Smoke billowing over Khan Yunis in the southern Gaza Strip during Israeli bombardment on February 20, 2024. (Photo by Mohammed Abed / AFP)
Doha, Qatar: Israel hit Gaza with new air strikes on Tuesday as world powers grappled with how to broker a ceasefire ahead of a UN Security Council vote.
UN estimates that four months of relentless fighting have flattened much of the Palestinian territory, pushed 2.2 million people to the brink of famine, and displaced three-quarters of the population.
"How many of us have to die... to stop these crimes?" Ahmad Moghrabi, a Palestinian doctor in southern Gaza's main city, Khan Yunis told AFP. "Where is the humanity?"
Global powers trying to navigate a way out of the spiraling crisis have so far come up short, with a push later Tuesday for a UN ceasefire resolution facing an expected US veto.
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[9:10pm Doha Time] UN World Food Program suspends aid amid chaos in northern Gaza
Jerusalem: The United Nations' World Food Program announced a pause in food and aid deliveries to northern Gaza on Tuesday after its drivers faced gunfire and violence from desperate residents swarming the trucks.
The convoys "faced complete chaos and violence due to the collapse of civil order,” according to a statement from the WFP. WFP had attempted to resume aid deliveries in northern Gaza after a three-week pause following a strike on an aid convoy from the Israeli military.
The WFP said 1 in 6 children under age 2 are acutely malnourished and people are dying of hunger-related cases, and the situation is even more dire in northern Gaza. "In these past two days our teams witnessed unprecedented levels of desperation,” the WFP said.
Hamas’s government media office described the WFP decision as a "death sentence” for hundreds of thousands of people who are in the northern half of Gaza. The office called for the WFP to withdraw its decisions and for all UN agencies to return and avert "catastrophic consequences of the famine” there. (AP)
[8:37pm Doha Time] Official spokesperson for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs: Qatar received confirmation from Hamas medicines were received and delivery commenced to hostages in Gaza
Dr. Majed Al-Ansari, the official spokesperson for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, said that the State of Qatar has received confirmation from the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) regarding the receipt of a shipment of medicines and the commencement of their delivery to beneficiaries among the hostages in the Gaza Strip, in implementation of an agreement between Hamas and Israel, mediated by Qatar in cooperation with France last month. Read more.
[8:33pm Doha Time] US vetoes Algeria's resolution for immediate Gaza ceasefire
In remarks to the UN Security Council after the US vetoed an Algerian resolution calling for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza, US Ambassador to the UN Linda Thomas-Greenfield said that calling for an immediate ceasefire could stymie ongoing diplomatic efforts to reach an agreement between Hamas and Israel for a pause in the fighting. Read more.
[6:02pm Doha Time] 32 Gaza patients transferred WHO says 32 patients out of besieged Gaza hospital
The World Health Organization said Tuesday it had transferred 32 patients out of the besieged Nasser Hospital in southern Gaza but feared for the patients and medics still inside. Read more.
[4:32pm Doha Time] WFP halts north Gaza deliveries after gunfire
WFP, the UN’s food agency, says it has paused deliveries of aid to northern Gaza despite widespread hunger after a convoy of trucks faced gunfire and attacks.
The WFP resumed deliveries on Sunday after a three-week suspension but its convoy “faced complete chaos and violence due to the collapse of civil order” and its teams reported witnessing “unprecedented levels of desperation”, it said.
[2pm Doha Time] WHO completes second Gaza hospital evacuation amid ongoing raid
The WHO says it has completed a second evacuation mission from Gaza’s Nasser Hospital, transferring a total of 32 critical patients including children from the site amid ongoing hostilities.
Efforts to transfer the remaining patients continue, the global health agency said.
“WHO fears for the safety and well-being of the patients and health workers remaining in the hospital and warns that further disruption to lifesaving care for the sick and injured would lead to more deaths,” it said in a post on X.
[1pm Doha Time] Gaza Health Ministry says 103 people killed in last 24 hours
At least 103 people have been killed in Israeli attacks across Gaza in the past 24 hours, taking the toll to 29,195 since October 7, according to the Palestinian Health Ministry.
The ministry, on its Telegram channel, said that 69,170 people have been wounded since Israel launched its devastating campaign in Gaza.
The Israeli forces prevented ambulance and civil defence crews from reaching some of the wounded and people trapped under the rubble, it said, adding that “nine massacres” were committed against families in Gaza.
[1:30pm Doha Time] Hospital in Rafah overcrowded with orphans, premature babies
Al-Helal Al-Emairati Maternity Hospital in Rafah is witnessing overcrowding of children who have become orphans as well as premature babies, reported Al Jazeera.
“We now have at least 70 to 80 cases per day in the hospital,” said Dr Ahmed al-Shaer, deputy head of the hospital’s nursery department, referring to the number of children brought in each day orphaned as a result of the war.
“One of them is an unknown child and we do not know the fate of his family, and people found him on a tree in the morning as a result of the shelling and brought him to the hospital.”
Al Jazeera also stated that it saw footages of bodies of premature babies who died a few days ago, with the hospital administration unable to reach their families, which were confirmed by doctors.
Doctors at the hospital have said they are facing overcrowding issues, and that there is a lack of equipment, oxygen and electricity.
“[Gaza’s] health sector has been completely destroyed.”
[11am Doha Time] Rise of acute malnutrition of children in Gaza: WHO
The World Health Organization (WHO) announced that the number of children suffering from malnutrition in the Gaza Strip has risen sharply as a result of the ongoing Israeli occupation aggression since Oct. 7.
"90% of children under the age of 2 and 95 per cent of pregnant and breastfeeding women face severe food poverty meaning they have consumed two or less food groups in the previous day and the food they do have access to is of the lowest nutritional value", WHO said in a statement, adding that "95 per cent of households are limiting meals and portion sizes. Read more
[10:30am Doha Time] Israeli troops shoot at Palestinians receiving aid, Al Jazeera reports
Israeli forces have opened fire on crowds of people waiting for humanitarian aid supplies in northern Gaza, stated Al Jazeera. In At least one Palestinian man was killed and many others were wounded as a barrage of gunfire targeted the group, who were waiting for food to be distributed.
Palestinians risked their lives attempting to get aid in Gaza City, as Israeli forces opened fire on the starving crowd gathered in hopes of receiving aid parcels to feed themselves and their families ⤵️ pic.twitter.com/FBkftx3q15
— Al Jazeera English (@AJEnglish) February 20, 2024
[10am Doha Time] Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor demands establishment of international legal team to probe occupation's crimes in Gaza
Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor demanded the establishment of an international legal team, the application of pressure to secure this team's entry into the Gaza Strip, and the start of an inquiry into crimes and violations committed by the Israeli occupation forces during the ongoing aggression against the Gaza Strip.
The recent statement by United Nations experts on Israel's flagrant human rights violations of Palestinian women and girls in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank was welcomed by Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor. The rights group emphasised the significance of the statement given the Israeli genocide against Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, ongoing since Oct. 7, 2023.
"We are shocked by reports of the deliberate targeting and extrajudicial killing of Palestinian women and children in places where they sought refuge, or while fleeing," according to the UN experts' statement.
"Some of them were reportedly holding white pieces of cloth when they were killed by the Israeli army or affiliated forces," the experts add.
The experts express further concern that an unknown number of Palestinian women and children, have reportedly gone missing after contact with the Israeli army in Gaza, the Euro-Med Monitor said.
UN experts' statement should be adopted as an additional document to hold Israel responsible for its violations against Palestinian civilians, stressed Euro-Med Monitor. This is especially important as the International Court of Justice is deliberating over South Africas lawsuit, which accuses Israel of committing genocide in the Gaza Strip.
Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor once again urged the international community to pressure Israel to end its policy of forced disappearance, which affects nearly thousands of Palestinian detainees from the Gaza Strip, including women and children, and to disclose the whereabouts of the dozens of women it has detained from refugee centers and from their own homes.
[9:30am Doha Time] Qatari aid plane for Gaza arrives in Egypt; wounded evacuated to Doha
A plane belonging to the Qatari Armed Forces arrived in the city of Al-Arish in the Arab Republic of Egypt, carrying 20 tons of aid, including food supplies, provided by the Qatar Fund for Development and the Qatar Red Crescent, bringing the total number of aid planes to 79. Read more
