Israel Atrocities
Live Reporting
‘I yearn for the girl I used to be’: Gaza women tell their stories
Marah al-Qayed, 19, says the war has taken all of her dreams, while Nada Abdelsalam, 34, says she has lost track of the passing days, consumed by the ceaseless demands of caring for her eight children from dawn to dusk in difficult conditions.
“Women in Gaza have borne the brunt of this war. Our burdens have multiplied, and our sense of privacy has vanished,” Abdelsalam says.
Clashes, arrests as Israeli forces carry out raids across West Bank: Report
Israeli forces have launched raids in multiple locations across the occupied West Bank, according to the Wafa news agency, arresting four young men, destroying infrastructure and prompting clashes in the Nur Shams camp near the city of Tulkarem.
The four young men were arrested in the village of Ein al-Sakhout in the northern West Bank on Friday evening, Wafa said. The raids – which took place in or around the cities of Tulkarem, Jenin, Bethlehem, and Qalqilya – happened late at night on Friday and at dawn on Saturday, it said.
In Tulkarem and the Nur Shams refugee camp, a large contingent of Israeli forces that were accompanied by four bulldozers deployed live rounds and destroyed roads, water lines and greenhouses, according to Wafa.
The raids resulted in clashes in the refugee camp, during which explosions were also heard, it said.
UK’s Cameron says Gaza ceasefire possible if Hamas accepts Israel-backed proposal
UK Foreign Secretary David Cameron has said that a ceasefire in Gaza is possible soon if Hamas will agree to an Israel-backed proposal to pause fighting for 45 days in return for the release of captives.
“Hamas should sign that today. Then we could have that pause for 45 days, or maybe even longer, and use that pause to build momentum for a permanent, sustainable ceasefire without a return to fighting,” Cameron said in an interview with Sky News.
“We all want to see this terrible fighting stop. And that would be the best way to make it happen. But it is for Hamas to make that decision and they should do that today.”
Israeli officials have previously said a ceasefire agreement would only delay their threatened assault on the city of Rafah in southern Gaza, while Hamas has insisted on a permanent ceasefire and the complete withdrawal of Israeli troops from Gaza as part of any deal.
US ambassador praises Japan for scheduling meeting on alleged sexual violence during Hamas attack
The US ambassador to Japan has praised Tokyo for exercising “true leadership” at the UN Security Council by scheduling a meeting to discuss allegations of sexual violence during the Hamas-led attack on Israel on October 7.
“Japan is setting the eyes of the world to see the full horror and depravity of Hamas’ use of sexual violence as a weapon,” Rahm Emanuel said in a post on X.
“We will not turn our back, turn our eyes away, or place our hands over our ears when it comes to the victims’ stories from October 7 and afterward. Japan is exercising true leadership.”
Japan, which currently holds the presidency of the UN Security Council, will chair a meeting on Monday to discuss a report by UN experts that found there are “reasonable grounds to believe” rape and gang rape occurred during the October 7 attack on Israel.
The report, however, did not draw conclusions “on attribution of alleged violations to specific armed groups”.
Hamas has denied that its fighters carried out sexual violence during their incursion into southern Israel.
Israeli settlers launch new attacks in West Bank: Report
The Wafa news agency is reporting a fresh wave of attacks by Israeli settlers in the occupied West Bank overnight, including in the Masafer Yatta area near the city of Hebron and the village of Burqa near the city of Ramallah.
The separate groups of settlers wounded two Palestinians including an elderly man in Masafer Yatta and attempted to set a house on fire in Burqa, Wafa said.
The attacks come as the UN said it had documented a dramatic increase in the intensity, severity and regularity of both Israeli settler and state violence against Palestinians in the occupied West Bank, particularly since the deadly Hamas attacks on Israel on October 7.
Up to 60 days for US to establish Gaza port, Pentagon says
WASHINGTON (AFP) – The US plan to establish a temporary port for aid deliveries to Gaza will take up to 60 days to carry out and will likely involve more than 1,000 American personnel, the Pentagon said Friday.
US President Joe Biden announced the plan the previous night during his State of the Union address, in which he pleaded with Israel to let more assistance into the blockaded territory even as he defended its military operation against Hamas.
Gaza hospital medic says aid airdrop kills five
GAZA STRIP (Palestinian Territories) (AFP) – A medic at Gaza's largest hospital said Friday a humanitarian airdrop in the north of the Palestinian territory killed five people and wounded 10.
The casualties were taken to Gaza City's Al-Shifa hospital, the emergency room's head nurse, Mohammed al-Sheikh, told AFP.
EU says Gaza to get aid by sea as airdrop ends in deaths
GAZA STRIP (Palestinian Territories) (AFP) – An international effort gathered pace Friday to get desperately needed humanitarian relief into Gaza by sea, in the latest bid to counter overland access restrictions blamed on Israel as it battles Hamas militants.
The dire conditions more than five months into the war have led some countries to airdrop food and other assistance over the besieged Gaza Strip, but a parachute malfunction turned the latest operation lethal.
Biden says Gaza ceasefire by Ramadan 'looking tough'
WASHINGTON (Agencies) - US President Joe Biden warned Friday (Mar 8) that it would be "tough" to secure a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas by the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.
"It's looking tough," Biden told reporters when asked if a deal to halt the five-month-old conflict could be achieved by Ramadan, which is due to start as early as Sunday depending on the sighting of the moon.
