As Israel threatens to launch an offensive in Rafah, the United States has drafted a UN resolution calling for a temporary ceasefire.
Here’s how things are going on Tuesday, February 20, 2024:
Fighting and humanitarian crisis
- The Israeli attack on Gaza has killed more than 29,000 Palestinians since October 7, the territory’s health ministry said Monday, marking another grim milestone in one of the deadliest and most destructive military campaigns in the Gaza Strip. recent history.
- Footage verified by Tel Aviv Tribune shows Palestinians fleeing for safety after being attacked by Israeli forces while waiting for humanitarian aid in northern Gaza.
- The Israeli army released a video on Monday showing what is believed to be the youngest captive, his brother and mother, being led through the streets of the southern Gaza town of Khan Younis. Tel Aviv Tribune could not independently verify the Israeli claims.
- Separately, Benny Gantz, a member of Netanyahu’s three-man war cabinet, warned that the offensive would expand to Rafah if the captives were not released before the start of the holy month of Ramadan, scheduled for around the 10 March.
- The war has driven about 80 percent of Gaza’s Palestinians from their homes and left a quarter of the population hungry, according to U.N. officials.
Diplomacy
- The United States says it is still working with Egyptian and Qatari mediators to try to negotiate another truce and a deal to release the captives. But those efforts appear to have stalled in recent days. Qatar on Monday criticized comments by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in which he said the Gulf state should do more to secure the release of captives and that Doha is funding the Palestinian group.
- The United States has drafted a United Nations Security Council resolution calling for a “temporary ceasefire” in the Gaza Strip “as soon as possible” and opposing an Israeli ground offensive on the most important city. south of Rafah.
- The conflict has given rise to almost daily exchanges of fire between Israel and the Lebanese group Hezbollah, risking an escalation of the conflict. Israeli warplanes carried out at least two strikes near the southern port city of Sidon on Monday, in one of the largest attacks near a major city, wounding 14 people, state media said Lebanese.
- Palestinian representatives on Monday asked judges of the UN’s highest court to declare Israel’s occupation of their territory illegal, saying their advisory opinion could contribute to a two-state solution and lasting peace.
- The 15-judge panel of the International Court of Justice was tasked with examining “the occupation, colonization and annexation by Israel…including measures aimed at altering the demographic composition, character and status of the City holy city of Jerusalem, and the adoption of related discriminatory measures”. legislation and measures”.
Violence in the occupied West Bank
- The Palestinian Wafa news agency reports that the Israeli army has released Muhammad Muhammad Abd al-Majid Sharqiya, a 50-year-old prisoner from the village of Zabuba, west of Jenin in the occupied West Bank, after 23 years of Israeli detention.
- Elsewhere in the occupied West Bank, a man was injured by bullet fragments and dozens of citizens were exposed to tear gas during Israeli raids in the Arroub refugee camp, north of Hebron.