Here’s how things stand on Tuesday, March 26, 2024:
Fighting and humanitarian crisis
- The Israeli military bombed a house in the city of Rafah, southern Gaza on Tuesday, killing at least 15 people and injuring more. The building was housing displaced Palestinians and among the dead are at least four children.
- Videos posted online by Palestinian journalists on Monday and verified by Al Jazeera show the aftermath of an Israeli raid that killed at least 15 Palestinians in the city of Rafah. Some of the victims were children, according to the footage.
- The United Kingdom’s Royal Air Force has airdropped more than 10 metric tonnes of food supplies into Gaza on Monday, in the first such operation by the UK military to deliver humanitarian aid directly into the besieged Palestinian territory.
- At least 32,333 Palestinians have been killed and 74,694 others wounded in Israeli attacks on Gaza since October 7. The revised death toll in Israel from Hamas’s October 7 attack stands at 1,139, with dozens still held captive.
Diplomacy and regional tensions
- The United Nations Security Council adopted a resolution on Monday demanding an immediate ceasefire between Israel and Hamas after the United States abstained from the vote, leading to a spat with its ally Israel.
- US Secretary of State Antony Blinken underscored in a meeting with Israel’s Defense Minister Yoav Gallant on Monday that alternatives exist to a ground invasion of Rafah that would both better ensure Israel’s security and protect Palestinian civilians, the State Department said.
- Gallant is visiting the Pentagon on Tuesday for a meeting with US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin. The Pentagon said Austin would build on Blinken’s efforts to try to persuade Gallant to avoid a ground invasion of Rafah, at a time of rising tensions between the two allies.
- The Palestinian group Hamas said on Monday it had informed mediators that it would stick to its original proposal on reaching a comprehensive ceasefire, which includes the withdrawal of Israeli troops from Gaza and the return of displaced Palestinians to parts of the strip they have had to vacate from.
- Separately, former US President Donald Trump said he would have responded the same way as Israel did after the October 7 attack by Hamas but urged the country to “finish up” its offensive in Gaza and “get this over with”, warning about international support fading.
- Francesca Albanese, the UN special rapporteur on Palestine, issued a damning report [PDF] on Monday, saying there are “reasonable grounds” to believe Israel is committing genocide.
Violence in the occupied West Bank
- Footage published by Al Jazeera Arabic on Tuesday shows hundreds of Palestinians marching in the Nur Shams refugee camp near the city of Tulkarem in protest against Israel’s war on Gaza and its military operations in the occupied West Bank.
- On Monday, Israeli settlers assaulted several Palestinians as well as attacked homes and vehicles in the town of Beit Ummar, north of Hebron, the Wafa news agency reported.
