[IMPORTANT] Hamas launches foot assault against settlements.

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I take it as a given that friendly fire occurs and that it occurs a lot more often than we are led to believe. I assume the IDF is killing hostages in friendly fire incidents as we speak.

While governments covering up friendly fire incidents is literally a conspiracy “conspiracy theory” in this type of situation usually refers to a false flag. I guess you could expand that to intentionally letting the IDF be reckless with the intent of getting Israelis killed for the purpose of blaming Hamas.

On National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir's advice, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has imposed restrictions on the number of Arabs with Israeli citizenship who will be allowed to visit Temple Mount during the holy month of Ramadan.

An Israeli official responded to said limitation by saying “Ramadan can lead to an explosion. What Ben-Gvir wants is insane, and could significantly impact the situation in the West Bank. We’re dealing with a Prime Minister who doesn’t understand the magnitude of what’s going on.“

An official close to Prime Minister Netanyahu disputed the criticism, saying “he did not surrender to Ben-Gvir. The prime minister has simply asked to act responsibly.”

Minister Benny Gantz has referred to the decision by saying “Israel’s stance throughout the years, as well as this year, is to enable freedom of worship during Ramadan, and to enable visiting Temple Mount. During these sensitive times, some limitations will have to be implemented, but they stem from our intentions to look out for the well-being of all those involved.”

Israel police have suggested limiting the entrance of Arabs from the age of 50 and up, while security officials warned any restrictions, regardless of age, would be a mistake.
Ramadan is set to take place between March 10 and April 9, during which there will be four separate Fridays when visiting Temple Mount will be enabled.

During the discussion, Ben-Gvir insisted on allowing police to breach Temple Mount grounds, using massive force in case the Palestinian flag or the banner of Hamas or any other terrorist organization is displayed. However, his demand was rejected.

Knesset Member Waleed Alhwashia of the Islamist Ra'am Party blasted the decision, saying “Netanyahu has once again surrendered to Ben-Gvir with another dangerous and racist decision that could further fan the flames of violence. Ben-Gvir is a provocateur who wishes to engulf Jerusalem in violence. Instead of putting him in his place and maintaining the freedom of worship of all Muslim citizens during the holy month of Ramadan, Netanyahu has decided to enable him.
"I call upon all responsible factors within the government, including Gallant, Gantz and Eizenkot, to do all they must in order to cancel An official close to Prime Minister Netanyahu disputed the criticism, saying “he did not surrender to Ben-Gvir. The prime minister has simply asked to act responsibly.”
Minister Benny Gantz has referred to the decision by saying “Israel’s stance throughout the years, as well as this year, is to enable freedom of worship during Ramadan, and to enable visiting Temple Mount. During these sensitive times, some limitations will have to be implemented, but they stem from our intentions to look out for the well-being of all those involved.”
Israel police have suggested limiting the entrance of Arabs from the age of 50 and up, while security officials warned any restrictions, regardless of age, would be a mistake.
Ramadan is set to take place between March 10 and April 9, during which there will be four separate Fridays when visiting Temple Mount will be enabled.
During the discussion, Ben-Gvir insisted on allowing police to breach Temple Mount grounds, using massive force in case the Palestinian flag or the banner of Hamas or any other terrorist organization is displayed. However, his demand was rejected.

Knesset Member Waleed Alhwashia of the Islamist Ra'am Party blasted the decision, saying “Netanyahu has once again surrendered to Ben-Gvir with another dangerous and racist decision that could further fan the flames of violence. Ben-Gvir is a provocateur who wishes to engulf Jerusalem in violence. Instead of putting him in his place and maintaining the freedom of worship of all Muslim citizens during the holy month of Ramadan, Netanyahu has decided to enable him.
"I call upon all responsible factors within the government, including Gallant, Gantz and Eizenkot, to do all they must in order to cancel this disastrous decision that could have perilous consequences for all of us.”

Labor MK Gilad Kariv said, “by courting favors of those affiliated with Kahane, Netanyahu endangers the safety of Israeli citizens by once again placing political interests above the recommendations of Israeli security officials. After four months, in which the intertwined fabric of life of both Jews and Arabs was tested, Netanyahu has decided to award those who escalate and divide us, just as he did throughout all of his different terms when it comes to Hamas. Once again, he has proven that he is good for the extremists, but a disaster for the moderates.”

While Arab-Israelis have refrained from making waves since the war began, security officials have expressed their concern Hamas would be able to radicalize them during the upcoming Ramadan, which is why they believe the intelligent course of action would be to isolate the Gaza Strip, thus making sure violence does not erupt in other locations throughout the country.
Meanwhile, Israeli officials are also mindful of the Arab world at large and how a decision to limit the amount of Arabs and Muslims capable of visiting Temple Mount would play out geopolitically.

UN experts have expressed alarm over allegations of human rights violations against Palestinian women and girls in Gaza and the occupied West Bank since Israel launched its war on Gaza on October 7.

The UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) said in a statement on Monday that it had received information that Palestinian women and girls have “reportedly been arbitrarily executed in Gaza, often together with family members, including their children”.

The UN experts said they were “shocked by reports of the deliberate targeting and extrajudicial killing of Palestinian women and children in places where they sought refuge, or while fleeing. Some of them were reportedly holding white pieces of cloth when they were killed by the Israeli army or affiliated forces.”

The UN experts expressed alarm over the arbitrary detention of hundreds of Palestinian women and girls including human rights defenders, journalists and humanitarian workers in Gaza and the West Bank.



An unknown number of Palestinian women and children, including girls, have reportedly gone missing after contact with the Israeli army in Gaza, the experts said.

“There are disturbing reports of at least one female infant forcibly transferred by the Israeli army into Israel, and of children being separated from their parents, whose whereabouts remain unknown,” they said.

They called for an independent, impartial and effective investigation into the allegations and for Israel to cooperate.

Those responsible for these apparent crimes must be held accountable and victims and their families are entitled to full redress and justice.”

Several cars in the Palestinian town of Huwara were vandalized Sunday night in what appeared to be a nationalistically motivated hate crime.

CCTV footage of the incident provided by the Yesh Din organization, which campaigns against West Bank settlements, showed two cars pulling up in the town. Eight people exit the cars and begin smashing windows and damaging several cars parked on the street before racing back to their own vehicles and driving off.

The Israel Police said it was looking into the incident.

Last week a truck was torched in Huwara and two Palestinians were shot and injured elsewhere in the West Bank in attacks attributed to extremist settlers.

Huwara in the northern West Bank became a focal point of attacks by extremist settlers in the region following several severe terrorist attacks perpetrated by Palestinians against Israelis driving through the town in the past year.

The attack came the day after settlers allegedly attacked Palestinians in two other towns in the West Bank, throwing stones at children in al-Mufaqara and setting fire to a vehicle, and leaving racist graffiti in Turmus Ayya.

I take it as a given that friendly fire occurs and that it occurs a lot more often than we are led to believe. I assume the IDF is killing hostages in friendly fire incidents as we speak.

While governments covering up friendly fire incidents is literally a conspiracy “conspiracy theory” in this type of situation usually refers to a false flag. I guess you could expand that to intentionally letting the IDF be reckless with the intent of getting Israelis killed for the purpose of blaming Hamas.

Israeli war cabinet member Benny Gantz has warned that unless Hamas frees all hostages held in Gaza by 10 March an offensive will be launched in Rafah.

It is the first time Israel has said when its troops might enter Gaza's overcrowded southern city.

Earlier, the UN public health agency said a key Gaza hospital had ceased to function following an Israeli raid.

The World Health Organization (WHO) said it had not been allowed to enter Nasser hospital in Khan Yunis, north of Rafah, to assess the situation.
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) entered the complex on Thursday, saying intelligence indicated hostages taken by Hamas were being held there.

The IDF has described its operation in Nasser as "precise and limited", accusing Hamas of "cynically using hospitals for terror".

Speaking on Sunday, Mr Gantz, a former defence minister, said: "The world must know, and Hamas leaders must know - if by Ramadan our hostages are not home, the fighting will continue everywhere, to include the Rafah area".
Ramadan - the Islamic holy month of fasting - this year begins on 10 March.

Mr Gantz added that Israel would act in "a co-ordinated manner, facilitating the evacuation of civilians in dialogue with our American and Egyptian partners to minimise civilian casualties".

Israel's sudden threat to unleash its controversial ground operation in the southern Gazan town of Rafah unless all hostages are freed by 10 March has ratcheted up the pressure on the tortuous talks to secure an elusive agreement.

Even before Benny Gantz, a leading member of Israel's war cabinet, threw down the gauntlet, Arab leaders were already anxiously focused on this start of the Islamic holy month - a time of communal fasting and prayer which can intensify a prevailing mood.

"Ramadan is ahead of us and if the situation in Rafah evolves, it will be a very, very dangerous time in the region," warned Qatar's Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani at the annual Munich Security Conference over the weekend.

The palpable apprehension by an Arab leader directly involved in the protracted negotiations to swap Israeli hostages for Palestinian prisoners, and reach a truce in this grievous war, is being forcefully echoed by other Arab officials.
Their principal preoccupation is the highly combustible situation in the occupied West Bank, where tensions and violence have been steadily escalating.

"The West Bank is a powder keg waiting to explode and, if it does, it is game over," stressed Jordan's Foreign Minister and Deputy Prime Minister Ayman Safadi in a BBC interview in Munich on Sunday, before Israel seemed to set a deadline.

Conversations in Munich with several Arab and western officials with knowledge of these high-stake talks underscored a bleak prognosis. They all spoke off the record because of the sensitive nature of the indirect negotiations between Israel and Hamas involving US, Egyptian and Israeli spy chiefs, as well as Qatar.

"The gaps are still wide," regretted one source. Another described the process as "stuck".

Israel is also said to be adding new issues to the negotiating table, including its accusation that Hamas failed to deliver medicines to hostages as part of an earlier initiative mediated by Qatar and France. Mr Netanyahu has also been criticised for holding back on presenting any counterproposals until Hamas comes back with more acceptable offers.

Beyond the details of any agreement, some players are vexed that Hamas will claim credit for hugely important Palestinian issues such as prisoner releases. It is yet another element complicating this highly charged crisis.

Those who insist a deal is still doable point out that both Hamas and Israel would benefit from a truce - even if it is only temporary.

The prime minister added that “everyone knows that I am the one who for decades blocked the establishment of a Palestinian state that would endanger our existence.”

His position, he asserted, only strengthened following Hamas’s October 7 massacre, and Netanyahu said that “no matter what, Israel will maintain full security control over all territory west of the Jordan River,” including both Gaza and the West Bank.

Israel's prime minister missed the chance to starve Hamas of cash, years before its murderous attack last October, according to a former senior Israeli intelligence officer.

Udi Levy has told BBC Panorama he advised Benjamin Netanyahu to target Hamas's finances.
He believes this would have hampered the group's military build-up, but says the intelligence was not acted upon.
The Israeli prime minister's office has not responded to the allegations.

Mr Levy - who was head of economic warfare in the Mossad, Israel's spy agency, until 2016 - says he told Mr Netanyahu many times that Israel had the means to crush Hamas, which controls Gaza, "by using only financial tools".
Mr Levy says he never got a response to his proposal from Mr Netanyahu.

When asked if he considered there was a connection between Mr Netanyahu's alleged reluctance to deal with Hamas's finances and the 7 October attack, Mr Levy is unequivocal.

"Yes, of course," he says. "There is a very good chance that... we would [have] prevent[ed] a lot of the money" that had gone into Gaza, and that "the monster that Hamas built probably [wouldn't be] like the same monster that we faced on October 7th."

Hamas would have needed "billions, not millions" of dollars, says the former spy chief, to build hundreds of kilometres of tunnels underneath Gaza and pay for an estimated 30,000-strong military force.

One specific funding stream, which Mr Levy says he raised with Mr Netanyahu in 2014, was an alleged multi-million-dollar investment portfolio which Israeli intelligence said was controlled by Hamas and managed out of Turkey.

Mr Levy says that Mr Netanyahu chose not to act on the information.

The head of the Shin Bet security service reportedly warned ministers that Israel’s war against the Hamas terror group could expand and take on overtones of a religious conflict if restrictions are imposed on the entry of Arab Israelis to the Al-Aqsa compound atop the Temple Mount in Jerusalem during the approaching month of Ramadan.

Reports late on Sunday said Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu instructed security officials at a cabinet meeting that evening to present options for age criteria and quotas that could be placed on Arab citizens wishing to visit the holy site for the holiday, in line with proposals advanced by far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir.

According to a report by the Kan public broadcaster Monday, Shin Bet director Ronen Bar warned at the meeting that imposing restrictions on Arab Israelis would spark an angry backlash and play into the hands of Hamas, which has sought to stir violent Arab unrest inside Israel from October 7 and amid the war in Gaza, now in its fifth month. Hamas called its mass-murdering October 7 onslaught on southern Israel “Operation Al-Aqsa Flood,” in an effort to claim religious legitimacy for its atrocities.

Previous reports had noted opposition to the curbs voiced by Shin Bet and Israeli Defense Forces representatives at the Sunday meeting, alongside support for the curbs from police, though not police chief Kobi Shabtai.

According to the Kan report, Netanyahu called restrictions “logical,” noting that Israel is “in a situation that we have never been in before.”

Bar warned, by contrast, that the moves could harm efforts by the government and security officials to keep the ongoing war as a conflict solely between Israel and Hamas.

“Actions of this type may create a false sense of war between Jews and Muslims,” Bar said, noting that Israel’s Arabs had largely refrained from coming out in support of Hamas.

“Restrictions on Arab Israelis will only cause harm,” Bar said. “[Arab Israelis] haven’t demonstrated since the beginning of the war, and restrictions are exactly what could incite them.”

The Kan report did not cite a source for the quotes.

According to two officials cited by Kan, the restrictions would bar all Arab Israelis under the age of 40 from accessing the mosque compound, with entry restrictions for women and children to be decided in the future.

Security officials reportedly told the meeting that most troublemakers from among Arab Israelis or from East Jerusalem are below the age of 40. That includes members of banned organizations, as well as those who have no affiliation but are known to the Shin Bet and police.

The restrictions would be in place for the first week of Ramadan, the report said, after which a decision would be made on continuing the arrangements or easing them.

The sources said that Netanyahu backed the proposal and asked for a more detailed examination of the idea.

On Sunday, the Prime Minister’s office issued a vague statement that said the premier had “made a balanced decision that allows freedom of religion with necessary security limits, which have been set by professional officials.”

According to a Channel 13 report on the meeting, Bar warned that Hamas would take advantage of ill will created by the restrictions to turn the conflict into a holy war.

Ben Gvir, whose responsibility covers the police, dismissed Bar’s warning according to the channel, referencing failings by the Shin Bet and IDF in identifying Hamas’s October 7 plans and preparations. Bar has personally admitted to failures on the matter.

Defense Minister Gallant pushed back against Ben Gvir, Channel 13 said. “A strategic warning by the Shin Bet is not something that is presented every day. I suggest we look at it responsibly,” he reportedly responded.

Army officials also reportedly expressed worries that if anger did boil over, it could impact IDF manpower issues, with the army already fighting a war in Gaza and dealing with hostility in the north.

“We need to make decisions and understand what the consequences are, and what will happen if it is necessary to mobilize forces from Gaza to [the West Bank],” IDF Chief of Staff Herzi Halevi told ministers.

IDF Operations chief Brig. Gen. Oded Basyuk cautioned that a multifront escalation “will force us to move forces from one place to another,” according to the Kan report.

Though previous reports have said that Israel Police support restrictions, Kan reported that police chief Shabtai pushed back against worries that Arab Israelis could foment unrest.

“The Arab Israelis are behaving excellently,” Shabtai told the Sunday cabinet meeting. “They should be given a medal. [Hamas] tried to incite them during the war, and it didn’t happen.”

“You shouldn’t take everything for granted,” Ben Gvir responded. “That is also a concept of the security establishment. Just as Jews are restricted from entering the Temple Mount, Arabs should also be restricted. We are in a time of war and there is a likelihood of terrorist attacks. My opinion and the opinion of the police are one.”

Shabtai reportedly retorted, “Our opinion is not unanimous. We propose different restrictions.”

The Channel 13 report detailed a police compromise that would ban 5,000 Arab Israelis considered troublemakers.

The U.S. vetoed a U.N. Security Council vote on a resolution calling for an immediate end to the war in Gaza. Algeria introduced the resolution in the hopes of showing how broad the support for a cease-fire is. The U.S. has circulated an alternative draft resolution, which instead calls for a temporary pause in the fighting as part of hostage negotiations and opposes any ground operation in Rafah.

U.S. Central Command forces conducted self-defense strikes against Iranian-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen yesterday, two U.S. officials told NBC News. One strike was against a mobile missile launcher and the other against an unmanned aerial system, the sources said. They added that the Houthis had shot at two U.S.-owned ships, which had not sustained any damage.

A House of Representatives delegation led by Rep. Adam Smith, D-Wash., is visiting the Rafah border crossing into Gaza today to inspect the delivery of humanitarian aid to the enclave, according to the regional Egyptian governor's office.

The Gaza Strip is poised to witness an explosion in preventable child deaths, UNICEF warned. As many as 1 in 6 children are acutely malnourished in the isolated and devastated northern part of the enclave, according to a study by the organization. According to a report by the Global Nutrition Cluster, more than 90% of children under 5 in Gaza eat two or fewer food groups a day, which is considered severe food poverty.

More than 29,000 people have been killed in Gaza since the war began, according to the Palestinian Health Ministry. More than 69,000 have been injured, and thousands more are missing and presumed dead.

Israeli military officials said at least 575 soldiers have been killed since the war began.

Food deliveries into northern Gaza paused until conditions improve, World Food Programme says
Deliveries of lifesaving food aid to northern Gaza will be paused until conditions in the enclave allow for safe distribution, the U.N. World Food Programme said in a statement today.

“The decision to pause deliveries to the north of the Gaza Strip has not been taken lightly, as we know it means the situation there will deteriorate further and more people risk dying of hunger,” the statement said.

In a statement, Gaza's government urged the WFP to reverse its decision, calling it "a death sentence for three quarters of a million people."

WHO accuses Israel of hindering medical rescue missions to Nasser Hospital
The World Health Organization accused Israel today of impeding rescue missions around the Nasser Hospital complex in southern Gaza.

"Weak and frail patients were transferred amidst active conflict near the aid convoy," the WHO said in a statement. The hospital has no electricity or water, it added, and medical waste and garbage there are "creating a breeding ground for disease."

The WHO said the hospital area is surrounded by destroyed buildings, and the lack of any intact roads forces medical teams to reach the facility by foot. Hospital staff said the destruction was "indescribable."

The IDF said on Sunday that it had found weapons in the medical complex and arrested suspected terrorists there.

Hamas says medicine is being delivered to Israeli hostages
Hamas has told Qatari officials that medicine meant for Israeli hostages has been received and is being delivered to them, Qatar's Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement.

The ministry's spokesperson said the medicine was part of a deal between Israel and Hamas mediated by Qatar last month, and that the agreement "includes the entry of medicines and a shipment of humanitarian aid ... in exchange for delivering the medicines needed by hostages."

Prince William concerned about scale of suffering in Gaza
Britain’s Prince William today called for an “end to the fighting” in Gaza, saying in a statement that there is a “desperate need” for increased aid to the enclave.

“Sometimes it is only when faced with the sheer scale of human suffering that the importance of permanent peace is brought home,” the Prince of Wales said in a statement.

“Too many have been killed,” he said, while also calling for the return of all hostages held by Hamas.

International pressure will not stop Israel's offensive, Netanyahu tells soldiers
As Israel faces scrutiny at the International Court of Justice and the U.N. Security Council, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told Israeli forces at the country's Zikim base today: "No pressure will stop us."

Netanyahu acknowledged that "there is a lot of pressure on Israel," including domestic pressure, to end the offensive. His government has faced calls from various countries to implement a cease-fire and Israelis have protested to call for new elections.

But the prime minister reiterated that the war will continue.

"We really want to achieve more releases and we are also willing to go a long way, but we are not ready to pay any price, certainly not to pay the prices, the illusions that Hamas demands from us, which mean defeat for the state of Israel," Netanyahu said.

He added that Israel's three war objectives are eliminating Hamas, the return of the hostages and an assurance that Gaza will "no longer pose a threat" to Israel's security.

Israeli officials have said that hostage negotiations require military pressure, but Hamas has refused to consider any deals that don't include a permanent cease-fire and the release of a large number of Palestinian detainees from Israeli prisons.

18 more patients evacuated from Nasser Hospital, WHO says
he World Health Organization has completed a second mission to evacuate patients from Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis, bringing the total number to 32 as roughly 130 patients remain in the defunct medical complex.

There were 18 patients safely transported out of the facility, including eight in critical condition and two children. Once one of the most important hospitals in south Gaza, WHO Communications Director Chris Black described Nasser Hospital as being "on its knees."

According to Black, the organization is working with staff at Nasser Hospital to identify the most critical patients and utilizing ambulances from the Palestine Red Crescent Society to transport them.

"It's a slow process," Black said in a video posted today. "We have four ambulances...we can put two, maybe three, patients at most in these ambulances. The road coming in there is very, very hard to manipulate."

An elderly Palestinian woman rejects the Israeli forces' claim that they found her shackled and provided her with medical care.

Umm Muhammad Musmah was arrested last month and spent several days handcuffed, beaten and starved in detention according to her testimony.

The Israel Defense Forces’ top lawyer, Maj. Gen. Yifat Tomer-Yerushalmi, issued a warning Wednesday to commanders against illegal actions carried out by troops in the Gaza Strip.

“We have encountered unacceptable cases of conduct that deviate from IDF values and protocols,” the IDF’s military advocate general wrote in a missive.

Tomer-Yerushalmi said they included “inappropriate statements that encourage unacceptable phenomena; unjustified use of force, including against detainees; looting, which include the use or removal of private property for non-operational purposes; and destruction of civilian property contrary to protocols.”

“Some incidents go beyond the disciplinary domain, and cross the criminal threshold,” she warned

“These acts and statements, on the part of individuals who do not represent the collective, are contrary to the IDF as a professional, moral, and dignified army, and they have no place in the IDF,” Tomer-Yerushalmi said.

Her comments came a day after IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Herzi Halevi sent a missive to troops telling them that the army is “not on a killing spree,” not acting out of revenge nor carrying out genocide in Gaza, with the war against Hamas in its fifth month.

Halevi’s and Tomer-Yerushalmi’s comments come weeks after The New York Times published an article titled “What Israeli Soldiers’ Videos Reveal: Cheering Destruction and Mocking Gazans,” which showed photos and videos of Israeli soldiers making derogatory comments about Palestinians, vandalizing civilian property and smiling for the cameras while driving bulldozers and using explosives.

The Israel Defense Forces said Wednesday that one soldier was killed and two others were seriously wounded as heavy fighting flared again in northern Gaza, where the military had previously said it had largely completed its main operations to destroy Hamas forces.

The IDF confirmed Wednesday that it had launched a new large-scale raid on Gaza City’s Zeitoun neighborhood, killing Hamas operatives and locating weapons in the process.

The IDF said the Israeli Air Force and 215th Artillery Regiment carried out strikes against dozens of Hamas targets in Zeitoun, including observation posts, weapon depots, and tunnels.

During the operation so far, dozens of Hamas operatives have been killed in clashes and in airstrikes, according to the IDF. The military also said troops have also found weapons in homes in the area.

Palestinian sources had reported heavy fighting and airstrikes in the past two days in areas of northern Gaza. The military on Tuesday ordered the evacuation of two neighborhoods on Gaza City’s southern edge, an indication that operatives were still putting up stiff resistance.

The operation in Zeitoun comes after the IDF said it had largely defeated Hamas’s fighting force in northern Gaza, withdrew its forces, and began to focus on smaller raids in designated areas.

Meanwhile, the IDF said that in Khan Younis, the southern Gaza city that has been the focal point of the offensive in recent weeks, troops were “deepening” the fighting against Hamas.

The IDF said the Givati Brigade led an offensive in new areas in eastern Khan Younis, killing many Hamas operatives in the process; the Paratroopers Brigade and Commando Brigade were expanding operations in western Khan Younis; and the 7th Armored Brigade directed airstrikes on two Hamas gunmen on a motorcycle.

The renewed fighting in northern Gaza comes amid growing international concern for the humanitarian situation in the area, which has been isolated since Israeli troops first moved into it in late October. Large swaths have been reduced to rubble, but several hundred thousand Palestinians remain there, largely cut off from aid.

They describe famine-like conditions, in which families limit themselves to one meal a day and often resort to mixing animal and bird fodder with grains to bake bread.

The situation is beyond your imagination,” said Soad Abu Hussein, a widow and mother of five children sheltering in a school in Jabaliya refugee camp.

Ayman Abu Awad, who lives in Zeitoun, said he eats one meal a day to save whatever he can for his four children.

“People have eaten whatever they find, including animal feed and rotten bread,” he said.

Exacerbating the situation, the World Food Program said Tuesday it has paused deliveries of food in northern Gaza because of increasing chaos across the territory.

Entry of aid trucks into the besieged territory has been more than halved in the past two weeks, according to UN figures. UN and relief workers accused Israel of failing to ensure convoys’ safety amid its airstrikes and the ground offensive, and have described a breakdown in security, with hungry Palestinians frequently overwhelming trucks to take food.

The World Food Program said it was forced to pause aid to the north because of “complete chaos and violence due to the collapse of civil order.”

It said it had first suspended deliveries to the north three weeks ago after a strike hit an aid truck. It tried resuming this week, but convoys on Sunday and Monday faced gunfire and crowds of hungry people stripping goods and beating one driver.

WFP said it was working to resume deliveries as soon as possible. It called for the opening of crossing points for aid directly into northern Gaza from Israel and a better notification system to coordinate with the Israeli military.

It warned of a “precipitous slide into hunger and disease,” saying, “People are already dying from hunger-related causes.”

Israeli officials said the failure of aid trucks to reach Palestinians across Gaza was due to aid groups failing to organize properly.

The Syrian state TV reported that several missiles hit the western neighborhood of Kfar Sousseh but did not elaborate or say who were the people killed. The pro-government Sham FM radio station said the strike hit a building near an Iranian school.

The state news agency, SANA, quoted an unnamed military official as saying that the Israeli missiles were fired from the direction of Syria’s Israeli-occupied Golan Heights and hit a building, killing two civilians and wounding another.

Rami Abdurrahman, who heads the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a Britain-based opposition war monitor, said the two killed were inside an apartment but did not give any clues about their identities.

He added that the strike was similar to last month’s killing in Beirut of Saleh Arouri, a top official with the militant Palestinian Hamas group.

The strike damaged the fourth floor of a 10-story building, shattered window glass on nearby buildings and also damaged dozens of cars parked in the area. An empty parked bus for the nearby Al-Bawader Private School was also damaged and people were seen rushing to the school to take their children.

Israel has carried out hundreds of strikes on targets inside government-controlled parts of war-torn Syria in recent years.

Israel rarely acknowledges its actions in Syria, but it has said that it targets bases of Iran-allied militant groups, such as Lebanon’s Hezbollah, which has sent thousands of fighters to support Syrian President Bashar Assad’s forces.

Hamas really insists on being worse than a military force that indiscriminately targets civilians and is known to practice torture.