al jazeera

By Alastair Mccready

    Foreign ministries, aid groups and rights organisations denounce Israel’s “heinous massacre” that killed more than 100 people waiting to receive emergency food assistance in northern Gaza.
   Gaza Health Ministry says four more children have died of starvation and dehydration in the north of the Palestinian territory.
   A shooting attack on the occupied West Bank settlement of Eli leaves two Israelis dead, sparking fears of further settler violence against Palestinian communities.
   US President Joe Biden holds phone calls with Qatari Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani and Egypt’s Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, as Washington says it is pushing towards a temporary ceasefire in Gaza.
   At least 30,035 people have been killed and 70,457 wounded in Israeli attacks on Gaza since October 7. The revised death toll in Israel from the October 7 attacks stands at 1,139.

    Biden urges Republicans to pass military aid bill so ‘Israel can defend itself’

    A statement from US President Joe Biden has urged House Republicans to pass a foreign aid bill in order to “help ensure that Israel can defend itself against Hamas and other threats”.

    Biden said the bipartisan national security supplemental package, which House Republicans are refusing to hold a vote on, will also provide “critical humanitarian aid to the Palestinian people”.

    “Because the truth is, the aid flowing into Gaza is nowhere near enough, and nowhere fast enough. Innocent lives are on the line,” the statement said.

    Biden’s call comes as Israeli soldiers opened fire on a crowd of hungry Palestinians waiting for food aid in Gaza City, killing more than 100 people and causing a stampede.

    UN probe still waiting on Israeli intelligence backing up allegations against UNRWA

    Israel has yet to provide intelligence documents to a UN investigation into Israeli claims that around a dozen staff at the UN agency for Palestinian refugee (UNRWA) were involved in the Hamas-led October 7 attacks, the DPA news agency reports.

    UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric said in a briefing on Thursday that the UN’s Office of Internal Oversight Services (OIOS) was currently seeking “to corroborate additional information and to compare the information obtained with materials held by Israeli authorities, which OIOS expects to receive shortly”.

    The OIOS investigation started a month ago, DPA reports.

    More than a dozen countries – including the United States, Germany, the United Kingdom and Sweden, among others – suspended funding to UNRWA on the basis of the Israeli allegations.

    Palestinian officials have accused Israel of falsifying information to tarnish UNRWA.

    Israeli forces storm home of alleged perpetrators of Eli attack

    The Israeli military has stormed the Qalandiya refugee camp in the occupied West Bank and arrested two men allegedly connected to a deadly attack on two Israelis in the illegal Eli settlement, the Wafa news agency reports.

    The Israeli military stormed a home in Qalandiya and arrested a man and his son. Wafa also reports that the Israeli military took the home’s measurements in preparation for it to be demolished.

    We reported earlier that the Israeli military injured one person as they opened fire on a car at the entrance to the Qalandiya camp. It is not known if the two incidents are connected.

    A Palestinian carrying an automatic rifle killed two Israeli settlers at a gas station near the Eli settlement on Thursday. An Israeli then shot and killed the Palestinian.