According to Unicef, a catastrophic hunger crisis is developing in Gaza, particularly affecting children. Meanwhile, Netanyahu approves military action in Rafah. The news at a glance.
According to the UN Children’s Fund Unicef, 31 percent of children under two years of age in the northern Gaza Strip are acutely malnourished. In January it was 15.6 percent of children, the organization said. In this part of the Gaza Strip, the supply crisis is particularly dire due to the ongoing war between Israel and the Islamist Hamas. Data collected by Unicef and partners in northern Gaza in February showed that 4.5 percent of children in emergency shelters and health centers suffered from severe acute malnutrition. This most severe form of malnutrition is life-threatening if children do not receive immediate therapeutic nutrition and medical attention. However, this is not available locally.
“The speed with which this catastrophic child hunger crisis in the Gaza Strip has developed is shocking, especially when urgently needed help is available just a few kilometers away,” said UNICEF head Catherine Russell, referring to Israel. Since December, UN organizations have been warning of the danger of famine in the Gaza Strip.
Most of the population of the northern and central Gaza Strip has fled to the south of the sealed-off coastal area at the insistence of the Israeli military. Several hundred thousand people remained behind in northern Gaza. Aid deliveries reach them only to a limited extent. The Israeli military repeatedly delays and hinders deliveries to the Gaza Strip. Within the coastal area, military restrictions, hostilities and chaos following the dismantling of order maintained by Hamas make it difficult to transport goods.
But according to Unicef, many children are also starving in other parts of the Gaza Strip. Data collected for the first time in Khan Yunis in the southern Gaza Strip showed that 28 percent of children under the age of two were acutely malnourished – ten percent of them were already suffering from severe wasting. Even in Rafah, the place with the best access to aid, the number of acutely malnourished children under two years old has doubled from five percent in January to ten percent at the end of February. The number of severely malnourished children quadrupled from one percent to more than four percent within a month.
Netanyahu approves military operation in Rafah
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has approved plans for a military operation in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip, according to his office. In addition to operational operations, the army is preparing to evacuate the civilian population, the statement said.
Top international politicians, including Chancellor Olaf Scholz, strictly reject an operation in Rafah out of concern for the well-being of the civilian population. Politicians and aid organizations are demanding plans from Israel as to how and where the approximately 1.5 million people from the Rafah region will be brought to safety before a military operation.
Netanyahu also reiterated the assessment that a proposal from the Islamist Palestinian organization Hamas for a ceasefire in the Gaza war was “unrealistic.” At the same time, it was said that an Israeli delegation would travel to Doha after a security cabinet debate on the Israeli position.
For months, Qatar has been prominently involved in negotiations for a further ceasefire and the release of more hostages from Hamas in return for Palestinian prisoners.
Hamas announced on Thursday that it had presented a new proposal. Among other things, this provides for an end to the fighting in the Gaza Strip, aid deliveries to the population and the release of people kidnapped from Israel in return for the release of Palestinian prisoners from Israeli prisons. The Islamists therefore continue to insist on a withdrawal of Israeli troops from the coastal area, which Israel rejects.
The Arabic television channel Al Jazeera reported on Friday that Hamas had presented a proposal in three phases of 42 days each. Hamas sets the condition that a permanent ceasefire be announced in the second phase – before they release Israeli soldiers. For every Israeli soldier, 50 Palestinian prisoners in Israel should be released, including 30 with life sentences.
On October 7, terrorists from Hamas and other groups abducted around 250 people to the Gaza Strip as part of a massacre in Israel. During a ceasefire in late November, 105 hostages were released. According to government figures, around 100 hostages are still alive.
Army spokesman: Bring the population to safety before the Rafah offensive
An Israeli army spokesman had previously confirmed that in the event of a military operation in Rafah, the population would have to be brought to safety from there. It is believed that not only the leadership of Hamas is in the city on the border with Egypt, but the remaining battalions of the Islamist terrorist organization are also located there, said spokesman Arye Shalicar.
He emphasized that in the event of an operation in Rafah, they would ensure that civilians were evacuated to safer places such as the Al-Mawasi camp. “That’s how we’ve done it in the last few months and that’s exactly how we would operate with a view to Rafah,” he said.
Blinken: Israel must present workable plan for Rafah
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken has reiterated calls for Israel to protect Palestinian civilians in the southern Gaza Strip. “We have to see a clear and implementable plan,” said the chief diplomat after working talks with the top of the Austrian government in Vienna. Blinken made the comments shortly after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu approved plans for a military operation in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip. It must not only be ensured that civilians are brought to safety, but that they are also adequately cared for afterwards. Although Israel is fighting against the terrorist movement Hamas, it must adhere to higher standards than its opponent, said Schallenberg. “Israel must measure itself against international law,” said the Austrian politician.
USA: Israel’s plan for Rafah operation must take refugees into account
After endorsing plans for military action in Rafah, the US government called on Israel to submit them. These plans have not been seen before and would welcome the opportunity to see them, said National Security Council Communications Director John Kirby at the White House. “We cannot and will not support any plan that does not adequately take into account these million and a half refugees in Gaza,” he stressed. There must be a “credible” and “feasible” plan for these people – anything else would be a “catastrophe”. This means that there must be a place for the people of the Gaza Strip where they are safe from the fighting.
Kirby emphasized that Israel has the right to fight the Islamist Hamas. This is what finally started this conflict. But Israel has a “special obligation to ensure the safety of the innocent people in Gaza who are caught up in this conflict,” Kirby continued. When asked by a journalist whether it was a turning point in the relationship with Israel that the US government had not yet seen the plans, Kirby said: “No, not at all.”
Hamas Health Authority: Many dead in attacks in the Gaza Strip
According to Palestinian reports, at least 20 people were killed in an attack in the northern Gaza Strip on Thursday evening. The Israeli army firmly rejected claims from the health authority controlled by the Islamist Hamas that Israeli troops had fired on people waiting at a roundabout. More than 150 other people were injured, the authority said.
The Israeli army said on Friday that it had enabled a convoy of 31 trucks carrying humanitarian aid to travel to the north of the Gaza Strip the previous day. “Approximately an hour before the convoy arrived at the humanitarian corridor, armed Palestinians opened fire while Gazan civilians waited for the aid convoy to arrive,” the statement said.
“As trucks carrying aid arrived, the Palestinian gunmen continued to shoot as crowds of Gazans began looting the trucks.” Some civilians were also run over by the trucks. A thorough initial investigation on Friday night showed that the Israeli army did not fire on the aid convoy.
Israel accused Hamas of a “smear campaign” aimed at using false information to sow violence in other areas during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.
The army also firmly rejected previous reports that troops had fired on people waiting for humanitarian aid in the Nuseirat refugee camp. “Reports that the Israeli army attacked dozens of Gazans at a humanitarian aid distribution point are false,” the army statement said. They are investigating the incident.
Hunger is widespread in the Gaza Strip after more than five months of war, according to the UN. There are always chaotic scenes during the distribution of relief supplies. There are repeated calls for Israel to allow more aid supplies into the coastal strip. The Israeli army, which is responsible for security checks on aid convoys, emphasizes that there are no restrictions on imports, but rather problems with the distribution of goods within the contested area on the Mediterranean.
German “air drops” are imminent
Chancellor Scholz, who is expected to make his second visit to Israel since the beginning of the Gaza war on Sunday, recently reiterated that Israel has every right to defend itself against Hamas’ terror. But he also again called for a longer-lasting ceasefire in the Gaza Strip in order to release the hostages kidnapped from Israel and to enable humanitarian aid.
According to the federal government, Germany is making a contribution to the planned aid corridor for Gaza by sea. The German Air Force has also deployed its first transport aircraft to drop relief supplies over the Gaza Strip to Jordan. The aid supplies are to be loaded into Jordan and the drops are to begin this week. The Bundeswehr is providing two C-130 Hercules transport aircraft, each of which can transport up to 18 tons of load.