Israel’s war on Gaza updates: ‘This war is a war on children’ – UN

The live page is now closed. You can continue to follow our coverage of the war in Gaza here.

To learn about the US setting up a temporary port off Gaza, read our explainer here.

And you can find more news, features and videos on the conflict here.

We will be closing this live page soon. Here is a summary of today’s main events:

• The UN’s World Food Programme says it delivered food to Gaza City for 25,000 Palestinians.
• Gaza’s media office says more than 400 Palestinians were killed by Israeli fire while waiting for aid since the “flour massacre” in late February.
• A 13-year-old Palestinian boy has been killed by Israeli forces in occupied East Jerusalem in the Shu’fat refugee camp.
• Israel and Hamas are not close to a deal to halt the fighting in Gaza and free captives, mediator Qatar says, warning the situation remains “very complicated”.
• Four US Army vessels departed a base in the US state of Virginia, carrying about 100 soldiers and equipment to build a temporary port on Gaza’s coast for desperately needed aid deliveries.

In the town of al-Jib west of Jerusalem, at least two Palestinians were killed and three others wounded after being shot by Israeli forces at a checkpoint, the Palestine Red Crescent says.

Earlier, we reported that Rami Hamdan al-Halhuli, 13, was shot with live ammunition by Israeli forces in the Shu’fat refugee camp in occupied East Jerusalem.

Videos shared online by Palestinian journalists – verified by Al Jazeera’s fact-check unit Sanad – show the destruction of a residential home belonging to the al-Atrash family in the city of Deir el-Balah.

Debris and concrete can be seen strewn all over the street as people search frantically for survivors.

Other footage shared online shows those killed and wounded in the Israeli raid, including children, being brought to the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital.

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The Logistics Support Vessel – a hulking grey-painted watercraft – slowly churned away from the pier at Joint Base Langley-Eustis in Virginia as The Imperial March from Star Wars played over its loudspeaker system.

It was followed by three smaller vessels that will also make the roughly 30-day trip to the eastern Mediterranean for a port mission – part of US efforts to boost assistance to Gaza as Israel delays ground deliveries of aid.

Asked if the planned deployment will still take place in the absence of a ceasefire in Gaza, US Army Brigadier-General Brad Hinson said: “We have every intent to set this capability up over the next 60 days.”

US officials say the effort won’t involve “boots on the ground” in Gaza, but US troops will come close to the beleaguered coastal territory as they construct the pier, which has to be anchored to the shore.

A charity ship carrying food and supplies for Gaza set sail from Cyprus under a plan to open a new sea route for aid for starving Palestinians.

Watch the video below:

The Red Crescent says on X that it is unaware of the whereabouts of its members, calling on the international community to pressure Israeli authorities to release them.

“Their families and colleagues are deeply concerned for their safety, as there are reports of torture and humiliation based on testimonies from released colleagues”, the post reads.

Our colleagues at Al Jazeera Arabic are reporting that Israeli forces have launched a raid east of the Jabalia camp in northern Gaza

They are also reporting the Israeli army targeting residential homes east of Khan Younis, in southern Gaza.

We have been reporting about this again and again as Israel deliberately targets aid seekers. This has sadly become the new norm with Israeli attacks almost daily as people gather for food supplies.

Hungry and dehydrated, Palestinians in Gaza have no other choice but to wait for humanitarian relief. Palestinian health officials say at least nine Palestinians were killed and dozens wounded by Israeli gunfire as crowds awaited aid trucks on Kuwait Square in northern Gaza City.

An estimated 400 people have died in attacks as they sought out aid since the war on Gaza began.

Meanwhile, reports from the Gaza Health Ministry say more than 12,300 children have died since the end of October. Children continue to fall victim despite Israel’s claims that it takes the ultimate precautions to avoid civilian casualties.

This is completely contradictory to the realities on the ground here.

Al Jazeera investigates how social media moderation and censorship policies work and whether the treatment of pro-Palestinian content in Arabic is fair and impartial.

Watch the video below:

Morocco sent 40 tonnes of humanitarian supplies to Gaza via an Israeli airport, a diplomatic source says, in the latest bid to diversify relief routes into the war-battered territory.

The food aid arrived at Ben Gurion airport near Tel Aviv before being transferred to the Palestinian Red Crescent at the Karem Abu Salem (Kerem Shalom) crossing between Israel and Gaza, the Moroccan source told the AFP news agency on condition of anonymity.

Rabat’s Foreign Ministry said in a statement: “Morocco is the first country to transport its humanitarian aid via this unprecedented land route.”

The diplomatic source said Morocco’s ties with Israel, formalised in a US-brokered “normalisation” pact in 2020, helped the operation to go ahead. “Morocco has always said its relationship with Israel is intended to serve peace in the region and the interests of the Palestinians,” the source said.

The boy, 13-year-old Rami Hamdan al-Halhuli, was shot with live ammunition by Israeli security forces in the Shu’fat refugee camp.

The Palestine Red Crescent said that it attempted to administer treatment to the child on the scene but that he quickly succumbed to his wounds. The governorate of Jerusalem officially announced his death.

Since late last year, large-scale protests have erupted in Berlin’s “Arab Street”, in the German capital’s borough of Neukoelln, and they have allegedly been followed by police crackdowns described by pro-Palestinian demonstrators as shocking and violent.

Locals Francesca Leone, 31, and 27-year-old Lea have been joining the thousands across Germany taking to the streets regularly since October 7 to call for Palestinian rights and urge Germany to reconsider its unflinching support of Israel.

Lea, who arrived in Germany in 2015 seeking refuge from Syria, said she was arrested at a demonstration recently. She asked Al Jazeera to withhold her real name out of fears her employer might take action against her.

Plus, she said, there have been raids on the homes of pro-Palestinian supporters.

“[Neukoelln] was always a political space for me, a place where a lot of people with a very unstable resident status could live,” she said.

“It was a shock for me to witness such a level of police violence.”

You can read more of this feature story here.

Palestinians fasting in Gaza are struggling to find food to break their fast during Ramadan as Israel continues its war on the besieged territory.

Watch the video below:

The Biden administration continues to walk back comments made by the president calling a threatened ground invasion of Rafah a “red line”.

National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan says it “would be a concern” if Israeli forces invade the area where more than one million civilians have been forced to flee.

It is the standpoint of the Biden administration that, right now, there is no credible plan that would protect civilians.

As a result, it says it continues to engage the Israeli government and – until it sees such a plan – it cannot support any Israeli military operation into Rafah.

The UK-based Palestinian Return Centre submitted a report to the UN on the treatment of Palestinian children by Israeli forces in Gaza, the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem.

Here’s a summary of what it said:

• More than 12,000 Palestinian children have been killed in Gaza in attacks by Israeli forces since October 7, with many others facing amputations and life-changing injuries.
• The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) estimates at least 17,000 children in Gaza are “now unaccompanied or separated from their families”, amid Israel’s five-month war on the coastal enclave.
• Israeli forces “systematically” detain Palestinian children in the occupied West Bank, leading to the detention of at least 200 kids since the war in Gaza began. They’re often subjected to psychological and physical torture.
• “The suffering of children in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, must not fade into the background of the current conflict – it is part of it,” says the report.
• Deliberately targeting and causing harm to civilians is considered a war crime.

The head of the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) has shared data on X that shows this staggering figure.

More than 12,300 children were killed in Gaza between October 2023 and February 2024, the data shows, compared to 12,193 children killed in global conflict from 2019 to 2023.

“This war is a war on children. It is a war on their childhood and their future,” Philippe Lazzarini wrote.

Staggering. The number of children reported killed in just over 4 months in #Gaza is higher than the number of children killed in 4 years of wars around the world combined.

This war is a war on children. It is a war on their childhood and their future.#ceasefireNow for the… pic.twitter.com/tYwSNHecpy

— Philippe Lazzarini (@UNLazzarini) March 12, 2024