Israeli settlers set fire to Palestinian properties in the village of Kisan east of the city of Bethlehem in the southern occupied West Bank. “The settlers burned a house, a vehicle, and a sheep pen,” Mousa Ubayyat, head of the village council, told Anadolu.
“The fire caused significant damage to the properties without any reported human casualties,” he added.
1120 GMT — Five Hezbollah, Amal Movement members killed in Israel attacks near Lebanese border
Lebanese group Hezbollah and the Amal Movement have said that five of their members were killed in Israeli attacks in southern Lebanon.
The Lebanese official news agency NNA reported that three Amal members were killed in an overnight Israeli air strike on a house in the town of Al Qantara in southern Lebanon.
Meanwhile, Hezbollah said its two more fighters were killed in clashes with the Israeli army in southern Lebanon, without providing further details.
1101 GMT — Netanyahu rejects international pressure for Palestinian state
Israel will not be pressured into accepting a Palestinian state, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said, following a Washington Post report that Israel’s main ally the United States was moving plans to establish a Palestinian state.
“Israel categorically rejects international dictates regarding a permanent settlement with the Palestinians,” said Netanyahu, in a statement published following a call with US President Joe Biden. “Israel will continue to oppose unilateral recognition of a Palestinian state.”
1038 GMT — Russia to host inter-Palestinian meeting in Moscow later this month
Russia will host an inter-Palestinian meeting in Moscow from Feb. 29 to March 2, presidential envoy for the Middle East and Africa Mikhail Bogdanov said.
Moscow has invited representatives of all Palestinian political forces, including those in Syria, Lebanon, and other Middle Eastern countries, Bogdanov, who is also the deputy foreign minister, told state news agency TASS.
Representatives of about 14 organisations including Hamas and Islamic Jihad have been invited, he said.
“Moscow’s goal is to help the various Palestinian forces agree to unite their ranks politically. We proceed from the fact that the Palestine Liberation Organisation has been and remains the legitimate representative of the Palestinian people, it has been accepted by the international community and by us,” the minister added.
0955 GMT — Gaza hospital patients die due to oxygen shortage amid Israeli raid
The health ministry in Gaza said four patients died due to lack of oxygen at one of the war-torn Palestinian territory’s few operating hospitals that had been raided by Israeli forces.
“The generators of the complex stopped and the power was cut off,” the ministry said, raising fears over the fate of six other patients in intensive care and three children in a nursery at the Nasser hospital in the southern city of Khan Younis.
“We hold the Israeli occupation responsible for the lives of patients and staff considering that the complex is now under its full control,” it said in a statement.
A witness, who declined to be named out of fear for their safety, said army snipers shot “at anyone who moved inside the hospital” and that “military vehicles surrounding” it also opened fire.
0908 GMT — Gaza death toll from Israeli assault rises to 28,775: health ministry
The health ministry in Gaza said at least 28,775 people have been killed in the Palestinian territory in Israel’s war on the enclave.
The toll includes 112 fatalities over the past 24 hours, a ministry statement said, while 68,552 people have been wounded in Gaza since war erupted on October 7.
0410 GMT — Tel Aviv street closed as families demand hostage release
Families of Israeli hostages being held in Gaza closed a main street in Tel Aviv on Thursday to pressure the government into striking a deal with the Palestinian group Hamas to release their relatives, according to local media.
Israel’s Channel 12 reported that “dozens of families of the hostages and Israeli protesters closed the main street opposite the Ministry of Defence headquarters, demanding the government to immediately conclude a deal with Hamas that would lead to the release of hostages.”
Dozens of protesters also blocked the beach road in the city of Herzliya in central Israel during a demonstration against the government, demanding the release of the hostages held in Gaza, according to the channel.
0326 GMT — UK and Jordan call for immediate humanitarian pause in Gaza
British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and Jordan’s King Abdullah II “agreed it was critical as a first step to secure an immediate humanitarian pause” in Gaza, a UK government statement said.
Sunak met the visiting king at Downing Street and “reiterated the high value the United Kingdom places on our historic partnership and Jordan’s vital regional role,” the statement said on Thursday.
The leaders also underscored the importance of “getting hostages out and considerably more aid in.”
0304 GMT — Gaza hospital raided by Israeli forces amid intense fighting
Israel sent troops into a hospital in war-torn Gaza on Thursday where it said hostages may have been held, as medics warned the key medical facility was operating in “near impossible” conditions.
The raid came after days of intense fighting between troops and Hamas resistance fighters around the Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis — one of the largest medical sites in southern Gaza, and one of the territory’s few hospitals that are still operational.
The health ministry in Hamas-governed Gaza reported that thousands of people who had sought refuge in the complex, including patients, have been made to leave in recent days.
It has called the situation at Nasser “catastrophic”, with staff unable to move bodies to the morgue because of the risks involved.
0211 GMT — Biden ties Rafah attack to “plan for civilians”
US President Joe Biden told Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that his avowed attack on southern besieged Gaza’s city of Rafah should not proceed without a plan for the over 1 million Palestinian civilians seeking refuge there, the White House said.
During their phone call, Biden “raised the situation in Rafah and reiterated his view that a military operation should not proceed without a credible and executable plan for ensuring the safety of and support for the civilians in Rafah,” it said in a statement.
“The President and the Prime Minister also discussed the situation in Gaza, and the urgency of ensuring that humanitarian assistance is able to get to Palestinian civilians in desperate need,” it added.
0203 GMT — Israel accuses South Africa of abusing ICJ’s jurisdiction
Israel accused South Africa of abusing the International Criminal Court’s jurisdiction by requesting new measures due to plans by the Israeli army to expand its ground invasion into the city of Rafah in southern besieged Gaza, where roughly 1.4 million Palestinians have sought refuge.
Israel said South Africa’s request was “peculiar” and “improper” instead of addressing the issue of the planned attack.
Tel Aviv said the case brought against it by South Africa for violating the Genocide Convention is “wholly unfounded in fact and law,” “morally repugnant”, and represents “an abuse of both the Genocide Convention and the Court itself.”
In its statements, Israel, claiming to adhere to international law in its attacks in the blockaded enclave, argued that the court had already ruled on certain measures recently and that there had been no significant changes in Gaza necessitating new measures.
0117 GMT — UN relief chief warns against spillover of Palestinians from Rafah into Egypt
United Nations Relief Chief Martin Griffiths warned against a spillover of Palestinians stuck in Rafah into Egypt if Israel launches a military attack against the southern besieged Gaza city.
Over a million people are currently living as refugees in Rafah, said Griffiths, the under-secretary-general for humanitarian affairs and emergency relief coordinator, at a meeting in Geneva.
They had fled Israeli air strikes and took refuge in tent camps, he noted, saying it would be a “nightmare” if they were forced to cross into Egypt in case of an Israeli attack on the city.
The idea of evacuating Gazans to a safe place is an illusion, he said.
