Most of the information on the war between Hamas and Israel this Friday.
Hamas must take a step towards ceasefire in Gaza, according to the United States. The head of American diplomacy Antony Blinken declared on Friday that it was up to the Palestinian Islamist movement to accept a cease-fire with Israel. “The problem is Hamas”, Blinken said. “The ball is in their court. We are working on it intensively,” he added. During Thursday’s State of the Union address, President Joe Biden called for a truce “immediate” of six weeks to allow the delivery of humanitarian aid to the Gaza Strip. “There is no doubt in my mind that achieving this ceasefire with the release of the hostages would be profoundly beneficial to all parties involved”, declared the American Secretary of State. For its part, Hamas will not “no compromise” on its demands for a definitive ceasefire and a withdrawal of Israeli troops in exchange for any agreement on the release of the hostages, the spokesperson for its armed wing said on Friday. Conditions refused by Israel.
Five people were killed by a humanitarian aid drop on Gaza. The fall of humanitarian aid packages, dropped by planes on Gaza City, caused the death of five people this Friday March 8. Ten others were injured. The accident occurred in the al-Shati refugee camp, west of Gaza City, said Mohammed al-Chiekh, head nurse in the emergency department of al-Shati hospital. Shifa of Gaza. “When the planes started dropping the cargo, me and my brother went to the area hoping to pick up a bag of flour, said Mohammed al-Ghoul, a 50-year-old man living in the camp near the sea. But the parachute did not open and the cargo fell like a rocket onto the roof of one of the houses.”
The UN calls Israeli settlements in the Palestinian territories a “war crime.” The establishment and continued expansion of colonies is “equivalent to Israel’s transfer of its own civilian population to the territories it occupies” denounces this Friday a report from the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights. According to this document, “such transfers constitute a war crime” Who “risk eliminating any practical possibility of establishing a viable Palestinian state.”
“Flour massacre” in Gaza: Israel says soldiers shot “precisely at several suspects”. A first examination of the tragedy that occurred on February 29 in Gaza where 120 people, according to Hamas authorities, were killed around a humanitarian aid convoy stormed by a hungry crowd, shows that Israeli soldiers “shot precisely at several suspects”, said the Israeli army this Friday. Before reaching such conclusions, the IDF changed its versions several times. Implicated, the Israeli army initially did not mention any shots fired.
A maritime humanitarian corridor between Cyprus and the Gaza Strip will soon be opened. The European Union and the United States announced this Friday the upcoming opening of a maritime corridor between the island of Cyprus (located nearly 600 kilometers as the crow flies from Gaza) and the Palestinian territory to transport ‘humanitarian aid. “The Cypriot initiative will allow the increase of humanitarian aid (entering) the Gaza Strip after a security check corresponding to Israeli standards”welcomed Israeli spokesperson Lior Haiat in a message published on X. The President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, hopes for the opening of this corridor on Sunday.
In Johannesburg, women denounce the rape of hostages by Hamas. Women responding to the appeal of the South African Jewish Council demonstrated in Johannesburg this Friday, on International Women’s Rights Day, to denounce rapes and abuses committed by Hamas against Israeli hostages in Gaza, and the silence of South African President Cyril Ramaphosa. Nearly 200 women and activists marched under the banner “Me Too except for the Jews” while South Africa, a fervent defender of the Palestinian cause, is one of the countries that most criticizes the massive and deadly Israeli bombings. on the Gaza Strip.
Israel denies “deliberately” targeting journalists in Lebanon. The Israeli army affirms this Friday that it is not targeting “deliberately” journalists after the publication of a new analysis implicating it for strikes that killed a Reuters journalist and injured six reporters, including two from AFP, in southern Lebanon in October. The Israeli army “deplores any harm caused to uninvolved parties and does not deliberately open fire on civilians, particularly journalists”underlined a military spokesperson.
Update : at 9:08 p.m., with the addition of statements from Antony Blinken.