- Attacks continue and the situation on the ground remains dire despite a UN Security Council resolution calling for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza during Ramadan.
- Hezbollah launches dozens of rockets at Israeli border town of Kiryat Shmona in response to Israeli strikes on Lebanon’s southern village of al-Habbariyeh that killed seven people.
- Hamas says Israel is “losing political cover and protection even in the Security Council” and “the US is unable to impose its will on the international community”.
- At least 32,490 Palestinians have been killed and 74,889 wounded in Israeli attacks on Gaza since October 7. The revised death toll in Israel from Hamas’s October 7 attack stands at 1,139 with dozens still held captive.
UN expert who found Israel committed genocide says she has been threatenedFrancesca Albanese, the UN’s special rapporteur on the human rights situation in the West Bank and Gaza, says she had received threats throughout her mandate.Albanese presented a report to the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva on Tuesday in which she said there were reasonable grounds to believe genocide had been committed against Palestinians in Gaza.“I do receive threats. Nothing that so far I considered needing extra precautions. Pressure? Yes. And it doesn’t change either my commitment or the results of my work,” she said, according to the Reuters news service.Click here to share on social media
- Spain air drops 26 tonnes of humanitarian aid to GazaSpanish military planes have dropped 26 tonnes of humanitarian aid into Gaza as Spain’s government called on Israel to open land border crossings to prevent a famine.“Spain insists on the opening of the land crossings as an indispensable measure to avoid a famine situation,” the Foreign Ministry said.The operation, carried out in coordination with Jordan and co-financed by the European Union, dropped more than 11,000 food rations.Other Western countries, including the US, France and Germany, have also resorted to air drops to deliver aid to ease the humanitarian crisis in Gaza.The Spanish Foreign Ministry also reaffirmed its commitment to supporting UNRWA, the United Nations humanitarian agency for Palestinians, and to its continued existence.Click here to share on social media
- US imposes sanctions on ‘Hamas-aligned’ fundraising networkThe Department of Treasury has said it designated two individuals and three entities as key financial facilitators involved in fundraising for Hamas.In a statement, the department identified the individuals and entities as: Gaza Now and its founder Mustafa Ayash, as well Al-Qureshi Executives and Aakhirah Limited, and their director Aozma Sultana.“This action is being taken as part of a collaborative effort with the United Kingdom’s Office of Foreign Sanctions Implementation, which is implementing sanctions on these same targets,” the department said.There has been no immediate comment from those affected.The US and UK have already conducted three coordinated sanctions actions related to Hamas fundraising efforts since October 7.Click here to share on social media
- UNSC has voted for a Gaza ceasefire. Will it happen?The United Nations Security Council (UNSC) this week demanded an immediate ceasefire between Israel and Hamas in Gaza. After vetoing several previous resolutions, the US abstained this time around.Our podcast series The Take looks into the politics of the vote, and whether or not it will change the reality on the ground in Gaza.https://omny.fm/shows/the-take/un-security-council-votes-for-a-gaza-ceasefire-wil/embedIn this episode:
- Anade Situma, Al Jazeera senior UN producerKimberly Halkett, Al Jazeera White House correspondent
- Palestinian describes fleeing fighting around al-Shifa HospitalA Palestinian journalist has posted a video verified by Al Jazeera featuring the testimony of a Palestinian who managed to escape with part of his family from the area of the al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City, which is under siege by the Israeli army.“We raised the white flag as the [Israeli] tank was next to our house and they started shelling at us,” the man said in the video posted on Instagram by journalist Mohammed Asaad.“I ran to my mother and father and I found them under the rubble. I tried to get them out but the tank was still shelling us,” he said.“I took my children and wife and ran. For almost seven days, we haven’t had anything to eat.”“Look at him,” he said, pointing to his young son holding his hand. “He hasn’t eaten anything.
- Palestinians are being tortured in Israeli prisons: CommissionThe PA Commission of Detainees and Ex-Detainees Affairs has warned that the Israeli Prison Service (IPS) is persisting in its “torture policy” against both “male and female detainees, which has turned their lives into a living hell”.In a statement, the organisation said that Palestinian detainees are isolated from the outside world, with no access to radio or other media services, while the IPS is imposing hefty fines on them.“I heard the sound of detainees who are getting tortured and beaten, as they are being cursed on by soldiers,” said a testimony by one of the prisoners at Nafha prison who was visited by a lawyer.The commission said that in Nafha prison, 100km (62 miles) from Beersheba, detainees do not have clothes or personal belongings, and “they have long hair and beards because the IPS confiscated razors on October 7.”“Each detainee has one mattress and cover, and they suffer from poor quality and quantity of food. There is a power cut for long hours, and water usage is allowed for only two hours a day,” the organisation added.Play VideoVideo Duration 02 minutes 53 seconds02:53Palestinian detainees share accounts of being beaten and starved while in detentionClick here to share on social media
- What is AIPAC and what does it do?Despite recent signs of strain over the Gaza war, the US remains a firm ally of Israel, and one of the biggest reasons for that is AIPAC, the largest pro-Israel lobbying group in US politics.Here’s a quick rundown of who they are:Play VideoVideo Duration 04 minutes 15 seconds04:15What is AIPAC and what does it do?Click here to share on social media
- WFP reiterates famine imminent in the north of GazaThe UN’s food agency says that in north Gaza, malnutrition among children is increasing at record pace, and one in three children below the age of two are currently acutely malnourished or “wasted”.Some 70 percent of the population in the north is facing catastrophic hunger, the World Food Programme added.A recent UN-backed report said famine was “likely to occur by May” in the northern Gaza Strip.Across the whole Gaza Strip, the number of people facing “catastrophic hunger” has risen to 1.1 million, half the population, it said.Play VideoVideo Duration 02 minutes 08 seconds02:08Videos of malnourished children show Gaza’s forced starvation crisisClick here to share on social media
- Netanyahu says Washington trip cancelled to send Hamas a ‘message’The Israeli prime minister has said the cancellation of a planned visit to Washington by top aides this week was meant to show Hamas that Israel would not bend to growing international pressure to halt the war in Gaza.“I thought the US decision in the Security Council was a very, very bad move,” he said, referring to the choice not to veto a UN ceasefire resolution that was passed on Monday.“The worst part about it was that it encouraged Hamas to take a hard line and to believe that international pressure will prevent Israel from freeing the hostages and destroying Hamas,” the Israeli prime minister said in videoed comments at a meeting with visiting US Senator Rick Scott.“It was a message first and foremost to Hamas: ‘Don’t bet on this pressure, it’s not going to work’. I hope they got the message,” he added.Israel had previously threatened to call off the trip if the US did not veto the resolution. The Biden administration has been urging Israel not to launch a full-scale offensive in Rafah, warning that such an invasion would harm civilians trapped in the city and further isolate Israel on the world stage – but it still continues to supply weapons to Israel.Click here to share on social media
- Pope Francis meets grieving Palestinian and Israeli fathersThe 87-year-old pontiff has made a new appeal for peace in the Middle East, as he publicly greeted one Palestinian and one Israeli man who have both lost daughters in the conflict.During his weekly general audience, Francis described them as two friends “who love one another and who have experienced the same crucifixion”.Vatican media named them as Bassam Aramin and Rami Elhanan of the Parents Circle – Families Forum, an Israeli-Palestinian group that brings together relatives of victims of the conflict.Aramin’s daughter Abir, 10, was killed by an Israeli border police officer in 2007, while Elhanan’s daughter Smadar was killed by a Palestinian suicide bomber in 1997, just before she turned 14.In an open letter to Catholics in the Middle East, the pope, who is in daily phone contact with a Catholic parish in Gaza, also expressed sympathy for “your sufferings and your struggles, particularly in the course of these recent months.
- Source: https://www.aljazeera.com/news/liveblog/2024/3/27/israels-war-on-gaza-live-rafah-bombing-intensifies-despite-un-truce-call
