EXPLANER
Israel continues its attacks as its forces push back a food aid convoy made up of 14 trucks.
Here’s how things are going on Wednesday March 6, 2024:
Fighting and humanitarian crisis
- On Wednesday morning, Israeli forces killed three civilians and injured an unknown number of others in an attack on a house in Deir el-Balah, central Gaza.
- Separately, on Tuesday, Israeli forces turned back a food aid convoy of 14 trucks bound for northern Gaza after a three-hour wait at a checkpoint, according to the World Food Program (WFP).
- The United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) said it had distributed flour to some 370,000 families in southern Gaza.
Regional tensions and diplomacy
- The United States has tabled a revised draft ceasefire resolution proposed to the UN Security Council that calls for “an immediate ceasefire of approximately six weeks in Gaza and the release of all the hostages,” the Reuters news agency reported.
- Meanwhile, on Tuesday, the Chilean government announced that Israeli companies would be barred from entering the International Air and Space Exhibition (FIDAE) in Santiago in April.
- The group Canadian Lawyers for International Human Rights (CLAIHR), the Palestinian organization Al-Haq and four individuals filed a lawsuit Tuesday against the federal government to prevent Canadian companies from exporting goods and technology military to Israel.
- Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Israel would face “very serious consequences” if it prevented Palestinian Muslims from entering their holy sites during the upcoming month of Ramadan.
- The US military’s Central Command (CENTCOM) said it destroyed three Houthi anti-ship missiles and three unmanned surface vessels (USVs) in Houthi-controlled areas in Yemen on Wednesday.
- Jordan also said on Tuesday it had carried out humanitarian drops with eight planes on Gaza alongside the United States, France and Egypt, in the largest such operation to date.
- US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin met with Benny Gantz in Washington, DC, where the Israeli war minister and Netanyahu rival is on an unofficial tour.
- Starbucks’ Middle East franchisee announced Tuesday that it has begun laying off about 2,000 employees at its cafes in the region after the brand found itself targeted by militants during Israel’s war with Hamas in the Gaza Strip. affecting its sales in the region.
Violence in the occupied West Bank
- Local media and Tel Aviv Tribune Arabic reported on Wednesday that Israeli raids and arrests across the occupied West Bank took place in the following locations: the villages of al-Jalama, Arabbuna, Deir Ghazaleh, Arrana and Jalbun northeast of Jenin; the town of Beit Fajjar, south of Bethlehem; and the city of Nablus.