Summary
Here is a wrap-up of the day’s key events:
A senior Houthi leader said that he is holding the British prime minister, Rishi Sunak, responsible for the sinking of the UK-owned Rubymar after it was struck by Houthis earlier this week, Reuters reports. In a tweet, Mohammed Ali al-Houthi, the head of Yemen’s Houthi supreme revolutionary committee, said: “Sunak has a chance to recover the Rubymar by allowing aid trucks into Gaza.”
Israeli forces on Saturday struck tents housing displaced Palestinians near a hospital in Rafah, killing 11 people and wounding dozens, according to Gaza’s health officials. In a statement reported by Agence France-Presse, health ministry spokesperson Ashraf al-Qudra said that a paramedic was among those killed and that children were also wounded in the strikes, which occurred near the Emirati maternity hospital.
Israeli forces arrested 14 members of the Palestine Red Crescent Society, the organization said on Saturday. In a tweet on Saturday, the PRCS said: “PRCS expresses deep concern for the safety of its detained teams, whose fate remains unknown, and calls on the international community to urgently intervene to pressure the Israeli occupation authorities to immediately release our detained colleagues.”
The US vice-president, Kamala Harris, will meet with Israeli war cabinet member Benny Gantz on Monday, a White House official told Reuters. The upcoming meeting is expected to cover topics including reducing Palestinian casualties, securing a temporary ceasefire, hostage release and an increase in aid flow.
US Central Command released a statement following its airdrops of humanitarian aid into Gaza, where Israel’s attacks across the strip have forced approximately 2 million Palestinians to the verge of famine. In a post on X, US Central Command announced that the operation was coordinated alongside the Royal Jordanian Air Force and involved the distribution of 38,000 meals.
A framework for a deal that would establish a six-week ceasefire in Gaza is in place with Israel’s agreement and is now dependent on Hamas, US administration official said on Saturday. “The hostages have to be released,” the official told reporters on a conference call. “The deal is basically there. But I don’t want to create expectations one way or the other.”
For further details on the potential six-week ceasefire deal, click here:
Updated
A senior Houthi leader said that he is holding the British prime minister, Rishi Sunak, responsible for the sinking of the UK-owned Rubymar after it was struck by Houthis earlier this week, Reuters reports.
In a tweet, Mohammed Ali al-Houthi, head of Yemen’s Houthi supreme revolutionary committee, said:
Sunak has a chance to recover the Rubymar by allowing aid trucks into Gaza.
Yemen’s internationally recognized government said on Saturday that the Rubymar’s sinking poses an “unprecedented environmental disaster in Yemen and the region”.
غرق السفينة #روبيمار كارثة بيئية لم تعهدها اليمن والمنطقة هي مأساة جديدة لبلادنا وشعبنا، ندفع في كل يوم ثمن مغامرات مليشيا #الحوثي التي لم تكتف باغراق #اليمن في كارثة الانقلاب والحرب وما تمخض عنها من مآسي لحقت بكل أسرة يمنية، صنع كارثة انسانية تهدد حياة شعبنا والاجيال لعشرات…
— Ahmed A. BinMubarak (@BinmubarakAhmed) March 2, 2024
According to the US military, the ship was carrying more than 41,000 metric tons of fertilizer and caused an 18-mile oil slick after it was attacked.
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