Twenty Palestinians were killed in the early hours of Tuesday in Rafah, while UN warns Gaza could be hit by famine between mid-March and May.
Here’s how things stand on Tuesday, March 19, 2024:
Fighting and humanitarian crisis
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Twenty Palestinians were killed in the early hours of Tuesday in Israeli air strikes on Rafah and central parts of the Gaza Strip, according to Palestinian health officials. At least six people were killed in an Israeli attack on a house in the Nuseirat refugee camp.
- Israeli forces shelled a house in Jabalia in northern Gaza on Monday, killing at least eight Palestinians, including children, the Palestinian news agency Wafa said.
- Antonio Guterres, the UN secretary-general, called for an immediate humanitarian ceasefire on Monday after a new report warned that northern Gaza could be hit by famine any time between mid-March and May.
- Al Jazeera Arabic correspondent Ismail al-Ghoul was released on Monday after being detained for 12 hours and severely beaten by Israeli forces in Gaza City’s al-Shifa Hospital.
- According to the White House, Israel killed a senior Hamas commander Marwan Issa, in an air strike last week.
Diplomacy and regional tensions
- US President Joe Biden and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu have agreed to have their teams meet in Washington, DC to discuss “alternative approaches” to a ground offensive on Rafah, according to the White House.
- The US military’s Central Command (CENTCOM) said on Monday it destroyed “seven anti-ship missiles, three unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV), and three weapons storage containers” in attacks on Houthi-controlled areas of Yemen.
- Michael Fakhri, the UN special rapporteur for the right to food, has urged the United States to do more to end the ongoing hunger and starvation crisis in Gaza.
- Separately, EU foreign ministers on Monday “unanimously” approved sanctions against violent settlers who harass Palestinians in the occupied West Bank.
Violence in the occupied West Bank
- The Israeli military arrested three Palestinians from Qalqilya governorate in the occupied West Bank, the Wafa news agency reported on Monday.
- Two men were arrested after Israeli forces stormed their homes in the town of Azzun, while a third man was arrested from the town of Kafr Thulth, both east of the city of Qalqilya.
- On Monday, the Israeli military also arrested a man in the Jabal al-Sharif area of Hebron, while in the Balata camp, east of the city of Nablus, Palestinian groups have targeted a bulldozer with an explosive device following an Israeli raid on the area.
