UN says ‘nothing’ is entering Gaza due to Israeli blockade
UN spokesperson Stephane Dujarric says Israel is not allowing anything to enter Gaza, including humanitarian aid and fuel, and calls for the restoration of electricity to the territory.
Israeli negotiators are due in Doha today as mediators from Egypt, Qatar and the US try to revive the Gaza ceasefire.
Israeli air raids target southern Syria
Syria’s official news agency, SANA, reports that Israeli jets have bombed the vicinity of the villages of Jabab and Izraa near Deraa in the south of the country.
Israel has been regularly bombing sites in Syria and expanding its military occupation of the Golan Heights since the fall of Syria’s former President Bashar al-Assad in December of last year.Three Palestinians injured by Israeli gunfire in Hebron
A medical source has told our Al Jazeera Arabic colleagues that three Palestinians have been wounded when Israeli soldiers shot at them in the city of Dura, south of Hebron in the occupied West Bank.
The Wafa news agency also reported the violence, saying Israeli forces stormed Dura, fired live bullets, and used stun grenades and “toxic gas”. It added that the Palestinian Health Ministry described the wounded Palestinians’ conditions as “stable”.
The agency said dozens of Palestinians were affected by the gas used by the Israeli army and were treated at the scene.
Earlier, Wafa, citing the Palestine Red Crescent Society, reported that two other Palestinians were wounded by Israeli army fire in the town of Idhna, west of Hebron.
‘The whole area is sinking in darkness’
Israel’s electricity cuts to the Gaza Strip are threatening the only desalination plant in the central area, providing water to half a million people.
In the summer of 2024, the plant provided water for 1.3 million people, largely displaced populations who were in the central area after the Israeli military invaded Rafah city and pushed everyone into the central part of the Strip.
From the beginning of this genocidal war, the Israeli military imposed a total siege, cutting off the electricity of the entire Gaza Strip. It’s not until summer 2024 when the Israeli military restored the power line.
The whole area is sinking in darkness, and this is the case across the Gaza Strip. Drinking water is not available, but also we have sanitation problems. The pumping stations are going to be at risk of shutting down very soon.Bernie Sanders calls cutting off aid to Gaza ‘war crime’
The progressive US senator hits out at the Israeli government over its blockade on Gaza.
“Cutting off humanitarian aid to millions of civilians is a war crime. That is exactly what the extremist Netanyahu government is doing now to Palestinians in Gaza,” Sanders wrote in a social media post.
“I’ve introduced resolutions to block billions in offensive arms sales to Israel & will demand votes on these bills.”
US law allows lawmakers to introduce “resolutions of disapproval” to block arms sales approved by the State Department.
