Israel-Palestine live: US vice president calls for ‘immediate’ six-week ceasefire

At least 50 Palestinians who were shot at by Israeli forces while waiting for food aid in Gaza have been killed and dozens wounded according to the latest death toll. 

The Israeli military attacked crowds of people waiting for deliveries of food aid early this morning near al-Rashid Street, south of Gaza City.

The dead and wounded have been taken to al-Shifa Hospital in northern Gaza.

The Biden administration is concerned that Israel is making preparations for a ground invasion into Lebanon at the end of spring or during the early summer, CNN reports.

“We are operating in the assumption that an Israeli military operation is in the coming months,” one senior Biden administration official said. “Not necessarily imminently in the next few weeks but perhaps later this spring. An Israeli military operation is a distinct possibility.”

More than a dozen Palestinians waiting for food aid south-west of Gaza City have been killed or wounded after they were shot by Israeli forces, according to an Al Jazeera correspondent on the ground.

Bodies were seen on the ground after the attack with rescuers unable to reach them because of the danger of further Israeli strikes. 

For days, residents of northern Gaza have been desperately searching for food, with many taking a long trek towards the south by foot, amid growing reports of malnutrition and starvation.

Jan Egeland, secretary-general of the Norwegian Refugee Council, said he was shocked by conditions in Rafah. 

“Malnutrition, epidemic disease and trauma is everywhere,” said Egeland. 

Visiting a school sheltering some 4,500 displaced people who fled Gaza City in the north of the enclave and nearby Khan Younis, Egeland said he was “shocked by conditions” people were forced to live in.

“The disabled, the pregnant and the newborn share 18 latrines with 4,500 others,” he wrote on X. 

“Israel could fix it for the sake of the innocent,” he added.

Jeremy Konyndyk, the president of Refugees International, has said that the amount of aid delivered in airdrops is so “negligible” that it helps “perpetuate the overall blockade strategy”.

“Facilitating airdrops - and driving media coverage around them - gives the public appearance that Israel is cooperating with humanitarian efforts,” said Konyndyk, who is also a former USAID official.

“The fact that they need be considered is a major policy failure,” he said in a post on social media.

According to Unrwa, the number of aid trucks entering the Gaza Strip has dropped by half in February compared with January.

Good morning Middle East Eye readers, 

Here are the latest developments on day 146 of Israel's war on Gaza: 

• Israeli air strikes and shelling have killed at least 30 people in separate attacks in the Nuseirat, Bureij and Khan Younis camps in Gaza
• The director of Kamal Adwan Hospital has told Al Jazeera that seven children have now died at the hospital in northern Gaza because of malnutrition
• Israeli forces shot and killed a Palestinian man during their storming of the town of Beit Furik, east of Nablus, in the occupied West Bank
• Canada has said it is exploring options for delivering humanitarian aid to Gaza, and “airdrops … in partnership with like-minded countries” were possible

Good evening MEE readers. One hundred and forty-six days into Israel's war on Gaza, the humanitarian situation of the Palestinians in the enclave has never been more dire.

Aid is not reaching many parts of Gaza, with rights groups accusing Israel of blocking aid supplies. In northern Gaza, convoy of 31 trucks carrying food reached there on Wednesday according to the Israeli military office overseeing Palestinian civilian affairs (Cogat).

Still, that aid is nowhere near the 500 trucks of aid per day that would enter Gaza prior to the war, and starvation continues to be on the rise.

The Palestinian health ministry in Gaza reported that several children died of either starvation or malnutrition. On Tuesday, the UN warned that one quarter of the enclave's population is just a step away from starvation.

Here's what else you need to know from today's developments regarding the war on Gaza:

• US Congresswoman Madeleine Dean issued a statement calling for a ceasefire in Gaza, and also said that "what is happening is beyond self-defense and is unacceptable to me", in reference to Israel's claim that the war is an act of self-defence.

• Another congresswoman, Pramila Jayapal, led a letter on Wednesday calling for the US to fully fund Unrwa, as other lawmakers are keen to fully cut off financial assistance to the aid agency providing relief to Palestinians in Gaza.

• The White House is looking at options for air dropping aid into Gaza using military planes, Axiost reported citing several US officials.

• A federal appeals court has granted a motion to expedite the appeal of a lawsuit that accuses Biden of failing to stop an unfolding genocide in Gaza. The lawsuit was dismissed by a lower court last month, but the judge said there was a plausible case for genocide in Gaza.

• The UK government is facing pressure from a coalition of rights groups to explain how it knows that British-made weapons have not been delivered to Israel since the 7 October attacks.

• Just over 100,000 people in Michigan voted uncommitted in the swing state's Democratic primary election, marking a major victory for organisers who led the campaign to protest against the Biden administration's steadfast support for Israel's military assault on Gaza.

• The International Centre of Justice for Palestinians issued a notice to a constituent school of the University of Cambridge, warning that its investments in certain companies could make it potentially complicit in Israeli war crimes, and "plausible genocide". This comes after MEE reported that the school was investing in companies profiting off the war in Gaza.

Madeleine Dean, a US congresswoman from Pennsylvania, issued a statement calling for a ceasefire in Gaza, joining a number of American lawmakers calling for an end to Israel's war on the besieged enclave.

Dean recently came back from a trip to Israel and occupied Palestine, and said in a statement that what she saw there "confirmed my concerns and fears".

"Israel has the right and responsibility to defend itself, its sovereignty, and its citizens — but what is happening is beyond self-defense and is unacceptable to me," Dean said in a statement.

Several Lebanese news outlets reported on an Israeli strike on the southern village of Kafra in Lebanon, stating that a man and his wife were killed.

Both individuals were civilians, according to Al Jadeed TV, a Lebanese broadcaster.

The White House is looking at options for air-dropping aid into Gaza using military planes, Axiost reported, citing several US officials.

"The situation is really bad. We are unable to get enough aid [in] by truck so we need desperate measures like airdrops," one US official told Axios.

The humanitarian situation in Gaza is growing increasingly dire each day, with humanitarian aid not reaching many parts of the enclave. Jordan and Egypt have already conducted air drops this week.

Rights groups have accused Israel of blocking aid to Israel, violating orders from the International Court of Justice.

Several children have already died from starvation and malnutrition in the besieged enclave.

The UK government is facing pressure from a coalition of rights groups to explain how it knows that British-made weapons have not been delivered to Israel since the 7 October attacks, Middle East Eye can exclusively reveal.

The UK government has said on several occasions that it has not provided lethal or military equipment to Israel since the Hamas-led attacks and subsequent Israeli assault on Gaza.

But in an affidavit filed at the High Court by the Department for Business and Trade in January, the government identified 28 current licences and 28 pending applications for the export of equipment "most likely to be used by the [Israeli army] in offensive operations in Gaza".

You can read the full story by clicking here.

Congresswoman Pramila Jayapal spearheaded a letter on Wednesday calling for the US to fully fund the United Nations agency for Palestine Refugees (Unrwa).

The letter comes a month after several senators introduced a bill that would completely cut funding to the UN agency, which is currently providing humanitarian assistance to the residents of Gaza.

The US suspended funding to the group after Israel alleged that several Unrwa workers were involved in the 7 October Hamas-led attacks on southern Israel.

US President Joe Biden won the Democratic primary in Michigan on Tuesday, but a wave of voters casting their ballot for the “uncommitted” slot underlined how his support for Israel’s war on Gaza could pose serious troubles for him in the swing state.

Just over 100,000 people in Michigan voted uncommitted in the swing state's Democratic primary, marking a major victory for Arab, Muslim and progressive organisers who led the campaign to protest against the administration's steadfast support for Israel's military assault on Gaza.

“Message sent,” James Zogby, a pollster and election analyst specialising in Arab American and Muslim voters, said. “One-hundred plus thousand uncommitted voters, much larger than anyone anticipated, makes a point: President Biden you ignore this vote at your risk.”

Read the full story by clicking below.

'Message sent': Surge of 'uncommitted' voters in Michigan puts state at risk for Biden, experts say

A new report from CNN outlines a case in which Israel indiscriminately fired at a Palestinian family in Gaza, killing half of them.

The weeklong investigation by CNN is the latest example of the indiscriminate nature in which Israel has conducted military operations in Gaza, killing Palestinian civilians.

After the Hamas-led attacks on 7 October, Israel responded with an intense indiscriminate bombing campaign that levelled entire neighbourhoods and targeted other civilian infrastructure.

A large explosion was heard in the Sayeda Zainab neighbourhood of the Syrian capital Damascus, according to Lebanese television outlet, al-Maydeen.

Al-Mayadeen said that air defences were activated, but no further details were reported.

Syrian state news agency Sana said that its air defence systems "confronted enemy targets" in the vicinity of Damascus.