People mourn relatives killed in overnight Israeli bombardment, outside the Al-Najjar hospital in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip on February 23, 2024. (Photo by Mohammed Abed / AFP)
Doha, Qatar: More than 100 people were reported killed early Saturday in overnight strikes across Gaza, reported as UN voiced concern of growing risk of famine saying that Gazans are 'in extreme peril while the world watches on'.
An Israeli air strike Friday destroyed the Gaza home of well-known Palestinian comedian Mahmoud Zuaiter, reported AFP, killing at least 23 people and injuring dozens more, the health ministry said.
The ministry announced early Saturday that at least 103 more people were killed in strikes overnight, with many others believed to be missing under rubble.
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[1:03pm Doha Time] Palestinians cling to life in Rafah
In the narrow crevices between the tents that crowd nearly every inch of the southern Gaza town of Rafah, Palestinians cling to life amid the grinding war with Israel. Read more.
Palestinians inspect a car carcass following Israeli air strikes on the Rafah refugee camp in the southern Gaza Strip on February 24, 2024, amid continuing battles between Israel and the Palestinian militant group Hamas. (Photo by SAID KHATIB / AFP)
[9:02pm Doha Time] ICJ member states should cut ties with Israel: Euro-Med
International Court of Justice member states should cut political and military ties with Israel for violating the ruling on the Gaza genocide, the Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor says.
In a statement, the Geneva-based organisation said that over the course of the four weeks since the ICJ decision, it has continued to document Israeli violations during its war on the Gaza Strip, ongoing since October 7.
“From the evidence examined in the period since the court ruling, Euro-Med Monitor demonstrated that the Israeli army is still carrying out genocide against the Palestinian people in the Gaza Strip,” the organisation said.
“Euro-Med Monitor emphasised that Israel persists in violating international law by targeting Palestinians, primarily in the Gaza Strip, with genocide, grave violations, war crimes, and crimes against humanity.”
[12:00pm Doha Time] Gaza death toll rises
At least 29,606 people have been killed in Gaza by Israeli attacks since October 7, with another 69,737 wounded, according to Gaza’s health ministry.
The toll includes at least 92 fatalities in the past 24 hours, the ministry added.
Women mourn after the death of relatives in an Israeli air strike that hit the Baraka family home in Deir al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip on February 18, 2024. (Photo by AFP)
[10:30am Doha Time] Nine Palestinians detained in occupied West Bank
At least nine Palestinians have been detained by Israeli forces in the occupied West Bank overnight.
Israeli raids continued across the region. In Masafer Yatta, south of Hebron Hills, Israeli forces were filmed beating an activist.
[10am Doha Time] Gaza Palestinians ‘in extreme peril while the world watches on’
The UN has warned of the growing risk of famine and its main aid body for Palestinians, the UNWRA, desperately needs resources as Gaza Palestinians are “in extreme peril while the world watches on”.
Footage shared by AFP news agency showed distraught people queueing for food in the territory’s devastated north on Friday and staging a protest decrying their living conditions.
“Look, we are fighting each other over rice,” said Jabalia resident Ahmad Atef Safi. “Where are we supposed to go?”
“We have no water, no flour and we are very tired because of hunger. Our backs and eyes hurt because of fire and smoke,” fellow Jabalia resident Oum Wajdi Salha said.
“We can’t stand on our feet because of hunger and lack of food.”
In a Friday night statement on X, the UN humanitarian agency OCHA said: “Without adequate food and water supplies, as well as health and nutrition services, the elevated risk of famine in #Gaza is projected to increase.”
[9:30am Doha Time] Mostly women and children killed in overnight attacks
Al Jazeera reported a very deadly and a bloody night for people in the central area and the southern part of the Gaza Strip.
The worst of these overnight attacks happened at early hours of this morning in Deir el-Balah, in homes where more than 120 people were sheltering. The vast majority of the people were displaced Palestinians. Jazeera further that 25 people killed and more than 70 people with critical injuries were reported to Al-Aqsa Hospital.
Women and children make up the vast majority of those killed in the overnight attacks.
[9am Doha Time] Brazil’s President Lula blasts Israel’s ‘genocide’ in Gaza – again
Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva has doubled down on his criticism of Israel, saying, once again, that what “the Israeli government is doing is not war, it is genocide”.
“Children and women are being murdered,” Lula said at a public event and then posted his comments on social media.
Referring to the furore in Israel over comments last weekend when he compared Israel’s war on Gaza to the Holocaust, Lula said on Friday night that people should read for themselves what he had said about Israel’s conduct.
“Read the interview and stop judging me based on the speech of the prime minister of Israel,” Lula said.
In his post on Saturday, Lula added: “I say: I will not exchange my dignity for falsehood. I am in favour of the creation of a free and sovereign Palestinian State. May this Palestinian State live in harmony with the State of Israel.”
[8:45am Doha Time] Palestinians cling to life in Rafah, a town likely to be Israel's next focus
In the narrow crevices between the tents that crowd nearly every inch of the southern Gaza town of Rafah, Palestinians cling to life amid the grinding war with Israel.
A barefoot boy wears a pot on his head and beams a smile. A child lugs a jerry can half his size full of water. Men sit at half-empty tables selling canned goods. A tapestry of laundry hangs from every line.
The world’s gaze is on Rafah, the once-sleepy town along the Egyptian border that is likely Israel’s next focus in its fight against Hamas. Read more
