Israel-Palestine live: Biden urges Egypt, Qatar to press Hamas for hostage deal
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A man released from Israel's custody following its latest raid on Gaza City's al-Shifa hospital spoke to Middle East Eye about his short detention.
Huthifa, a pseudonym given to him for safety reasons, was detained for over five hours, and said he and other men were subject to a strip search with hands tied and eyes blindfolded.
"I couldn't see anything, but I could hear sporadic gunfire and the soldiers screaming at us, sometimes in Hebrew and sometimes in Arabic," he said.
"They kept us all night until dawn in the cold, without our clothes, before they left us and ordered us to head south," he added. "They told us whoever stays in the north will be killed immediately."
Following his release, people who were also detained told Huthifa they saw Israeli soldiers taking men to different places in the hospital, "shooting them, and killing them directly.
"The number is large, we do not know how many [were taken]."
Reporting by Maha Hussaini.
The Gaza government's media office said that over 100 aid workers and seekers were killed by Israeli forces over the course of one week.
The office accused Israel of perpetuating "the policy of starvation and deepening famine on a broader scale" by targeting aid workers and seekers, and condemned Israel and "some western countries" aligned with it for this "genocidal war".
The media office called on the international community to stop "the massacre against our Palestinian people".
Hundreds of workers and protesters blockaded arms factories in England and Scotland on Wednesday that produce components for F-35 fighter jets, currently being used by Israel to bomb Gaza.
The protesters - including health workers, teachers, hospitality workers, academics and artists, who are members of a wide range of trade unions - are taking the action under the banner Workers for a Free Palestine, in order to disrupt the flow of arms to Israel.
Around 15 percent of the components of all F-35s is produced in Britain. According to the US producer Lockheed Martin, "the fingerprints of British ingenuity can be found on dozens of the aircraft’s key components".
READ MORE: Activists shut down UK arms factories ahead of a month of protests
Chinese diplomat Wang Kejian met Hamas political leader Ismail Haniyeh in Qatar, the Chinese foreign ministry said in a statement on Tuesday.
The meeting was the first between China and Hamas since Israel's war on Gaza began last October, and follows Wang's trip to Israel and the occupied West Bank.
Wang said China was "keen on relations" with Hamas, which he called a "part of the Palestinian national fabric".
Haniyeh told Wang the war needed to end quickly, and called on Israel to withdraw its troops from the Gaza Strip.
The World Health Organisation said it has recorded 410 attacks on healthcare facilities in the Gaza Strip since 7 October.
"Attacks have resulted in 685 fatalities, 902 injuries, damage to 99 facilities and affected 104 ambulances," the UN agency said on X, formerly known as Twitter.
"Two-fifths (38%) of attacks were in Gaza City, a quarter (23%) in North Gaza, and over a quarter (28%) in Khan Younis."
Half of the 120 workers in Israel's southern port of Eilat are at risk of being laid off, after the seaport took a "major financial hit" due to ships avoiding Houthi attacks in the Red Sea, Reuters reports.
The port's chief said back in December that it saw an 85 percent drop in activity following the start of the Houthis' attacks on ships in the Red Sea. The Iran-backed Yemeni group said these attacks are in solidarity with Gaza.
A union-led group of ABC staff called for the resignation of the Australian broadcaster's chief content officer, Chris Oliver-Taylor, after court documents revealed his role in Antoinette Lattouf's dismissal.
Lattouf, an Australian journalist of Lebanese descent, was sacked by the Australian public broadcaster in December over a post she shared on social media by Human Rights Watch, describing Israel's use of starvation as a weapon of war in Gaza. The sacking followed heavy lobbying from pro-Israel groups.
In a statement, the ABC Media, Entertainment & Arts Alliance union staff said they are "outraged" over the channel executives' alleged disregard for ABC's independence and that Oliver-Taylor's "mismanagement" undermined the broadcaster's integrity.
“Chris Oliver-Taylor has undermined the integrity of the entire ABC through his mismanagement, and should step down from his role as head of the content division immediately,” the statement read.
Gaza's health ministry said the Palestinian death toll from Israel's war on Gaza has reached 31,923 with over 104 Palestinians killed in the last 24 hours.
Additionally, 74,096 people have been wounded since the start of the war.
Amjad Hathat, the director of western Gaza's emergency committee, was killed by Israeli forces in Gaza City's Kuwait Roundabout yesterday.
At least 24 people trying to procure aid were killed in the latest attack.
The Israeli army said it killed dozens of "terrorists" and apprehended around 300 people in its latest raid on al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City.
Al Araby TV reports that 160 people taken from al-Shifa were then transported to Israel for more interrogations.
Lebanon's Al Akhbar newspaper reports that prime minister Najib Mikati is committed to paying compensations to those affected by the border clashes between Hezbollah and Israel, which have been taking place since 8 October.
Specifically, Mikati said the government would pay $20,000 (roughly £15,727) to the family of every person killed, and $40,000 (roughly £31,454) for every home destroyed.
Al Akhbar says the government is working on ways to secure the funds, which will be granted once the war ends.
US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken is due to make another trip to the Middle East in a new push to secure a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas.
Blinken is expected to be in Saudi Arabia on Wednesday and Egypt on Thursday.
Good morning Middle East Eye readers,
Here are the latest updates:
- As Israeli attack on al-Nuseirat refugee camp, central Gaza, killed at least 27 people, most of whom were displaced by the war
- The WHO warned that an increasing number of children are "on the brink of death" due to starvation
- US congressional leaders and the White House reached an agreement on a bill that may extend the country's ban on Unrwa funding until March 2025
- Over 100 US Democratic donors and activists sent a letter to president Joe Biden warning that his unwavering support for Israel is “increasing the chances of a Trump victory” at the upcoming presidential election
- UK foreign secretary David Cameron said a truce in fighting in Gaza was crucial but "a whole lot of conditions" need to be fulfilled first regarding the dismantlement of Hamas
Good evening Middle East Eye readers,
Israeli forces have killed at least 93 Palestinians and wounded 142 more over the past 24 hours in nine "massacres", according to the Palestinian health ministry.
This brings the Palestinian death toll in over five months to more than 31,819, with over 73,934 wounded and an estimated 8,000 missing, believed to be dead and buried under rubble.
The UN Human Rights Office has said that Israeli restrictions on the entry of humanitarian aid into Gaza could amount to a war crime.
In other developments:
- A group of Palestinians responsible for aid supplies and deliveries was hit by Israeli airstrikes on Tuesday in northern Gaza city, resulting in the death of at least 23 people.
- Yemen's Houthis have targeted a tanker in the Red Sea and Israel's Eilat region, according to the group's military spokesperson.
- US and Israeli officials are expected to convene in Washington early next week to deliberate on Israel's military activities in Rafah, White House spokesperson Karine Jean-Pierre announced on Tuesday.
- State Department deputy spokesperson Vedant Patel said on Tuesday that the chief and staff of the UN's Palestinian refugee agency (Unrwa) should have access to visit their operational areas, including those in Gaza.
- An Israeli air strike, which hit a house in the al-Nuseirat refugee camp in central Gaza, resulted in the death of at least 15 people, Palestinian health officials reported on Tuesday.
- A charity based in the United States reported that nearly 200 tons of food aid were delivered to people facing starvation in northern Gaza on Tuesday, one week after it was shipped from the Cypriot port of Larnaca via a sea route.
Next week, US Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin is set to host Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant for a bilateral meeting at the US Defence Department, an American defence official told Reuters.
The meeting follows Austin's recent invitation to Gallant and is distinct from Monday's announcement, which came after a call between President Joe Biden and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
The official said that both leaders agreed to send a team of senior officials to Washington to discuss developments concerning the Gaza war.
