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16-year-old boy killed by Israeli forces during raid in camp near occupied Ramallah – reports
A 16-year-old boy has been shot and killed by Israeli security forces during an overnight raid in the al-Amari camp in the Israeli-occupied West Bank city of Ramallah, according to reports.
The Palestinian Authority ministry of health said the killing of Mustafa Abu Shalbak happened in the early morning hours. Shalbak was wounded in the neck and chest, and pronounced dead in hospital. Palestinian news agency Wafa reports that Isreali forces fired live ammunition during a confrontation after they entered the camp.
A crowd has carried Shalbak’s body through Ramallah today ahead of his burial.
Palestinian news agency Wafa also reports that 55 Palestinians were detained overnight by Israeli security forces operating in the Israeli-occupied West Bank. 22 people were detained, it said, in Hebron, with other detentions taking place in Tubas, Bethlehem, Qalqilya, and East Jerusalem.
The Palestinian Prisoner’s Society states that about 7,400 Palestinians have now been detained by Israel since 7 October.
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Family members of those still being held hostage by Hamas in Gaza have staged a silent march today in the Knesset in Jerusalem, demanding their release after 150 days in captivity.
Israel believes that about 134 hostages are still being held in Gaza, although it is thought that nearly a quarter of them may have already been killed.
16-year-old boy killed by Israeli forces during raid in camp near occupied Ramallah – reports
A 16-year-old boy has been shot and killed by Israeli security forces during an overnight raid in the al-Amari camp in the Israeli-occupied West Bank city of Ramallah, according to reports.
The Palestinian Authority ministry of health said the killing of Mustafa Abu Shalbak happened in the early morning hours. Shalbak was wounded in the neck and chest, and pronounced dead in hospital. Palestinian news agency Wafa reports that Isreali forces fired live ammunition during a confrontation after they entered the camp.
A crowd has carried Shalbak’s body through Ramallah today ahead of his burial.
Palestinian news agency Wafa also reports that 55 Palestinians were detained overnight by Israeli security forces operating in the Israeli-occupied West Bank. 22 people were detained, it said, in Hebron, with other detentions taking place in Tubas, Bethlehem, Qalqilya, and East Jerusalem.
The Palestinian Prisoner’s Society states that about 7,400 Palestinians have now been detained by Israel since 7 October.
Israeli media is reporting that one person has been killed and several wounded in Margaliot in northern Israel, which is close to the UN-drawn blue line that separates Lebanon and Israel.
More details soon …
Volker Türk, the UN high commissioner for human rights, has emphasised in Geneva today the risk that the Israel-Hamas conflict could spread much wider.
Reuters reports he said:
I am deeply concerned that in this powder keg, any spark could lead to a much broader conflagration. This would have implications for every country in the Middle East, and many beyond it. It is imperative to do everything possible to avoid a wider conflagration.
He described military escalation in southern Lebanon between Israel, Hezbollah and other armed anti-Israeli groups as “extremely worrying”.
Here are some images sent over the news wires showing the aftermath of the latest Israeli strikes on Rafah in the south of the Gaza Strip.
Reporting from Rafah for Al Jazeera, Hani Mahmoud writes “People have their eyes and ears on the talks in Cairo and all the leaked reports of either progress or regression in the talks, but also on what’s going on on the ground – the overnight relentless attacks in central and northern Rafah city”.
Gaza death toll from Israeli military action since 7 October reaches 30,534 – ministry
At least 30,534 Palestinians have been killed and 71,920 injured by Israel’s military offensive on Gaza since 7 October, according to the latest figures from the Hamas-led health ministry in the Palestinian territory.
Over the same time period, in its latest briefing, the UN office for the coordination of humanitarian affairs (OCHA) noted that at least 409 Palestinians have been reported killed, including 103 children, and 4,611 Palestinians have been reported injured, including 709 children, in the Israeli-occupied West Bank including East Jerusalem.
It has not been possible for journalists to independently verify the casualty figures being issued during the conflict.
AFP reports that Egyptian media has said there has been “significant progress in the negotiations” during talks with Hamas in Cairo.
Al-Qahera News cited an unnamed senior official saying: “Egypt continues its intense efforts to reach a truce before Ramadan.”
Talks involving Israeli negotiators took place in the Qatari city of Doha on Saturday.
In Israel, interior security minister Itamar Ben-Gvir and opposition leader Yair Lapid have traded social media insults this morning.
Citing media reporting over the weekend, Lapid posted to social media that “The minister of national security is a threat to national security. You cannot trust him with sensitive material, you cannot trust him around intelligence personnel and you cannot trust him in the defence cabinet. Any normal prime minister would have fired him this morning.”
Ben-Gvir responded “Yair, there is no question here as to whether you are a liar or an ignoramus. You’re just both.”
Lapid was referring to reports at the weekend that security agencies in Israel have withdrawn from briefings led by Ben-Gvir over confidentiality concerns.
Ben-Gvir has also this morning had some words on social media for US vice-president Kamala Harris. He responded to her calls for a ceasefire by posting “It’s time to destroy Hamas, Kamala”.
It’s time to destroy Hamas, Kamala.
— איתמר בן גביר (@itamarbengvir) March 4, 2024In its latest operational briefing, Israel’s military claims to have apprehended suspected members of Hamas and Islamic Jihad who were attempting to flee “under the protection of the civilian population”, and to have destroyed a cell who were firing rockets from Gaza into Israel.
In its message on the IDF’s official Telegram channel, the military said:
On Saturday, Islamic Jihad terrorists fired rockets toward kibbutz Be’eri and kibbutz Hatzerim. In under 30 minutes since the launch, IDF troops identified the terrorist cell and directed an aircraft that struck and eliminated the terrorists.
Over the past day, IDF troops killed 15 terrorists using sniper, tank, and aerial fire.
IDF troops led the evacuation of the civilian population, and apprehended approximately 80 wanted individuals suspected of involvement in terrorist activity, including Hamas and Islamic Jihad terrorists who attempted to flee under the protection of the civilian population.
The briefing stated that the IDF continued to operate in Khan Younis, inside the Gaza Strip, and claimed to be “striking terror targets and killing terrorists operating from within civilian areas.”
The claims have not been independently verified.
Archie Bland
Yesterday, US vice-president Kamala Harris called for an immediate six-week ceasefire, saying that “People in Gaza are starving” and that the Israeli government must do more to increase the flow of aid. “The conditions are inhumane,” she added. “Our common humanity compels us to act.”
Here are some of the key parameters in the outline of a potential deal to pause the fighting:
Which hostages would be released of those still alive in Gaza, estimated to be under 100. The senior US official said that Israel appeared to be willing to strike a deal if Hamas would agree to the “default defined category of vulnerable hostages” of the sick and wounded, elderly people, and women.
The production of a list of the hostages, specifying which are alive and which are dead, which has not yet materialised: Hamas says that it is impossible to produce while the fighting continues because the remaining hostages are being held by different groups in different places. It appears that up to half of those still in captivity could be released if a deal is done.
The ratio of Palestinian prisoners held by Israel to be released in exchange. The terms appear likely to involve the release of hundreds of prisoners.
A six-week truce to begin as soon as a deal is announced – with repeated suggestions that any deal should begin by the start of Ramadan, expected 10 March, and prevent a threatened Israeli ground attack on the Rafah region where about 1.4 million Palestinians are now sheltering.
More aid allowed into Gaza in the hope of staving off the threat of famine. Hamas has also said it is demanding that Palestinians displaced by the fighting will be allowed to return home.
Hamas has also called for a complete Israeli military withdrawal from the Gaza Strip, but Benjamin Netanyahu has refused to countenance such a step before Hamas is destroyed and all hostages are freed.
This is an extract from today’s First Edition newsletter, which you can read here.
Sign up here for our free daily newsletter, First Edition
Opening summary
Hello and welcome to the Guardian’s continuing coverage of the crisis in the Middle East.
US vice-president Kamala Harris will meet with Israeli war cabinet member Benny Gantz, after calling for a ceasefire on Monday.
An official from Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud party said Gantz did not have approval from the prime minister for his meetings in Washington, underscoring the widening crack within Israel’s wartime leadership nearly six months into the Gaza war.
More on that in a moment, first here’s a summary of the day’s other main events:
A Hamas delegation was in Cairo on Sunday for talks on efforts to broker a ceasefire in the war in Gaza after indications that Israel had provisionally accepted a six-week phased hostage and truce deal before the beginning of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan. Qatari and US mediators also arrived in the Egyptian capital on Sunday, according to the state-linked Al Qahera News.
US vice-president Kamala Harris called out Israel on Sunday for not doing enough to ease a “humanitarian catastrophe” in Gaza. Harris called for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza and urged Hamas to accept a deal to release hostages in return for a six-week cessation of hostilities.
Benny Gantz, a retired Israel Defense Forces (IDF) chief of staff who is part of Israel’s war cabinet was in Washington on Sunday for talks with US officials, sparking a rebuke from Benjamin Netanyahu, according to an Israeli official. An official from Netanyahu’s Likud party said Gantz’s visit was without authorisation from the Israeli leader, the Associated Press reported. The official said Netanyahu, Israel’s prime minister, had a “tough talk” with Gantz about the trip and told him the country has “just one prime minister”.
Yemen’s Houthis have vowed to continue targeting British ships in the Gulf of Aden after the sinking of Belize-flagged UK-owned vessel Rubymar. An Italian warship participating in the EU naval protection force in the Red Sea shot down a Houthi missile on Saturday in a rare engagement by the country’s navy, which has largely avoided direct action since the second world war.
Israel’s military has completed a preliminary review of the killing of over 100 Palestinian people near aid trucks last week, which claimed that Israeli forces did not strike the convoy and that most Palestinians died in a stampede, a military spokesperson said. Palestinian authorities say, however, that Israeli forces carried out a massacre, opening fire on a crowd of people who had gathered in the hope that food would be distributed.
It is Martin Belam with you today for the next few hours. You can contact me at [email protected].
