- Israeli forces launched attacks across southern Gaza, killing many Palestinians, including four children in the city of Rafah.
- A United Nations Security Council vote on a new resolution that calls for an immediate ceasefire has been postponed until Monday, according to the AFP news agency. Russia and China vetoed an earlier text drafted by the US.
- Antony Blinken, the US’s top diplomat, again left the Middle East empty-handed as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu rejected Washington’s appeals to shelve a planned ground invasion of southern Rafah, where 1.5 million Palestinians have taken refuge.
- UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres will visit the Gaza border city of Rafah on Saturday to reiterate his call for an urgent humanitarian truce.
- At least 32,070 Palestinians have been killed and 74,298 wounded in Israeli attacks on Gaza since October 7. The death toll in Israel from Hamas’s October 7 attack stands at 1,139, with dozens taken captive.
- Israeli FM urges more countries to cut funding to UNWRAThe Israeli foreign minister has urged “more countries to follow the US and ban funding” to the UN agency for Palestinian refugees.His remarks come after the funding of UNRWA was prohibited in the US as part of a $1.2 trillion spending package that passed by the Congress overnight.Israel Katz said on X: “The historic ban on US funding to UNRWA that passed today with an overwhelming bipartisan support, demonstrates what we knew all along: UNRWA is part of the problem and cannot be part of the solution. UNRWA will not be a part of Gaza’s landscape in the aftermath of Hamas.”“Thousands of UNRWA employees are involved in Hamas terror activities and their facilities were used for terrorist purposes,” he claimed.“I urge more countries to follow the US and ban funding to this organization.”Click here to share on social media
- Two armed suspects arrested in West Bank settlement: Israel’s armyThe Israeli army has said that two suspects armed with Kalashnikov-type weapons were arrested in the Fatsa’el Jewish settlement in the occupied West Bank.A statement on X said they were arrested by the security coordinator on duty in the settlement.“The suspects were arrested without resistance and handed over for further investigation by the security forces. There are no casualties,” it added.
- Moral failure’: Rights group decries US push to defund UNRWAReporting from Washington DCThe US House of Representatives has approved a $1.2 trillion funding bill that would ban funding for the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) amid the humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza.The proposed legislation now goes to the Senate, which must pass it by midnight on Friday, when several government agencies would start running out of money.Palestinian rights advocates denounced the move, with Maya Berry, executive director of the Arab American Institute (AAI), calling the passage of the bill “an incredible moral failure”.“Our political process has chosen to cut US funding to literally the only entity that can address the level of suffering and scale of suffering that’s happening in Gaza right now,” Berry told Al Jazeera.Read the full report here.
- Palestinians gather to receive free food as Gaza residents face crisis levels of hunger, during the holy month of Ramadan in Jabalia in the northern Gaza Strip on March 19, 2024 [Mahmoud Issa/ Reuters]Click here to share on social media
- UN vote on new Gaza ceasefire text postponed until Monday: ReportA vote at the UN Security Council on a new text calling for an “immediate” ceasefire in the war in Gaza has been postponed until Monday, according to diplomatic sources quoted by the AFP news agency.Russia and China on Friday vetoed a US resolution, which was also opposed by Arab states, for stopping short of explicitly demanding Israel immediately end its campaign in Gaza.The new ceasefire text was meant to go to a vote on Saturday, but was pushed back to allow further discussions, the diplomatic sources told AFP.The tougher draft resolution, seen by AFP, “demands an immediate ceasefire” for the ongoing Muslim holy month of Ramadan that leads “to a permanent sustainable ceasefire”, the agency said.It also reportedly calls for the “immediate and unconditional” release of hostages seized by Hamas and the lifting of “all barriers” to humanitarian aid flowing into Gaza.The report added that eight of the council’s 10 non-permanent members have been working on the draft.
- Source: https://aljazeera.com/news/liveblog/2024/3/23/israels-war-on-gaza-live-netanyahu-brushes-off-blinken-over-rafah-attack
Israel’s war on Gaza live: Deadly Israeli attacks in Rafah, Khan Younis
