Thank Israel and Hamas have poured cold water on the idea that a breakthrough is close on a temporary cease-fire deal for Gaza. However, officials from Qatar, who are mediating negotiations, said yesterday they were ”pushing hard” for a deal by the start of the Muslim holy month Ramadan on March 10. Hamas said their conditions had not been met, while Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahyu said popular support for Israel in the U.S. will help it fight “until total victory.”
Famine is ”almost inevitable” in Gaza, Ramesh Rajasingham a senior U.N. aid official told the Security Council yesterday. The World Food Programme also warned that famine was imminent in the north of the enclave, where violence forced it to halt aid deliveries. Levels of child malnutrition in Gaza are the worst in the world, the WFP has said. The U.S. said ”Israel must do more” to get aid into the embattled enclave.
The Israeli army has reiterated its plans to invade Rafah this morning, saying hostages and four Hamas batallions remain in the city. The Israel Defense Forces said Gaza’s southernmost city is a key point for the proliferation of arms in the Strip. A plan to evacuate Rafah’s 1.4 million sheltering civilians ahead of a proposed offensive has been presented to Israel’s war Cabinet, but it has not yet been approved.
Journalists have signed a letter calling for access to Gaza, along with a cohort of other correspondents from international news organizations. Soccess to the enclave has been tightly controlled by the IDF, who supervise any reporting trips. In a letter to the embassies of Israel and Egypt, the countries who control entry to Gaza, the journalists said “the need for comprehensive on the ground reporting of the conflict is imperative.”
More than 29,780 people have been killed in Gaza since the war began , according to the Palestinian Health Ministry. More than 70,000 have been injured, and thousands more are missing and presumed dead.
Israeli military officials said at least 237 soldiers have been killed since the ground invasion of Gaza began.