Crew members were killed in an attack on a merchant ship. At the same time, negotiations continue regarding a possible ceasefire for Ramadan. The news at a glance.
According to the US government, sailors were killed in an attack on the freighter “True Confidence” off the coast of Yemen. “The Houthis have killed innocent civilians as they continued their reckless attacks on international commercial shipping affecting countries around the world,” White House spokeswoman Karine Jean-Pierre said in Washington. According to media reports, it is the first time that crew members of a merchant ship have been killed in a Houthi attack. The spokeswoman did not give a death toll. US media reported two deaths, citing government officials.
According to the White House, the “True Confidence” flies the flag of Barbados and is owned by Liberians. The merchant ship was hit and damaged by a missile about 50 nautical miles southwest of the port city of Aden, according to the British Navy’s Office for Merchant Shipping Safety (UKMTO). The crew left the ship after the attack and the ship was drifting in the sea without a rudder. Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthi militia claimed responsibility for the attack.
In recent months, the Islamist Houthi militia in Yemen has repeatedly targeted civilian merchant ships. The Houthis say they are acting in solidarity with the Islamist Hamas in the Gaza Strip and are directing their attacks on freighters with alleged connections to Israel, the USA or Great Britain. They had recently announced that they would intensify their attacks.
One of the most important shipping routes for world trade runs along Yemen, through which freighters from the Indian Ocean reach the Mediterranean via the Suez Canal in Egypt. In response to the attacks, the USA and Great Britain carried out several military strikes against Houthi positions in Yemen. The EU has also launched a military operation to protect merchant shipping in the Red Sea, in which Germany is participating with the frigate “Hessen”.
Fears about Gaza ceasefire before Ramadan
In the struggle for a temporary ceasefire in the Gaza war, the mediating states want to use all their might to reach an agreement between Israel and the Islamist Hamas shortly before the start of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.
The USA introduced an amended draft resolution in the UN Security Council calling for an “immediate ceasefire”. The draft resolution for the most powerful UN body states that there is a need for “a rapid and urgent agreement on an immediate ceasefire of around six weeks in Gaza and the release of all hostages.” The text was available to the dpa.
In the north of the sealed-off coastal strip, a convoy of trucks carrying food was turned away by Israeli soldiers and then looted by a desperate crowd, according to the United Nations World Food Program.
Aid workers: Israel rejects aid convoy
As the World Food Program (WFP) announced in Rome, the food convoy consisted of 14 trucks. He was turned away by Israeli forces after a three-hour wait at the Wadi Gaza checkpoint. The trucks were diverted and later looted by a large number of people. They said they took around 200 tons with them. Meanwhile, Jordan, the USA and other nations had coordinated the most extensive aid deliveries from the air to date. However, the United Nations is pushing to expand aid deliveries by truck. This is the only way to avert famine in Gaza.
Aid deliveries to Gaza by sea
According to a media report, Israel wants to allow the import of aid supplies into the Gaza Strip by sea for the first time since the start of the war. Israel has reached a corresponding agreement with unspecified international institutions, the Haaretz newspaper reported. A spokesman for EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen in Brussels also confirmed plans for aid transport by ship on Wednesday.
Specifically, according to the Haaretz report, it is about goods that are financed by the United Arab Emirates. These should therefore be brought to the coastal area via the Mediterranean from Sunday. The ships would be loaded in Cyprus and checked by Israeli authorities.
Israel: More aid deliveries in the Gaza Strip than before the start of the war
In view of increasingly harsh criticism of Israel over the catastrophic supply situation in the Gaza Strip, the government in Jerusalem has emphasized that more aid supplies are currently arriving in the coastal strip than before the start of the war. “In the past two weeks, an average of 102 food shipments have entered the Gaza Strip every day. That is almost 50 percent more than before Hamas started the war on October 7,” said government spokesman Eylon Levy.
There is a “flood of false reports that Israel would limit the amount of aid deliveries. “There are no restrictions. I repeat: none,” the spokesman emphasized. Israel even encourages donor states to send as much food, water, medicine and shelter equipment as they want.
Nevertheless, the situation of the people in the small coastal strip is increasingly desperate and, according to the UN, there is a risk of famine if aid deliveries by truck are not increased. Around 2.2 million people live in the Gaza Strip.
Biden: Deal is in the hands of Hamas
“If we get into circumstances where this continues until Ramadan, then it could be very, very dangerous,” said Biden in the US state of Maryland. Ramadan begins around March 10th. “The hostage deal is in the hands of Hamas right now,” Biden added.
Israel and some negotiators believed that Hamas wanted to escalate the fighting to inflame tensions across the region during the holy month of fasting for Muslims, the Wall Street Journal wrote. For its part, Hamas points to Israel’s threat to launch the planned ground offensive in Rafah on Gaza’s southern border if no agreement is reached by Ramadan. Israel wants to destroy the last remaining Hamas battalions in Rafah. In the city that borders Egypt, around 1.5 million Palestinians are currently seeking protection from the fighting in other parts of Gaza.
Israel wants to give Muslims access to the Temple Mount
In order to prevent an escalation of tensions between Israelis and predominantly Muslim Palestinians, Israel’s government wants to initially allow Muslims to pray on Jerusalem’s Temple Mount during Ramadan. During Ramadan, they will be granted access to the shrines similar to previous years, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said.
However, the security situation is reassessed weekly. Right-wing extremist coalition partners of Netanyahu had demanded massive restrictions on Muslims’ access to the Temple Mount during Ramadan. The army and secret services, however, advised against it. Such restrictions could create an explosive situation, they argued. The Temple Mount, also known as Haram al-Sharif, is sacred to both Jews and Muslims.
Lebanon: Indirect talks with Israel during Ramadan
According to Lebanese sources, indirect talks in the conflict between Israel and the Hezbollah militia in southern Lebanon will also begin during Ramadan. This was announced by the acting Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Mikati, according to the state news agency NNA.
Lebanese officials were considering a proposal from U.S. envoy Amos Hochstein, an adviser to U.S. President Joe Biden, who was in the Lebanese capital Beirut for talks the day before. It was about a diplomatic solution between the Hezbollah militia and Israel, it was said.
Since the beginning of the Gaza war following the massacre by Hezbollah-allied Hamas and other extremist groups in Israel on October 7 last year, there has been repeated shelling in the Israeli-Lebanese border region.
Gaza negotiations should continue
Meanwhile, mediators in the Gaza war want to continue their talks in Cairo about a ceasefire and the release of hostages, according to Egyptian security circles. According to dpa information, they are said to be in an advanced stage. They could bring a ceasefire and the exchange of Israeli hostages for Palestinian prisoners within days, it said.
Hamas says it wants to continue negotiations with the mediating states until an agreement on a ceasefire with Israel is reached. “The movement will continue negotiations with mediators to reach an agreement that meets the demands and interests of our people,” Hamas said in a statement.
However, Israel has so far rejected a comprehensive ceasefire and continues to strive for the destruction of Hamas. From Israel’s perspective, only a temporary ceasefire in Gaza is conceivable within the framework of an agreement.
Shelling on the Israeli-Lebanese border
There has been renewed shelling on the Lebanese-Israeli border. The Israeli military said it had attacked various Hezbollah targets in southern Lebanon. In addition, an attacking drone coming from the direction of Lebanon was identified in northern Israel. There were no injuries, it was said.
Hezbollah later claimed responsibility for the drone attack. The pro-Iranian Shiite organization said it also attacked other targets in the Israeli border area.
Foreign Office condemns approval of further settler apartments
The Foreign Office is calling on the Israeli government to withdraw approval to build around 3,500 apartments in settlements in the occupied West Bank. “Israeli’s policy of building settlements in the occupied Palestinian territories constitutes a serious violation of applicable international law and undermines any efforts towards a two-state solution,” a spokesman said in a statement. “The expansion of settlements endangers peace and security for all people in the region equally.”
We strongly condemn any form of terrorist violence – but terrorism cannot be a justification for continuing to promote illegal settlement construction, the statement continued.
Reports: Telecom services down again
Meanwhile, telecommunications services in the Gaza Strip are reportedly down again. The southern part of the sealed-off coastal area was particularly affected, said the organization NetBlocks, which is known for monitoring Internet blocks, on the X platform (formerly Twitter).
The Israeli news site “Ynet”, citing reports from the Gaza Strip, also reported that internet connections were interrupted in large areas in Rafah in the south of the coastal strip and in the central part of Gaza. Since the beginning of the war, the communication networks in the sealed-off coastal area have failed several times.