Displaced Palestinians camp near the border fence between Gaza and Egypt, on February 16, 2024 in Rafah, in the southern Gaza Strip. (Photo by Mohammed Abed / AFP)
Doha, Qatar: Fears mounted Saturday for people trapped in one of Gaza's main hospitals after Israeli troops raided the facility and the health ministry said several patients had died there from a lack of oxygen.
The ministry said late Friday that at least 120 patients and five medical teams were stuck without water, food and electricity in the Nasser Hospital in Gaza's main southern city of Khan Yunis.
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[7pm Doha Time] Israeli occupation detains 7,060 Palestinians from West Bank since October
The Israeli occupation forces have arrested nearly 7,060 Palestinians from the occupied West Bank since the start of the aggression on the Gaza Strip last October, according to the Palestinian Commission of Prisoners and Ex-Prisoners Affairs.
Read more.
[4pm Doha Time] African leaders condemn Israel's offensive in Gaza
Leaders at an African Union summit in the Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa on Saturday condemned Israel’s offensive in Gaza and called for its immediate end.
Moussa Faki, the chair of the African Union Commission, said Israel’s offensive was the "most flagrant” violation of international humanitarian law and accused Israel of having "exterminated” Gaza’s inhabitants. Read more
[3:24pm Doha Time] Aid and rights groups warn of ‘catastrophic’ Rafah assault
Six humanitarian and human rights organisations have warned of “catastrophic” consequences of an Israeli ground offensive in Rafah.
The joint statement was signed by the heads of Oxfam, Amnesty International, ActionAid, War Child, the Danish Refugee Council and Handicap International.
“We are appalled by the harrowing developments in Rafah, Gaza’s most populated area where 1.5 million people are sheltering as their last resort – over half a million of them children,” it said.
“If Israel launches its proposed ground offensive, thousands more civilians will be killed and the current trickle of humanitarian aid risks coming to a complete halt. If this military plan is not stopped immediately, the consequences will be catastrophic.”
The NGOs accused the Israeli government of “collective punishment”.
[1:45pm Doha Time] Health ministry in Gaza says war death toll at 28,858
The health ministry in Gaza said Saturday at least 28,858 people have been killed in the Palestinian territory since the Israeli onslaught began.
A ministry statement said 68,667 people have also been wounded in Gaza since October 7, 2023.
[11:55am Doha Time] ‘Everywhere in the Gaza Strip is a target’
An Israeli air strike hit two houses in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip, killing 10 people and wounding several others.
Rida Sobh, mourning the death of her sister in one of the attacks, said the house was totally destroyed. All her sister’s children, her aunt, husband and cousin were killed.
“Rafah is not safe. Everywhere in the Gaza Strip is a target. Don’t say that Rafah is safe. From Beit Hanoun to Rafah it is all dangerous,” Sobh said.
There is mounting international concern the humanitarian crisis in Gaza will worsen sharply if the Israeli military decides to storm the southern border city of Rafah, where more than half of its 2.3 million people are taking shelter in anticipation of a major attack.
Israeli forces bomb Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip [Mohammed Abed/AFP]
[9am Doha Time] ‘Virtually impossible’ to move aid in Gaza with police escorts gone: US official
It has become “virtually impossible” to move aid in Gaza, David Satterfield, the US State Department special envoy for Middle East humanitarian issues has said, after confirming that Israel struck police escorting aid in Rafah.
“With the departure of police escorts, it has been virtually impossible for the UN or anyone else – Jordan, the UAE, any other implementer – to safely move assistance in Gaza,” Satterfield added.
Satterfield said that aid convoys were being attacked within Gaza, but according to the latest update from the UN humanitarian agency (OCHA), people in Rafah are so desperate they are eating food immediately after taking it from trucks.
Satterfield also said, “We can move hundreds of truckloads of assistance a day over the border to warehouses.”
However, according to OCHA, less than 43 trucks entered Gaza on average per day between February 9 to 15, a significant decrease from previous levels.
[8:45am Doha Time] Israel fired on police escorting aid in Rafah: US official confirms
David Satterfield, the US State Department special envoy for Middle East humanitarian issues, has confirmed that Israeli forces struck police officials escorting aid in Rafah.
“The [Israeli army] 10 days, two weeks ago, did indeed strike at seven, eight or nine police officials, including a commander, whose units had been involved in providing escort for UN convoys carrying aid,” said Satterfield in a live stream for the US-based Carnegie Endowment.
Eight people were reportedly killed in two separate Israeli attacks on police vehicles in Rafah on February 6 and February 10.
[8:30am Doha Time] Israel behind gas pipeline blasts in Iran: Report
Israel was reportedly behind attacks on two major gas pipelines in Iran this week, the New York Times reported, citing two officials from Western countries.
Saeed Aghili, the manager of Iran’s gas network control centre, told Iranian state television on Wednesday that a “sabotage and terrorist” action caused explosions along several areas of one of its pipelines.
