GAZA LIVE BLOG: Bloodbath at Shifa | US Submits Ceasefire Resolution | China: Stop the War Now – Day 167

March 21, 2024 Blog, News
Israeli forces continue to carry out massacres in Gaza. (Photo: Mahmoud Ajjour, The Palestine Chronicle)

By Palestine Chronicle Staff  

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, who arrived in Cairo to discuss a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip, announced that the US has submitted a draft resolution to the UN Security Council calling for an immediate ceasefire, “tied to the release” of Israeli captives.

Israeli forces continue to besiege the Al-Shifa Medical Complex for the fourth day in a row, reportedly burning buildings and ordering displaced Palestinian families to evacuate.

China renewed its call for an immediate ceasefire while Israeli media reported that Britain threatened Tel Aviv to stop arms exports. 

According to Gaza’s Ministry of Health, 31,988 Palestinians have been killed, and 74,188 wounded in Israel’s ongoing genocide in Gaza starting on October 7.

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LATEST UPDATES

Friday, March 21, 3:15 am (GMT+2)

AXIOS: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu could face widespread boycott from progressive lawmakers if he heeds an invitation to address the US Congress.

TELEGRAPH: Britain has warned Israel to stop supplying it with weapons if it does not abide by international law and allow aid to enter Gaza. Britain’s foreign secretary conveyed the warning to Israeli officials in recent talks.

AL-JAZEERA: Eight Palestinians were killed early on Friday as a result of an Israeli raid targeting a crowded house in the Al-Nasr neighborhood, northeast of the city of Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip. Among those killed are three children and three women.

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Friday, March 21, 2:00 am (GMT+2)

AL-JAZEERA: The Israeli army shelled early Friday a densely populated house in the Al-Nasr neighborhood, south of the southern Gaza Strip city of Khan Yunis.

PALESTINIAN MEDIA:

Palestinian social media accounts reported that violent clashes were taking place early Friday between Palestinian Resistance and the Israeli army in the vicinity of Al-Shifa Medical Complex in Gaza City.

The Palestinian Resistance announced a series of operations in the vicinity of the compound, including targeting Israeli military vehicles with anti-tank missiles.

The occupying forces continue their operations inside the medical complex and have deployed scores of tanks and vehicles in its vicinity.

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Friday, March 21, 1:00 am (GMT+2)

FRANCE: French Foreign Minister Stéphane Sigourne said the UN Security Council should shoulder its responsibilities and adopt a ceasefire in Gaza. The United States circulated a draft resolution calling for a ‘sustainable ceasefire’ in Gaza, and sources said it had asked for a vote on Friday.

Thursday, March 20, 11:15 pm (GMT+2)

EU: We call for an immediate humanitarian truce leading to a sustainable ceasefire in the Gaza Strip. We urge Israel not to carry out a ground operation in Rafah.

AL-JAZEERA: The United States requested a UN Security Council vote on Friday morning on a draft resolution on Gaza.

ISRAELI MEDIA: The Israeli police are trying to break up a demonstration at Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s residence in Caesarea.

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AXIOS: Israeli defense minister Yoav Gallant will arrive in Washington with a long list of weapons that Israel wants immediately.

NBC: Former US officials urged Biden in a letter to warn Israel not to deny Palestinians their rights.

BELGIUM: Belgian Foreign Minister Haja Lahbib said that children in Gaza are dying not only from bombs, but also from hunger, noting that Palestinians must have access to enough food and medicine.

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WHO (Director-General of the World Health Organization):

We have lost contact with staff at Al-Shifa Hospital since the Israeli operation began.

We seek information regarding patients at Al-Shifa Hospital.

A mission scheduled today to Al-Shifa Hospital has been cancelled due to insecurity.

Access to Al-Shifa Hospital is impossible, and there are reports of arrests and detention of medical staff.

Hospitals are not a battlefield and must be protected in accordance with international humanitarian law.

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ANSARALLAH:

We have plans for future strikes that will have a greater impact on the enemy.

We carried out support operations for Gaza this week using 18 ballistic and winged missiles and drones.

So far, we have used 479 rockets and drones in our operations in support of the resistance in Gaza.

The Americans are pressuring us to stop our operations in support of the Palestinians.

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HEZBOLLAH:

We targeted two buildings used by enemy soldiers in the settlement of Ramot Naftali and achieved a direct hit.

We targeted the settlement of Shlomi with rockets.

We shelled an Israeli force with artillery as it entered the Zarit barracks.

ISRAELI MILITARY: Our operation at Shifa Complex will continue for several days to come. If those holed up in Shifa Hospital do not surrender, they will be killed.

Thursday, March 20, 9:30 pm (GMT+2)

EGYPTIAN FM: Israel should not conduct any military operation in Rafah.

BLINKEN: We are pushing to reach an agreement in Doha.

UN: Every minute that passes risks the death of a new child from starvation in Gaza.

Thursday, March 20, 8:00 pm (GMT+2)

REPUBLICAN US HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVE SPEAKER: Mike Johnson announced that he will invite Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to visit Washington to deliver a speech before Congress.

GAZA GOVERNMENT MEDIA OFFICE: The occupation is practicing genocide in an organized manner.

Thursday, March 20, 7:00 pm (GMT+2)

NETANYAHU: The head of the Mossad will travel to Qatar tomorrow, Friday, to meet with mediators in an effort to reach an agreement regarding the captives.

CHANNEL 12: The meetings of the War Council and the Mini-Ministerial Council were suddenly canceled.

CHINA: The humanitarian tragedy in Gaza exceeds the limits of fairness.

IRELAND: Austria and the Czech Republic obstruct the call for a ceasefire in Gaza.

ISRAELI MINISTER OF STRATEGIC AFFAIRS: We will storm Rafah if “the whole world becomes against Israel”.

US CENTRAL COMMAND: The Middle East faces a volatile security situation.

Thursday, March 20, 5:30 pm (GMT+2)

WHO DIRECTOR: Only increased land access to Gaza will prevent famine there.

BORRELL: The only way to end this tragedy is for Israel to respect civilians and allow aid to enter.

BELGIAN PM: Europe must lead, not follow, and we must be clear in our demands for a ceasefire and the release of the “hostages.”

Thursday, March 20, 4:00 pm (GMT+2)

AL-QASSAM BRIGADES: Our fighters were able to kill a Zionist sniper with a 12.7-caliber bullet against the fortifications east of the Shifa Medical Complex in Gaza City.

AL-QUDS BRIGADES: Our fighters clashed with a Zionist force holed up in one of the apartments west of Gaza, and a number of bodies of soldiers and wounded were seen being evacuated.

OPINION POLL:

A poll by the Palestinian Center for Survey Studies revealed that 71% of respondents are satisfied with Hamas’ decision to launch the October 7 attack.

84% want the resignation of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, and 65% believe that the Authority is a burden on the people.

The head of the Political Bureau of Hamas, Ismail Haniyeh, will receive 70% of the votes if he runs against Abbas, who will receive 22% of the votes.

Thursday, March 20, 3:00 pm (GMT+2)

EGYPTIAN FM: An Egyptian Foreign Ministry spokesman announced the start of an Arab ministerial meeting in Cairo, in the presence of a Palestinian official, to discuss efforts to stop the Israeli war on Gaza.

US STATE DEPARTMENT: Blinken renewed his country’s rejection of forced displacement from Gaza.

AL-JAZEERA: Israeli forces summoned the medical staff inside the Shifa Medical Complex in Gaza City to investigate again.

140 Executed, Hundreds Detained – Israeli Forces Bomb Al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza

BLOOMBERG: China and Russia reached an agreement with the Ansarallah in Yemen not to target their ships crossing the Red Sea and the Bab al-Mandab Strait, after negotiations in the Sultanate of Oman regarding navigation in the Red Sea.

ISRAELI MEDIA: The Israeli embassy in the Netherlands was attacked with a “flaming object”.

AL-JAZEERA: Israeli forces continue to target homes surrounding the Shifa Medical Complex amid appeals to rescue the besieged families, while the Israeli army prevents the arrival of ambulances and civil defense crews.

PPC: Israeli forces arrested 14 prisoners freed in an exchange deal last November.

Thursday, March 20, 2:00 pm (GMT+2)

EU: We are horrified by the unprecedented loss of civilian lives and the critical humanitarian situation in the Gaza Strip. We call for an immediate humanitarian truce that leads to a sustainable.

ISRAELI ARMY: The Israeli army spokesman said that its aircraft targeted a Hezbollah military building in the town of Kafr Kila in southern Lebanon.

CHANNEL 12 (citing Israeli official): There is a long way for our army to change the security reality in the north.

MAARIV: Netanyahu is considering canceling the war council and transferring its powers to the cabinet.

Thursday, March 20, 1:00 pm (GMT+2)

AL-JAZEERA: Violent clashes took place between the resistance factions and the occupation army at the entrance to Al Wahda Street in the vicinity of the Al Shifa Complex in Gaza City.

Thursday, March 20, 12:30 pm (GMT+2)

PALESTINIAN MEDIA: Violent clashes are taking place between the resistance factions and the occupation army at the entrance to Al Wahda Street in the vicinity of the Al Shifa Complex in Gaza City.

EGYPTIAN PRESIDENCY: El-Sisi stresses to Blinken the necessity of working to activate the two-state solution.

LAPID: Lapid demands an immediate deal and not to launch an attack on Rafah.

Thursday, March 20, 12:00 pm (GMT+2)

CHANNEL 12: Exchange negotiations are difficult, but a deal can be reached.

ISRAELI ARMY: Israel has executed 140 Palestinians since the start of the Al-Shifa Hospital operation.

YEDIOTH AHRONOTH: Israel fears a “domino” effect after Canada imposed an arms embargo on it.

Thursday, March 20, 11:00 am (GMT+2)

AMBREY SECURITY COMPANY: A commercial ship reported being exposed to gunfire 109 nautical miles from the coast of Yemen, with no casualties recorded.

GAZA HEALTH MINISTRY: 31,988 Palestinians have been killed, and 74,188 wounded in Israel’s ongoing genocide in Gaza starting on October 7.

BLINKEN: I discussed with the Saudi Crown Prince the humanitarian crisis in Gaza.

PALESTINIAN MEDIA: Three Palestinians in an Israeli bombing that targeted a car in the town of Bani Suhaila, east of Khan Yunis, south of the Gaza Strip.

IMAD ZAQOUT: Israeli forces forced families who were displaced to the complex to go to the south of the Gaza Strip. The Israeli army is preventing ambulances and civil defense vehicles from reaching the vicinity of the Shifa complex, which has witnessed intense bombing and military operations during the past four days.

US STATE DEPARTMENT: US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken arrived in the Egyptian capital, Cairo, as part of his sixth tour in the region since last October 7, to discuss ways to cease fire in the Gaza Strip, after the end of his visit to Saudi Arabia.

Thursday, March 20, 10:00 am (GMT+2)

CHINESE FM: The international community must move immediately to stop the war in Gaza and consider relief a moral responsibility.

YEDIOTH AHRONOTH: Britain threatened Tel Aviv to stop arms exports to it if it did not allow the Red Cross Society to visit prisoners who were arrested by the Israeli army since the beginning of the war.

AL-JAZEERA: Israel burned many buildings surrounding Al-Shifa Medical Complex and booby-trapped a number of others.

Thursday, March 20, 09:00 am (GMT+2)

WSJ (quoting Israeli and Arab officials): Israel is secretly working to appoint Palestinians or businessmen not linked to Hamas to distribute humanitarian aid in the Gaza Strip, and to be responsible for the authority of the Strip after the end of the war.

AXIOS: The US has submitted a draft resolution to the UN Security Council that calls “for an immediate ceasefire” in Gaza that’s “tied to the release” of hostages held by Hamas.

Thursday, March 20, 8:30 am (GMT+2)

PALESTINIAN MEDIA: Nine Palestinians were killed in an Israeli shelling that targeted a house belonging to the Abu al-Arabi family, west of Nuseirat camp in the central Gaza Strip.

SAUDI MEDIA: Saudi Arabia has provided $40 million to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA), covering meals for more than 250,000 people and providing tents and other shelter materials for 20,000 families in the Gaza Strip.

(The Palestine Chronicle)

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