Israel kills at least nine Palestinians, including journalists, in Gaza

In northern Gaza’s Beit Lahiya, an Israeli drone attack claimed the lives of at least nine people, including three journalists, and injured several others, according to Palestinian media.

A relief team was reportedly targeted by the attack on Saturday when it was accompanied by journalists and photographers. The dead include at least three local journalists.

The Palestinian Journalists’ Protection Center called on Gaza ceasefire mediators to press Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to carry out the agreed truce and prisoner exchange and claimed in a statement that “the journalists were documenting humanitarian relief efforts for those affected by Israel’s genocidal war.”

A crucial demand from Hamas is that Israel start discussions over the second phase of the ceasefire, which would require it to negotiate a permanent end to the conflict.

According to Tareq Abu Azzoum, a reporter for Khan Younis in southern Gaza, various humanitarian organizations and charities have begun to increase their efforts to help Palestinians, particularly during Ramadan, since the first phase began in January.

“Beit Lahiya’s attack has sparked a significant swathe of condemnation,” the statement goes. Israeli drones have been hovering above Rafah City and Gaza’s southern border, according to Abu Azzoum, while eyewitnesses have confirmed that they have been the subject of Israeli attacks in the last 24 hours.

Hamas described the Beit Lahiya attack as a “horrific massacre” and “a continuation” of Israeli “war crimes against our people and a dangerous escalation that shows how stubbornly it continues to be invading international norms and conventions.”

Israeli soldiers were hit by “two terrorists operating a drone that posed a threat,” the Israeli military said in a statement in the Beit Lahiya region.

“Later, a number of additional terrorists entered a vehicle and entered the drone’s operating system. Without providing any supporting supporting supporting documentation, it continued, “Israeli military] struck the terrorists.”

According to the Gaza-based Ministry of Health, at least 48, 543 Palestinians have died and 111, 981 have been injured in Israel’s war against Gaza. More than 61,700 Palestinians have been reported missing under the rubble, according to Gaza’s government media office, who has updated the death toll to more than 61,700.

Aid blockade: “Crise that has no end in sight”

Israel halted entry of all aid into the enclave on March 2, just after the end of the first phase of its fragile ceasefire with Hamas, raising concerns about “deepening hunger” and additional hardships for Gaza’s citizens.

A crucial water desalination plant’s electricity has also been cut, putting a threat to Gaza’s potable water supply.

According to Abu Azzoum, “people are currently forced to rely on alternative, harmful coping mechanisms, such as cutting back on their daily meals.”

Another sign of a crisis that has no end in sight, he continued, “Families are currently struggling to afford the meal to break their fast during Ramadan.”

Israel has been accused of violating international law and crimes against humanity for cutting off Gaza aid, according to human rights organizations.

According to Human Rights Watch (HRW) researcher Niku Jafarnia, Israel’s “deliberate” restriction of Gaza’s access to water amounts to “acts of genocide.”

According to the researcher, who spoke from Beirut, Lebanon, Israel is reducing Gaza’s water supply “not only by] attacking desalination facilities, but also by shutting off water through the pipelines that enter Gaza from Israel, by preventing fuel from being pumped into the country, by destroying and attacking wastewater facility plants,” he told Al Jazeera.

Additionally, it’s a matter of attacking a warehouse owned by the water municipality, where millions of dollars of repair equipment are kept, and not allowing any repair materials that are necessary to actually reconstruct and repair a lot of the water infrastructure.

In limbo, ceasefire talks?

As ceasefire negotiations continue, Israel’s aid embargo and recent attacks in Gaza come at a time when.

Nour Odeh, a journalist from Amman, Jordan, reports that the truce negotiations are still in limbo because each of the parties is firmly in favor.

Has offered to release the bodies of four Israeli prisoners who are both citizens. Israel has its own proposal, while US envoy Steve Witkoff has suggested something more in line with Netanyahu’s position, she said. “Nearly neither here nor there,” she said.

Source: Aljazeera