War in the Middle East
Gaza: Aid deliveries via temporary port?
Palestinians carry their belongings after their homes were destroyed in an Israeli attack. photo
© Mohammed Dahman/AP/dpa
Does help come from the sea? The USA is planning to work with other countries to find a way to help the civilian population in Gaza. Meanwhile, Israel is shelling Hezbollah positions in Lebanon. The news at a glance.
Washington/Tel Aviv/Beirut (dpa) The US military, together with international partners, is to build a temporary port on the coast of the Establish the Gaza Strip. The civilian population in need will receive additional help by sea, according to a high-ranking government official in Washington.
Attack on Hezbollah positions
Meanwhile, the Israeli army says it has shelled positions belonging to the Shiite militia Hezbollah in southern Lebanon. The army said artillery and fighter jets had fired on the places from which Israel had previously been shelled. In the Israeli border area, from which most civilians have been evacuated for months, the towns of Rosh Hanikra and Jaara in the west as well as targets in the Upper Galilee further east were attacked from the neighboring country to the north. Israeli warplanes bombed targets in the area of the Lebanese towns of Aitarun and Aita Ash Shaab.
The evening before, a Hezbollah military facility near Matmura and an observation post near Jebbayn had been attacked from the air. According to its own statements, Hezbollah also shelled targets in Israel near the towns of Liman and Avdon. There was one death in Lebanon. No casualties were reported from Israel.
Since the Gaza war broke out, there has been daily shelling on the border between Lebanon and Israel. There have long been concerns that the war could spread to Lebanon. So far, however, both sides have adhered to the rule “As you are to me, I am to you” and have not escalated things any more than the other side.
Negotiations for a ceasefire: delegations leave
Israel is coming under increasing international pressure in the Gaza war because of the catastrophic humanitarian situation. South Africa submitted an urgent application to the International Court of Justice in The Hague to order Israel to allow aid into the sealed-off coastal area. The reason for this is “widespread famine,” according to a statement from the court in The Hague.
In the struggle for a temporary ceasefire in the Gaza Strip, there are increasing signs that the talks will continue even after the start of the Islamic fasting month of Ramadan. Today, participants from Hamas and Qatar, which is acting as mediator, left the Egyptian capital Cairo, according to security sources at the airport. A few hours earlier, US representatives had also left Egypt.
Qatar, Egypt and the USA met in Cairo to negotiate a temporary ceasefire in the Gaza Strip with Hamas. Israel initially did not have its own delegation on site. The mediators hope to reach an agreement by the beginning of the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan, which begins around March 10th.
Egyptian state-affiliated broadcaster Al-Kahira News quoted an unnamed senior source as saying that negotiations will continue next week. In addition to a ceasefire, it is also about the release of Israeli hostages who were kidnapped by Hamas.
If the efforts of the US, Qatar and Egypt mediators fail, Israel is threatening a military operation in the city of Rafah during Ramadan. In Rafah in the south of the Gaza Strip, around 1.5 million Palestinians are currently seeking refuge from the fighting in other parts of the area in a confined space and under miserable conditions. Israel assured that it would bring civilians to safety before an offensive. Israeli officials believed Gaza’s Islamist Hamas leader Jihia al-Sinwar was not interested in a deal but hoped it would escalate tensions in the West Bank and Jerusalem during Ramadan, Wall Street reported Journal”. An invasion of Rafah could also lead to a larger conflict on Israel’s northern border with Lebanon, it said.