Israeli Aggression
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US CIA Director Burns says ‘still a possibility’ of Gaza deal
US Central Intelligence Agency director William Burns has said there is “still a possibility” of a Gaza ceasefire deal, although many complicated issues remain, Reuters reports.
“I think there’s still the possibility of such a deal. And as I said, it won’t be for lack of trying on our part, working very closely with our Israeli, Qatari, and Egyptian counterparts. This is a very tough process. I dont think anyone can guarantee success. The only thing I think you can guarantee is that the alternatives are worse,” he told a House of Representatives hearing.
US CIA Director Burns says ‘still a possibility’ of Gaza deal
US Central Intelligence Agency director William Burns has said there is “still a possibility” of a Gaza ceasefire deal, although many complicated issues remain, Reuters reports.
“I think there’s still the possibility of such a deal. And as I said, it won’t be for lack of trying on our part, working very closely with our Israeli, Qatari, and Egyptian counterparts. This is a very tough process. I dont think anyone can guarantee success. The only thing I think you can guarantee is that the alternatives are worse,” he told a House of Representatives hearing.
Israel army says about 4,500 Hezbollah targets hit in five months
The Israeli army has said it hit about 4,500 Hezbollah targets in Lebanon and Syria over the past five months, killing 300 of the group’s fighters and wounding more than 750, AFP reports.
The targets were hit from the air and the ground, the army said in a statement, and included “weapons storage facilities, military structures intended for Hezbollah’s offensive activity and operational command and control centres”.
Five senior commanders were among those killed, and dozens of “terrorist cells” that directed or fired anti-tank missiles and rockets at Israel were struck, the military said.
The strikes were in response to the Iran-backed Hezbollah’s “attacks against civilians and communities in northern Israel”, it said.
Israeli forces kill Jordanian in West Bank: Palestinian ministry
Palestinian authorities say a Jordanian citizen has died after being shot by Israeli forces in the occupied West Bank with the military accusing the man of aiding a militant.
Tawfiq Aed Fawaz Hussein, 25, was shot at Zeita junction north of the West Bank city of Tulkarm on Monday, the Palestinian foreign ministry said.
“He was injured in the leg and the occupation forces left him bleeding inside the ambulance for more than an hour and a half before he died,” the ministry said in a statement.
Contacted by AFP, the Israeli military said Hussein was suspected of being an accomplice of a Palestinian fighter.
A Palestinian security source, requesting anonymity, said Hussein hailed from the Jordanian city of Russeifa and had come to visit relatives in Nur Shams refugee camp near Tulkarm.
Biden says he’s devastated to learn of killing of US-Israeli citizen on Oct 7
US President Joe Biden has said he was devastated to learn that dual US-Israel citizen Itay Chen was killed in Hamas’ October 7 attack on Israel, Reuters reports.
“I reaffirm my pledge to all the families of those still held hostage: we are with you. We will never stop working to bring your loved ones home,” Biden said in a statement released by the White House.
446 ‘violations targeting staff’ in West Bank since Oct 7: PRCS
The Palestine Red Crescent Society has said it documented 446 violations targeting its medical missions in the West Bank since October 7.
In a post on X, it said, “Since the start of the war on the Gaza Strip, we’ve seen a concerning rise in occupation attacks and violations targeting PRCS medical missions in the West Bank.
“We’ve documented 446 violations, with 98 specifically targeting medical crews,” it added.
— PRCS (@PalestineRCS) March 12, 2024
NGOs sue Denmark to end arms export to Israel
A group of NGOs has said they will sue the Danish state to end the Nordic country’s arms exports to Israel, citing concerns that its weapons were being used to commit serious crimes against civilians during the fighting in Gaza, Reuters reports.
Amnesty International Denmark, Oxfam Denmark, MS Action Aid and Palestinian human rights organisation Al-Haq in a joint statement said they will sue the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the National Police, which approves Danish sales of weapons and military equipment. They said they would file the lawsuit to a yet unspecified court within the next three weeks.
“For five months we have been talking about a potential genocide in Gaza, but we have not seen politicians take action,” Tim Whyte, Secretary General of MS Action, said in a statement.
Israeli forces attacking outskirts of Gaza’s Deir al-Balah: report
Since the early morning, Israeli tanks have been heavily hitting the eastern outskirts of Deir el-Balah, Al Jazeera reports. At least four Israeli air strikes have targeted the same areas.
Reporting gunfire and fighting, it said people in Deir el-Balah, where more than half a million are taking shelter, are frightened and panicked from a deeper Israeli ground invasion that will force them into further displacement.
“We don’t have anywhere to go. All that we have is to stay and wait for our turns to be killed,”
Israel checking whether it killed Hamas military no 2 Issa in Gaza
Israel was checking whether it had killed Hamas’ deputy military leader in an airstrike in Gaza, the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) have said, Reuters reports.
If his death is confirmed, Marwan Issa will be the highest-ranking official from Hamas killed by Israel in five months of offensive that has pulverised the coastal enclave and killed tens of thousands of Palestinians.
Issa, known as the ‘Shadow Man’ for his ability to stay out of sight, was one of three top Hamas leaders who planned the Oct 7 attack on Israel that triggered the crisis and who are believed to have been directing Hamas’ military operations since then.
Speaking at a briefing with reporters, IDF spokesperson Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari said Israel had bombed the Al-Nusseirat refugee camp in central Gaza on Saturday night following intelligence about the location of Issa, second-in-command of Hamas’s military wing, the Izz el-Deen al-Qassam Brigades.
Qatar says Israel, Hamas ‘not near a deal’ on Gaza truce
Israel and Hamas are not close to a deal on a cessation of hostilities in Gaza and releasing hostages, mediator Qatar has said, warning the situation remained “very complicated”, AFP reports.
Despite weeks of talks involving US, Qatari and Egyptian mediators, Ramazan began on Monday without the start of a widely expected truce and hostage exchange.
“We are not near a deal, meaning that we are not seeing both sides converging on language that can resolve the current disagreement over the implementation of a deal,” foreign ministry spokesman Majed al-Ansari told a news conference.
All parties were “continuing to work in the negotiations to reach a deal hopefully within the confines of Ramazan”, Ansari said. But he added that he could not “offer any timeline” on a deal and explained the conflict remained “very complicated on the ground”.
No joy in this year’s Ramadan, displaced Palestinians say
In Gaza’s southern border city of Rafah, where 1.5 million people have taken refuge, the usually generous iftar meal marking the end of the day’s fast was replaced by “canned food and beans”, said displaced Khan Younis resident Mohammad al-Masry.
“We didn’t prepare anything. What do displaced people have?” al-Masry said.
“We don’t feel the joy of Ramadan … Look at the people staying in tents in the cold.”
Om Muhammad Abu Matar, also displaced from Khan Younis, told AFP that this year, Ramadan had “the taste of blood and misery, separation and oppression”.
Hezbollah, Israel conflict ‘escalating steadily’
Omar Ashour, a security professor at the Doha Institute for Graduate Studies, say the conflict between Hezbollah and Israel has been “escalating steadily”.
“Now we have more rockets launched from south Lebanon than anything that happened in Gaza from February 15, and also […] in 2006 the July 34 day war, Hezbollah was launching about 120 rockets per day, so now we’re reaching that,” Ashour told Al Jazeera.
He added that Hezbollah’s military arsenal is “much greater” than Hamas’ and is considered a “rocket artillery army”.
“It [Hezbollah] has at least 50,000 members who are regulars in its armed forces and other 50,000 reservists. So we’re talking about a force of manpower of about 100,000, that’s the force of about a small state.”
Children in Gaza suffer from ‘complete psychological destruction’
Without urgent action, Israel’s war on the Gaza Strip will inflict further lifelong detrimental mental harm to Palestinian children, with rapidly shrinking opportunities to recover, a report by Save the Children said.
The report notes that before October 7, children in Gaza were already living with exceptionally poor mental health due to the 16 years of a blockade, lack of freedom of movement, various Israeli escalations on the Strip, economic collapse, and separation from family and friends.
“It is unacceptable that any child should contend with the horrors that those in Gaza have lived through,” said Jason Lee, Save the Children’s Country Director for the occupied Palestinian territories.
“While dodging bombs and bullets, fleeing through streets littered with debris and corpses, being forced to sleep in the open air and going without the basic food and clean water they need to survive, children in Gaza are going through a period of mass-scale shock and grief.
“This war and the physical and mental scars it is leaving on children is further eroding their resilience.”
Charity ship carrying 200 tonnes of food sets sail for Gaza from Cyprus
Charity ship Open Arms has set sail for Gaza from Cyprus, carrying almost 200 tonnes of food.
The mission, part of a pilot project attempting to open sea routes for aid to be delivered to Gaza’s starving population, is being organised by US charity World Central Kitchen (WCK) and funded by the UAE.
Jets target rocket launchers in Lebanon: Army
Media is receiving updates on the exchange of fire over the Lebanese-Israeli border.
Israel’s army says its fighter jets attacked three rocket launchers in Lebanon.
The statement on X said morning’s rocket attacks on the occupied Golan Heights were made from the launchers in question.
About 100 rockets were launched from Lebanon towards the occupied Golan Heights in the morning in two barrages, according to Israel’s army radio and other media reports.
No causalities or damage was reported, with the majority of the rockets landing in open areas.
Dozens of rockets fired at northern Israel and Golan Heights
Dozens of rockets have been fired from Lebanon at Israel’s Upper Galilee region and the occupied Golan Heights, according to the Israeli army radio and media reports.
Some of them landed in open areas, while others were intercepted by Israel’s defence systems, reports say.
Footage shared on social media purportedly showed rockets in the air and landing in open areas.
Sirens had sounded in several regions in the north of the occupied Golan Heights and Upper Galilee.
The Israeli army and Lebanese group Hezbollah have been engaged in regular cross-border exchange of fire since the start of the war.
Houthi missiles fired at ship in Red Sea, US military says
CAIRO (Reuters) – Yemen's Iran-aligned Houthi group fired missiles at a Liberian-flagged container ship in the Red Sea but did not hit the vessel, the U.S. Central Command said on Tuesday.
Two anti-ship ballistic missiles were fired at the Pinocchio from Yemeni territory, CENTCOM said, resulting in no damage or injuries.
Heavy security presence near Al-Aqsa Mosque as thousands gather to pray
The Islamic Waqf Department in Jerusalem has announced that 35,000 worshippers gathered at Al-Aqsa Mosque on the first night of Ramadan.
Israeli forces earlier stopped young Palestinian men from entering the mosque compound, including Adel, who told Al Jazeera “I came to pray”.
“They always refuse to let us pray as if it’s their mosque. We are peaceful, we are not carrying anything,” he said.
“This is the mosque that the Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon [him], journeyed from,” he added.
Israel must change course in Gaza to keep international support: Australia
Australia’s Foreign Minister Penny Wong said Netanyahu was undermining Israel with his approach to the war in Gaza and urged him to change course.
On Saturday, President Biden said Netanyahu was “hurting Israel more than helping” by conducting the war in a way contrary to the country’s values.
Asked about his comments on Tuesday, Wong agreed and said international support for Israel would continue to fray unless it addressed the “humanitarian catastrophe” in Gaza.
“October 7 was a terrorist attack and the world was rightly very sympathetic to and in solidarity with Israel at that time,” Wong said at the Australian Financial Review Business Summit on Tuesday.
“I think the world is horrified with the current situation … and I would say that unless Israel changes its course it will continue to lose support.”
Islamic resistance in Iraq claims drone attack on Ben Gurion Airport
The Islamic Resistance in Iraq, an umbrella group of Iran-backed Shia hardline groups, has claimed a drone attack on Ben Gurion Airport, Israel’s largest, near Tel Aviv.
“The Islamic Resistance in Iraq [on Monday] targeted, by drone, Ben Gurion Airport deep within the usurping entity, stressing that we will continue to destroy enemy strongholds, in completion of the second phase of operations to resist the occupation, and to support our people in Gaza,” the group said in a statement.
Palestinians pray at Al-Aqsa mosque on first night of Ramadan
How US is arming Israel’s war on Gaza, including alleged secret transfers
The White House has refused to deny reports that the Biden administration has been secretly funnelling weapons for Israel’s war on Gaza using a legal loophole.
Despite its public condemnation of mounting civilian casualties in the besieged enclave, it’s just one of the ways the US is funding and driving the war.
UN chief 'appalled and outraged' by ongoing war in Gaza in Ramazan
UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Monday (Mar 11) called for a truce in the Israel-Hamas war in the Gaza Strip, as the holy Muslim fasting month of Ramazan begins.
He also called for the release of hostages held by Hamas and the removal of "all obstacles to ensure the delivery of lifesaving aid at the speed and massive scale required" to Gaza, where the UN has warned that a quarter of the population is on the brink of famine.
Israel checking reports Hamas' military No 2 killed in Gaza strike
JERUSALEM/CAIRO (Reuters) - Israel was checking on Monday (Mar 11) if Hamas's second-highest military leader died in an air strike, media said, as talks stumbled to secure a ceasefire in the Gaza war to coincide with the Muslim holy month of Ramazan.
If his death is confirmed, Marwan Issa would be the highest-ranking official from the Islamist militant movement taken out by Israel in the more than five-month war that has pulverised the Palestinian enclave and killed thousands.
Unexploded bombs, a long-term threat to life in Gaza
GAZA (Agencies) - The NGO Humanity & Inclusion has been working for decades to protect civilians from explosive weapons and has repeatedly warned about the dangers posed by the presence of Israeli explosive remnants of war in the Gaza Strip. The consequences of which are far-reaching: loss of life, disabling injuries, psychological trauma and delayed deliveries of humanitarian aid and reconstruction efforts.
For more than five months, the Israeli army has been pounding the Gaza Strip in retaliation for the Hamas-led October 7 attack on Israel.
Ramazan brings no relief as Israel-Hamas war rages in Gaza
GAZA STRIP (Palestinian Territories) (AFP) – The first day of Ramazan on Monday arrived like others for Palestinians in war-ravaged Gaza: stalked by famine and disease, shivering in tents and threatened by bombs more than five months into fighting between Israel and Hamas militants.
As the Muslim world welcomed the holy month and its customary daytime fast, many Gazans faced bombardment that saw residents once more search through the rubble of destroyed homes for survivors and bodies.
