What we know
- Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu plan for a ground offensive on Rafah is ratcheting up tensions with the Biden administration, which has repeatedly warned against a military incursion into the city where more than a million Palestinians are sheltering. Biden has backed a sharply critical speech by Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, who said Netanyahu has "lost his way."
- Hamas presented a new proposal to mediators, according to Reuters, that softened its demand for a permanent cease-fire, which could be negotiated after an initial release of Israeli hostages in exchange for Palestinian prisoners. Israel has called the proposal "unrealistic," but has sent a delegation to Doha for further talks.
- The United Nations warns of a rapid rise in acute malnutrition in northern Gaza, as Palestinians in the enclave enter Ramadan, normally a celebratory month of fasting and feasting, on the brink of starvation.
- A private aid ship has arrived off the coast of Gaza, towing a barge containing 200 tons of flour, rice and protein. While any food is welcome, aid organizations say, a maritime route is ultimately a "distraction," as it cannot bring the volume of aid that trucks can. The U.N. says there is enough food in the aid trucks waiting at checkpoints outside Gaza to feed the entire population.
- The death toll in Gaza has surpassed 31,500, according to the Health Ministry, with another 73,500 injured. The Israeli military said at least 247 soldiers have been killed since the ground invasion of Gaza began.
UAE announces ninth aid airdrop operation in northern Gaza
The United Arab Emirates announced the completion of its ninth airdrop of humanitarian aid in northern Gaza today.
Thirty-three tons of food and "relief supplies" were airdropped in the north of the strip in the joint operation between the UAE Air Force and the Egyptian Air Force, the UAE Ministry of Defense said in a statement on X.
The UAE has airdropped a total of 405 tons of aid in Gaza as part of the operation "Birds of Goodness."
"This generous humanitarian gesture reflects the determination of the United Arab Emirates and the Arab Republic of Egypt to provide all forms of humanitarian support to the Palestinian brethren and to confront the challenges in order to alleviate their daily suffering," the ministry wrote.
WHO director-general 'gravely concerned' about reports of Israeli military expansion into Rafah
World Health Organization Director-General Tedros Ghebreyesus is "gravely concerned" about reports of an imminent Israeli military expansion into Rafah.
"Further escalation of violence in this densely populated area would lead to many more deaths and suffering," Tedros wrote on X.
Over a million Palestinians have been displaced to Rafah.
"There are no fully functional, safe health facilities that they can reach elsewhere in #Gaza," he wrote. "Many people are too fragile, hungry and sick to be moved again."
Tedros appealed to Israel not to move forward with the military expansion.
"This humanitarian catastrophe must not be allowed to worsen," he wrote.
Situation in Gaza 'catastrophic & deteriorates by the minute,' UNRWA says
The situation in Gaza is "catastrophic & deteriorates by the minute," said the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East.
UNRWA teams are working to provide aid to families in need in the enclave, including flour, dairy, water, medicine and hygiene kits.
"Safe, unimpeded & sustained access across the #GazaStrip is needed NOW," the organization said on X.
Almost 9,000 Palestinian women killed since start of war in Gaza, Palestine Red Crescent Society says
Almost 9,000 Palestinian women have been killed in Gaza since the start of the war in Gaza on Oct. 7, according to the Palestine Red Crescent Society.
The total death toll in Gaza has surpassed 31,500, according to the Palestinian Ministry of Health.
26-year-old Palestinian dies in Israeli custody, advocacy organizations say
A 26-year-old Palestinian man who was detained in December has died in Israeli custody, according to a statement from the Ministry of Detainees and Ex-Detainees Affairs and the Palestinian Prisoners Club.
Juma Abu Ghanima, from Negev, died five days after he was transferred from his cell in Eshel Prison to one of the prison's hospitals, according to the advocacy groups. Abu Ghanima was arrested due to "his resistance to the occupation," the groups said.
According to the organizations, "the number of captive martyrs who died after October 7 in the occupation prisons and camps as a result of torture and medical crimes rises to at least (13) martyrs."
Over 9,000 Palestinians are currently in Israeli prisons, per the groups.
German Air Force airdrops aid for the first time in northern Gaza
The German Air Force airdropped aid in northern Gaza for the first time Saturday morning.
The joint mission between Germany, France and Jordan airdropped four pallets of aid containing one ton of food each, including rice and flour, according to the German Foreign Office.
"More #airdrops will follow in the next days. The Franco-German team remains on the ground and is coordinating closely with our Jordanian partners. And we are continuing to work on getting more aid to #Gaza by land," the office said on X.
"Every package counts. But airdrops are not enough," the office continued in a thread. "To supply the people in #Gaza, the Israeli government urgently needs to open more border crossings, especially to allow more aid deliveries over land by truck."
Menstruating women and girls using torn pieces of cloth as sanitary pads in Gaza, U.N. aid organization says
Many menstruating women and girls are using torn pieces of cloth as sanitary pads in Gaza, according to the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA).
“More than 690,000 menstruating women and adolescent girls in Gaza currently have no privacy and limited access to menstrual hygiene supplies,” UNFPA said in a news release. “The lack of water makes keeping clean nearly impossible and raises risks of infection.”
Bakiza Mohamed, 47, says she has no choice but to give her 16-year-old daughter torn pieces of cloth to use in place of proper menstrual hygiene products.
"What else could I do?" Mohamed asked in a video shared by UNFPA. "I am a widow, I have no husband, no son and I have no one. And my daughter's husband was killed. So I ended up tearing pieces of fabric to manage."
UNFPA has distributed 2,000 kits containing menstrual hygiene products in central and southern Gaza, products the organization says are mostly not available to buy in the enclave.
63 people killed and 112 injured in last 24 hours in Gaza, Palestinian Ministry of Health says
At least 63 people have been killed and 112 people were injured in the last 24 hours in Gaza, according to the Palestinian Ministry of Health.
The total death toll in the enclave is now over 31,500, the ministry said.
20 arrested in new wave of raids on West Bank
Israeli forces arrested 20 people from villages and towns across the occupied West Bank, including ex-prisoners previously released by Israeli authorities, the Palestinian Prisoners Club and Prisoners’ Commission said in a statement.
The arrests, in Tulkarm, Hebron, Tubas, Bethlehem, Nablus, Jenin and Jerusalem, were accompanied by raids including “severe beatings, and threats against detainees and their families, in addition to widespread sabotage and destruction of citizens’ homes,” the commission said. It accused Israeli authorities of “harassment” during arrest campaigns and of storming the homes of families of people who had already been detained.
In December, the U.N. warned that Palestinians in Israeli jails were frequently subjected to “beatings and abuse” and that conditions had “deteriorated significantly” since Oct. 7, with many detainees reporting overcrowding and restrictions on food, water and legal aid.
More than 7,600 people have been arrested in the West Bank since Oct. 7, according to the Palestinian Prisoners’ Club, including people who remain currently in detention and people who were later released.
36 people killed in strike on family home in Gaza, Palestinian officials say
JERUSALEM — A least 36 people were killed after an Israeli airstrike was carried out on a house belonging to a family near the Nuseirat camp in central Gaza last night, Palestinian officials said.
In a statement posted to Telegram, the Palestinian Government Media Office accused the Israeli military of bombing a house belonging to the Al-Tabatibi family. It said most of those killed were children, with pregnant women also among the dead.
NBC News was not immediately able to independently verify the situation on the ground.
The IDF said in a statement today that its forces continued to operate in central Gaza, including in the area of Nuseirat. It said it had received intelligence "regarding the entrenchment of several Hamas terrorists within a terrorist infrastructure in the area" and that troops directed an aircraft to "strike the terrorists."
It said troops also directed an aircraft to strike a Hamas terrorist operative, together with the commander of a Hamas sniper cell. It was not clear which, if any, of the above strikes were on the home of the Al-Tabatibi family. The IDF did not immediately respond to a request for further information.
Amid deepening tensions, White House weighs how to respond if Israel defies Biden with Rafah invasion
WASHINGTON — The White House is considering options for how to respond if Israel defies President Joe Biden’s repeated warnings against launching a military invasion of Rafah without a credible plan to protect Palestinian civilians, according to one former and three current U.S. officials.
The discussions are taking place amid growing concern in the administration and frustration among congressional Democrats that the president’s pleas will simply be ignored. Israel this week inched closer to initiating an incursion into the southernmost city in the Gaza Strip.
“Time and again, President Biden calls upon the Netanyahu government to take certain actions, and for the most part, time and again, Netanyahu ignores the president of the United States. And so I think that makes the United States look ineffective,” said Sen. Chris Van Hollen, D-Md., in an interview.
“The president has issued increasingly strong words and strong warnings, but I believe that to effectively enforce those warnings the administration has to use these other tools at its disposal,” said Van Hollen, a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee who is among those pushing the White House to take a harder line on conditioning U.S. military sales to Israel.
Red Cross calls for 'urgent' action to alleviate 'catastrophic' humanitarian conditions in Gaza
Civilians in Gaza are facing "unprecedented" levels of "indignity, misery, and suffering," Jagan Chapagain, secretary general of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC), said in a statement on X, describing health infrastructure "on the brink of collapse" and hospitals in dire conditions.
"As Ramadan starts, countless people have nothing to break their fast with," he added, calling on parties to scale up aid efforts and grant aid to "all parts" of the coastal enclave.
He added that the plight of hostages trapped in Gaza was a "serious humanitarian concern," leaving families "caught between despair and hope as they wait for news about their loved ones."
The IFRC is an international emergency medical service charity that counts the Palestine Red Crescent Society in Gaza and Magen David Adom in Israel as members.
New aid shipment to Gaza includes bulk goods, fresh dates
A second boat shipping 240 tons of humanitarian aid to Gaza will include over 260 pounds of dates, World Central Kitchen said today.
The shipment will also include bulk products and canned goods, including beans, carrots, tuna, chickpeas, corn, rice, flour, oil and salt.
The dates, donated by the United Arab Emirates, are a "special load." In Islam, it is traditional to break the Ramadan fast with dates.
A crew ship will accompany the cargo boat to Gaza, World Central Kitchen said, with workers to operate machinery and offload food. It did not say when the second aid shipment or the crew would begin their journey.
Palestinians fast amid war, devastation and looming famine
On the eve of Ramadan, Hussein Owda and seven members of his family sat down for suhour — the meal Muslims eat before fasting from sunrise to sunset. On the table in front of them were just 7 ounces of labneh, or yogurt cheese, and some bread.
“We didn’t finish it, because we are used to eating small amounts of food,” Owda, 37, told NBC News in a telephone interview.
The computer engineer, who was displaced to Rafah in southern Gaza, said he has lost about 65 pounds since the war between Israel and Hamas began on Oct. 7. Owda, like others NBC News spoke to, said he and his family had been forced to fast for about six months. Now that Ramadan has started, the only difference is that the fast is scheduled.
In Gaza, the usually joyous season marked by gatherings over traditional food and congregational prayers is unrecognizable. Homes once decorated with lights have been reduced to rubble, and tables once surrounded by families and laden with food are bare.
This year, handmade Ramadan decorations festoon makeshift tents shared by family members. In the north, people are forced to forage for wild plants during the day to break their fast at night. Even this isn't always an option.
Israel weighing the use of private security contractors to protect aid shipments to Gaza, officials say
Israel is exploring using international private security contractors to protect humanitarian aid deliveries in Gaza, according to one former and two current U.S. officials.
Israeli officials have broached the idea in recent weeks with senior officials from the Biden administration, which is shipping the components of a floating dock to Gaza so it can deliver aid by sea. Some U.S. officials are reluctant, however, to have American troops or security contractors on the ground in Gaza, the officials said, and are especially wary of having Americans provide armed security.
The officials said the Israeli government has approached several security companies already, but declined to specify which ones. The Israelis also brought up having other countries pay the hefty costs of the contractors, the officials said.
Hamas presents cease-fire proposal detailing exchange of hostages, prisoners
Hamas has presented a Gaza cease-fire proposal to mediators and the U.S. that includes the release of Israeli hostages in exchange for freedom for Palestinian prisoners, 100 of whom are serving life sentences, according to a proposal seen by Reuters.
Hamas said the initial release of Israelis would include women, children, elderly and ill hostages in return for the release of 700-1,000 Palestinians held in Israeli prisons, according to the proposal. The release of Israeli “female recruits” is included.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said on Thursday a new Gaza truce proposal presented by Hamas to mediators was still based on “unrealistic demands.”
His office said an update on the issue would be handed to the war Cabinet and extended security Cabinet on Friday.
Egypt and Qatar have been trying to narrow differences between Israel and Hamas over what a cease-fire should look like as a deepening humanitarian crisis has one-quarter of the population in the battered Gaza Strip facing famine.
Acute malnutrition doubled in one month in northern Gaza, UNICEF says
Acute malnutrition has doubled in one month in northern Gaza, according to UNICEF.
Around 31% of children under 2 years old are now suffering from acute malnourishment in the north of the enclave, as opposed to 15.6% in January, the organization said. At least 23 children in the north have died of malnutrition as the impacts of war and restrictions on aid continue in Gaza.
UNICEF conducted nutrition screenings in February that determined 4.5% of children in shelters and health centers are suffering from “severe wasting, the most life-threatening form of malnutrition,” which can lead to death unless they receive treatment, which isn’t readily available.
Nutrition screenings in Khan Younis in central Gaza determined that 28% of children under 2 years old are acutely malnourished, more than 10% of them with severe wasting, according to UNICEF. In Rafah, the percentage of children under 2 suffering from acute malnutrition doubled from 5% in January to 10% at the end of February.
“The speed at which this catastrophic child malnutrition crisis in Gaza has unfolded is shocking, especially when desperately needed assistance has been at the ready just a few miles away,” said Catherine Russell, UNICEF’s executive director. “We have repeatedly attempted to deliver additional aid and we have repeatedly called for the access challenges we have faced for months to be addressed. Instead, the situation for children is getting worse by each passing day. Our efforts in providing life-saving aid are being hampered by unnecessary restrictions, and those are costing children their lives.”
U.N. organizations have warned of imminent famine in Gaza for months. In January, emergency thresholds for children with acute malnutrition were exceeded, per UNICEF. The organization has treated some children who have the condition and say more supplies to aid in their treatment will arrive this week, but it’s still not enough.
“We are doing everything we can to avert a worsening of the humanitarian crisis in Gaza, but it is not enough,” Russell said. “An immediate humanitarian ceasefire continues to provide the only chance to save children’s lives and end their suffering. We also need multiple land border crossings that allow aid to be reliably delivered at scale, including to northern Gaza, along with the security assurances and unimpeded passage needed to distribute that aid, without delays or access impediments.”
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