Israel’s war on Gaza updates: Nasser Hospital ‘place of death’, says UN
Conditions at Khan Younis hospital ‘appalling’ says official after aid visit, as lack of oxygen kills eight patients.
- This live page is now closed. Follow along with our coverage of Israel’s war on Gaza here.
- Khan Younis’s besieged Nasser Medical Complex has become a “place of death”, says a United Nations official after an aid visit.
- This live page is now closed. Follow along with our coverage of Israel’s war on Gaza here.
- Khan Younis’s besieged Nasser Medical Complex has become a “place of death”, says a United Nations official after an aid visit.
- Eight patients at Nasser Hospital have died after generators were shut off due to lack of fuel, the Gaza Health Ministry says.
- A 15-year-old Palestinian boy was killed by Israeli forces in the occupied West Bank town of Azzun, the Palestinian Health Ministry says.
- At least 29,313 Palestinians have been killed and 69,333 injured in Israeli attacks on Gaza since October 7, the Health Ministry says. The death toll in Israel from the October 7 Hamas-led attacks stands at 1,139.
Thanks for joining us
This live page is now closed. Follow along with our coverage of Israel’s war on Gaza here.
To learn more about the ongoing case before the International Court of Justice on the legality of Israel’s occupation of the Palestinian territories, you can read our coverage here.
You can also read our story on repression and violence faced by Palestinians in occupied East Jerusalem.
Here’s what happened today
We will be closing the live blog soon. Here’s a review of the day’s main developments
- Doctors Without Borders released a statement condemning an Israeli attack on a “clearly marked” shelter in al-Mawasi yesterday. The group says that an Israeli tank shelled the building, killing two family members of workers who were sheltering there, despite coordination on their location with Israeli authorities. The group’s director called the amount of force being used in densely populated urban areas “staggering”.
- The Israeli Knesset voted strongly in favour of a measure rejecting unilateral recognition of a Palestinian state by international actors. The US responded by saying that Israel is a “sovereign country”.
- A United Nations official said that the besieged Nasser Medical Complex has become a “place of death”, as Israeli forces continue to target medical facilities.
- Members of the UK Parliament walked out following contentious debate over the nature of a measure calling for a ceasefire in Gaza.
WATCH: US congressman tells pro-Palestine activist ‘we should kill ’em all’
Watch our video to see US Republican Congressman Andy Ogles confrontation with activists, during which he made his now-infamous remarks:
More US voters reject military aid to Israel: Survey
A new study by Quinnipiac University shows that 48 percent of respondents oppose more military assistance to Israel compared with 44 percent who support it.
The survey, which asked 1,421 US voters about a variety of issues, also found that 62 percent of respondents disapprove of Biden’s handling of the war on Gaza.
Scottish first minister calls for ceasefire in Gaza after Parliament row
After members of the Scottish National Party (SNP) walked out of the UK’s Parliament during an intense debate over competing measures calling for a pause and an end to the fighting in Gaza, the party’s leader has taken to social media to reiterate demands for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza.
“This suffering has to end. … Enough is enough,” Humza Yousaf, Scotland’s first minister and the SNP’s leader, said on X.
Westminster is broken and many are right to be angry.
I'm proud of @theSNP for bringing demands for an immediate ceasefire to the Commons, forcing Labour to change their position, which I welcome.
The suffering has to end. There must be an immediate ceasefire. Enough is enough. pic.twitter.com/kpXlmdrgrg
— Humza Yousaf (@HumzaYousaf) February 21, 2024
Here’s what happened at the UK parliament’s chaotic ceasefire vote
The speaker of the British House of Commons has drawn fury from critics after he broke with precedent to allow the Labour Party to put forward its own measure for a ceasefire in Gaza over a motion by the Scottish National Party (SNP), which included stronger criticism of Israel.
The tumult reflected the deepening division in British politics over London’s backing of Israel.
The original motion, which was put forward on a designated SNP opposition day, risked a rebellion within Labour against party leader Keir Starmer – a staunch Israel supporter.
But with the help of Commons Speaker Lindsay Hoyle, Starmer – who is widely expected to become the UK’s next prime minister – was able to avoid the dissent from MPs pledging to vote for the SNP measure.
Hoyle allowed Labour to introduce its own amendment to the SNP motion, removing references to Israel’s “collective punishment” of Palestinians, and adding language saying that Israel cannot be expected to end the war “if Hamas continues with violence”.
SNP leaders were furious at the decision, and the party’s MPs along with Conservatives, walked out of the chamber. Eventually, the Labour-amended motion calling for a ceasefire was adopted.
Early in the war, Starmer said that Israel “does have that right” to cut off water and electricity in Gaza, but he added that the country should act within international law.
UN committee calls on Israel to facilitate aid operations in Gaza
The Inter-Agency Standing Committee (IASC), which facilitates cooperation between UN and non-UN humanitarian groups, has called on Israel to fulfil its “legal obligation” to provide food and medical supplies to Gaza and allow aid operations to move forward. Israel has blocked large portions of aid from being delivered in Gaza and targeted humanitarian convoys, even as the Strip faces the risk of widespread famine.
In a statement today, the group said that 10 requirements need to be met in order to provide “the bare essentials” in Gaza. Among the steps are an immediate ceasefire, security assurances for aid delivery efforts, the restoration of necessary resources for UNRWA, and the release of the remaining captives in Gaza.
“Humanitarian agencies remain committed, despite the risks. But they cannot be left to pick up the pieces,” the statement reads.
“We are calling on Israel to fulfil its legal obligation, under international humanitarian and human rights law, to provide food and medical supplies and facilitate aid operations, and on the world’s leaders to prevent an even worse catastrophe from happening.”
Civilians in #Gaza are in extreme peril.
We are calling on Israel to fulfil its legal obligation to provide food and medical supplies and facilitate aid operations.
And we are calling on the world’s leaders to prevent an even worse catastrophe.#IASC 👉https://t.co/7V5oU8Vz11 pic.twitter.com/qazdwc3OG7
— Inter-Agency Standing Committee (IASC) (@iascch) February 21, 2024
Report: UK considers restricting arms sales to Israel
The potential restrictions would go into effect if Israel goes through with its planned military operation in Rafah, or if it blocks aid trucks from coming into the Gaza Strip, US news outlet Bloomberg reports, citing sources “familiar with the matter”.
Israel has pledged to commence its ground offensive on Rafah if captives held in Gaza are not released soon. Both the US and the UK have stated that they are against any Israeli operation there without an adequate plan to protect civilians there from harm.
Currently, over 1.4 million Palestinians are sheltering in Rafah, Gaza’s southernmost city, many of them displaced from other areas of the Strip.
WATCH: US at ICJ defends Israeli occupation of Palestinian territory
Today marked day three of the International Court of Justice’s hearings on Israel’s occupation of Palestine.
Watch our video to hear the US argument against Israel’s withdrawal from Palestinian lands:
US has consistently aided Israeli occupation: Palestinian legal expert
As the US argues on Israel’s behalf in front of the International Court of Justice, which is considering the legality of Israel’s occupation of the Palestinian territories, Palestinian legal experts say Washington has long shielded its Middle East ally from accountability while stating that it opposes permanent occupation.
“Since Israel’s occupation in 1967, the US has talked out of both sides of its mouth – on the one hand affirming that Israel has a duty to withdraw from the territories, and on the other hand, facilitating Israel’s settler-colonial expansion, increasing its settlement enterprise, increasing the number of its settlements,” Palestinian activist and legal scholar Noura Erakat told Al Jazeera.
US on Knesset rejecting Palestinian state: Israel is sovereign country
The State Department was reluctant to criticise the Israeli parliament for approving a Netanyahu-backed declaration objecting to the recognition of Palestine.
Asked about the vote, spokesperson Miller said he can only speak to the US position in support of establishing a Palestinian state. “Ultimately, Israel will have to make its own decisions, as every sovereign country does,” he told reporters.
The concept of sovereignty does not shield a country from violations of international law. Washington also has a history of criticising and sanctioning other countries over their own decisions. Moreover, US policy, as stated by officials including President Biden and Miller himself, is in favour of a two-state solution and the eventual recognition of an independent Palestinian state.
Israeli forces strike residential building in Rafah
Israeli forces have carried out a series of strikes in Rafah, including one that struck a residential building, injuring one person. A Palestinian was also killed and three injured in a strike on a vehicle earlier today, according to an Al Jazeera reporter.
“This is absolutely terrifying in a densely populated area. Right now, Rafah has been a centre for Israeli attacks,” Al Jazeera correspondent Tareq Abu Azzoum reported from Rafah in southern Gaza.
Israeli settlers attack occupied West Bank village: Local official
Hafez Saleh, president of the Asira al-Qibliya village council, says dozens of settlers stormed the town near Nablus, attacked a house and threw rocks at its owner, broke the windshield of a vehicle and tried to set another car on fire.
“The attack largely failed today because of the village residents’ alertness and defence of their home and children,” he said.
Saleh added that this is the second settler assault on Asira al-Qibliya in 10 days. Last week, settlers descended on the village, shot two young men, broke the windows of several homes and tried to set a house on fire.
“The village is constantly facing attacks by the settlers and their attempts to attack our homes,” Saleh told Al Jazeera.
Israeli settlers, often protected by Israeli security forces, regularly assault Palestinian communities in the West Bank.
Doctors Without Borders condemns Israeli attack on ‘clearly marked’ shelter
The group Doctors Without Borders (Medecins Sans Frontieres, or MSF) has confirmed an Israeli attack on an MSF shelter in al-Mawasi yesterday that killed two of the group’s staff family members and injured six.
Al Jazeera earlier reported that Israeli forces had attacked the shelter.
According to the statement, an Israeli tank fired on a home sheltering 64 MSF employees and family members, killing the wife and daughter-in-law of an MSF worker.
MSF says Israeli forces had been “clearly informed of the precise location of this MSF shelter in al-Mawasi”, and that the building was additionally identified with a large MSF flag.
The group says that bullets were also fired at the “clearly marked” MSF shelter and that nearby shelling prevented an ambulance from reaching the facility to assist the wounded for more than two hours.
“These killings underscore the grim reality that nowhere in Gaza is safe, that promises of safe areas are empty and deconfliction mechanisms unreliable,” said MSF general director Meinie Nicolai. “The amount of force being used in densely populated urban environments is staggering, and targeting a building knowing it is full of humanitarian workers and their families is unconscionable.”
“We are outraged and deeply saddened by these killings… targeting a building knowing it is full of humanitarian workers and their families is unconscionable.”
Read our statement following an Israeli attack on our shelter in #Gaza which killed 2 people 👇https://t.co/zinaE3psy2
— MSF International (@MSF) February 21, 2024
British MPs walk out of parliament over ceasefire vote row
Members have walked out of the UK Parliament after debate erupted over the nature of a Gaza ceasefire motion.
The Scottish National Party (SNP) had called for an unequivocal and immediate ceasefire, while an amendment was advanced to add numerous caveats about Israel’s ability to address military threats from Hamas, more in line with the position of the Labour Party.
More left-wing and Muslim members of that party have expressed disappointment over what they see as an insufficiently firm stance in favour of a ceasefire. The Conservatives also put forward an amendment that calls instead for a temporary pause in the fighting. A number of people stormed out in protest when both amendments were brought up for a vote, instead of just one as is the norm.
“That is extremely unusual, and caused the SNP to be extremely upset. And then towards the end of the debate, there was a feeling among Conservative and SNP members that [Commons Speaker] Lindsay Hoyle had given Labour a way out of its very difficult position, had got them off the hook,” Al Jazeera correspondent Harry Fawcett reported from London.
US says ‘immediate goal’ in Gaza is truce deal
Washington says its officials and diplomats are still working to secure an agreement that would free Israeli captives in Gaza and pause the fighting.
“Our immediate goal is to try to achieve a deal that brings about a temporary ceasefire in the fighting, allows us to get the hostages out and allows us to get humanitarian assistance in,” Miller, the State Department spokesperson said.
The US has been pursuing a pact around those contours, working with Egypt, Qatar and Israel.
But diplomatic efforts were derailed earlier this month after Netanyahu rejected Hamas’s demands, which included releasing a large number of Palestinian prisoners.
For its part, Hamas has said that Israel only wants to prolong the war and is “not serious” about reaching an agreement.
Miller said the US would like to ultimately see an enduring end to the conflict based on the two-state solution and security guarantees for Israel, which would be further “integrated” into the region.
Red Crescent still retrieving corpses from hospital vicinity
The PRCS says its teams retrieved a decomposed body from the vicinity of al-Amal Hospital in Khan Younis.
In pictures it posted on X, the shrouded body of an unknown male can be seen as staff pray before burial as is customary in Muslim tradition.
Yesterday, the Palestine Red Crescent Society teams retrieved a decomposed body from the vicinity of Al-Amal Hospital in Khan Younis.
📷 Photography by PRCS volunteer: Ameer Abu Aisha#Gaza #AlAmalHospital pic.twitter.com/2uPvHJjGQp— PRCS (@PalestineRCS) February 21, 2024
Israeli attacks kill 12 in Gaza, including journalist: Wafa
At least 12 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli army bombardment of the Nuseirat refugee camp and the Zeitoun neighbourhood of Gaza City, reports Palestinian news agency Wafa, citing medical sources.
In Zeitoun, medical sources told Wafa that journalist Ihab Nasrallah and his wife were killed after being targeted by Israeli forces. Their three children were also badly burned.
In Nuseirat, in central Gaza, air strikes on the home of the al-Daalis family killed 10 people and wounded dozens of others, who were taken to Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in neighbouring Deir el-Balah, Wafa said.
Fighting has been raging in recent days in the central Gaza Strip, an area the Israeli army once said had been cleared of major Hamas military infrastructure.
Earlier today, the Israeli army told all residents of the Zeitoun and Turkmen neighbourhoods of Gaza City to urgently move to al-Mawasi in the south of the Gaza Strip, calling the town a “humanitarian zone”.
US says UNRWA ‘the key facilitator’ of aid for Palestinians
The Biden administration, which has suspended funding for the UN agency, has acknowledged UNRWA’s vital role in getting humanitarian assistance to Palestinians amid the deepening humanitarian crisis in Gaza.
“We want to ensure that humanitarian assistance continues to flow to the Palestinian people,” State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller told reporters.
“Right now, UNRWA is the key facilitator of humanitarian assistance in Gaza. And we don’t want to see that humanitarian assistance disrupted in any way.”
The US had cut off funding for UNRWA after Israeli allegations that several employees of the agency participated in Hamas’s October 7 attack against Israel. The Israeli government has not released any evidence to back that claim.
Moreover, a White House-backed bill that was approved by the Senate earlier this month would ban US funding to UNRWA altogether.
Miller said the administration is planning for the possibility that the proposed legislation may become law.
Meanwhile, Biden has been pleading with legislators in the House of Representatives to pass the measure, which includes billions in aid to Israel and Ukraine.
Israel tightening restrictions against Palestinians in Jerusalem: Activist
Advocate and researcher Fakhri Abu Diab says that since October 7, Israel has been pursuing an “iron fist” policy against Palestinian Jerusalemites and subjecting them to collective punishment.
“The occupation has militarised Jerusalem, cutting off its connections. Demolitions have increased, and so have arrests and interrogations. Almost every family has had a member called in for questioning over old and new cases – all of this is to scare Jerusalemites,” Abu Diab told Al Jazeera.
He added that local Israeli authorities are intensifying their tax collection efforts, raiding businesses and enforcing municipal codes in a draconian way – fining people over minor offences.
“The goal from this is to insult and oppress the people of Jerusalem,” Abu Diab said.
He said since October 7, Israeli authorities have not granted building permits for Palestinians in East Jerusalem while demolishing 217 structures.
UK and Jordan air drop aid to hospital in northern Gaza
Britain and Jordan have air-dropped four tonnes of aid including medicines, fuel and food to Tal al-Hawa Hospital in northern Gaza, Britain’s Foreign Office has said.
The UK-funded aid was delivered by the Royal Jordanian Air Force.
“Thousands of patients will benefit and the fuel will enable this vital hospital to continue its life-saving work,” British Foreign Secretary David Cameron said in a statement.
“However, the situation in Gaza is desperate and significantly more aid is needed, and fast. We are calling for an immediate humanitarian pause to allow additional aid into Gaza as quickly as possible and bring hostages home.
Yesterday, the UN’s World Food Programme announced that it would end aid delivery to the starving population of north Gaza, citing the breakdown of social order and the safety of humanitarian workers.
Massive uptick in attempts to quell advocacy for Palestine in the US
According to the Center for Constitutional Rights and Palestine Legal, since October 7, attempts to quash advocacy for Palestine in the US have increased, including demands to deploy “terrorism” laws against student activists, “a dangerous attack on constitutionally protected speech and association”.
In a paper written jointly, the legal rights groups reconstruct the history of a joint US-Israeli effort to suppress all forms of Palestinian opposition to Israel’s colonisation of Palestine.
“Attacks on advocacy for Palestine also represent the culmination of a decades-long campaign by Israel-aligned organizations, including the ADL, to expand US antiterrorism law to turn it against advocates for Palestinian liberation,” the groups said, referring to the Anti-Defamation League.
This paper, co-authored with @pal_legal, reconstructs the history of a joint U.S.-Israeli effort to suppress all forms of Palestinian opposition to Israel’s colonization of Palestine.
Read it here: https://t.co/uruHdbKKpQ
— The CCR (@theCCR) February 21, 2024
Hamas rebukes Knesset vote against Palestinian state
In response to a Netanyahu-backed declaration by the Israeli parliament rejecting a Palestinian state, Hamas has called on the international community to recognise Palestine.
“This vote puts the international community and the United Nations before a real test of rejecting the dictates of the Zionist occupation and its decisions that are fundamentally invalid and aimed at obliterating the Palestinian cause by continuing the war of extermination that is being sponsored and supported by the administration of President Biden,” the group said in a statement.
‘We should kill them all’ and other anti-Palestinian remarks by US politicians
Republican Congressman Andy Ogles, who said “we should kill them all” when confronted about the growing casualties amongst Palestinian children, is only the latest US politician to make such comments.
Since the outbreak of the war on October 7, several lawmakers and officials in Washington have used what activists say is dehumanising language against Palestinians and Gaza.
Here are some of their comments:
- Senator Lindsey Graham: “We are in a religious war here. I am with Israel. Do whatever the hell you have to do to defend yourselves. Level the place.”
- Congressman Max Miller: “They [Palestine] are a territory that’s about to probably get eviscerated and go away here shortly, as we’re going to turn that into a parking lot.”
- Congressman Brian Mast: “There are very few innocent Palestinian civilians.”
- Presidential candidate Nikki Haley: “Finish them. Finish them.”
- Florida state legislator Michelle Salzman when asked how many Palestinians need to be killed: “All of them.”
- President Joe Biden: “I have no notion that the Palestinians are telling the truth about how many people are killed. I’m sure innocents have been killed, and it’s the price of waging a war.”
Israeli tourism official says country as isolated as North Korea
In comments to Israeli outlet Maariv, Yossi Fatael, head of the Israeli Incoming Tour Operators Association, says that the sharp decline in tourism to Israel is a victory for Hamas.
“Before the crisis, there were 250 airlines operating in Israel; now only 45 operate,” Fatal told the media outlet. “Israel is currently quite cut off from the world: 80 percent of the flights today are operated from Israel by [Israeli airline] El Al”.
He criticised Israel’s Ministry of Tourism, saying it should have foreseen this drop in tourists and planned for a way to soften its blow.
“In terms of aviation, we are one of the most isolated in the world, like North Korea,” Fatael continued. “This disconnection that has been created is to a large extent an unfortunate victory for Hamas over Israel. The war causes strategic image damage to Israel.”