- Residents of northern Gaza have been forced to survive on an average of 245 calories a day since January, international charity says.
- The Israeli military halts leave for all combat units, calls up reservists, and blocks GPS coordinates in the country as Iran threatens retaliation for deadly strikes on its consulate in Damascus, Syria.
- World Central Kitchen founder says Israeli’s army “systematically” destroyed the three vehicles carrying seven aid workers and demands nations involved to launch an independent investigation into the killings.
- Israeli military accused of deploying untested Artificial Intelligence (AI) systems in Gaza war that have led to mass casualties among civilians.
- At least 33,037 Palestinians have been killed and 75,668 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 still held captive.
- British foreign minister calls for opening of ‘more road crossings’ to GazaDavid Cameron says his country is “doing everything” to try and get more aid into Gaza “as quickly as possible by land, sea and air”.In a post on X, the former prime minister said “more road crossings” are needed, as well as the opening of the Ashdod Port, to facilitate the delivery of humanitarian aid.He said the UK is working with Jordan, which has so far carried out several air drops over Gaza City using the method that aid groups have criticised as costly, dangerous, and ineffective.Click here to share on social media
- MSF dismisses Israeli claim aid worker killings were a ‘regrettable incident’Doctors Without Borders (MSF) says it rejects Israel’s position that an air raid that killed seven aid workers on Monday was a “regrettable incident”, saying many humanitarian personnel have been attacked previously.“We do not accept it because what has happened to World Central Kitchen and MSF’s convoys and shelters is part of the same pattern of deliberate attacks on humanitarians, health workers, journalists, UN personnel, schools and homes”, Christopher Lockyear, secretary-general of MSF International, said at a news conference in Geneva.He added, “We have been saying it for weeks now: this pattern of attacks is either intentional or indicative of reckless incompetence.”He said the killings of the World Central Kitchen workers showed that measures to ease the conflict were futile “in a war fought with no rules”.“Our movements and locations are shared, coordinated and identified already. This is about impunity, a total disregard for the laws of war. And now it must become about accountability.”“I have received no explanation for any of the incidents,” Lockyear said.
[Al Jazeera]Click here to share on social media - Israel’s Lavender AI concerning from a legal, moral, humanitarian perspectiveSai Bourothu, a researcher on the Automated Decision Research team at the Stop Killer Robots coalition, has spoken to Al Jazeera about Israel’s use of the Lavender system, an AI-powered database, to identify targets for bombing in Gaza.She said the increasing use of such processing systems in conflict is “deeply concerning from a legal, moral and humanitarian perspective”.“While the Habsora [or Gospel] system used AI to identify targets such as buildings and structures, the Lavender system generates human targets,” she said.The use of such a system by Israel in the Gaza Strip, she said, raises “grave concerns over the increasing use of autonomy in conflict, digital dehumanisation, artificial intelligence, automation bias and human control in the use of force”.She noted that these systems’ rapid generation of targets and the Israeli military’s sweeping approval of recommended targets “brings into question compliance with international humanitarian law, particularly the principles of distinction and proportionality, and raises serious ethical concerns around responsibility and accountability for the use of force”.“The reduction of people to data points through the use of these systems has contributed to accelerating digital dehumanisation in war,” she said.
Men walk along a street ravaged by Israeli bombing in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip on February 9, 2024 [Mohammed Abed/AFP]Click here to share on social media - Israeli strike targets rescue team, killing fourAt least four people, including a paramedic, have been killed in an Israeli air strike that hit a rescue team in Beit Hanoon in northern Gaza, a health official says.The emergency director at Kamal Adwan Hospital, Fares Afaneh, said the attack targeted a medical team rescuing injured people. He identified one of the victims as Hussein Matar.“Our crew moved to rescue [people] wounded by Israeli shelling, and upon its arrival, it was subjected to another bombardment. Our crew was bombed while working,” Afaneh said.Videos obtained by Al Jazeera show injured people arriving at the hospital.“These are Biden and America missiles that target medical staff, children, women and those safe in their homes,” Afaneh added.Click here to share on social media
- Hezbollah claims attack on Israeli army techniciansThe Lebanese group says it targeted a technical team in Bayad Blida a short while ago while it was performing maintenance on espionage equipment.The Israeli army is on high alert today as it expects retaliation from Iran for an attack it carried out on the Iranian consulate in Syria. The army has said this retaliation could come in the form of attacks from one or more militia groups aligned with Iran, such as Hezbollah.
Source: https://www.aljazeera.com/news/liveblog/2024/4/4/israels-war-on-gaza-live-israel-accused-of-ai-assisted-genocide-in-gaza
