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ISRAEL-HAMAS WAR
đ´ Live: UN-backed report on famine in Gaza an âappalling indictmentâ, Guterres says
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Monday said a UN-backed report warning that famine was imminent in northern Gaza was an âappalling indictmentâ of a âmanmade disasterâ and called for unfettered humanitarian access to the besieged Palestinian enclave. Heavy fighting raged around Al-Shifa hospital, the Stripâs largest hospital, where tens of thousands of displaced Gazans have sought shelter. Follow our liveblog for the latest developments in the Israel-Hamas war.
Issued on: 18/03/2024 – 03:49
Modified: 18/03/2024 – 14:23
2 min
Displaced Palestinians fleeing the area around Gaza City’s Al-Shifa hospital on a donkey cart arrive at the Nuseirat refugee camp in central Gaza on March 18, 2024.
Displaced Palestinians fleeing the area around Gaza City’s Al-Shifa hospital on a donkey cart arrive at the Nuseirat refugee camp in central Gaza on March 18, 2024. Š AFP
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Summary:
Israeli forces launched another raid early Monday on the Al-Shifa hospital in northern Gaza, where tens of thousands of people have been sheltering. World Health Organization (WHO) chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus voiced concern over the raid, noting âhospitals should never be battlegroundsâ.
Israel’s intelligence chief, Qatar’s premier and Egyptian officials are expected to hold talks in Doha Monday on a potential Gaza truce and hostage exchange deal, according to sources.
The UN food agency on Monday said âfamine is imminentâ in northern Gaza, where an estimated 70 percent of the population faces catastrophic hunger.
Israel on Mondayblocked UNRWA chief Philippe Lazzarini from entering Gaza in what Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry called âan unprecedented moveâ.
At least 31,726 Palestinians have been killed and 73,792 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.
2 minutes ago
Biden, Netanyahu hold first call in more than a month: White House
US President Joe Biden and Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu had a phone conversation Monday, the White House said, their first call in more than a month amid growing tensions over Israel’s offensive in Gaza.
“President Biden spoke with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel to discuss the latest developments in Israel and Gaza, including the situation in Rafah and efforts to surge humanitarian assistance to Gaza,” it said in a statement.
6 minutes ago
Israel asks World Court not to order new measures over Gaza hunger
Israel has asked the International Court of Justice (ICJ) not to issue emergency orders for it to step up humanitarian aid to Gaza to address a looming famine, dismissing South Africa’s request to do so as “morally repugnant”.
In a legal filing to the United Nations’ top court made public on Monday, Israel said it “has real concern for the humanitarian situation and innocent lives, as demonstrated by the actions it has and is taking” in Gaza during the war.
Lawyers for Israel denied allegations of deliberately causing humanitarian suffering in the enclave, where thousands have died and hunger is rising, and said South Africa’s repeated requests for additional measures were an abuse of procedures.
37 minutes ago
Biden to speak with Netanyahu on Monday, reports say
US President Joe Biden will speak to Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu later Monday, according to news reports quoting senior US officials.
The call would be the first between the two leaders since February 15 and comes amid sharp tensions between Israel and its most steadfast ally over Netanyahu’s handling of the Gaza war.
The White House did not immediately comment on whether any call was planned, which was first reported by news website, Axios.
In a speech on Thursday, US Senate Majority leader Chuck Schumer, a longtime supporter of Israel and the highest-ranking Jewish elected official, called for new elections in Israel and said Netanyahu was an obstacle to peace.
Biden praised the speech the following day and said Schumer had echoed the concerns of many Americans.
41 minutes ago
Israeli forces kill 20 gunmen in Gaza’s Al -Shifa hospital, military says
Israeli forces killed 20 Palestinian gunmen in Gaza’s Al-Shifa hospital and apprehended dozens of suspected militants, said the Israeli military.
The military said that it was “continuing to thwart terrorist activity” in the Al-Shifa hospital. “Twenty terrorists have been eliminated at the Shifa hospital thus far in various engagements, and dozens of apprehended suspects are currently in questioning,” the military said.
an hour ago
Gaza famine report is ‘appalling indictment’, UN chief says
UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres has said a report backed by the global agency warning that famine is now imminent in northern Gaza was an “appalling indictment” of conditions on the ground.
“This is an entirely manmade disaster â and the report makes clear that it can be halted,” Guterres told reporters at the UN headquarters in New York, calling on Israel to ensure access for humanitarian goods throughout Gaza.
The UN-backed Integrated Food-Security Phase Classification, or IPC, which formally declares famines, said two of its three criteria â the overall shortage of food and prevalence of malnutrition â had probably already been met.
3 hours ago
Israel blocks UNRWA chief from entering Gaza
Israeli authorities denied permission for the head of the UN Palestinian refugee agency (UNRWA) to enter the Gaza Strip on Monday, UNRWA and the Egyptian foreign minister said, calling it an unprecedented move.
UNRWA chief Philippe Lazzarini, speaking alongside Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry at a Cairo news conference, said he had intended to go to Rafah on Monday “but I have been informed an hour ago that my entry into Rafah is declined”.
Shoukry told Lazzarini: “You were declined by the Israeli government, refused the entry which is an unprecedented move for (a) representative at this high position”.
3 hours ago
WHO chief voices concern over Gaza’s Al-Shifa Hospital
The World Health Organization chief on Monday voiced concern about the Al-Shifa Hospital in northern Gaza after an Israeli raid of the site.
“Hospitals should never be battlegrounds. We are terribly worried about the situation at Al-Shifa Hospital in northern Gaza, which is endangering health workers, patients and civilians,” Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said on the social media platform X.
Palestinian health authorities said the Israeli operation has caused multiple casualties and set off a fierce fire while Israel’s military said the site was being used by Hamas leaders.
4 hours ago
Al Jazeera says Gaza journalist beaten, arrested by Israeli forces
Qatar-based broadcaster Al Jazeera said Israeli forces had beaten and arrested its correspondent Ismail al-Ghoul during a raid on Monday on Gaza’s largest hospital.
“The occupation army severely beat #Al Jazeera correspondent Ismail Al-Ghoul before arresting him from inside Al-Shifa Medical Complex in Gaza,” Al Jazeera said in a post on X.
The Israeli military did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
An Al Jazeera source told AFP that five other people were also arrested including Ghoul’s camera crew and engineers. The source, who was not authorised to brief the press and spoke on condition of anonymity, said an Israeli tank destroyed the vehicle Ghoul and his team where using.
5 hours ago
The US must make clear to Israel consequences of Rafah operation, says Egypt minister
The United States must make clear to Israel what the consequences of a military operation in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip would be, as the US has voiced opposition to such a move, Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry said on Monday.
“It is not enough for rhetoric, it is not enough to state opposition, it is also important to indicate what if that position is circumvented, what if that position is not respected,” Shoukry said at a news briefing with United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) chief Philippe Lazzarini in Cairo.
He also warned that the humanitarian consequences and the loss of lives that would result in the situation would be “catastrophic”.
5 hours ago
UN food agency says famine ‘imminent’ in northern Gaza
The UN food agency says âfamine is imminentâ in northern Gaza, where an estimated 70 percent of the population faces catastrophic hunger.
The World Food Program on Monday released the latest findings of its Integrated Food Security Phase Classification, or IPC, an international process for estimating the scale of hunger crises.
It says virtually everyone in Gaza is struggling to get enough food, and around 210,000 people in northern Gaza are in Phase 5, the highest, which refers to catastrophic hunger.
It warned that if Israel broadens its offensive to the packed southern city of Rafah, the fighting could drive around half of Gazaâs total population of 2.3 million into catastrophic hunger.
In December, the IPC estimated that a quarter of Gazaâs overall population was starving.
Aid groups say they face a burdensome Israeli process to import humanitarian aid, and that distribution in much of Gaza, especially the north, is virtually impossible because of Israeli restrictions, ongoing hostilities and the breakdown of law and order.
Israel says it places no limits on the import of humanitarian aid and blames bottlenecks on the UN agencies distributing it.
5 hours ago
Gaza is world’s biggest ‘open-air graveyard’, says EU’s Borrell
EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said on Monday that Israel’s military campaign in Gaza had turned the territory into the world’s biggest “open-air graveyard”.
“Gaza was before the war the greatest open-air prison. Today it’s the greatest open-air graveyard,” Borrell said at a meeting of EU ministers in Brussels.
“It’s a graveyard for tens of thousands of people and also a graveyard for many of the most important principles of humanitarian law.”
6 hours ago
Israeli army says 250 soldiers killed since start of Gaza ground offensive
The number of Israeli soldiers killed in Gaza has reached 250 since ground operations in the Hamas-ruled territory began in late October, according to the latest toll on the army’s website on Monday.
The 250th soldier was killed on Monday in what a security source said was the operation centred on the Al-Shifa hospital complex, Gaza’s largest.
6 hours ago
UNRWA chief says hunger in Gaza is ‘man-made’
The head of the UN Palestinian refugee agency said on Monday that the hunger being experienced in the Gaza Strip is “man-made”.
The crisis can be resolved and reversed through proper political will and Gaza can be “flooded” with food through the crossings, UNRWA chief Philippe Lazzarini added during a press conference in Cairo with Egyptian Foreign Minister SamehShoukry.
6 hours ago
FRANCE 24’s Catherine Norris-Trent on Israeli raids on Gaza’s Al-Shifa hospital, Qatar talks
The Israeli army announced on Monday that an operation was under way in Gaza’s main hospital Al-Shifa, saying the complex was being used by senior Hamas militants and called on Gazans to evacuate the area in and around the hospital.
Meanwhile, Israel announced that it would be sending a high-level delegation for indirect mediated talks with Hamas organised by the US, Qatar and Egypt designed to secure a long awaited six-week Gaza truce under which the Palestinian militant group would free 40 hostages.
“It’s early days at the moment. The two sides [Israel and Hamas] are still far apart, but there is some significant movement for the first time,” said FRANCE 24’s Catherine Norris Trent, reporting from Jerusalem.
7 hours ago
Israeli military tells Gazans to evacuate Al-Shifa hospital
Israel’s military on Monday called on Gazans to evacuate the area in and around the territory’s largest hospital as battles raged at the complex crowded with patients and displaced people.
“In order to maintain your security, you must immediately evacuate the area,” army spokesman Avichay Adraee said on the social media platform X, instructing “all those present” to head west and then south to a “humanitarian area”.
7 hours ago
‘Israel is provoking famine’ in Gaza, says EU’s Borrell
Israel is provoking famine in Gaza and using starvation as a weapon of war, the EU’s foreign policy Chief Josep Borrell said on Monday.
“In Gaza we are no longer on the brink of famine, we are in a state of famine, affecting thousands of people,” Borrell said at the opening of a conference on humanitarian aid for Gaza in Brussels.
“This is unacceptable. Starvation is used as a weapon of war. Israel is provoking famine.”
8 hours ago
Health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza says war death toll at 31,726
The health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza said on Monday that at least 31,726 people have been killed in the territory during more than five months of war between Israel and Palestinian militants.
The latest toll includes at least 81 deaths in the previous 24 hours, a ministry statement said, adding that 73,792 people have been wounded in Gaza since the war began when Hamas militants attacked Israel on October 7.
8 hours ago
Israel to offer six-week Gaza truce for 40 hostages in Qatar talks, says Israeli official
Israel will send a high-level delegation headed by its Mossad chief to Qatar on Monday for mediated talks with Hamas designed to secure a six-week Gaza truce under which the Palestinian militants would free 40 hostages, an Israeli official said.
This stage of the negotiations could take at least two weeks, the official estimated, citing difficulties that Hamas’ foreign delegates may have in communicating with the group in the besieged enclave after more than five months of war.
13 hours ago
Jordan army says it detected suspicious aerial movements near Syria border
The Jordanian army said on Monday its air defence radar system had detected suspicious aerial movements from an unknown source along the border with Syria, which a regional security source said were most probably missiles fired by pro-Iranian militias from Iraq.
Jets believed to be Jordanian had been heard hovering over the Jordanian city of Irbid and areas near the border crossing with Syria, witnesses said.
The army said an air force squadron had flown to ensure the airspace was not under any threat. It did not say from where the movements came.
“The airforce responded to an alert of radar systems that monitored aerial movements whose source is not known,” the army statement said.
15 hours ago
Israeli army announces operation under way in Gaza’s Al-Shifa hospital
The Israeli army announced Monday an operation was under way in Gaza’s main hospital Al-Shifa, saying the complex was being used by senior Hamas militants.
Soldiers “are currently conducting a precise operation in the area of the Shifa hospital,” a statement from the military said. “The operation is based on intelligence information indicating the use of the hospital by senior Hamas terrorists”.
Al-Shifa is the Gaza Strip’s largest hospital. The Israeli army had in November last year carried out an operation in the complex, sparking an international outcry.
Witnesses in Gaza City told AFP the Al-Rimal neighbourhood, where Al-Shifa is located, had been hit by air strikes.
They also said tanks had surrounded the sprawling Al-Shifa complex.
The Hamas government media office in Gaza condemned the operation, saying that “the storming of the Al-Shifa medical complex with tanks, drones, and weapons, and shooting inside it, is a war crime”.
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Yesterday’s key developments:
After a meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said he had talked about the need to provide comprehensive humanitarian aid to the people in Gaza. âWe cannot stand by and watch Palestinians risk starvation,â Scholz said.
The Israeli military said on Sunday that a soldier believed to have been held hostage in the Gaza Strip had died during Hamasâs October 7 attack.
Gaza’s health ministry on Sunday reported that at least 61 people had been killed in Israeli airstrikes overnight in the central region of the enclave, including 12 members of the same family, whose house in Deir al-Balah was hit.
About casualty figures from Gazaâs Hamas-run health ministry:
Gazaâs health ministry collects data from the enclaveâs 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 âIsraeli aggressionâ.
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 ministryâs 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 ministryâs, with small discrepancies.
For more on the Gaza health ministryâs tolls, click here.
(FRANCE 24 with AP)
(FRANCE 24 with AFP, AP and Reuters)
