been “forceful in urging the administration not to dismiss the anger from Palestinian Americans and others in the United States, who contend that Mr Biden has not done enough to prevent the deaths of tens of thousands of civilians in Gaza”.
According to the report, Harris has repeatedly told “Biden and senior White House officials that the administration must show more empathy for Palestinian civilians by speaking publicly about the high death toll in Gaza and the plight of survivors”.
Harris recently made multiple strong public statements that criticised Israel, in a significant shift in the US administration’s public position on Gaza.
[10:15pm Doha Time] Indian workers among victims of missile attack in northern Israel: Report
The Indian Express newspaper is reporting the death of an Indian man and the wounding of several others in a missile attack on the northern Israeli community of Margaliot.
The victim, identified as Nibin Maxwell, 31, from the town of Kaikulangara in the southwestern Indian state of Kerala, had moved to Israel two months ago to work on a farm in the Margaliot area.
Two other people from Kerala, along with at least five other foreign workers, were injured in the missile strike, which was blamed on Lebanon’s Hezbollah group.
Israel responded to the attack within hours, carrying out an air strike in the southern Lebanese town of Odaisseh that killed three Hezbollah paramedics, according to a Hezbollah-affiliated rescue force.
[9:30pm Doha Time] Palestinian Foreign Ministry welcomes Spain decision to impose sanctions on far-right settlers
The Palestinian Authority’s Foreign Ministry has hailed a decision by the Spanish government to begin imposing sanctions on a group of 12 Israeli settlers in the occupied West Bank.
The ministry said the “courageous decision” by Spain was an important step towards the “necessity” of imposing more sanctions on the entire illegal settlement system.
In a speech before the Joint Committee of the Spanish House of Representatives, Spanish Foreign Minister Jose Manuel Albares said that his government had begun to impose sanctions on “a first group of 12 violent colonists”.
The Palestinian Foreign Ministry has called on all countries to impose deterrent sanctions not only on far-right Israeli settlers, but to also place settler organisations on lists of “terror” groups, and exert pressure on Israel to cease settlement construction.
[9:00pm Doha Time] Israeli forces demolish Palestinian prisoner’s home, carry out arrests across the West Bank
The Israeli military has demolished the house of prisoner Abdullah Yahya Massad in the town of Kafr Dan, west of Jenin in the occupied West Bank, the Wafa news agency reports.
Confrontations broke out between Israeli forces and men in the town, resulting in two Palestinians being injured by shrapnel from bullets.
Israeli forces have also arrested at least six Palestinians in the town of Kobar, northwest of Ramallah, according to the Wafa. Those arrested were all freed Palestinian prisoners.
The Israeli military has also arrested three citizens in the city of Tulkarem, and one man from the Qalandiya refugee camp south of Ramallah, local media is reporting.
In addition, Israeli forces have also stormed the town of al-Lubban Asharqiya, south of Nablus.
[6:40Am Doha Time] At least 17 killed in Israeli strikes on Rafah
A Palestinian man transports sacks of humanitarian aid at the distribution center of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA), in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip on March 3, 2024 (Photo by AFP)
Using only their bare hands, people dig through the rubble of destroyed homes to rescue victims of another Israeli bombing in Rafah.
In the east of the city, there are similar scenes as crowds search through what remains of a building pulverised by Israeli air attacks.
Israel designated Rarah as a “safe zone” for Gaza civilians and ordered people to move there to avoid attacks. But Palestinians have found anything but safety there.
“Shame on them,” Rafah resident and displaced person Hiam al-Gharib said.
“Why this blood?” al-Gharib asked.
“Why? Why are they exterminating us? If they want to annihilate us, why don’t they just do it once and for all?”
[4:45pm Doha Time] US says humanitarian situation in Gaza ‘simply intolerable’
Wounded Palestinian Nidal al-Gharib, who lost his wife and daughter, walks past his neighbours' house destroyed by Israeli bombing in Rafah in the southern gaza Strip on March 4, 2024. (Photo by MOHAMMED ABED / AFP)
US Department of State spokesman Matthew Miller says that the US is focused on increasing and sustaining aid in Gaza “through as many channels as possible”.
“People are desperate for food, for water, for medicine. Parents are facing impossible choices about how to feed their children. Many don’t know when there next meal will come or if it will come at all. The situation is simply intolerable,” he told reporters.
Miller also referenced the US military airdropping “38,000 ready-to-eat” meals in Gaza in cooperation with the Jordanian military on Saturday. He said the move was a “first in a series” of humanitarian air drops that the US will be conducting in Gaza.
“But I want to be clear, these airdrops are intended to supplement, not replace, aid through other mechanisms,” he said, adding that the US was also hoping to establish a “maritime assistance corridor”.
Since October 7, the US has vetoed three UN Security Council resolutions calling for a humanitarian pause or immediate ceasefire in Israel’s war on Gaza.
The U.S. is focused on getting aid distributed to Gaza through as many channels as possible.
— Matthew Miller (@StateDeptSpox) March 4, 2024
We are continuing to push for a temporary ceasefire through a hostage agreement that would allow a massive surge of aid into Gaza. pic.twitter.com/2MTqVKR9ik
