According to UN organizations, around a quarter of the population in the Gaza Strip is on the verge of famine. Meanwhile, Israel and Hamas continue to negotiate a hostage deal. The overview.
According to the UN, children are starving to death in the Gaza Strip after months of war and blocked humanitarian aid. During a visit to the north of the region, which is largely cut off from aid, UN employees gathered information about severe malnutrition and starving children, said the head of the World Health Organization, Tedros Ghebreyesus, on the X platform (formerly Twitter).
Meanwhile, the UN emergency relief office Okha reported, citing the local Hamas-controlled health authority, that 15 children had died of malnutrition as of Sunday. This information could not initially be independently verified.
Palestinian UN Ambassador Riad Mansour held up a photo in a speech to the UN General Assembly. This was intended to show a boy who was said to have died of malnutrition in a hospital in the Gaza Strip on the same day. “He was killed by Israel using hunger as a weapon,” Mansur claimed.
UN: Air aid for Gaza is not enough
After the start of American air aid deliveries to the Gaza Strip, the United Nations described the humanitarian supplies as insufficient. Every delivery helps, said spokesman Stephane Dujarric in New York. “But it doesn’t match the size or scope of what we need.” Relief deliveries by truck overland are necessary.
In view of the humanitarian catastrophe in the Gaza Strip, the USA began supplying the civilian population there with relief supplies from the air at the weekend – other countries are also dropping humanitarian aid there from planes.
Agreement on ceasefire in Gaza on the brink
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is now demanding that Hamas give in before further negotiations on a ceasefire and the release of more hostages in the Gaza war. First, as requested, the Islamist organizations must submit a list with the names of the hostages still alive in their control, said the right-wing head of government in a speech in Tel Aviv on Sunday evening.
On the same day, delegations from Hamas and the mediating states of the USA and Qatar arrived in Cairo for another round of talks. Israel, on the other hand, has not sent a delegation for the time being. Meanwhile, the fact that Benny Gantz, minister in Israel’s war cabinet, traveled to Washington for talks without Netanyahu’s consent caused sharp criticism internally, according to the Israeli media.
Gantz is pushing for an agreement and has said that the release of the hostages is more urgent and important than Netanyahu’s goal of destroying Hamas.
Netanyahu: Will not capitulate to demands
Netanyahu said it was too early to say whether there would be a concept for a deal in the next few days. “We are making great efforts to be successful, but one thing is clear to you – we will not capitulate to Hamas’ delusional demands,” affirmed the head of government, who is under pressure domestically over the hostage issue.
According to an Israeli media report, Israel’s right-wing extremist Police Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir is even calling for an end to negotiations over the release of the hostages still held in the Gaza Strip. According to the Haaretz newspaper, the politician said at a meeting of his party on Monday that his party believes it is necessary to order the cessation of the talks, which also involve a temporary ceasefire in the Gaza war. Instead, it is necessary to move into “a new phase of intense fighting,” the paper continued, quoting Ben-Gvir, who is also Minister for National Security.
According to local media reports, there are doubts in Israeli circles as to whether an agreement on a hostage release and a ceasefire will be reached before the fasting month of Ramadan, holy for Muslims, which begins around March 10th. Hamas leader in the Gaza Strip, Jihia al-Sinwar, is deliberately trying to sabotage negotiations to provoke unrest across the Middle East during Ramadan, Israeli news site Ynet quoted a senior Israeli official as saying.
“Sinwar prefers to escalate tensions in the Middle East and cause bloodshed and chaos in the Gaza Strip during Ramadan rather than choosing the alternative of a six-week ceasefire and humanitarian aid, which would significantly ease the suffering of the local population in the Gaza Strip,” said the officer.
High-level talks in Washington
Israel’s Defense Minister Joav Galant recently said that Hamas wanted to take the war from the Gaza Strip to the West Bank. “Hamas’ goal is to burn Judea and Samaria (Hebrew for West Bank), and if possible the Temple Mount (in Jerusalem).” According to the news portal Axios, US President Joe Biden is urging Egypt and Qatar to persuade Hamas to a temporary ceasefire before Ramadan.
The three mediating states agree that reaching an agreement currently depends on Hamas. Hamas calls for a comprehensive ceasefire. According to US information, the mediator’s proposal only provides for a six-week ceasefire. An unnamed Israeli official was quoted by Axios as saying he believes the chances of an agreement are 50-50.
Meanwhile, Gantz, a member of Israel’s war cabinet, arrived in Washington where he plans to meet with US Vice President Kamala Harris and national security adviser Jake Sullivan today. Gantz said in January: “The most urgent matter is the repatriation of the hostages; it is more important than any element of the fight.”
According to media reports, the Israeli politician wants to meet with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken tomorrow. According to Axios, Qatar’s Prime Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani is also expected in Washington on the same day.
UN sees rape by Hamas terrorists as likely
A United Nations report considers sexual violence to be likely in the Hamas terrorist attack in Israel on October 7th. There is “reasonable reason to believe” that rapes and gang rapes occurred in at least three locations, according to the paper, which was prepared by the responsible UN representative Pramila Patten after a visit to Israel.
Among these locations is the site of a music festival that was attacked by terrorists on October 7th. “In most of these incidents, rape victims were subsequently killed, and at least two incidents involved the rape of women’s corpses,” it said. There is also “clear and convincing information that sexual violence, including rape, constitutes sexual torture “cruel, inhumane and degrading treatment” was committed against hostages. This could currently continue in captivity in the Gaza Strip.
Israel’s army reports more deaths in operations
Meanwhile, the Israeli military continues the fight against Hamas and says it has now killed a prominent member of the Islamists who was responsible for recruiting terrorists. The army announced on Sunday evening that Mahmoud Muhammad Abd Khad was also involved in raising funds for terrorism and to support Hamas’s military activities.
The army had previously announced that “more than 100 terrorists” had been killed in northern Gaza. In addition, 35 Hamas and Islamic Jihad facilities, including weapons depots and production facilities, were destroyed. “Dozens of terrorists” were arrested. All information provided by the Israeli military could not be independently verified.
Israel’s military: Hezbollah positions attacked again
Meanwhile, the Israeli military said it was again attacking positions of the Iranian-backed Hezbollah militia in southern Lebanon. Warplanes hit a Shiite militia military facility in the area of Aita ash-Sha’b and terrorist infrastructure in the area of the Lebanese border town of Kfarkela, the army said.
During the day there were a number of rockets fired from Lebanon towards northern Israel. This information also could not be independently verified. Since the beginning of the Gaza war, there has been repeated shelling in the Israeli-Lebanese border region. Israel’s Defense Minister Galant recently announced that he would increase military pressure on Hezbollah until the Shiite militia withdrew from the border with Israel.
Container ship attacked and damaged off the coast of Yemen
Another container ship was attacked and damaged off the coast of Yemen. The British Navy’s merchant shipping office UKMTO said there were two explosions in the incident southeast of the port city of Aden. After the first incident occurred at some distance from the ship, the ship was damaged by the second incident. A fire broke out on board. The case is being investigated by the Western Alliance for the Protection of Merchant Shipping, the statement added. There were initially no reports of deaths or injuries.
According to the Ambrey information service, it is said to be a ship that sails under the Liberian flag and was traveling from Singapore to Djibouti. Accordingly, the ship was used by an Israeli shipping company, at least in the past.
It was not immediately clear who was behind the latest attack. In recent weeks and months, however, the Islamist Houthi militia in Yemen has repeatedly targeted civilian merchant ships.