Most of the victims of the ongoing Israeli aggression against Gaza are children and women (European)

On the 154th day of the war on Gaza, the Israeli occupation forces intensified their aerial and artillery bombardment on various areas of the Gaza Strip, while hunger threatens hundreds of thousands of people trapped in northern Gaza.

Abu Ubaida, spokesman for the Al-Qassam Brigades, the military wing of the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas), said today, Friday, in a video recording broadcast by Al Jazeera - that any new exchange deal must include stopping the aggression, military withdrawal, relief for the population, the return of the displaced, and the reconstruction of Gaza.

This comes as Al Jazeera's correspondent reported that 7 Israeli soldiers were injured in a double operation in the vicinity of the Homesh settlement in the northern West Bank.

Attacks in the Red Sea

Today, two explosions occurred near a ship sailing 50 nautical miles southeast of the city of Aden on the coast of Yemen, according to the British Maritime Trade Operations Authority.

British maritime security company Ambrey also reported its knowledge of an accident approximately 52 nautical miles south of Aden.

Over the past months, the Houthis have claimed responsibility for targeting more than 20 Israeli ships or those linked to Israeli companies in the Red Sea, the Bab al-Mandab Strait, and the Gulf of Aden.

The death toll rises

The Ministry of Health in Gaza said that the death toll from the Israeli aggression on the Strip amounted to 30,878 martyrs and 72,402 injured since last October 7.

The Ministry reported that the Israeli occupation committed 8 massacres in the Gaza Strip, leaving 78 martyrs and 104 injured during the past 24 hours, and confirmed that 72% of the victims of the ongoing aggression against the besieged Gaza Strip are women and children.

Hamas responds to the “flour massacre” investigation

Today, Hamas rejected the results of an Israeli army investigation into the “flour massacre” that took place a week ago west of Gaza City, which resulted in the death of about 120 Palestinians who were part of a crowd awaiting the arrival of food aid, and described the investigation as sham and misleading.

Hamas said - in a press statement - that the investigation presented by the occupation army into the Nabulsi roundabout massacre that occurred on February 29 is “false and deceptive and goes beyond the compelling facts, which documented Palestinians being subjected to direct fire on the upper parts of the body with the intention of immediate killing.”

She added that the evidence, including inspection of the bodies of the martyrs, confirms that they were deliberately exposed to fire from soldiers and tanks, noting that "the horrific massacre will remain a witness to the criminality and Nazism of the Israeli entity that lacks human and moral values."

United Nations: Settlement expansion is a war crime

UN Human Rights Commissioner Volker Türk has warned that expanding settlements in the occupied Palestinian territories constitutes a “war crime” and risks eliminating “any practical possibility” of a “viable Palestinian state.”

Turk stated that the expansion of settlements constitutes population displacement by Israel, which “amounts to a war crime” under international law.

The newspaper "Israel Today" reported yesterday that plans had been approved to build 18,515 housing units in settlements in the occupied West Bank during the current year, noting that it is the largest number of housing units to be approved in one year.

Abu Ubaida: There is no deal without a ceasefire

Abu Ubaida, spokesman for the Al-Qassam Brigades, said that the famine that cast its shadow on all components of Gaza Strip society extended to the prisoners of the Israeli occupation, to the point that the lives of some of them became threatened due to illness and lack of food and medicine.

Regarding the rumors of progress or breakthrough in the truce negotiations file, Abu Ubaida said - during an exclusive speech broadcast by Al Jazeera - that the occupation government uses deception and evasion in negotiations and is characterized by confusion and confusion.

He stressed that the resistance's highest priority for achieving a prisoner exchange is full commitment to completely stopping the aggression, and the resulting withdrawal of the occupation forces, the return of the displaced, and reconstruction.

Double operation in the bank

Israeli media said that 7 soldiers were injured today in a double operation in the vicinity of the Homesh settlement in the northern West Bank, while the occupation forces assassinated a resistance fighter west of Jenin.

She added that this operation, which was carried out by two Palestinians and took place between Nablus and Jenin, resulted in the injury of 7 soldiers, two of whom were transported by military helicopter to the hospital.

Israeli Channel 13 said that the Homesh operation was planned in advance, as the soldiers were lured to a site where an explosive device was planted.

Later, the army said that "terrorists" detonated an explosive device while its forces were carrying out an operation in the town of Silat al-Dhahr, adding that a search was underway for the perpetrators.

Expectations of the imminent operation of a “port” in Gaza

A European official expected the start of operation of the sea aid corridor to the Gaza Strip next week, following US President Joe Biden's announcement that he had ordered the army to begin implementing this project, which Israel had approved. This step raised a number of questions that prompted some observers to consider it a step in favor of Israel.

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said that she expects the start of operation of a sea aid corridor between Cyprus and the Gaza Strip, at the beginning of next week, to deliver the aid that the Palestinians in the Strip desperately need.

She added that the first food aid - through this corridor - may leave Cyprus today from the port of Larnaca in an experiment.

Israel is planning a ground operation in Lebanon

Today, Hezbollah announced the killing of 3 of its members in continuous Israeli bombing of southern Lebanon, while the party launched attacks on Israeli sites in the Shebaa Farms, the Galilee, and the occupied Golan.

On the other hand, Israeli Channel 13 said that Chief of Staff Herzi Halevy had instructed to prepare plans for a possible ground operation in Lebanon, and to "draw lessons from the Gaza war."

The channel added that Halevy assigned the preparer of plans for the ground operation in the Gaza Strip, General Chico Tamir, to plan a new ground operation in Lebanon.

In the same context, the Lebanese Al-Akhbar newspaper - which is close to Hezbollah - reported that Israel informed European countries that it had set a deadline of March 15 to reach a political settlement with Lebanon, otherwise it would be prepared to escalate military operations into a full-scale war.

Martyrs as a result of the fall of aid funds

The government media office in Gaza said that random airdrops of humanitarian aid caused the death of 5 Palestinians and several injuries, when they fell on the heads of citizens as a result of the wrong landing.

Eyewitnesses reported that planes dropped a large number of aid boxes, but some of them did not open their parachutes properly, which led to them falling quickly on gatherings of Palestinians waiting to land.

According to witnesses, the boxes fell on Palestinian gatherings north of the Beach Camp, and on Al-Jalaa Street north of Gaza City.

Witnesses and Palestinian medical sources said that the fall of the boxes led to the death of a number of Palestinians and the injury of others while they were waiting for them to land, as they had become accustomed to during the past days.

Source: Al Jazeera