Israel’s war on Gaza updates: 6 children die of malnutrition in north Gaza

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You can continue to follow our coverage of Israel’s war on Gaza here.

You can read our story here on the significance of the “groundbreaking” uncommitted voting campaign in Michigan’s Democratic presidential primary, which protested Biden’s support for Israel.

You can also follow more of our coverage of the war here.

We will be closing the live page soon. Here’s a recap of the day’s main events.

• A UN humanitarian agency has said that humanitarian organisations are being “systemically denied access” to Gaza, and that aid convoys have frequently come under fire.
• The Gaza Health Ministry has said that six children at the Kamal Adwan and al-Shifa hospitals in north Gaza have died from dehydration and malnutrition.
• Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant threw his support behind a bid to draft ultra-Orthodox Jews, largely exempted from mandatory military service in Israel, in light of strains on the military amid the war in Gaza and tensions on the border with Lebanon. The move could trigger a showdown with ultra-Orthodox parties, a key component of Prime Minister Netanyahu’s coalition.
• Activists in the United States have claimed success after a campaign to enter “uncommitted” in the Democratic presidential party in the state of Michigan, in opposition to the Biden administration’s stance on Gaza, garnered 100,000 votes. Some Democratic politicians have warned that the White House must change course or risk alienating important constituencies within the party.

As Gaza’s hunger crisis gets worse, Palestinians are more and more desperate for what little aid Israel allows into the Strip.

In north Gaza, one man was found bleeding on the floor next to a bag of flour, reportedly shot by Israeli troops while he waited for aid.

Watch our video to find out more:

In predominantly Arab neighbourhoods of the Detroit suburb of Dearborn, the “uncommitted” campaign protesting Biden’s support for the war on Gaza received far more votes than the US president in the presidential primaries yesterday.

According to election data shared with Al Jazeera, in a precinct in a mostly Yemeni American neighbourhood, Biden received four votes as 175 people voted uncommitted. At another voting location, nine people voted for Biden versus 140 uncommitted.

Throughout heavily Arab areas in Dearborn, Biden never exceeded 25 percent of the vote, often performing in the single digits, according to election data.

The trend could spell trouble for Biden’s reelection chances, particularly in Michigan – a key swing state with a sizable Arab population.

As ground deliveries of humanitarian aid in Gaza have slowed, despite the US and other countries and humanitarian bodies urging Israel to facilitate delivery, the US is considering providing aid directly to Palestinians in Gaza via air, a report from US news site Axios says.

“The situation is really bad. We are unable to get enough aid [in] by truck, so we need desperate measures like airdrops,” one of four anonymous US officials cited by Axios said.

The fact that Biden is considering this move underscores the difficulty his administration has had in getting Israel to comply with its demands. The UN says that aid deliveries to and in the Strip have sharply fallen this month, and the majority of reasons cited for this have much to do with Israel either blocking or hampering efforts to distribute life-saving food, water, medicine and fuel to people in extreme need.

We reported earlier that six children died today in north Gaza, according to the Health Ministry, of extreme dehydration and malnutrition.

Samantha Power, the administrator of the US’s international development agency, USAID, has paid a visit to the Rafah border crossing between the Gaza Strip and Egypt.

Citing “deteriorating” conditions in Gaza, Power said in a video message from the border that it is “a matter of life and death” that “far more” aid crossings are opened.

Power said that the US is talking to Israeli officials in order to make this happen, however, the US has been urging Israel for months to open additional crossings into Gaza to no avail. Israel said it would open the Karem Abu Salem (Kerem Shalom) crossing between Israel and the Strip. However, it has often been shuttered as well as blocked by Israeli protesters trying to prevent aid from entering.

The “Listen to Michigan” campaign, which pushed voters to mark themselves as “uncommitted” in the state’s Democratic presidential primary yesterday in opposition to the Biden administration’s support for Israel’s war on Gaza, slammed a statement from the White House that made no mention of Gaza or the plight of the Palestinians.

“Quite frankly, Biden’s statement last night did not unite this party nor seek to unite this party. His statement last night ignored the more than 100,000 voters who showed up and asked of him to stand with the children of God, to stand against war crimes, to stand for peace and a ceasefire,” the statement reads.

“Yesterday showed that the center of the Democratic Party has moved on Palestine. Michigan has made our voices clear through our vote. It’s President Biden’s turn to tell us where he stands.”

Democratic Congresswoman Madeleine Dean, who recently returned from a trip to Israel and the Palestinian territories, has become the latest US legislator to urge ending the war on Gaza.

Dean said while Israel has a right to defend itself, the assault on Gaza goes beyond self-defence.

“Prime Minister Netanyahu’s dishonesty – his broken promises to use precision strikes to protect civilians and his false claims that safe zones have been created and enforced – is unacceptable,” the congresswoman said in a statement.

She accused Netanyahu of waging a war against civilians, adding that “no war against civilians is just”.

Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz has issued a directive against “international diktats” regarding a Palestinian state to envoys abroad. The move comes as countries around the world insist that Palestinians must have a state if the conflict is to be permanently solved, and reports that some governments are considering recognition of Palestinian statehood, which Israel objects to.

“Israel utterly rejects international diktats regarding a permanent settlement with the Palestinians,” the directive, which passed with the approval of 99 out of 120  members of the Israeli parliament, states.

“Israel will continue to oppose unilateral recognition of a Palestinian state,” it adds.

Many Israeli officials, including Prime Minister Netanyahu, have consistently stated that they will never allow a sovereign Palestinian state.

The al-Quds Brigades, the armed wing of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) group, has said it targeted a military bulldozer and clashed with an infantry force in Khan Younis, leaving four soldiers dead or injured earlier today.

The group also said it fired mortar shells at Israeli troops in the Zeitoun neighbourhood of Gaza City in the north of the territory.

The Brigades later released footage of an Israeli quadcopter drone that it said its fighters downed in southern Gaza.

The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) has said that one quarter of Gaza’s wells have been destroyed during the war, as Israel’s assault on the Gaza Strip drives a humanitarian crisis of unprecedented scope.

“There is no limit to the scale of humanitarian needs for people in Gaza. Diseases are rampant. Food production has come to a halt. Over 1/4 of water wells have been destroyed,” UNRWA said in a social media post. “Famine is looming. Hospitals have turned into battlefields. 1 million children face daily trauma.”

Spokeswoman Karine Jean-Pierre says the US president and his aides are pushing to secure a truce agreement between Israel and Hamas that would see the release of Israeli captives and allow aid into the Palestinian territory.

President Joe Biden faced an electoral setback on Tuesday when more than 100,000 people voted “uncommitted” in the Democratic Party primary in the US state of Michigan to protest against his support for Israel.

Jean-Pierre said the White House will continue conversations with Arab and Muslim American communities about their concerns over Gaza. She also appeared to play down the significance of the protest vote.

“He appreciates folks getting out there making their voices heard. But he also got more than 80 percent of the vote in the Democratic primary,” Jean-Pierre told reporters.

Eight nongovernmental organisations, including the watchdog group Human Rights Watch, have released a joint statement expressing concern that the United Kingdom has not suspended arms transfers to Israel amid persistent allegations of human rights abuses by the Israeli military in Gaza.

“As UK and international organisations working in and on the Occupied Palestinian Territory we are deeply concerned that the UK government still refuses to suspend arms transfers to Israel despite the clear risk that UK-licensed equipment might be used to carry out or facilitate serious violations of international humanitarian law (IHL), including war crimes, amid the hostilities between Israeli forces and Palestinian armed groups that escalated following the 7 October Hamas-led attacks,” the statement reads.

Congressperson Pramila Jayapal, head of the Progressive Caucus, has penned a letter calling for the full restoration of US funding for UNRWA, which was pulled over Israeli allegations that several of its employees had taken part in the October 7 attacks. Israel has not provided evidence for its claims more than a month after initially making them.

Assistance groups say that UNRWA plays an indispensable role in humanitarian operations in Gaza, and the decision of key donors such as the US to freeze assistance as the strip reels under extreme shortages of food, medicine, shelter, and water has been criticised.

The letter was also signed by representatives Andre Carson and Jamie Raskin.

“I’m leading a call w/@RepAndreCarson & @RepRaskin to fully fund UNRWA, a vital agency that supports the welfare and survival of Palestinians,” Jayapal said in a social media post.

“Prohibiting U.S. funding for UNRWA is irresponsible and unacceptable. We must do all we can to push humanitarian aid into Gaza.”

The Syrian Defence Ministry says Israel launched an air attack from the occupied Golan Heights, targeting areas in the Damascus countryside.

“Our air defences confronted the missiles of the attack and downed most of them,” it said.

The ministry added that the raids only caused material damage.

Palestinian-American comedian and organiser Amer Zahr calls the result “historic”, adding that the vote is a “true rejection of Biden’s disastrous policies of support for the genocide in Gaza”.

More than 101,000 people voted uncommitted in Michigan state’s Democratic Party primary in a protest campaign against US President Joe Biden’s support for Israel.

“Now, the work continues. We must stay the course of denying Biden our votes. For the martyrs in Gaza. For our dignity. Otherwise, we turn into Ted Cruz, and nothing matters,” Zahr told Al Jazeera in a statement, referring to the Republican senator who endorsed Donald Trump in 2016 after the former US president insulted his wife.

The government of Palestine says it welcomes the European parliament’s call for an immediate and permanent ceasefire in Gaza and its full support for UNRWA.

“This moral stance reflects the voices of millions in European streets demanding justice,” the Ministry of Foreign Affairs says in a statement.

“We extend our gratitude to MEPs, European citizens, solidarity movements, and all free people for their unwavering support and advocacy towards Europe’s legal, moral, and political obligations to uphold justice,” the ministry adds.

On Tuesday, the parliament’s standing rapporteur for Palestine, Evin Incir, said, “We call for an immediate and unconditional ceasefire in Gaza … We value the crucial work of UNRWA, ensuring vital humanitarian aid to civilians, under extremely dangerous conditions. We urge all countries to resume and increase their funding to the agency, which is needed now more than ever.”

According to activist Fuad Hassan, soldiers raided the village located south of Nablus, firing live and rubber bullets, stun grenades and tear gas, injuring a 19-year-old man. Dozens of others were treated for tear gas inhalation.

Since October 7, six Palestinians from the village have been killed, four of them by settlers, and dozens of citizens were injured in repeated incursions into the village, Hassan told Al Jazeera.

“The Israeli army deliberately storms the village of Qusra and other Palestinian villages on an almost daily basis, with the aim of provoking Palestinian citizens. Since this afternoon, it has raided several villages and towns south of Nablus governorate, namely Odala, Qabalan and Madama,” he added.