al jazeera

By Lyndal Rowlands and Alastair McCready
     The UN humanitarian agency, OCHA, says humanitarian organisations are being “systemically denied access” to north and south Gaza and that humanitarian aid convoys are coming under fire.
   A senior UN humanitarian aid official has said that one-quarter of Gaza’s population – estimated to be at least 576,000 people – is a step away from famine.
   Gaza’s Health Ministry says children are dying due to dehydration and “escalating famine” could “kill thousands” in days if more aid does not enter the Gaza Strip.
   US President Joe Biden calls on Congress to pass a funding bill that would “help Israel defend itself” and permanently cut US funds to the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA).
   At least 29,878 people, mostly women and children, have been killed and 70,215 wounded in Israeli attacks on Gaza since October 7. The revised death toll in Israel from the October 7 attacks stands at 1,139.

    If you’re just joining us

    It’s almost 7am (05:00 GMT) in the occupied Palestinian territories and Israel.

    Here are some of the main developments overnight:

•     The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs has told the UN Security Council that one in six children under two in northern Gaza is suffering from acute malnutrition and wasting.
•     The Israeli military, supported by bulldozers, has stormed the city of Jenin and the Jenin refugee camp in the occupied West Bank and destroyed infrastructure, including roads.
•     Early figures show that about 15 percent of US Democrats have voted “uncommitted” in the Michigan presidential primary in protest of Joe Biden’s pro-Israel policies.
•     The US president has also renewed his call for legislators to approve a foreign aid bill that includes $14bn for Israel as well as assistance for Ukraine and Taiwan.
•     The US military’s Central Command has said that it has shot down five “Houthi one-way attack unmanned aerial vehicles” launched from Yemen at vessels in the Red Sea.

    US Arab mayor: Thousands said ‘enough’ to Biden’s support for Israel’s war on Gaza

    Abdullah Hammoud, the mayor of Dearborn, a Detroit suburb known as the “Capital of Arab America”, has hailed the significant number of people who voted “uncommitted” in the US presidential primaries in Michigan.

    “Today, thousands said, ‘Enough.’ As American citizens and Michigan voters, we have made our voices heard at the ballot box,” Hammoud wrote in a social media post.

    “Now, it is up to President Biden to listen to Michigan and do the right thing.”

    Michigan’s ‘uncommitted’ vote: People won’t forget Gaza atrocities, activist says

by Ali Harb

    Many US Democratic commentators have argued that the war on Gaza will be a non-issue by November when President Joe Biden – who is facing mounting anger from progressives, Arabs and Muslims over his support for Israel – is up for reelection.

    But in Michigan, a partial count shows that about 15 percent of Democrats have voted “uncommitted” in the presidential primaries to reject the US president’s pro-Israel policies.

    “It’s energising and a success story of a deeper conscience across communities – Arab, Jewish, Black, white, politically involved and apolitical,” Adham Kassem, an Arab-American activist, told Al Jazeera.

    “Every one of these ‘uncommitted’ votes is someone who took time off their day to vote against what we’ve all watched – a depraved indifference to life by an administration that’s hoping time will forgive. It doesn’t, and these voters won’t forget.”