KEY POINTS
- Both Israel and Hamas committed war crimes in Gaza, says UN rights chief
- IDF reviewing reports of alleged Israeli attack on Palestinian crowd waiting for humanitarian aid
- Israeli army strikes Hezbollah assets after two northern Israeli communities targeted
It's the 146th day of the war in Gaza, and dozens have been reported dead following violence during a humanitarian aid operation in northern Gaza where a large crowd was waiting for the delivery.
New Zealand has joined several other countries in designating Hamas as a terror entity, but it also sanctioned some Israeli settlers it described as "extremist."
- Israeli fighter jets strike Hezbollah targets after rocket launches from Lebanon
- At least 1 Hezbollah militant dead in Israeli strike near Lebanon-Syria border: Report
- US' Austin, Israel's Gallant talk hostage deal, Gaza humanitarian situation: Pentagon
- US fears Israel may launch ground raid into Lebanon if Hezbollah issue isn't resolved: Report
- White House reviewing reports around northern Gaza aid trucks stampede: Report
- Houthi leader says rebel militia has 'surprises' in store at Red Sea: Arab media
- US asks Israel to clarify humanitarian aid convoy incident: Report
In the greater Middle East, tensions remain high as Yemeni rebel Houthis risk global supply chain disruption due to attacks on commercial shipping lanes in the Red and Arabian Seas and the Gulf of Aden.
Israel reportedly carried out strikes in the vicinity of Syria's capital, Damascus. There were reports of a huge explosion in the Sayeda Zainab neighborhood, which is known as a heavily fortified area where a Shi'ite shrine is located. There are also reports of an airstrike targeting a vehicle in western Syria Thursday.
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) on Thursday said it shot down a suspicious aerial target near Haifa in northern Israel. This comes amid continuing rocket salvos from Lebanese territory by Iranian-backed Hezbollah.
Back in war-torn Gaza, Hamas' top official in the Strip, Yahya Sinwar, reportedly said the Palestinian militant group has now put Israelis "exactly where we want them." This as the Hamas-run health ministry in Gaza said the war death toll has now passed a grim milestone of 30,000.
Meanwhile, the loved ones of some 130 hostages still in captivity in Gaza are on their second day of a four-day march to call for the abductees immediate release. There is mounting pressure on Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to prioritize freeing hostages over eliminating Hamas.
The raging war in Gaza stems from a long and violent Israeli-Palestinian conflict that has drawn attacks toward Israel from Iranian-backed militias. Decades of bad blood reached a devastating high for Israel when Hamas operatives raided Israel on Oct. 7, murdering more than a thousand people and abducting some 250 hostages.
The live update has ended.
US asks clarification from Israel over northern Gaza aid delivery stampede
The U.S. has reportedly asked Israel for more information regarding the deadly humanitarian aid delivery operation in northern Gaza that allegedly resulted in over a hundred deaths. The Biden administration has reportedly not yet received an update from Israel other than the IDF's official statements on the matter.
A Biden administration official tells me the U.S. asked Israel for clarifications about the aid convoy incident in Gaza, but hasn't received anything for now other than what was in the official statements from the IDF https://t.co/kVh19Ida8F
— Barak Ravid (@BarakRavid) February 29, 2024
This comes after a White House spokesman said reports surrounding the incident were "serious."
Houthi has 'surprises' in Red Sea aggression: Arab media
Iranian-backed Yemeni Houthis have prepared "surprises" in the Red Sea that Israel and its allies "do not expect at all," Sky News in Arabic reported Thursday, citing the rebel militia's leader.
This comes amid near-daily attacks by the terror group against merchant shipping lanes in the Red Sea and surrounding waters.
Gaza aid trucks riot emphasizes need for temporary truce: NSC
The reported stampede Thursday morning during a humanitarian aid delivery operation in northern Gaza only "emphasizes the need to achieve a temporary ceasefire, which will allow for an increase in the amount of humanitarian aid entering Gaza," Axios political reporter Barak Ravid reported, citing a White House National Security Council spokesman.
The spokesman added that reports of Israeli troops opening fire on crowds that looted humanitarian aid trucks was a "serious" matter and the White House is "looking into the reports on the subject."
US fears Israel may launch Lebanon incursion: Report
U.S. administration and intelligence officials are concerned that Israel may be planning a ground operation into Lebanon sometime in the late spring or early summer, CNN reported Thursday, citing senior administration officials and officials familiar with U.S. intelligence thinking.
There is fear in Washington that such an operation will be launched by Israel if a diplomatic resolution isn't reached to push Hezbollah further from the Israeli-Lebanese border, as per the report.
A military operation is "a distinct possibility," one senior Biden administration official said. "I think what Israel is doing is they are raising this threat in the hope that there will be a negotiated agreement. Some Israeli officials suggest that it is more of an effort at creating a threat that they can utilize. Others speak of it more as a military necessity that's going to happen," the official added.
Austin, Gallant talk Gaza war developments
U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant spoke Thursday over the phone in a discussion that centered around negotiations for a hostage deal, the Pentagon said in a statement.
The defense leaders also discussed the dire need for more humanitarian aid for Palestinian civilians and "the need to facilitate new routes for aid into northern Gaza."
Israeli strike kills at least 1 Hezbollah fighter near Lebanese-Syrian border: Report
An Israeli strike Thursday that hit a Hezbollah truck near the Lebanon-Syria border killed at least one militant of the Lebanese terror organization, Reuters reported, citing a security source familiar with the Iranian-backed group.
The Israeli army has yet to confirm or deny the report, but it has carried out strikes targeting Hezbollah combatants as the Iran-backed paramilitary group continued targeting communities in northern Israel since the war started.
Israeli warplanes strike Hezbollah targets after northern Israeli communities targeted
Israeli fighter jets on Thursday "attacked a number of terrorist targets of the Hezbollah terrorist organization in the Jebel Balt region of Lebanon," the IDF said, as per a Google translation.
It added that the strikes were carried out after several rocket launches were detected from Lebanese territory Thursday morning toward the areas of Adamit and Shlomi, both in northern Israel.
'Violent gathering' of Gazans around aid trucks being reviewed: IDF
The Israeli army on Thursday said it is reviewing an incident of violence among crowds of Gaza residents waiting for humanitarian aid deliveries in northern Gaza.
The IDF said a "violent gathering of Gazan residents developed around" humanitarian aid trucks in northern Gaza early Thursday. The crowds supposedly "looted the equipment that arrived," as per a Google translation. Dozens of Gazans were "injured as a result of being crushed and trampled," the IDF said, adding that it was now reviewing details of the incident.
The Israeli army also published aerial footage of what is said was the Thursday incident wherein "the Palestinian crowd attacked the trucks and as a result dozens were killed from overcrowding, and trampling."
תיעוד אווירי של המבצע להכנסת סיוע הומניטארי לצפון רצועת עזה, המראה כיצד ההמון פלסטיני התנפל על המשאיות וכתוצאה מכך נהרגו עשרות מצפיפות, דוחק ודריסה>> pic.twitter.com/a7DqU9kKFB
— צבא ההגנה לישראל (@idfonline) February 29, 2024
Gaza's Hamas-run health ministry said Israeli forces opened fire on the people waiting near Gaza City, resulting in 104 Palestinians being killed, as per Reuters. The outlet cited an Israeli source saying IDF troops opened fire at "several people" in the crowd who posed a threat.
Itay Blumental, a military correspondent at Israel's national broadcaster Kan, provided what he said was an order of events in the incident "according to the IDF."
"Early in the morning, after the chaos with the trucks, hundreds of Gazans approached the IDF force and a tank that were standing in the 'drain' whose mission was to secure one stage of the logistics operation. According to army officials, when the crowd approached the force, they first fired into the air, and when the mob did not stop, it was fired at him live shooting. There are a few casualties in this incident," Blumental wrote on X, as per a Google translation.
'All parties' committed war crimes in Gaza: UN rights chief
The United Nations' human rights chief, Volker Türk, declared Thursday that the warring sides, Israel and Hamas, committed war crimes in the Gaza Strip.
"The war in Gaza must end. Clear violations of international human rights and humanitarian laws, including war crimes and possibly other crimes under international law, have been committed by all parties," he said in a new report calling for an immediate ceasefire.
UN Human Rights Chief @volker_turk's new report @UN_HRC today:
— UN Human Rights (@UNHumanRights) February 29, 2024
There are no bounds, no words to capture the horrors unfolding in #Gaza.
We must see the humanity of the other & overcome mindsets engraved by generations of harm & rage.
Both Israel and Hamas are under increasing pressure to reach a ceasefire deal that could end the fighting in Gaza and free the remaining hostages.
Hostages' loved ones begin Day 2 of 4-day march
The loved ones and supporters of hostages still in Hamas captivity have started the second day of a four-day march to Jerusalem as they continue to call for the abductees' immediate release.
The group is looking to arrive in Beit Shemesh by Thursday night after kicking off the day's journey from Kibbutz Gat in the morning.
Hostage family members continue their march from Gaza to Jerusalem on the second day, leaving Kibbutz Gat on Thursday morning and aiming to reach Beit Shemesh by evening. Read more: https://t.co/aeS0JWnspf
— The Jerusalem Post (@Jerusalem_Post) February 29, 2024
📹: Hostages and Missing Families Forum pic.twitter.com/J8S3n7B42s
Over 30,000 dead in Gaza war: Hamas-run health ministry
The Hamas-controlled health ministry in Gaza said Thursday that the death toll in the raging war has passed 30,000.
The tally comes after WSJ reported that Hamas' Sinwar bragged to senior leadership in Qatar about the terror group supposedly doing fine despite heavy losses, especially in northern Gaza.
Sinwar brags of Hamas achievements in war despite heavy losses
Sinwar, who has been hiding in Gaza since the war started, told Hamas leadership in Qatar during a meeting earlier in February that "we have the Israelis right where we want them," The Wall Street Journal reported Thursday, citing people informed of the discussions.
He reportedly conveyed the message amid concerns by senior Hamas leadership in Qatar that the terror group was losing the ground battle in Gaza following the successive collapse of several Hamas battalions, specifically in northern Gaza.
"Hamas's fighters, the Al-Qassam Brigades, we're doing fine," Sinwar reportedly said.
Aerial target downed near Haifa: IDF
The Israeli army on Thursday said it shot down a suspicious aerial target near Haifa, a port city in northern Israel home to some of Israel's most iconic sites, including the Baha'i Gardens, local i24 News reported.
No further details were provided about the said aerial target.
Car targeted west of Syria: Local media
A vehicle was targeted in an airstrike Thursday morning local time west of Syria, Syrian media reported. There were also "multiple explosions" heard near the capital of Damascus, and air defense alerts were activated in the vicinity of the capital.
This comes following a Syrian state media report that Syrian air defense intercepted Israeli strikes Wednesday.
Israel reportedly conducts strikes in Syria
Israel has reportedly carried out strikes in the vicinity of Damascus, the Syrian capital on Wednesday. Syrian air defenses intercepted the strikes, as per Syrian state media.
Earlier in the day, pro-Iranian Lebanese television al-Mayadeen reported that there was a massive blast heard in the Sayeda Zainab area, which is known to be heavily fortified due to a major Shi'ite shrine having been constructed in the neighborhood.
The Israeli army has not commented on the reports, but it has conducted strikes in Syria in the past as it aims to curb Iran's extraterritorial military influence in the country.
New Zealand sanctions 'extremist' Israeli settlers
Following its designation of Hamas as a terrorist entity, New Zealand also sanctioned "a number of extremist Israeli settlers who have committed violent attacks against Palestinians in the West Bank."
The government imposed travel bans on extremist Israelis "to signal clearly that this behavior is unacceptable." New Zealand's foreign minister also noted that the country has been consistent in its view of Israeli settlements in occupied Palestinian territories are "a violation of international law."
New Zealand is one of the countries that support calls for a viable two-state solution that should resolve the long-standing Israel-Palestine conflict.
NZ designates 'entirety of Hamas' as terrorist entity
New Zealand has designated the "entirety of Hamas as a terrorist entity," the government said Thursday.
Under the designation, any assets of Hamas in the country will be frozen and any financial transaction with the Palestinian militant group will be recognized as a "criminal offense." Material support for the organization is also prohibited.
"The terrorist attacks by Hamas in October 2023 were brutal and we have unequivocally condemned them," Prime Minister Christopher Luxon said. Foreign Minister Winston Peters also noted that the Oct. 7 massacre by Hamas means New Zealand "can no longer distinguish between the military and political wings of Hamas" and the "organization as a whole bears responsibility for those horrific terrorist attacks."
The designation does not mean that New Zealand will stop sending aid to Palestinians as Hamas' atrocities do not reflect on the Palestinian people in Gaza and around the world, Luxon clarified.
