Israel’s war on Gaza updates: Israel kills three as US envoy visits Beirut

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You can read more about the latest on the negotiations to reach a truce between Israel and Hamas here.

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

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

To learn more about the “uncommitted” campaign in the US and how President Biden’s Gaza policy may cost him in this year’s election, watch this video.

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

We will be closing the live page soon. Here’s a recap of the day’s main events:

• Three days of ceasefire negotiations in Cairo have ended without a breakthrough and Hamas spokesman Jihad Taha said that “the ball is in the Israeli court”. The US State Department maintains, however, that obstacles to a deal are “not insurmountable”.
• A Hezbollah fighter, his wife and their son were killed in the southern Lebanese town of Hula in an Israeli air raid. US envoy Amos Hochstein, on a visit to Beirut, gave a verbal proposal for “calm” on the Lebanese-Israeli border, Lebanese caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati said.
• Yemen’s Houthis carried out a “qualitative military operation in which they targeted two US warship destroyers in the Red Sea”, the group’s military spokesman Yahya Saree said.
• An Israeli air attack on a home in Khan Younis in southern Gaza killed at least eight people, the Wafa news agency reported.
• US Secretary of State Antony Blinken says the situation in the Gaza Strip is “simply unacceptable” and Israel must “maximise every possible means and every possible method to get aid to those who need it”.
• Jordan says it, the US, France and Egypt carried out airdrops with eight planes into Gaza, marking the largest such operation to date.

The meeting between US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and Benny Gantz took place in Washington, DC, where the two discussed Israel’s military operations and the “deteriorating humanitarian situation in Gaza”.

“We also discussed the importance of cooperating with international and regional partners to increase the flow of humanitarian assistance and ensure the safe distribution of aid inside Gaza,” he posted on X.

Gantz, an Israeli war cabinet minister and political rival of Netanyahu, is on a trip to the US to meet with officials.

I met with Israeli War Cabinet Member Benny Gantz today to discuss Israeli military operations, current conditions on the ground, and the dire humanitarian situation in Gaza. We also discussed the importance of cooperating with international and regional partners to increase the… pic.twitter.com/FgZzI3lt5B

— Secretary of Defense Lloyd J. Austin III (@SecDef) March 5, 2024

Coming off the heels of the successful “uncommitted” campaign in Michigan’s Democratic primary election, voters across the US are being encouraged to follow suit as they go to the polls for Super Tuesday, the day when the most US states participate in primaries.

The goal, activists say, is to send a message to President Joe Biden that members of his party are unhappy with his handling of the war in Gaza and his near-unqualified support for Israel.

Watch our video to find out more:

In the meeting with Mohamed Shtayyeh, Foreign Minister Hanke Bruins Slot said her country was doing everything to get as much humanitarian aid into Gaza as possible.

“We also discussed the next steps given the great suffering of the Palestinian people. We need to work towards a two-state solution,” she posted on X.

Good meeting with Prime Minister @DrShtayyeh in #Ramallah. We talked about the humanitarian crisis in Gaza. The Netherlands is doing all it can to get much more humanitarian aid to the people. 1/2 pic.twitter.com/kG4PEQppEp

— Hanke Bruins Slot (@HankeBruinsSlot) March 5, 2024

At a meeting of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, Iran’s Foreign Minister Amir Abdollahian has also called for the need to “prevent [Israel] from joining other international organisations”.

“Severing diplomatic relations with this regime, stopping the export of goods to the occupied territories and completely boycotting Israeli goods can be considered some practical measures to support Palestine,” he said in a post on X.

US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan met with Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al Thani today to discuss ongoing efforts to strike a deal between Israel and Hamas that would see a pause in the fighting in Gaza and an exchange of prisoners.

The two leaders “underscored that the release of sick, wounded, elderly, and women hostages would result in an immediate ceasefire in Gaza over a period of at least six weeks”, a statement released by the White House said.

“This first phase of a ceasefire would also enable a surge of humanitarian assistance to the people of Gaza, and provide time and space to secure more enduring arrangements and sustained calm,” the statement continued.

Earlier today, three days of negotiations over a ceasefire in Gaza held in the Egyptian capital Cairo ended without a breakthrough.

Jihad Taha, a Hamas spokesperson, said that “the ball is in the Israeli court”, and that Israel had refused demands for people who fled northern Gaza to be allowed to return and for guarantees of a ceasefire and full withdrawal.

Eighteen-year-old Nour al-Din Ibrahim Yassin has succumbed to his injuries following an Israeli raid on the city of Jenin last Thursday, the Wafa news agency is reporting.

According to Wafa, medical sources at the Ibn Sina Hospital said Yassin suffered severe head injuries after being shot by Israeli forces.

Israeli raids in the occupied West Bank have intensified since Israel’s war on Gaza began on October 7.

NetBlocks says there was a notably “high impact” to connectivity in southern Gaza.

“The incident will be experienced as a near-total telecommunications outage by many residents, after months of overall decline since the start of the war,” it added.

Telecommunications have been partially or totally down in the Gaza Strip several times during the course of Israel’s war on the territory, making life harder for Palestinians enduring bombardment and deprivation to receive potentially life-saving information and contact loved ones outside of the Strip.

⚠ Confirmed: Network data show a disruption to connectivity in the #Gaza Strip with high impact to the southern governates; the incident will be experienced as a near-total telecommunications outage by many residents, after months of overall decline since the start of the war 📉 pic.twitter.com/SCPRora1uI

— NetBlocks (@netblocks) March 5, 2024

The Lebanese group has announced on its Telegram channel the death of fighter Hassan Ali Hussein, killed in the Lebanese village of Hula.

Earlier, Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency named three people who were killed in an Israeli strike on the village: Hassan Hussein, his wife Ruwaida Mustafa and their son Ali Hussein.

Rosena Allin-Khanm, a Labour member of the UK Parliament, says in a post on X that Israeli authorities have denied entry of a British shipment of water filters and solar lights to Gaza.

In October, the UK had said it had delivered essential supplies, including 76,800 wound care packs, 1,350 water filters and 2,560 solar lights “to address the unfolding humanitarian crisis” in the Gaza Strip.

I asked the Government what items of UK aid for Gaza have been denied entry by the Israeli Govt. Of them were 1,350 water filters, because apparently Israel says they are a 'threat'.

What threat does a water filter, supplied by the UK Government, have? pic.twitter.com/OY9SyPdkuB

— Dr Rosena Allin-Khan (@DrRosena) March 5, 2024

“Journalist Mohamed Salama, broadcaster … on Al-Aqsa satellite channel … was killed in the bombing of a house in the city of Deir al-Balah,” the Government Media Office has said.

The number of journalist killed in Gaza since the war began on October 7 has increased to 133, Gaza’s Government Media Office has said.

Journalists working in conflict areas are protected under international humanitarian law.

Palestinian journalists accuse Israel of repeatedly violating that law by targeting the media.

Gaza’s Health Ministry says that 15 children have died of malnutrition in a single hospital in northern Gaza, in recent days.

Watch our video to find out more:

MIFTAH, the Palestinian Initiatives for the Promotion of Global Dialogue and Democracy, has said that the footage of Israeli soldiers rifling through women’s undergarments in Gaza is “an integral part of genocide”.

It is “a key example of [soldiers’] depravity” and shows that they can carry out crimes with “impunity”, the Palestinian women-focused NGO says.

Several videos and images have surfaced in recent weeks on social media platforms of Israeli forces wearing or stealing women’s undergarments.

These incidents, the non-profit says, are part of the “fetishisation” of Palestinian women by Israeli soldiers who often hold on to these pieces of clothing “like trophies”.

“These photos are one of the many components of Israel’s attempted psychological domination over Gaza, in which the Palestinian man is emasculated and the Palestinian woman is conquered,” MIFTAH said.

Footage of Israeli soldiers celebrating with the lingerie of Palestinian women who have been displaced or killed by them is an integral part of the genocide and attempted psychological domination over Gaza, and a key example of their depravity and impunity. #CeasefireNOW pic.twitter.com/3F9Gfz9JUS

— MIFTAH #CeasefireNOW #GazaGenocide (@miftahpal) March 5, 2024

The United States has no plans to send US troops into Gaza to bolster efforts to distribute aid, Air Force Major General Patrick Ryder, the Pentagon’s chief spokesperson, has said at a press conference.

These remarks appear to play down the idea of a US military-run port or other landing site for maritime aid distribution, even as several US officials said the country was exploring a maritime option for aid distribution today.

“At this time there are no plans to put US forces on the ground in Gaza,” he said.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan says Israel’s war in Gaza was taking place with “unlimited support from Western powers”.

“For the past 151 days, we have been witnessing one of the greatest barbarities of the last century,” Erdogan said in a joint news conference with his Palestinian counterpart Mahmoud Abbas in the Turkish capital Ankara.

He accused the government of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of committing “blatant genocide against Palestinians”.

“Netanyahu and his accomplices in murder will surely be held accountable for every drop of blood spilled before the law and public conscience,” the Turkish leader said.

The Israeli army has returned a convoy of 14 trucks after the vehicles waited for three hours at a checkpoint in Wadi Gaza, the UN’s World Food Program has said.

The convoy is the first of its kind since deliveries to the northern Gaza Strip were suspended on February 20, the UN agency said.

“Although today’s convoy did not make it to the north to provide food to the people who are starving, WFP continues to explore every possible means to do so,” WFP Deputy Executive Director Carl Skau said.

Israel has been blocking the flow of aid into northern Gaza for most of 2024, and has frequently attacked aid seekers who attempt to receive what little aid does make it to the north of the Strip.