Israel-Palestine live: Israel bombs Unrwa building in Gaza

The Israeli army announced that a soldier has died after succumbing to his wounds during a battle in Khan Younis on 15 February.

The Israeli military says that 236 soldiers have been killed in Gaza since the beginning of its ground operation.

Good morning Middle East Eye readers, 

Here are the latest developments from Israel's war on Gaza, which enters day 137 today: 

• At least one man was killed and many others wounded in northern Gaza after Israeli forces opened fire on crowds waiting for food aid, according to witnesses and videos

• Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu said there has been an “international attempt to force upon us a Palestinian state” and that he had long resisted such a move

• Brazil has said that it won’t retract comments made by its president drawing parallels between Israel’s war on Gaza and the Holocaust

• The US has drafted a resolution for the UN Security Council calling for a temporary ceasefire in Gaza “as soon as practical” and warns Israel not to launch a ground offensive on Rafah

Good evening Middle East Eye readers,

More than 29,092 Palestinians have been killed since 7 October, said Gaza’s Health Ministry on Monday, confirming that yet another grim milestone had been crossed. 

At least 107 Palestinians have been killed in Israeli strikes across Gaza in the past 24 hours

The ministry said that more than 69,028 others have been wounded since Israel launched its brutal campaign in the besieged Strip.

Witnesses told Reuters that two air strikes hit near the town of Ghaziyeh on Lebanon's coast, around 60km north of the border with Israel.

Josep Borrell, the European Union's foreign policy chief, announced on Monday that 26 out of the 27 EU member states have advocated for "an immediate humanitarian pause that would lead to a sustainable ceasefire" in Gaza.

In other developments:

• The International Court of Justice (ICJ) in The Hague on Monday opens a week of hearings on the legal consequences of Israel's occupation of Palestinian territories, with more than 50 states due to address the judges.
• Israel’s economy shrank by nearly 20 percent on an annualised basis in the last quarter of 2023, as significant resources were diverted to its military engagement in the war in Gaza, the Financial Times reported.
• Brazil's President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva recalled his ambassador to Israel back for discussions, according to a source from Brazil's foreign ministry.
• An eight-year-old Palestinian girl has died from dehydration and starvation in Gaza City, the NGO, Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor reported on Saturday.
• Yemen’s Houthis targeted a Belize-flagged, UK-registered and Lebanese-operated cargo ship in the Gulf of Aden and it is now at risk of sinking.
• Qatar's Foreign Ministry spokesperson Majed al-Ansari has criticised the Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for suggesting that Doha was standing in the way of the release of Israeli captives in Gaza. 
• The Green Party of England and Wales has demanded a ceasefire in Gaza, an arms ban to Israel and boycotts.

By Azad Essa

Several hundred people marched through the streets of Astoria, Queens, in New York City, demanding a ceasefire and an end to the US complicity in the ongoing genocide in Gaza.

The protesters were accompanied by a large contingent of police officers who arrived before the protests and surveilled their every move.

"The ceasefire needs to happen now. Palestine deserves to be free," Jasmin Jackson, a protestor from New York City, told Middle East Eye.

"We can't keep living in a world where we have no humanity. It's time we do something about it. It's time we show the world it's time for Palestine to be free from the river to the sea. No two state. They deserve their land."

Israel’s economy shrank by nearly 20 percent on an annualised basis in the last quarter of 2023, as significant resources were diverted to its military engagement in the war in Gaza, the Financial Times reported.

According to the FT, the significant downturn was partially due to mobilising 300,000 reservists, who abandoned their jobs and businesses for extended military duty.

Other factors involved the government funding housing for over 120,000 Israelis who left Israel’s northern and southern border regions.

Following 7 October Hamas-led attacks, Israel implemented stringent controls on the entry of Palestinian workers from the West Bank, affecting the construction industry due to labour shortages, which further hurt economic growth, the FT reported.

Brazil's President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva recalled his ambassador to Israel back for discussions, according to a source from Brazil's foreign ministry, Reuters reported on Monday.

Reuters also reported that Brazil will be summoning the Israeli ambassador to provide clarifications.

Following Lula's previous remarks comparing the war in Gaza to the Holocaust, Israel's foreign minister had previously called in the Brazilian ambassador for a formal rebuke.

"What is happening in the Gaza Strip with the Palestinian people has no parallel in other historical moments," said Brazil's president, known as Lula, before offering up a comparison.

"In fact, it did exist when Hitler decided to kill the Jews," said Lula last weekend during an African Union summit in Addis Abab.

Josep Borrell, the European Union's foreign policy chief, announced on Monday that 26 out of the 27 EU member states have advocated for "an immediate humanitarian pause that would lead to a sustainable ceasefire" in Gaza.

Borrell added that the 26 agreed to "require an immediate humanitarian pause that would lead to a sustainable ceasefire, to the unconditional release of hostages, and to the provision of humanitarian assistance".

Borrell refrained from specifying the EU country that withheld agreement to the statement, though diplomats indicate that Hungary blocked a similar statement a few days prior.

Israeli forces targeted arms storage facilities near Sidon in southern Lebanon as a retaliation to a drone sent into Israel by Hezbollah, an Israeli military spokesperson announced on Monday.

"We located an unmanned aerial vehicle from Hezbollah near Tiberias, which apparently crossed today and crashed near Tiberias," Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari told a televised news briefing.

"In response to this activity, we attacked weapons depots near Sidon."

Witnesses told Reuters that two air strikes hit near the town of Ghaziyeh on Lebanon's coast, around 60km north of the border with Israel.

Israel has repeatedly carried out strikes on targets in it northern neighbour since the war in Gaza began on 7 October.

Hezbollah have also fired some sporadic rockets into northern Israel, restating their solidarity with the Palestinians.

Footage released on social media appears to show the moment an Israeli air strike hits a suspected Hezbollah weapons site on the outskirts of Sidon in Lebanon:

Middle East Eye cannot independently verify the footage.

Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi said Monday that revenues from the Suez Canal had "decreased by 40 to 50 percent" as a result of Houthi attacks on the Red Sea.

The canal is one of the main sources of foreign currency for Egypt which has for many years been mired in financial turmoil.

"See what is happening at our borders," Sisi said during a conference with oil companies.

"With Gaza, you see the Suez Canal, which used to bring Egypt nearly $10 billion per year, (these revenues) have decreased by 40 to 50 percent and Egypt must continue to pay companies and partners."

Yemen's Houthis, officially named Ansar Allah, have been launching attacks in the Red Sea for several months in an attempt to disrupt shipping, in solidarity with Palestinians in Gaza being bombed by Israel.

An eight-year-old Palestinian girl has died from dehydration and starvation in Gaza City, the NGO, Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor reported on Saturday.

The organisation’s teams in northern Gaza said that Hanin Saleh Hassan Jumaa died from a severe calcium deficiency caused by starvation.

“I [cannot] forget the night of my daughter Hanin’s death when she asked me for food, and I told her, ‘Sleep, I will bring you in the morning,” her father said.

He said that the following morning, she began to moan. “When I sat next to her, I found her as if she was preparing to die.

“I rushed her...to the hospital on a donkey cart due to the lack of cars, only for the doctor to tell me that my daughter had died from dehydration and lack of food."

The rights group warned in January of the growing risk of famine especially among children and the elderly. It cited the earlier death of infant Jamal Mahmoud Jamal Al-Kafarna on 18 January, who died "of hunger in his mother's arms".

Euro-Med Monitor also reported the death of one-year-old Baraa al-Haddad from hunger and dehydration on 30 December, and 14-year-old Jana Deeb Qudeih, who had cerebral palsy, on 8 December.

Read more: Palestinian child starves to death in Gaza City

The Green Party of England and Wales has demanded a ceasefire in Gaza, an arms ban to Israel and boycotts.

Writing for Middle East Eye, party co-leader Carla Denyer said it was time for the "UK to scale up actions against the Israeli government until the killing stops."

"The relentless death toll in Gaza continues to rise, with no end in sight. And with Israel poised to launch an all-out attack on Rafah, thousands more innocent civilians could be slaughtered, a top UN official has warned. To date, around 70 percent of those killed have been women and children.

"The Green Party has long called for an immediate ceasefire, the release of all hostages, and the facilitation of humanitarian aid into Gaza. 

"As party leaders, Adrian Ramsay and I have used our platform to lobby the government and opposition to reconsider their positions, including writing to the foreign secretary and shadow foreign secretary, speaking at events, and raising the issue on television and radio programmes whenever we get the chance.

"As the Palestinian death toll heads inexorably towards 30,000, and with no signs that Israel is willing to end the bloodshed, now is the time for the UK to scale up actions against the Israeli government until the killing stops."

Read more: As UK Greens we demand a ceasefire, no more arms to Israel and a boycott

The European Union has launched a naval mission in the Red Sea to counter attacks by Yemen's Houthi rebels as a US-owned cargo vessel repeatedly came under fire.

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen on Friday said the new mission - called Aspides, Greek for shield - would be up and running in a "few weeks" with at least four vessels.

"Europe will ensure freedom of navigation in the Red Sea, working alongside our international partners," she said.

On Monday, a maritime security firm said that a Greek-flagged, US-owned cargo ship had been attacked twice in two hours in the Gulf of Aden.

The Houthis, officially named Ansar Allah, have been launching attacks in the Red Sea for several months in an attempt to disrupt shipping, in solidarity with Palestinians in Gaza being bombed by Israel.

Brazilian President Luiz Inacio "Lula" da Silva is unwelcome in Israel unless he retracts comments likening Israel's war on Gaza to the Nazi genocide during World War Two, the Israeli foreign minister said on Monday.

"We will not forget nor forgive. It is a serious antisemitic attack. In my name and the name of the citizens of Israel - tell President Lula that he is persona non grata in Israel until he takes it back," Foreign Minister Israel Katz told Brazil's ambassador, according to a statement from Katz's office.

Israel's air and ground offensive has devastated much of Gaza since 7 October, killing more than 29,000 people, the vast majority women and children.

The bloody campaign has resulted in displacing more than two million Palestinians from their home and wounding at least 69,028.