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ISRAEL-HAMAS WAR
🔴Live: Spanish aid ship Open Arms reaches Gaza coast with 200 tonnes of food
The Spanish aid vessel Open Arms carrying 200 tonnes of food destined for Gaza reached the besieged territory’s coast on Friday. The aid comes as the United Nations has repeatedly warned of famine in the area. Follow FRANCE 24’s liveblog for all the latest developments in the Israel-Gaza war.
Issued on: 15/03/2024 – 01:32
Modified: 15/03/2024 – 10:08
2 min
A ship belonging to the Open Arms aid group approaches the shores of Gaza towing a barge with 200 tons of humanitarian aid on March 15, 2024.
A ship belonging to the Open Arms aid group approaches the shores of Gaza towing a barge with 200 tons of humanitarian aid on March 15, 2024. © Abdel Kareem Hana, AP
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Summary:
Hamas on Friday presented a Gaza ceasefire proposal to mediators which includes a first stage of releasing Israeli women, children, elderly, and ill hostages in exchange for the release of between 700 and 1000 Palestinian prisoners.
Palestinian Authority president Mahmoud Abbas appointed his longtime economic adviser to be the next prime minister in the face of US pressure to reform the Palestinian Authority as part of Washington’s postwar vision for Gaza.
The US has circulated the final draft of a UN Security Council resolution that would support international efforts to bring “an immediate and sustained ceasefire” in the Israel-Hamas war.
At least 31,341 Palestinians have been killed and 73,134 wounded since Israel started its offensive on Gaza, according to the health ministry in the Hamas-run enclave. Around 1,140 people were killed in the Hamas-led October 7 attacks and 250 people taken hostage, according to Israeli figures, with 132 still missing.
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12 minutes ago
Spanish aid ship Open Arms reaches Gaza coast
The Spanish aid ship Open Arms reached Gaza’s coast on Friday.
The vessel is carrying 200 tonnes of desperately-needed food for the tens of thousands of Palestinians who have been displaced by more than five months of war between Hamas and Israel.
The aid comes as the United Nations has repeatedly warned of the threat of famine in Gaza.
The ship departed from Cyprus on Tuesday.
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an hour ago
Spanish aid vessel visible off Gaza coast
The Spanish aid vessel Open Arms early Friday became visible off Gaza’s coast, an AFP journalist reported from the besieged territory. The vessel has travelled from Cyprus to the Gaza Strip for the past three days to help the tens of thousands of Gazans who have displaced by the war and are desperately waiting for food.
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4 hours ago
Hamas issues ceasefire proposal which includes exchanging hostages, prisoners
Hamas has presented a Gaza ceasefire proposal to mediators which includes a first stage of releasing Israeli women, children, elderly, and the ill hostages in exchange for the release of 700-1,000 Palestinian prisoners, according to a proposal seen by Reuters.
The releases would include 100 Palestinian prisoners serving life sentences in Israeli prisons and the release of Israeli “female recruits”.
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4 hours ago
Merchant ship damaged by missile off Yemen, marine monitors say
A merchant ship has been damaged by a missile strike in the Red Sea off Yemen, marine security monitors said Friday, after a series of attacks by Iran-backed Houthi rebels.
The crew was not injured and the vessel was able to continue its journey, the British navy’s United Kingdom Marine Trade Operations and security firm Ambrey said.
“A merchant vessel has reported that they have been struck by a missile and the vessel has sustained some damage,” said UKMTO.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility from the Houthis.
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6 hours ago
US proposes UN resolution tying Gaza ceasefire to hostage release
The US has circulated the final draft of a UN Security Council resolution that would support international efforts to bring “an immediate and sustained ceasefire” in the Israel-Hamas war. That would be part of a deal for the release of hostages taken captive during Hamas’s surprise October 7 attack on southern Israel.
No time has been set for a Security Council vote, and the text could still be changed.
The US circulated its initial draft February 19, a day before it vetoed an Arab-backed and widely supported Security Council resolution demanding an immediate humanitarian ceasefire.
The US said that would interfere with negotiations on a deal to free the hostages.
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8 hours ago
White House exhorts new Palestinian PM to deliver ‘far-reaching reforms’
The White House Thursday welcomed the appointment of Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammed Mustafa, calling on him to deliver credible, sweeping reforms as he prepares to form his Palestinian Authority cabinet.
“We urge the formation of a reform cabinet as soon as possible,” National Security Council spokesperson Adrienne Watson said in a statement. “The United States will be looking for this new government to deliver on policies and implementation of credible and far-reaching reforms.”
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8 hours ago
Yemen’s Houthis reported to have a hypersonic missile
Yemen’s Houthi rebels claim to have a new, hypersonic missile in their arsenal, Russia’s state media reported Thursday, potentially raising the stakes in their attacks on shipping in the Red Sea and surrounding waterways against the backdrop of Israel’s war with Hamas in the Gaza Strip.
The report by the state-run RIA Novosti news agency cited an unidentified official but provided no evidence for the claim. It comes as Moscow maintains an aggressively counter-Western foreign policy amid its grinding war on Ukraine.
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8 hours ago
US says it destroyed nine missiles, two drones in Houthi-controlled Yemen
The US military said on Thursday that Houthis fired two anti-ship ballistic missiles from Yemen toward the Gulf of Aden and two missiles toward the Red Sea, but there were no injuries or damage reported to US or coalition ships.
The US military’s Central Command said it destroyed nine anti-ship missiles and two drones in Houthi-controlled areas of Yemen.
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9 hours ago
Israeli army says it did not open fire on Gazans waiting for aid
The Israeli army said Friday it had not opened fire on a crowd waiting for humanitarian aid in the northern Gaza Strip, after the territory’s Hamas-run health ministry said 20 people were killed and 155 wounded.
“Press reports that Israeli forces attacked dozens of Gazans at an aid distribution point are erroneous,” the Israeli military said in a brief statement, adding that it was “analyzing the incident seriously”.
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9 hours ago
Hamas health ministry says Israeli fire kills 20 Gazans waiting for aid
Gaza’s Hamas-run health ministry said early Friday that Israeli fire killed 20 people and wounded 155 waiting to receive aid in the besieged territory, where the United Nations has warned of looming famine.
Efforts mounted on Thursday to get more aid into the devastated Palestinian territory, where fighting still rages after mediators failed to reach a truce for the Muslim holy month of Ramadan that started Monday.
The ministry said in a statement citizens had gathered at a roundabout in Gaza City in the north when they were fired upon by Israeli forces, revising upward an initial toll of 11 killed and 100 wounded.
Mohammed Ghurab, director of emergency services at a hospital in northern Gaza, told AFP there were “direct shots by the occupation forces” on people who had gathered at the roundabout to wait for a food truck.
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Yesterday’s key developments:
The Spanish aid vessel Open Arms, towing about 200 tonnes of food, was nearing Israel’s coast on Thursday after departing Cyprus on Tuesday, the Marinetraffic website showed.
Cypriot Foreign Minister Constantinos Kombos said a second, bigger vessel was being readied for the maritime aid corridor which will be complemented by a temporary pier to be built off Gaza by US troops.
The leader of Yemen’s Houthis, Abdul Malik al-Houthi, said the group’s operations targeting vessels will escalate to prevent Israel-linked ships from passing through the Indian Ocean towards the Cape of Good Hope.
The United States sanctioned three Israeli settlers and two farming outposts, accusing them of undermining stability in the West Bank.
The White House called for a swift investigation into an Israeli airstrike on a UN food distribution facility in Gaza.
US Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said Israel must make “significant course corrections” to achieve lasting peace with the Palestinians.He called on Israel to hold new elections in the most strident criticism yet by a senior American official of Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu’s handling of the war in Gaza.
The European Union’s top humanitarian aid official said Israel hadn’t provided evidence to back its accusations against staff from the UN Palestinian refugee agency (UNRWA), which should continue playing a “critical” role in Gaza.
About casualty figures from Gaza’s Hamas-run health ministry:
Gaza’s health ministry collects data from the enclave’s hospitals and the Palestinian Red Crescent.
The health ministry does not report how Palestinians were killed, whether from Israeli airstrikes and artillery barrages or errant Palestinian rocket fire. It describes all casualties as victims of “Israeli aggression”.
The ministry also does not distinguish between civilians and combatants.
Throughout four wars and numerous skirmishes between Israel and Hamas, UN agencies have cited the Hamas-run health ministry’s death tolls in regular reports. The International Committee of the Red Cross and Palestinian Red Crescent also use the numbers.
In the aftermath of war, the UN humanitarian office has published final death tolls based on its own research into medical records. The UN’s counts have largely been consistent with the Gaza health ministry’s, with small discrepancies.
For more on the Gaza health ministry’s tolls, click here.
(FRANCE 24 with AP)
(FRANCE 24 with AFP, AP and Reuters)
