At least nine people, including three journalists, have been killed and several others wounded in an Israeli drone attack on Beit Lahiya in northern Gaza, according to Palestinian media.
The attack on Saturday reportedly targeted a relief team that was accompanied by journalists and photographers. At least three local journalists are among the dead.
The Palestinian Journalists’ Protection Center said in a statement that “the journalists were documenting humanitarian relief efforts for those affected by Israel’s genocidal war” and called on Gaza ceasefire mediators to pressure Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to move forward with implementing the agreed truce and prisoner exchange.
Israel has rejected opening talks on the second phase of the ceasefire between it and Hamas, which would require it to negotiate over a permanent end to the war, a key Hamas demand.
Reporting from Khan Younis in southern Gaza, Al Jazeera’s Tareq Abu Azzoum said that since the implementation of the first phase in January, different humanitarian organisations and charities have started to ramp up their efforts to provide humanitarian support for Palestinians, specifically during the holy month of Ramadan.
“The attack [on Beit Lahiya] has triggered a huge swathe of condemnation, but it has not been the first one. Here in the southern part of Gaza, we have seen Israeli drones hovering above while in Rafah city we have got confirmation from eyewitnesses that they have been exposed to Israeli attacks in the past 24 hours,” Abu Azzoum said.
Hamas called the attack on Beit Lahiya a “horrific massacre” and “a continuation” of Israeli “war crimes against our people and a dangerous escalation that reflects its insistence on continuing its aggression and disregard for all international laws and conventions”.
In a statement, the Israeli military said it struck “two terrorists … operating a drone that posed a threat” to Israeli soldiers in the Beit Lahiya area.
“Later, a number of additional terrorists collected the drone operating equipment and entered a vehicle. The [Israeli military] struck the terrorists,” it added without providing any evidence about its claims.
Gaza’s Ministry of Health said at least 48,543 Palestinians have been confirmed killed and 111,981 wounded in Israel’s war on Gaza. Gaza’s Government Media Office has updated its death toll to more than 61,700, saying thousands of Palestinian people missing under the rubble are presumed dead.
‘Crisis that has no end in sight’ due to aid blockade
In addition to its ongoing drone attacks in Gaza, Israel halted the entry of all aid into the enclave on March 2, hours after the first phase of its fragile ceasefire with Hamas expired, raising fears of “deepening hunger” and more hardships for Gaza’s people.
Israel has also cut electricity to a crucial water desalination plant, threatening Gaza’s potable water supply.
“People right now have been forced to depend on alternative, negative coping mechanisms, including the reduction of the meals they have on a daily basis,” Abu Azzoum reported.
“Families right now are struggling to afford the meal to break their fast during Ramadan, another sign of a crisis that has no end in sight,” he added.
Rights organisations have accused Israel of crimes against humanity and violations of international law for cutting off aid to Gaza.
Israel’s “deliberate” curtailing of Gaza’s access to water amounts to “acts of genocide”, according to Niku Jafarnia, a researcher at Human Rights Watch (HRW).
Israel is reducing Gaza’s water supplies “not only [by] attacking desalination facilities but also by cutting off water through the pipelines that go into Gaza from Israel, by cutting off fuel or restricting access to fuel, and by also destroying and attacking wastewater facility plants”, the researcher told Al Jazeera, speaking from Beirut, Lebanon.
“It’s also a matter of not allowing any repair materials that are required in order to actually reconstruct and repair a lot of the water infrastructure and attacking a warehouse that belonged to the water municipality which stored … millions of dollars of repair equipment.”
Ceasefire talks in limbo?
Israel’s aid blockade and recent attacks in Gaza come as ceasefire talks continue.
Reporting from Amman, Jordan, Al Jazeera’s Nour Odeh says the truce negotiations appear to be in limbo because each of the negotiating parties is firmly standing their ground.
“Hamas has offered to release one Israeli captive who holds dual citizenship along with the bodies of four captives. Israel has its own proposal while the US envoy Steve Witkoff has proposed something more aligned with Netanyahu’s position – but certainly neither here nor there,” she said.
“Hamas insists that the end of the war must be discussed, not just the particulars of an agreement or a bridging proposal, so there’s still a very big gap,” she added.
