Source: Mondoweiss.net
Israeli forces bombed Gaza on the first day of Ramadan, killing two fishermen. Israel’s fortified highway has reached the Mediterranean coast, effectively splitting Gaza in two. Meanwhile, hundreds of settlers stormed the al-Aqsa Mosque compound.
Casualties
- 31,184+ killed* and at least 72,889 wounded in the Gaza Strip.
- 423+ Palestinians killed in the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem.**
- Israel revises its estimated October 7 death toll down from 1,400 to 1,147.
- 589 Israeli soldiers killed since October 7, and at least 3,221 injured.***
*Gaza’s Ministry of Health confirmed this figure on its Telegram channel. Some rights groups put the death toll number closer to 35,000 when accounting for those presumed dead.
** The death toll in West Bank and Jerusalem is not updated regularly. According to PA’s Ministry of Health on March 6, this is the latest figure.
*** This figure is released by the Israeli military, showing the soldiers whose names “were allowed to be published.”
Key Developments
- UN chief says, “my appeal is to honour the spirit of the holy month by silencing the guns & removing all obstacles to the delivery of lifesaving aid.”
- Only 500 Palestinians perform Tarawih prayers at al-Awda Mosque in Rafah, few hundred others pray near destroyed a-Huda Mosque in al-Shabboura.
- UNRWA chief says Israeli forces turned back truck loaded with aid to northern Gaza “because it had scissors used in children’s medical kits.”
- Gaza’s Ministry of Health says very few aid trucks arrived in northern Gaza by land, and that “[Israeli] bombing of hungry people’s gatherings has become a daily routine.”
- World Central Kitchen sends ship from Cyprus bound to Gaza with “almost 200 tons of food — rice, flour, legumes, canned veggies and proteins.”
- Israeli navy boats fire at Palestinian fishermen near Nuseirat, killing brothers Muhammad and Youssef Adel Abu Riyala.
- Rescue teams recover bodies of 11 martyrs following Israeli airstrike on residential building in al-Qarara, north of Khan Younis.
- Palestinian Authority says Israel turned West Bank into “military barracks,” installing 750 military checkpoints and deploying thousands of soldiers.
- Lebanon’s Hezbollah fires over 100 missiles toward Israeli military sites in Upper Galilee and occupied Golan Heights on Tuesday morning, following Israeli bombing of Lebanese city of Baalbek.
- The Islamic Resistance in Iraq claims it launched drone attack on Ben Gurion Airport, near Tel Aviv, on Monday.
In Gaza, ‘the eyes of history are watching’
UN General Secretary Antonio Guterres called for the cessation of the bloodshed in the Gaza Strip on Monday, as Israel’s assault marks its 158th day since it started on October 7.
“My appeal is to honour the spirit of the holy month by silencing the guns & removing all obstacles to the delivery of lifesaving aid,” Guterres said on X. “The eyes of the world are watching. The eyes of history are watching. We cannot look away. We must act to avoid more preventable deaths.”
Guterres appealed for an immediate ceasefire and the release of Israeli captives….