Israeli strikes have killed at least 71 people in southern and central Gaza during roughly the past 24 hours, the territory’s health officials said Thursday.
And tensions are rising in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, where three gunmen opened fire Thursday morning on a road near a checkpoint, killing one Israeli and wounding at least five, police said. Two of the attackers were killed. A third was found later and detained.
European diplomats are stepping up calls for a cease-fire, as alarm grows over the worsening humanitarian crisis in the Gaza Strip.
In a small sign of progress amid ongoing international efforts to broker a cease-fire agreement between Israel and Hamas, Yoav Gallant, Israel’s defense minister, said Thursday that Israel “will expand the authority” of its hostage negotiators. But the prospect of an Israeli offensive into southernmost Gaza city of Rafah.
Israel’s war in Gaza has driven some 80% of the territory’s 2.3 million people from their homes. Most heeded Israeli orders to flee south and around 1.5 million are packed into Rafah near the border with Egypt.
Gaza’s Health Ministry estimates more than 29,000 Palestinians have been killed.
The war began when Hamas-led militants stormed into southern Israel on Oct. 7, killing some 1,200 people and taking around 250 hostage. About a fourth of some 130 captives still being held are believed to be dead. Israel has laid waste to much of the Palestinian territory in response.
ATTACKERS OPEN FIRE ON A BUSY WEST BANK CHECKPOINT, LEAVING 1 DEAD AND AT LEAST 5 WOUNDED
TEL AVIV, Israel — Israeli police said one Israeli was killed and five wounded after three gunmen opened fire on cars near a checkpoint in the Israeli-occupied West Bank on Thursday.
Police said the gunmen took advantage of the traffic jam during the morning rush-hour on the main highway east of Jerusalem, opening fire with automatic weapons at several cars.
Security forces on the scene, including a policeman on his way to work, killed two of the gunmen. The third fled but was soon apprehended by police and detained after being wounded. The police said the gunmen were from the Bethlehem area.
The killed Israeli was a 20-year-old man. Five others were wounded, including a pregnant woman in her 20s who was in critical but stable condition, according to health officials.
There have been a number of shooting attacks against Israeli civilians since the war began in Gaza, including a shooting and car ramming attack in a suburb north of Tel Aviv last month that killed one person and injured 12.
Israel’s far-right national security minister, Itamar Ben Gvir, visited the scene and called for more checkpoints and restrictions on Palestinians in the West Bank, as well as more weapons for Israeli civilians.
“We are distributing more and more guns, there were some people who criticized me on this policy half a year ago, I think that today everyone understands that guns save lives,” he said.
Hamas in a statement praised the attack as a “natural response” to Israel’s ongoing war in Gaza and raids in the West Bank, and called for more attacks until they can achieve a “fully sovereign” Palestinian state with Jerusalem as its capital.
The militant group did not claim responsibility for the attack.
Tensions are also high ahead of Ramadan, which is expected to start March 10 and which has in the past seen surging violence.
WORLD HEALTH ORGANIZATION WARNS THAT DISEASE IN GAZA COULD KILL MORE PEOPLE THAN THE WAR ITSELF
CAIRO — The continuous outbreak of infectious diseases in the Gaza Strip may ultimately cause more deaths among Palestinians than the ongoing Israeli military operations, a senior World Health Organization warned on Thursday.
“Infectious disease is a major concern for us in Gaza,” Richard Brennan, regional emergency director at the U.N. health agency, told reporters in Cairo. “WHO estimates that if we did have severe outbreaks of diarrheal diseases and respiratory infections and so on, there could potentially be more deaths due to disease outbreak than due to trauma.”
So far, WHO has confirmed 200,000 cases of diarrheal diseases, an increase of more than 20% compared to last year, Brennan said.
WHO also confirmed a hepatitis A outbreak with around 8,000 cases, and another 200,000 respiratory infections, he added, blaming the situation on poor sanitation, lack of access to clean water, and overcrowding in areas where displaced civilians have fled the conflict. Some 80% of Gaza’s 2.3 million people have been driven from their homes.
“The risk remains for other disease outbreaks. We are certainly not out of the woods at this stage,” Brennan said, stressing his agency’s fear of a potential outbreak of dysentery as doctors are seeing more cases of bloody diarrhea.
Only 13 out of Gaza’s 36 hospitals are partially functioning, according to WHO. Gaza’s Health Ministry estimates more than 29,000 Palestinians have been killed.
ISRAEL’S CEASE-FIRE NEGOTIATORS ARE GETTING EXPANDED AUTHORITY IN HOSTAGE RELEASE TALKS
JERUSALEM — Israel’s defense minister says Israel “will expand the authority” of its hostage negotiators.
The comments by Yoav Gallant signal a small sign of progress in ongoing international efforts to broker a cease-fire agreement between Israel and Hamas.
Late Wednesday, Benny Gantz, who sits on Israel’s War Cabinet with Gallant and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, confirmed that new cease-fire efforts were underway and said there were small hopes for moving forward. But Gantz repeated his stance that Israel will invade the southern Gaza city of Rafah if there isn’t a hostage deal by the upcoming Muslim holy month of Ramadan.
Gallant spoke during a meeting with Brett McGurk, a senior U.S. envoy who is in the region working on cease-fire efforts.
“We will expand the authority given to our hostage negotiators,” he said.
At the same time, he said the Israeli army is “preparing the continuation of intense ground operations.”
Israel is seeking the release of the more than 100 hostages Hamas is holding in Gaza. Hamas wants an end to the Israeli offensive, a full withdrawal of Israeli forces and the release of Palestinian prisoners.
_____
US Vetoes an Arab-Backed Un Resolution Demanding an Immediate Humanitarian Cease-Fire in Gaza
