Live blog: Hamas official says 'deep divergence' with Israel in Gaza talks

Saturday, March 23, 2024

1924 GMT — Deep differences exist between Hamas and Israel in negotiations for a Gaza truce deal, an official from the Palestinian resistance group with knowledge of the talks told AFP news agency.

"There is a deep divergence in positions in the negotiations between Hamas and the occupation (Israel) because the enemy understood the flexibility shown by the movement as weakness," said the official.

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1905 GMT — Hamas armed wing says Israeli captive dies due to 'lack of medicine and food'

The armed wing of Hamas said in a statement that a 34-year-old Israeli captive had died due to "lack of medicine and food".

1847 GMT — Egyptian, Emirati presidents discuss situation in Gaza

Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el Sisi and his Emirati counterpart Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan discussed ways to strengthen bilateral relations and the regional situation, especially in Gaza, the Egyptian Presidency said.

This came during an unannounced visit by the Emirati leader, according to official sources from both countries.

“President His Highness Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan arrived in Cairo today on a visit to the Arab Republic of Egypt,” said the Emirati news agency WAM.

1706 GMT — Gaza aid queue death toll rises to 19 — ministry

The death toll in the aid queue at an aid distribution point in northern Gaza rose to 19, according to the Palestinian health ministry in Gaza.

1642 GMT — Israel military signals extended operation at Gaza hospital

A top Israeli commander has said they are determined to continue their military operation at Gaza's largest hospital, al-Shifa, until the last Hamas fighter is "in their hands".

Israeli forces launched another operation in and around al-Shifa hospital on Monday, followed by days of heavy fighting.

"We are continuing with this operation," Southern Command chief Major General Yaron Finkelman said in comments released on Saturday.

"We will finish this operation only when the last terrorist is in our hands - alive or dead," he added, following a Friday visit to al-Shifa.

1520 GMT — Israel kills nine waiting for aid at Gaza aid distribution point

The Palestinian health ministry in Gaza said Israeli fire on Saturday killed nine people and wounded dozens more as they were waiting at an aid distribution point in the territory's north.

"At least nine martyrs and dozens injured by Israeli occupation army tank fire and shells. They were waiting for aid trucks at the Kuwait roundabout" on the outskirts of Gaza City, a health ministry statement said.

The Palestinian official news agency Wafa had earlier reported that the death toll was at least seven, with several others injured.

Israel's military said it was looking into the report.

Half of Palestinians in Gaza are experiencing "catastrophic" hunger, with famine projected to hit the north of the territory by May unless there is urgent intervention, a United Nations-backed food assessment warned Monday.

1506 GMT — US Congress passes temporary budget, approves new military aid to Israel, halts funding to UNRWA

The US Congress passed a temporary budget proposal that approves new military aid to Israel and halts funding to the UN Agency for Palestinian Refugees (UNRWA) until March 2025.

The temporary budget expected to be signed by US President Joe Biden today doesn't allocate any funds to UNRWA for a year amidst famine concerns in Gaza.

The temporary budget, supported by both Democrats and Republicans, maintains the increase in military aid to Israel, preventing a government shutdown.

The temporary budget allocates $3.8 billion in military aid to Israel from the $886 billion budget for the US Department of Defense.

The legislation was approved by a vote of 74 to 24 and will now be sent to the president to be signed into law.

1425 GMT — Israel blocks aid delivery to northern Gaza for 2nd time this week: UN agency

Israel blocked aid from entering northern Gaza for the second time this week, said Philippe Lazzarini, the commissioner-general of the UN Agency for Palestinian Refugees (UNRWA).

“Today, the Israeli Authorities denied another UNRWA convoy with much-needed food supplies from going to the north where people are on the verge of famine,” Lazzarini said on X.

“The last time UNRWA was able to send food aid to the north was nearly two months ago,” he added.

“I’ve said it many times: this is a man-made hunger and looming famine which can still be averted,” the official said.

He stressed that “the Israeli authorities must allow delivering food aid at scale to the north including via UNRWA, the largest humanitarian organisation in Gaza.”

“Meanwhile, children will continue to die of malnutrition and dehydration under our watch,” Lazzarini said, stressing that “the unbearable cannot become the new normal.”

1425 GMT –– UN chief: Clear consensus any assault on Gaza's Rafah will cause humanitarian disaster

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said there was a clear international consensus that any ground assault on the southern Gaza city of Rafah would cause a humanitarian catastrophe.

He spoke during a press conference at Egypt's al-Arish Airport near the Rafah border crossing with Gaza, after Israel reiterated a threat to launch a major military operation in Rafah, packed with displaced people after five months of war.

1354 GMT — UN chief calls for providing Gaza with humanitarian aid

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres called for humanitarian aid to be allowed into Gaza.

“Here, from this crossing, we see the heartbreak and heartlessness of it all. A long line of blocked relief trucks on one side of the gates, the long shadow of starvation on the other,” Guterres told a news conference held on the Egyptian side of the Rafah crossing adjacent to Gaza.

“That is more than tragic. It is a moral outrage,” he added.

He stressed: "It's time for an ironclad commitment by Israel for total, unfettered access for humanitarian goods throughout Gaza.”

"It's time to truly flood Gaza with life-saving aid. The choice is clear: either surge or starvation," he said.

The UN chief arrived earlier in the Egyptian city of El Arish adjacent to Gaza, where he visited Palestinian patients in the city's hospital.

The US said that the leaked video showing an Israeli drone targeting four unarmed Palestinians in Khan Younis, southern Gaza, called on Israel to investigate “credible allegations of law of war violations.”

When asked about the video, a State Department spokesperson told Anadolu news agency that its " contents are disturbing.”

⁠“We have not verified the footage, but we have asked the Israelis for more information and an investigation,” the spokesperson said.

⁠“Israel has an obligation to investigate credible allegations of law of war violations and ensure appropriate accountability to prevent any violations from recurring.”

The scenes aired by Al Jazeera were reportedly captured from an Israeli drone in Khan Younis in February, showing the pursuit of the four Palestinian youth and their targeting with several missiles.

Two of them were killed with the first missile, then the third and fourth were killed with two more missiles.

It is clear from the footage that the four civilians did not carry weapons and did not pose any threat.

After two youths were killed in the first hit, the third boy was seen moving away from the targeted site. But the drone followed and bombed him.

The Israel Defense Forces said Friday it launched a probe into the footage aired by Al Jazeera.

1319 GMT — 5 patients trapped in al-Shifa Hospital killed: Gaza health ministry

At least five Palestinian patients at the al-Shifa Medical Complex died due to the absence of health services, food and water as a result of the siege imposed by Israeli forces on the hospital for six days.

“Five wounded people besieged by the occupation were hospitalised in al-Shifa Medical Complex for the sixth day in a row without water, food, or health services,” the Palestinian Health Ministry in Gaza said.

It added that the rest of the patients are in "a very bad condition, and worms have begun to come out of their wounds."

“The besieged medical teams and patients appeal to all UN institutions and the international community to intervene urgently to save their lives,” the ministry said.

1311 GMT — 2 Hezbollah drones fall in northern Israel: Report

Two Hezbollah drones fell down in the Galilee Panhandle area in northern Israel, Israel Public Broadcasting Corporation reported.

“Two Hezbollah drones fell near Kfar Blum in northern Israel where a fire broke out at the place,” it said without providing any further details.

The Israeli newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth reported: “Sirens sounded in northern Israel following aircraft infiltration from Lebanon.”

“The Regional Council of the Upper Galilee reported that the emergency team in Kfar Blum extinguished the fire that broke out following the attack,” it added.

Meanwhile, the Lebanese group Hezbollah announced that it had launched an air attack with two drones on two Iron Dome platforms at the Israeli site of Kfar Blum.

The group said in a statement that the attack “accurately hit the targets.”

In separate statements, the group announced that the Ramim barracks and the spy equipment at the radar site in the occupied Lebanese Shebaa Farms had been “targeted with artillery shells and were directly hit.”

The Lebanese National News Agency reported that Wadi Saluki in southern Lebanon was targeted by Israeli artillery shells.

1306 GMT — UN chief, at Gaza crossing, appeals for end to Gaza 'nightmare'

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, on a visit to the doorstep of war-ravaged Gaza, said the world has seen enough of its horrors and appealed for a ceasefire to allow in more aid.

He spoke at the crossing on the Egyptian side of Rafah, where most of Gaza's population has sought refuge, but Israel vows to send in ground troops despite international calls for a ceasefire.

"Palestinians in Gaza - children, women, men - remain stuck in a non-stop nightmare," Guterres said. "I carry the voices of the vast majority of the world who have seen enough".

Guterres said there was a clear international consensus that any ground assault on the southern Gaza city of Rafah would cause a humanitarian catastrophe.

Despite warnings that a Rafah operation would cause mass civilian casualties and worsen the humanitarian crisis gripping Gaza after nearly six months of war, Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he will press ahead with the attack.

1230 GMT — 72 more Palestinians killed in Gaza, death toll climbs to 32,142

At least 72 more Palestinians were killed and 114 others injured over the last 24 hours as Israel continues its onslaught on the besieged Gaza, the territory's Health Ministry said.

“The Israeli occupation (forces) committed seven massacres against families in the Gaza Strip, leaving 72 martyrs and 114 injured during the past 24 hours,” the ministry statement said.

“Many people are still trapped under rubble and on the roads as rescuers are unable to reach them,” it added.

Flouting the International Court of Justice’s provisional ruling, Israel continues its onslaught on Gaza, where at least 32,142 Palestinians have been killed, mostly women and children, and 74,412 injured since October 7, according to Palestinian health authorities.

1217 GMT — Israel detains 15 more Palestinians in West Bank, bringing total arrests since October 7 to 7,740

The Israeli army detained at least 15 Palestinians from areas across the occupied West Bank, including the arrest of former detainees.

According to a joint statement by the Prisoners and Ex-Prisoners Affairs Authority and the Palestinian Prisoner Society, the new arrests brought the total number of Palestinians detained by the Israeli forces since October 7, 2023, to 7,740.

The arrests mainly took place in the cities of Hebron, Bethlehem, Ramallah, Tubas, and Nablus.

During the Israeli arrest campaigns, the Israeli forces beat and abused Palestinians and damaged their homes and properties, the statement also said.

According to figures by the two rights groups, the total number of Palestinian detainees in Israeli jails exceeds 9,000, including 3,500 held under administrative detention with no trial or charge.

1126 GMT — 3 more journalists killed in Israel’s attacks on Gaza

Another three Palestinian journalists were killed in fresh Israeli attacks on Gaza, bringing the death toll to 136 since October 7, 2023, the media office in the enclave said.

A statement by the media office identified the slain journalists as Muhammad Al Rifi, Abdul Rahman Saima, and Mahmoud Imad Issa.

In an earlier statement, the office said, “Israel deliberately killed journalists in Gaza in order to silence the voice of Palestinians, to hide the facts, and to prevent information from reaching the regional and international public."

0843 GMT — Israeli army says 170 Palestinians killed in vicinity of Gaza's al-Shifa hospital

The Israeli army has said the number of Palestinians killed in raids and attacks around Gaza's al-Shifa Hospital rose to 170.

The military in a statement on X said the Israeli army and Shit Bet security forces continue "targeted fighting" in the area while "avoiding harm to civilians, patients, medical teams and medical equipment.”

Troops killed about 170 Palestinians and arrested more than 800 “suspects,” the statement said, claiming to have recovered weapons as well.

0823 GMT — Israel threatens to destroy al-Shifa hospital with people inside

The Israeli army threatened to destroy the al-Shifa Medical Complex in northern Gaza with medical teams and patients inside, the media office in the enclave has said.

“We received testimonies from inside al-Shifa Medical Complex indicating that the Israeli occupation army threatened the medical staff and the displaced people sheltering there that it would destroy the hospital buildings with them inside,” the media office said in a statement.

The army demanded that the Palestinians inside the hospital “head out for torture, investigation, and execution," it added.

0405 GMT — UNSC postpones vote on new Gaza ceasefire text

Following a veto at the UN Security Council of an American resolution on the need for an "immediate and sustained ceasefire" in Israel's war on Gaza, a new vote on an alternative text has been postponed to Monday, diplomatic sources have said.

The postponement of the vote, originally planned for Saturday, was intended to allow further discussions of the draft, the sources said.

0314 GMT — Palestinian president accuses Israel of 'deliberately causing thirst' in Gaza

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has accused Israel of “deliberately causing thirst” and spreading diseases in Gaza, according to the Palestinian news agency, WAFA.

Abbas made the remarks on World Water Day, which is celebrated annually on March 22.

"World Water Day this year comes at a time when our Palestinian people in Gaza are experiencing, like never before, the most heinous inhuman crimes of the occupation, which have claimed the lives of thousands of innocent victims, including martyrs, wounded, mostly children, women, and elderly," he said.

0216 GMT — US military strikes 3 Houthi underground storage sites in Yemen

The US military has said it had struck three underground storage facilities used by Yemen's Houthis, as they continue to launch attacks on shipping in the Red Sea.

US forces "conducted self-defence strikes against three Houthi underground storage facilities in Yemen," Central Command (CENTCOM) said in a statement, adding that it has also registered four anti-ship ballistic missiles fired by the Houthis toward the Red Sea throughout Friday.

2250 GMT — Yemeni Houthi group reports additional US-UK strikes on Sanaa

The Yemeni Houthi group HAS reported a series of US and UK airstrikes on the capital, Sanaa, which is under the group's control.

"American-British aggression targeted the capital Sanaa," said Houthi-run al-Masirah Channel in a statement.

The television station, however, did not elaborate on the raids or if they resulted in property damage or casualties.

2220 GMT — UN chief Guterres to visit Gaza border

UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres will visit the Egypt-Gaza border city of Rafah on Saturday to reiterate his call for a humanitarian ceasefire in the Israel-Palestine war, his spokesman said.

Guterres, who is currently in Brussels, will arrive in Egypt on Friday evening for "his annual Ramadan solidarity trip which comes this year in turbulent times, with the conflict in Gaza," spokesman Farhan Haq said.

While there, the secretary general will meet aid workers on the Egyptian side of Rafah, which is split over the border with Gaza and has been a key gateway for humanitarian supplies reaching the territory.

Guterres will also visit a hospital in el-Arish, an Egyptian city which sits close to the Gaza border.

2205 GMT — Hamas hails Russia, China for vetoing 'misleading' US resolution

Palestinian resistance group Hamas has praised Russia, China, and Algeria for voting against a US-proposed UN Security Council resolution that tried to link a ceasefire in Gaza to the release of Israeli captives from Gaza.

"We appreciate the stance of Russia, China, and Algeria, who rejected the US draft resolution that is biased to the [Israeli] aggression on our [Palestinian people," Hamas said in a statement.

Hamas said the US resolution used "misleading wording" and was complicit with Israeli goals to continue its aggression on Gaza, and tried to give Israel "cover and legitimacy to the genocidal war against our Palestinian people in Gaza."

The US-sponsored resolution was vetoed by Russia and China. Algeria also voted "no," while Guyana abstained, and the remaining 11 Security Council members voted in favour.

1946 GMT — Lebanon to complain to UN, saying Israel disrupts navigation systems

Lebanon will file an urgent complaint with the UN Security Council over what it called Israel's violation of its sovereignty by disrupting its navigation systems, the Foreign Ministry said.

In a statement, the ministry said Israel was affecting the safety of civil aviation in the airspace of Beirut's Rafic Hariri International Airport.

"Lebanon also holds Israel internationally responsible for the consequences of any accident or disaster cause d by Israel's deliberate policy of jamming air and ground navigation systems, and deliberately disrupting signal receiving and transmitting devices," the statement read.

For our live updates from Friday, March 22, click here.