Gaza Unrest
Live Reporting
US military says it destroyed Houthi missiles targeted at Red Sea
The US military says it has destroyed seven ant-iship cruise missiles that Yemen’s Houthi rebel group planned to launch at targets in the Red Sea.
“CENTCOM forces identified these missiles in Houthi-controlled areas of Yemen and determined that they presented an imminent threat to merchant vessels and to the US Navy ships in the region,” US Central Command said in a post on X.
“These actions will protect freedom of navigation and make international waters safer and more secure for US Navy and merchant vessels.”
Latest casualty figures
Gaza
Killed: 29,606
Wounded: 69,737
Occupied West Bank
Killed: 406
Wounded: 4,600
Israel:
Killed on October 7: 1,139 (revised down from 1,400)
Wounded: 2,962
Soldiers killed since ground invasion: 237
Source: Palestinian Health Ministry and Israel’s Social Security Agency
‘Beaten, stripped, used as human shield’: Gaza victim recalls Israel terror
Blood all over his face, and his eyes swollen, Ramadan Shamlakh arrived at a hospital after passersby found him struggling to walk southwards from northern Gaza.
The 21-year-old man said he had endured beatings, a stripping and a war crime – he was used as a human shield – by Israeli soldiers when they raided his family home in the Zeitoun neighbourhood of Gaza City.
As Israel resumed its attacks on parts of Gaza City, Ramadan Shamlakh’s family home was attacked. Then, according to his account, a war crime took place.
Palestinian PM denounces plan for new Israeli settlements
Palestinian PM Mohammad Shtayyeh has described Israel’s recent announcement of plans to build 3,000 new illegal settlement units as a “blatant challenge to the international community” and an obstacle to establishing an independent Palestinian state.
Shtayyeh said Israel’s actions demonstrate its disregard for international laws.
Building of most of the new units will begin in the next two weeks, in the Israeli settlement of Ma’ale Adumim, east of occupied East Jerusalem.
Israeli settlement watchdog Peace Now said that “Israel’s 2024 budget shows an addition of over $100m to settlements”.
“In 2024, coalition funds for settlements will amount to over $203m [instead of the originally allocated $76m in the government decision from May 2023],” it added,
Israel to ramp up tax deductions from occupied West Bank
There are reports that Israel will deduct an additional $5m from Palestinian Authority (PA) tax revenues over 2024.
Israel collects PA customs, since Palestinians do not control their own borders. On average, the amount is between $180-200m monthly and makes up more than 60% of PA revenues.
Since October 7, Israel has been withholding PA revenues, with recent reports warning the body could run out of money by the end of February.
Mostly women and children killed in overnight attacks
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. We’re looking at, as of now, 25 people killed and more than 70 people with critical injuries, all reported to Al-Aqsa Hospital.
Women and children make up the vast majority of those killed in the overnight attacks. The number is expected to rise as the day progresses.
‘Israeli forces wreaking, killing and destroying Gazans’
A doctor from Gaza, who completed his medical training in Ukraine, has shared his experience of working in two different war zones.
He says he was able to give his Ukrainian patients a fair chance to recover but at al-Aqsa Hospital in Deir el-Balah, he’s having to make life or death choices because of shortages – including of anaesthetic.
“I served almost one year at Ukrainian hospitals,” Dr Musa Abdul Khaliq, a resident of Deir el-Balah, said.
“The situation in Gaza is totally different. From day one of this war till this hour, the Israeli forces are wreaking, killing and destroying Gazans. We are flooded with dead bodies and critically wounded Palestinians. If we draw a quick comparison, in Ukraine, hospitals are many in number and large in size and well equipped. That is why survival odds, for both medical staff and the wounded are high. In Gaza, it is completely the opposite.”
How Israel’s war on Gaza is bleeding Egypt’s economy
Already facing a deep crisis, Egypt’s economy appears poised to take a hit from Israel’s war on Gaza and the spiralling tensions in the Red Sea, analysts said.
Currently on “life support”, Egypt’s deteriorating economy suffers from growing public debt now at more than 90 percent of its GDP, capital flight and the currency’s fall against the US dollar.
Now, those challenges are being compounded by the war, as it edges closer and closer to Egypt’s border, with a large chunk of Gaza’s population pushed into Rafah, after four months of displacement as a result of Israel’s relentless attacks.
Fundraisers for violent West Bank settlers raised thousands after US sanctions: Report
An online fundraiser collected over $140,000 for hardline Israeli settler Yinon Levi despite sanctions imposed by the United States, the Associated Press has reported.
The funds were raised on the Israeli website Givechak by a nonprofit under the auspices of an Israeli settler council, the AP said, putting donors, crowdfunding sites and financial services firms at risk of penalties for violating US sanctions.
Levi is one of seven hardline settlers who were sanctioned by the US and the UK over their alleged involvement in attacks against Palestinians in the West Bank.
Singaporean influencers ‘advised’ against pro-Palestine activism
Singapore’s government has approached two social media influencers and “advised” them against pro-Palestinian activism, a local newspaper has reported.
Camira Asrori, a fashion influencer, said in a video posted on social media earlier this month that she was stopped at the border while returning from Japan and warned about posts on attending a pro-Palestinian protest in the country.
Dahlia Mohd, another influencer, said in response to Asrori’s video that she had also been questioned by authorities over posts seeking to raise funds for Palestinians in Gaza.
The city-state’s Ministry of Home Affairs confirmed to the Straits Times newspaper that the two women had been “advised” over their activities.
“Camira Asrori was advised against encouraging Singaporeans to protest overseas, because we have seen that such activities can lead to public disorder and even violence, and protesters risk running afoul of the laws of the country, and putting themselves in harm’s way,” the newspaper quoted the ministry as saying.
Malaysian MPs visit victims of Gaza war in Egypt
A delegation of Malaysian MPs has visited victims of the war in Gaza at a hospital in Egypt.
The parliamentary delegation was led by Deputy Foreign Minister Datuk Mohamad bin Alamin and visited the hospital along with Palestinian Red Crescent Society chairman, Tarek Arafat, Malaysia’s Foreign Ministry said.
The delegation next plans to visit Gaza’s Rafah, where Israel is planning a major military offensive.
Malaysia, which has a majority Muslim population, has strongly criticised Israel over its war in Gaza and called for an immediate ceasefire to halt the deaths of Palestinians in the enclave.
DFM Datuk Mohamad bin Alamin, leading a delegation of Malaysian MPs to Egypt, visited Gaza war victims together with Palestinian Red Crescent Society Chairman Tarek Arafat, at Palestine Hospital on 22 February 2024.
— Wisma Putra (@MalaysiaMFA) February 23, 2024
The Malaysian delegation is currently heading for Rafah. pic.twitter.com/3lkeCPduAL
Gaza ceasefire talks in Paris expected to continue over weekend: Report
Reuters news agency has reported that talks are under way in Paris in what appears to be the most serious push in weeks to halt the fighting in Gaza.
The news agency cites a source briefed on the talks who said that discussion had started with Israel’s head of Mossad intelligence service meeting separately with each negotiating party – Qatar, Egypt and the US – on Friday.
Two Egyptian security sources earlier confirmed to Reuters that Egyptian intelligence chief Abbas Kamel would travel to Paris on Friday for the talks with the Israelis, after wrapping up talks with Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh in Cairo on Thursday.
An official from Hamas told Reuters that the group had wrapped up ceasefire talks in Cairo and was waiting to see what mediators brought back from the weekend talks with Israel.
Israel has not publicly commented on the Paris talks, which are expected to continue through the weekend.
UK gov’t condemns ‘from river to the sea’ projection onto parliament building
A spokesperson for the UK prime minister’s office has condemned pro-Palestinian protesters for projecting the phrase “from the river to the sea” onto parliament.
The phrase, which critics say is anti-Semitic but supporters defend as aspirational of Palestinian statehood, was beamed onto Big Ben on Wednesday as demonstrators gathered at Westminster.
“It is rightly a decision for the independent police to make operational decisions on the ground,” the prime minister’s spokesperson was quoted as telling journalists by PA Media.
“But at the same time, I think most people would agree, irrespective of operational decisions, which are rightly for the police, that that was wrong. And we are extremely mindful and would continue to urge people to be mindful of the fear and distress felt by people and many communities around the country.”
Israeli strike kills 23 at family home of Gaza comedian: ministry
GAZA STRIP (Palestinian Territories) (AFP) – An Israeli air strike on Friday destroyed the home of a well-known Palestinian comedian in Gaza, killing at least 23 and injuring dozens more, according to the health ministry in the Hamas-run territory.
Mahmoud Zuaiter's family home in the Deir al-Balah area of central Gaza was flattened, with most of the victims women and children, it added.
Zuaiter, who was injured in the attack, has more than 1.2 million fans on Instagram while his videos have been seen widely on YouTube.
Netanyahu's post-war plan sees Israel keeping control over Palestinian areas
JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has presented his first official "day after" plan for the Gaza Strip once the war ends, saying Israel will keep security control over Palestinian areas and make reconstruction dependent on demilitarisation.
The plan, which brings together a range of well-established Israeli positions, underlines Netanyahu's resistance to the creation of a Palestinian state which he sees as a security threat, without explicitly ruling one out at some future stage.
Israeli spy chief joins ceasefire talks as bombardment in southern Gaza continues
PARIS/GAZA STRIP (AFP) - Israeli air strikes targeted homes in southern Gaza, witnesses said on Friday (Feb 23), adding to what aid groups describe as an increasingly hopeless humanitarian situation despite efforts towards new truce talks.
An Israeli delegation led by David Barnea, head of the Mossad intelligence agency, has arrived in Paris to "unblock" truce discussions in the war with Hamas militants.
His trip follows what the health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza said was the death of more than 100 people over the previous day.
