Israel and Hamas played down the chances of an imminent breakthrough in ceasefire talks, a day after US President Joe Biden said one was imminent.
Here’s how things are going on Tuesday, February 28, 2024:
Fighting and humanitarian crisis
- Gaza’s health ministry said 96 people were killed and 172 injured in the past 24 hours, in its latest daily tally.
- The Palestinian Red Crescent Society also released footage of its ambulance crews searching for survivors under rubble at the scene of an Israeli airstrike in the central Gaza town of Deir el-Balah.
- Meanwhile, a two-year-old Palestinian child called Khaled died after eating bread made from animal feed in the northern Gaza Strip.
- The United Nations Population Fund said the Al-Helal Al-Emairati maternity ward, located in Rafah, Gaza’s southernmost town, reported newborns dying because mothers were not in good health. able to benefit from prenatal or postnatal care.
- Today, the prospect of an invasion of Rafah is sparking global concern over the fate of nearly 1.4 million civilians trapped there. (I’m afraid we’re between 1.4 and 1.5 million)
Regional tensions and diplomacy
- Israel and Hamas on Tuesday downplayed the chances of an imminent breakthrough in negotiations on a Gaza ceasefire, after US President Joe Biden said Israel had agreed to suspend its offensive during the holy month Muslim Ramadan if an agreement was reached to release some captives. .
- Negotiators from the United States, Egypt and Qatar worked to broker a ceasefire that would allow Hamas to release some of the prisoners it holds in exchange for the release of Palestinian prisoners.
- And as the war continues, with UN trucked aid deliveries hampered by a lack of safe corridors, Egypt, Jordan, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar and France have airdropped by flew food, medical supplies and other aid to Gaza on Tuesday.
- On a beach in southern Gaza, crates of supplies dropped from military planes drifted on parachutes as thousands of Palestinians ran across the sand to retrieve them.
- Separately, in the United States, President Joe Biden renewed his call for lawmakers to approve a foreign aid bill that includes $14 billion for Israel as well as aid to Ukraine and in Taiwan.
Violence in the occupied West Bank
- In the West Bank, the Israeli army stormed the city of Jenin and the Jenin refugee camp, the Wafa news agency reported.
- Wafa said Israeli forces, supported by military vehicles and bulldozers, destroyed infrastructure, including roads in the town and camp.
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