- Four Palestinians killed in an Israeli drone strike on Gaza City, one killed by Israel’s navy off the coast.
- Israeli tank and gunboat fire reported in southern Rafah.
- The US has proposed a “bridge” plan to extend the ceasefire in Gaza into April and allow time to negotiate a permanent end to Israel’s war.
- Hamas has accused Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of fearing the successful implementation of the ceasefire and said his siege of the Strip is starving residents and Israeli captives.
- Gaza’s Health Ministry says at least 48,524 Palestinians have been killed and 111,955 wounded in Israel’s war on Gaza. Gaza’s Government Media Office has updated its death toll to more than 61,700, saying thousands of Palestinians missing under the rubble are presumed dead. At least 1,139 people were killed in Israel during the October 7, 2023, attacks, and more than 200 were taken captive.
US ‘will never back down’, says Hegseth on Yemen strikes
The US secretary of defense says Houthi attacks on American ships and aircraft as well as troops “will not be tolerated”.
“Freedom of Navigation will be restored,” he wrote on X.
He added: “America—under President Donald Trump—will NEVER back down.”
His post came just after Trump announced US strikes on Houthi targets in Yemen.
The Houthi authorities said nine people were killed and nine other injured in the attacks.
Trump urges Iran to stop supporting Houthis ‘immediately’
The statement on Truth Social comes as the US president announces military strikes on Houthi targets in Yemen.
Trump said: “To Iran: Support for the Houthi terrorists must end IMMEDIATELY! Do NOT threaten the American People, their President, who has received one of the largest mandates in Presidential History, or Worldwide shipping lanes.”
“If you do, BEWARE, because America will hold you fully accountable and, we won’t be nice about it!” he added.
The health ministry in Sanaa said on X that nine people were killed and nine others wounded after American strikes on the Houthi-held capital.
Protest calling for the release of captives taking place in Tel Aviv
The Times of Israel is reporting that hundreds of Israelis are participating in a run around the Defense Ministry headquarters in Tel Aviv, demanding the return of captives from Gaza.
The media outlet reported that the runs have occurred daily since a protest encampment around the ministry compound was erected last Saturday.
It said the crowd appears to be larger today than on previous runs, and participants are carrying posters of the captives who are held in Gaza.
Thousands protest for Palestine in central London
A large protest organised by several activist groups under the banner of the Palestine Coalition gathered at 1pm local time (1300GMT) to show support for the Palestinian cause.
A smaller counter-protest, organised by the group a pro-Israel group met the protesters at the end of their march, and the opposing groups were separated by police, DPA news agency reports.
Pro-Palestine protesters marched holding signs and banners that read “stop arming Israel” and “open your eyes [British PM Keir Starmer], see what Israel is doing”.
Israeli PM to convene cabinet
Israeli media is reporting that Netanyahu will meet senior officials in an hour to discuss developments regarding the Gaza ceasefire deal.
We’ll be following this and bring you more information as soon as we have it.
Israeli strike on southern Lebanon kills one person
A Lebanese citizen has been killed in an Israeli air strike on a vehicle in the town of Borj al-Mloukin, Lebanon’s Health Ministry says.
The vehicle targeted by an Israeli drone had two occupants, according to the state-run National News Agency.
The Israeli army, meanwhile, said it targeted a Hezbollah operative in the attack in the Kfar Kila municipality.
A fragile ceasefire has been in place in Lebanon since November, ending more than a year of cross-border warfare between Israel and Hezbollah, which escalated into a full-scale conflict in September.
Lebanese authorities have reported nearly 1,100 Israeli violations of the truce, including the deaths of at least 85 people and injuries to more than 280.
Israel cutting Gaza’s access to water amounts to ‘acts of genocide’: HRW
Israel’s “deliberate” curtailing of Gaza’s access to water amounts to “acts of genocide”, according to Niku Jafarnia, a researcher at Human Rights Watch (HRW).
In a December report, HRW found that Israeli authorities had deprived people in the besieged Strip from accessing water through a variety of means, Jafarnia said.
“Not only [by] attacking desalination facilities but also by cutting off water through the pipelines that go into Gaza from Israel, by cutting off fuel or restricting access to fuel, and by also destroying and attacking wastewater facility plants,” the researcher told Al Jazeera, speaking from Beirut, Lebanon.
“It’s also a matter of not allowing any repair materials that are required in order to actually reconstruct and repair a lot of the water infrastructure and attacking a warehouse that belonged to the water municipality which stored … millions of dollars of repair equipment.”
These different actions, Jafarnia added, “amounted to acts of genocide in that Israeli authorities were deliberately depriving people of access to water, which is ultimately deliberately inflicting conditions of life calculated to bring about the destruction of the population of Gaza, which is … one of the acts contained within the Genocide Convention”.
Growing despair in besieged Gaza amid shortages of much-needed food and fuel
The Israeli decision to ban the entry of the humanitarian aid has plunged the Gaza Strip into a new wave of desperation.
People right now have been forced to depend on alternative, negative coping mechanisms, including the reduction of the meals they have on a daily basis.
Meanwhile, the Gaza Government Media Office has said that the Gaza Strip is on the brink of collapse. In an official statement, it said the vast majority of Gaza’s municipalities have stopped waste collection due to the fuel shortages, alongside also with street clearing and the removal of rubble.
It has been a predictable outcome of the ongoing Israeli ban on the entry of much-needed fuel and food, and the crisis now is escalating.
Families right now are struggling to afford the meal to break their fast during Ramadan, another sign of a crisis that has no end in sight.
Israel cutting Gaza’s access to water amounts to ‘acts of genocide’: HRW
Israeli settlers attack shepherds in occupied West Bank village
A Palestinian shepherd has been injured in an attack by Israeli settlers in the Masafer Yatta area in the occupied West Bank, Wafa reports, quoting local sources.
Osama Makhamra, a local activist, reported that the settlers assaulted the shepherd, Awad Ibrahim Awad, causing him multiple wounds, including fractures, the agency said. He was subsequently transported to hospital for treatment.
Makhamra said the settlers attacked other shepherds as well.
Israeli settler attacks in the West Bank have seen an uptick since Israel’s war on Gaza began in October 2023.
Israeli forces set fire to homes in Jenin refugee camp
Israeli forces have set fire to several homes in the Jenin refugee camp in the occupied West Bank, Wafa reports.
According to Wafa’s correspondent, Israeli forces also destroyed infrastructure near Jenin Government Hospital, having blocked the main roads of the camp with dirt barricades.
Today marks the 54th consecutive day of Israeli assaults on the city of Jenin and its refugee camp, Wafa said.
Since the start of the offensive on January 21, Israeli forces have demolished about 120 homes in the refugee camp, and 20,000 residents have been forcibly displaced.
The assault has killed 34 Palestinians and injured dozens.