An Israeli strike killed five Palestinians and injured 22 after it hit a UN aid distribution center in Rafah.
This is how things stand on Wednesday, March 14, 2024:
Struggles and humanitarian crisis
- An Israeli attack on a United Nations aid distribution center in Rafah killed five Palestinians and wounded 22 people on Wednesday.
- The facility is one of the last food distribution centers operating in the enclave, and the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) is now calling for an independent investigation.
- Separately, on Thursday morning, Israeli forces killed at least nine Palestinians and wounded dozens more in attacks across Gaza, including six aid seekers in northern Gaza City, the Wafa news agency reported. .
Regional tensions
- The U.S. military said it destroyed a missile and four drones in Houthi-controlled areas of Yemen on Wednesday, according to U.S. Central Command, the latest in a series of repeated attempts to fend off attacks launched by the armed group. Yemen Houthi.
- Separately, an Italian appeals court refused to send a suspected Palestinian fighter to Israel, saying he risked “cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment” if extradited, Reuters news agency reported.
- Agnes Callamard, secretary general of Amnesty International, sharply criticized the world community for pretending that the crisis in Gaza was humanitarian in nature without acknowledging that it had been engineered by Israel.
- Delta Air Lines has announced that it will resume direct flights to Israel starting June 6, becoming the second US airline, after United, to reverse suspensions imposed following the October 7 attacks and Israel's war on Gaza.
- South Africa's foreign minister has said her country's citizens fighting in or alongside the Israeli military in Gaza will be arrested when they return home, deepening the rift between the nations after South Africa accused Israel of genocide. in the highest court of the United Nations.
- The United Kingdom announced a new definition of extremism on Wednesday in response to a rise in anti-Semitic and Islamophobic incidents in the country following the October 7 Hamas attacks and Israel's war in Gaza.
Violence in the occupied West Bank
- Two Palestinian men were arrested in a town near occupied East Jerusalem, according to the Wafa news agency, as the Israeli army continued its raids and attacks throughout the West Bank.
- Among the men arrested in the city of Abu Dis was Muhammad Rabie, spokesman for the Fatah movement in Jerusalem, Wafa reported.
- The father of a Palestinian boy who was shot dead while playing with fireworks said Israeli forces imposed conditions on the return of his body.
