Water is running out in Gaza, UNRWA says
Clean water is at only 7 percent of its pre-war supply in Gaza, the United Nations Palestinian refugee agency said.
Citing data from the Food and Agricultural Organization, UNRWA said that one-fourth of Gaza’s water wells have been destroyed since Oct. 7.
“Fuel shortages, power cuts, and the absence of working desalination plants take a heavy toll on the population of #Gaza,” the agency wrote in a post on X.
UNRWA begins program to track children with signs of malnutrition
The United Nations Palestinian refugee agency announced it has begun a program in Gaza to track children who have shown signs of malnutrition, the news coming a day after the ministry of health reported two infant deaths due to dehydration and malnutrition.
According to Dr. Angie, a pediatrician at the UNRWA health center in Nuseriat, the program will focus on children between six months and 5 years old as they receive weekly follow-up treatments. The program has already been implemented at UNRWA centers in Rafah and Deir al-Balah.
“God willing, this will help these children in light of the conditions we are living in and the harshness of the war we have faced in the past four or five months,” she said in a video posted by UNRWA.0
Dearborn mayor calls ‘uncommitted’ vote a protest of ‘ongoing genocide’ against Palestinian people
Abdullah Hammoud, mayor of Dearborn, called Michigan’s large vote for “uncommitted” in last night’s primary a statement to President Joe Biden that people have had “enough” of his unconditional support of Israel during the war.
“Every person who voted ‘Uncommitted’ today was personally compelled to use their voice to speak out against President Biden’s support of Benjamin Netanyahu’s ongoing genocide of the Palestinian people,” Hammoud wrote in a statement on X.
Dearborn has the largest population of Arab Americans in the country.
Biden beat Donald Trump in Michigan in the 2020 presidential election by a relatively narrow margin of about 154,000 votes. Last night’s “uncommitted” ballots across the Democratic state primary exceeded 100,000 votes.
Famine is ‘imminent’ in Gaza as the few aid trucks face significant hurdles to distribute supplies, WFP warns
Famine is “imminent” in Gaza and fueled by the inability of aid groups to administer the little food supplies being brought in, World Food Programme Deputy Executive Director Carl Skau warned in a statement to the United Nations Security Council.
“Gaza is seeing the worst level of child malnutrition anywhere in the world,” Skau said. “One child in every six under the age of two is acutely malnourished.”
Skau emphasized that the need in northern Gaza, where the WFP had temporarily suspended aid, has been particularly dire. When shipments resumed last week with the intention of delivering 10 trucks per day, conditions were so bad for the crews that the WFP had to pause deliveries once again.
“There were delays at checkpoints; they faced gunfire and other violence; food was looted along the way; and at their destination they were overwhelmed by desperately hungry people,” Skau said.
He urged to the Security Council that an immediate influx of aid is the only way to restore “some semblance of civil order.” Even in southern Gaza, most aid distributed by WFP has not reached beyond Rafah as the very little that crews receive does not reach the scale needed.
“It is essential we avert a famine: and this requires much more than just food supplies,” Skau said.
Houthi crowds march on Israeli and U.S. flags in Yemen
Houthi supporters parade over Israeli and U.S. flags painted on the street during a rally in Sanaa, Yemen, today in support of Palestinians.
Damage in northern Israel after Hamas militants fired rockets from Lebanon
A rocket hit the roof of a residential building in northern Israel today.
The Qassam Brigades, the armed wing of Hamas, said it launched two missile salvos consisting of 40 Grad missiles from southern Lebanon.
Dozens arrested in Ramallah, prisoner rights groups say
At least 35 people, including children and former prisoners, have been arrested in the occupied West Bank overnight, prisoner rights groups said today.
These arrests were concentrated in Yatta with others distributed in Bethlehem, Jenin, Ramallah and Jerusalem, they said.
The Israeli army also launched several raids in these cities, destroying facilities and citizens’ property, they added.
The total number of arrests by Israel has topped 7,305 since Oct. 7 amid the escalation of arrest campaigns, the groups said.
Hamas leader calls on Palestinians to go to Al-Aqsa Mosque during holy month
Hamas chief Ismail Haniyeh said today that the Islamist group was showing flexibility in negotiations with Israel over the Gaza war but at the same time was ready to continue fighting.
In a televised speech, Haniyeh also called on Palestinians in Jerusalem and the West Bank to march to Al-Aqsa Mosque to pray on the first day of Ramadan on March 10, raising the stakes in the indirect talks for a truce deal to have come into force by then.
The mosque sits in a sensitive hilltop compound sacred to both Jews and Muslims. Al-Aqsa is the third-holiest site in Islam and is typically packed with worshippers during Ramadan. The spot, known to Jews as the Temple Mount, is also the holiest site in Judaism, revered as the location of the biblical Jewish temples.
Israel said Monday that it would allow Ramadan prayers at Al-Aqsa Mosque during the upcoming holy month but set limits according to security needs, setting the stage for possible clashes if crowds of Palestinians turn up.
Haniyeh also called on the self-styled Axis of Resistance — allies of Iran consisting of Lebanon’s Hezbollah, Yemen’s Houthis and the Islamic Resistance in Iraq — as well as Arab states, to step up their support for the Palestinians in Gaza.
Former hostages, families and supporters march to demand more releases
Former hostages were joined by families of those who remain in Hamas’ captivity as they began a four-day march from southern Israel to Jerusalem today.
Setting out from kibbutz Re’im, they demanded their loved ones be set free.
German frigate shoots down drones in the Red Sea
A German frigate deployed defensive measures against two drones in the Red Sea today, the country’s Armed Forces Operational Command said today on X
No one was injured and there was no damage to the vessel, it said.
The German warship is part of the European Union Naval Force operation that protects ships along the international trade routes against Houthi militias from Yemen. It began patrolling the area last week.
NBC News and other media organizations call for journalist access to Gaza
NBC News has joined broadcasters and other media organizations from around the world to call for access to Gaza to report on Israel’s war with Hamas.
“Almost five months into the war in Gaza, foreign reporters are still being denied access to the territory, outside of the rare and escorted trips with the Israeli military,” the letter says.
“We urge the governments of Israel and Egypt to allow free and unfettered access to Gaza for all foreign media. We call on the government of Israel to openly state its permission for international journalists to operate in Gaza and for the Egyptian authorities to allow international journalists access to the Rafah Crossing.”
Entry to the enclave for journalists has been all but impossible without the permission and supervision of the Israeli military.
Israeli millitary raids Jenin camps, Palestinian Information Ministry says
The Israeli army raided the outskirts of the Jenin refugee camp in the occupied West Bank earlier today, the Palestinian Information Ministry said on Telegram.
“An arrest campaign” has been launched in the city, it said, adding that the army had destroyed some of the city’s infrastructure.
Two Palestinians were detained, including an ambulance volunteer, and another man was wounded in an Israeli drone attack, the ministry said.
NBC News has approached the Israeli security agency, Shin Bet, for comment.
IDF denies firing on Gazans gathering for aid
Israel’s military has denied that its forces shot at Palestinians in northern Gaza on Monday who had gathered in hopes of receiving aid.
“IDF forces did not open fire at the time and place in question,” an IDF spokesperson told NBC News today when asked whether it was responsible for gunfire that caused panic in the Gaza City neighborhood of Sheikh Ijlin on Monday.
In videos seen and verified by NBC News, hundreds of men are seen running down the beach on Al-Rashid Street as dozens of gunshots ring out nearby. Some could be seen sheltering in a ruined building nearby.
No aid arrived in Sheikh Ijlin on Monday, Palestinian videographer Ahmed Kouta said in a video he filmed after the gunfire ended and crowds began to leave. “Nothing came in. People are leaving, hopeless.”
Hamas and Fatah to meet in Moscow, Russian state media reports
Hamas and Fatah representatives will meet in Moscow tomorrow to discuss a united Palestinian government and the rebuilding of Gaza, Russian state media reported today.
The RIA Novosti news agency said Abdel Hafiz Nofal, the Palestinian ambassador to Russia, and Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Bogdanove also confirmed the meeting.
Russian President Vladimir Putin will not meet with the two groups’ representatives, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters today.
Catch up on NBC News’ latest coverage of the conflict
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