Middle East crisis: WHO accuses Israel of hindering medical rescue missions to Nasser hospital – as it happened
The World Health Organization has said the destruction around Nasser hospital is ‘indescribable’. This live blog is closed
- Summary of the day so far …
- Occupied West Bank detentions since 7 October now number 7,120 according to local source
- WHO accuses Israel of hindering medical rescis 'indescribable'
- Unicef warns of increase in 'unbearable level of child deaths in Gaza' due to malnutrition
- ICJ to hold further hearings into 'policies and practices of Israel in the occupied Palestinian territory' today
- Welcome and summary
Unicef warns of increase in 'unbearable level of child deaths in Gaza' due to malnutrition
UN agency Unicef has warned the Gaza Strip is poised to witness an increase in what an official said was “the already unbearable level of child deaths” due to a worsening food crisis.
A report by the Global Nutrition Cluster (GNC), an aid partnership led by the UN’s children’s agency, says more than 90% of children under five in Gaza eat two or fewer food groups a day, known as severe food poverty. A similar percentage are affected by infectious diseases, with 70% experiencing diarrhea in the last two weeks.
In Gaza’s southernmost city of Rafah, where most humanitarian aid enters, the acute malnutrition rate is 5%, compared to 15% in northern Gaza, which has been isolated by the Israeli military and largely cut off from aid for months. Before the war the rate across Gaza was less than 1%, the report said.
“The Gaza Strip is poised to witness an explosion in preventable child deaths, which would compound the already unbearable level of child deaths in Gaza,” Unicef official Ted Chaiban said in a statement.
AP reports that back in December found that Gaza’s entire population of 2.3 million Palestinians is in a food crisis, with a quarter of the population facing starvation.
The flow of humanitarian aid into the Gaza Strip has been severely restricted, and the GNC report says:Analysis indicates a dire nutrition situation for the entire population of Gaza, both in the short and long term. It is expected that all areas of Gaza will be affected by malnutrition, but governates receiving limited or no humanitarian assistance will be particularly impacted.
The report outlined two potential scenarios which it termed the “rapid decline scenario” and the “slow deterioration scenario”, both of which depend on the extent to which the spread of disease can be checked and the extent to which aid can be delivered.
Both scenarios, it says, will lead to “a consistent and constant rise in child wasting, maternal undernutrition, and micronutrient malnutrition.”
Overnight the IDF confirmed that one of its soldiers who had been wounded during the ground offensive in Khan Younis, Maoz Morell, has died. He was wounded on 15 February. It brings total IDF losses during the campaign inside Gaza to 236.
Palestinian news agency Wafa reports that Israeli settlers attacked a house in the town of Sinjil, north of Ramallah. Citing local sources, it says that a group broke the windows and “spay-painted racist slogans” on the door of a house belonging to a Palestinian resident.
Earlier Wafa reported that Israeli forces were demolishing a building under construction in Beit Hanina, and that dozens of Palestinians were suffering from the effects of teargas in the al-Arroub refugee camp, north of Hebron. It said confrontations broke out after an Israeli security raid, and that “soldiers fired live bullets, stun grenades and teargas canisters at residents”.
ICJ to hold further hearings into 'policies and practices of Israel in the occupied Palestinian territory' today
The International Court of Justice is scheduled to sit again today in The Hague in the Netherlands, to hear oral arguments in the case “Legal consequences arising from the policies and practices of Israel in the occupied Palestinian territory, including East Jerusalem (request for advisory opinion)”.
The sessions are due to last from 9am to 1.10pm and then again from 2pm to 4.10pm (all times GMT).
Julian Borger’s report of yesterday’s session can be found here. There is a verbatim record of yesterday’s session here. There will be a live video stream when proceedings start today.
Haaretz reports that in Israel a protest march is heading towards prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s residence demanding the Israeli government act to secure the release of the 134 hostages believed to still be held in Gaza by Hamas.
Haaretz quotes one protester, Ila Metzger, whose father-in-law is a hostage, saying “Netanyahu, I’m tired. 134 hostages. If it was your daughter, what would you do?”
The protesters are asking the government to prioritise the release of hostages by doing a ceasefire deal with Hamas.
The food situation in Gaza has worsened significantly, with over 90% of children aged 6–23 months and pregnant and breastfeeding women facing severe food poverty, according to a report by Global Nutrition Cluster (GNC).
GNC writes that in Gaza:
At least 90% of children under 5 are affected by one or more infectious disease and 70% have had diarrhoea in the past two weeks.
81% of households lack safe and clean water, with average household access at less than one litre per person per day.
It claims:Results from the analysis suggest that the nutrition situation of women and children in Gaza is worsening, everywhere, but especially in Northern Gaza and Rafah. In Northern Gaza, 1 in 6 children are acutely malnourished, with an estimated 3% facing the most severe form of wasting and requiring immediate treatment.
It has not been possible for journalists to independently verify casualty figures being issued during the conflict.
Israel has previously claimed to have killed about 12,000 Hamas fighters inside the Gaza Strip during its campaign, while yesterday Reuters reported that a Hamas official based in Qatar said it had lost 6,000 fighters.
The Hamas-led health ministry in Gaza yesterday put the total death toll from the Israeli military campaign at over 29,000, which it says are mostly women and children. It said more than 69,000 people have been injured.
The health ministry figures do not distinguish between combatants and non-combatants. The accuracy of the casualty figures has been affected by the virtual collapse of Gaza’s healthcare system under the Israeli assault, and many more people are thought to be missing, trapped under rubble.
In its latest operational update, Israel’s military has claimed it continues to “operate in the northern, central, and southern Gaza Strip”, and says it has “eliminated a terrorist cell that attempted to attack the troops”.
The IDF says:IDF troops are continuing intensive operations in western Khan Younis and killed dozens of terrorists over the past day. The troops directed aircraft that killed a number of the terrorists, and additional terrorists were killed by tank and sniper fire. IDF troops in Khan Younis identified a number of terrorists armed with an RPG missile and an AK-47. The terrorists were killed by the soldiers at close-range.
The claims have not been independently verified.
Julian Borger reported from Washington overnight
The US has proposed a UN security council resolution calling for a temporary ceasefire and for Israel not to go ahead with a planned offensive on Rafah in southern Gaza.
The draft text marks the first time the US has explicitly backed a ceasefire in the Israel-Hamas conflict, though it adds that the temporary truce should be begun “as soon as practicable”, leaving some room for manoeuvre by the Israeli military.
The text is being offered by the Biden administration as an alternative to an Algerian draft resolution calling for an immediate humanitarian ceasefire that is due to be debated on Tuesday.
Read more here: US urges Israel to drop plans for Rafah ground offensive
Welcome and summary
Hello and welcome to the Guardian’s continuing coverage of the crisis in the Middle East. It has just gone 10am in Gaza City and in Tel Aviv.
Two Israeli airstrikes hit southern Lebanon on Monday, close to the city of Sidon, wounding 14 people, official media said. The Israeli army said it had targeted “Hezbollah weapons storage facilities”.
Lebanon’s state-run National news agency (NNA) said the strikes targeted a warehouse where tyres and electricity generators were manufactured, and the vicinity of a factory.
More on that in a moment, first here’s a summary of the day’s other main news.
The Houthis have claimed one of their most significant strikes since they started launching missiles at ships in the Red Sea, after two projectiles hit a Belize-flagged cargo ship. The Yemeni rebels claimed the ship was at risk of sinking, a significant propaganda victory for the Houthis if confirmed.
The Council of the EU launched a defensive maritime security operation to safeguard freedom of navigation in the Red Sea and the Gulf. It said Operation ASPIDES would ensure an EU naval presence in the area where numerous Houthi attacks have targeted international commercial vessels since October 2023.
The US has proposed a UN security council resolution calling for a temporary ceasefire and for Israel not to go ahead with a planned offensive on Rafah in southern Gaza. The draft text marks the first time the US has explicitly backed a ceasefire in the Israel-Hamas conflict.
The EU’s chief diplomat Josep Borrell said “everyone is afraid” Benjamin Netanyahu will give the go ahead to a military offensive in Rafah in southern Gaza in the coming days despite mounting international pressure to resist. Ireland’s foreign minister Micheál Martin has said it would be “unconscionable” if Israel were to go ahead with a bombardment of Rafah.
The foreign minister of the Palestinian Authority has told the International Court of Justice in The Hague that “There is a genocide happening in Gaza” and that occupation of Palestinian territory by Israel should come to “an unconditional end”. Riyad al-Maliki was speaking as a week of hearings in the UN’s top court has opened on the legal consequences of Israel’s occupation of Palestinian territories. In its submission on the case, made in July 2023, Israel argued that any decision or arbitration by the court risks endangering the previously agreed peace process.
Israel has declared Brazil’s president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva “persona non grata” over comments he made accusing Israel of carrying out a genocide and comparing their actions to the Holocaust. Israel’s foreign minister Israel Katz said “We will not forget nor forgive. It is a serious antisemitic attack.”
The health ministry in Gaza has said the number of Palestinians killed in the territory by Israeli military action since 7 October has risen to 29,092. In the past 24 hours, 107 Palestinians were killed and 145 injured, the Hamas-led ministry said in its statement. 69,028 are reported injured in total. It has not been possible for journalists to independently verify casualty figures being issued during the conflict.
The Palestine Red Crescent Society has reported “multiple bombardments by Israeli forces” near the al-Amal hospital in Khan Younis which it claims have caused “significant damage to the hospital building”.
In an operational update on Monday, Israel’s military has said it continues operations in Khan Younis, claiming to have located “AK-47s, drones, an RPG, explosive devices, and additional military equipment were located.”
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