live blog
Sweden wants to discuss more humanitarian aid for the Gaza Strip with representatives of the EU and Israel. China calls for an end to the Middle East war through a permanent ceasefire. All developments in the live blog.
A day after three crew members were killed in a Yemeni Houthi attack on a freighter, the militia’s spokesman has spoken out. He attacked the USA again – the United States would be responsible “for everything that happens in the Red Sea”. The Houthi spokesman stressed that the militia does not attack ships without warning, adding: “There are those who comply and withdraw and those who refuse, after which we target them.”
The European Union has condemned the planned construction of 3,426 apartments for settlers in the Israeli-occupied West Bank and called on the government in Jerusalem to withdraw approval for it. The settlements are illegal under international law and hinder a peace solution, said a spokesman for the Foreign Service in Brussels. The expansion is also “completely incompatible” with ongoing efforts to reduce tensions. However, this is even more important in view of the upcoming religious festivals of Ramadan, Passover and Easter.
According to the Israeli military, “at least 17 terrorists” were killed in the latest attacks in the Gaza Strip. The air strikes targeted the city of Khan Yunis in the south of the Gaza Strip and the center of the coastal strip. Command centers of the militant Islamist Hamas and other tunnel entrances were also attacked, and workshops for the production of weapons and warehouses with military equipment were discovered.
Sweden is pushing to increase humanitarian aid to the population in the Gaza Strip. In order to find ways to do this together with Israel, the Swedish government is planning a meeting in which representatives from several EU states and the Israeli Foreign Ministry will take part. Sweden’s Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson announced this to the X news service. However, he initially left it open when this meeting would take place.
The Islamic fasting month of Ramadan begins at the weekend. Fears are growing in the Israeli capital Jerusalem that this could lead to further violence. Benjamin Hammer reports on the increasing concerns and the high security precautions.
Benjamin Hammer, ARD Tel Aviv, tagesschau, March 6, 2024 11:57 p.m
The struggle for a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip continues – according to a report in the New York Times, a six-week ceasefire is on the cards. The proposal calls for the terrorist militia Hamas to exchange at least 40 hostages – women, the elderly and the sick, as well as five Israeli soldiers – for around 400 Palestinian prisoners held in Israel during this period.
But neither Israel nor Hamas have yet agreed to the proposal. According to the newspaper report, Hamas is insisting on its demands that Israel commit to a permanent ceasefire and the complete withdrawal of its troops from the northern Gaza Strip.
On the sidelines of the National People’s Congress in China, the Foreign Minister, Wang Yi, called for an end to violence against the civilian population of the Gaza Strip. “There can no longer be any justification for the continuation of the conflict and no excuse for the killing of civilians,” he stressed. The international community must step up its efforts for a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip and the release of all prisoners.
The Foreign Minister also pushed for the two-state solution – only through its “full implementation” and “justice for Palestinian people” can “the vicious circle of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict be broken and the breeding ground for extremist ideas destroyed.”
South Africa has urgently asked the International Court of Justice to order Israel to allow humanitarian aid into the embattled Gaza Strip. South Africa justified this with “widespread famine” in the sealed-off coastal strip, according to a statement from the court in The Hague. At the end of December, South Africa sued Israel before the International Court of Justice for alleged violations of the Genocide Convention committed in the Gaza war. The UN court ruled in an interim ruling that Israel must take protective measures to prevent genocide.
Stephan Ueberbach, ARD Johannesburg, tagesschau, March 7, 2024 7:55 a.m
According to British and US sources, two sailors were killed in a Houthi attack on a freighter in the Red Sea. The EU is working on establishing a sea aid corridor for the Gaza Strip. All developments can be read in Wednesday’s live blog.