Israel’s war on Gaza updates: 5 killed as airdropped aid hits Palestinians

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You can read more about how five people were killed and several hurt in Gaza after parachutes carrying humanitarian aid failed to open here.

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We will be closing this live page soon. Here are some of the main developments from today:

• Five people in Gaza are killed by airdropped aid boxes after parachutes failed to open.
• Three more children died of malnutrition and dehydration at Gaza City’s al-Shifa Hospital.
• Hamas says there will be “no compromise” on its demand that Israel withdraw from Gaza to secure the release of captives seized in the October 7 attack.
• An estimated 8,000 patients need to be medically evacuated from Gaza, according to the UN.
• Canada will resume funding the UN’s agency for Palestinian refugees.
• Israel dramatically expanded its illegal settlements in the occupied West Bank since the Gaza war began.

The armed Lebanese group claimed a total of five attacks on Israeli positions using missiles, rockets and artillery.

On the eastern side of the border fighting with Israel, Hezbollah said it targeted soldiers and vehicles with missile and artillery fire in two attacks in the area of Kfar Chouba.

On the western front, it said its three attacks used artillery shells, a missile and Katyusha rockets to hit Israeli soldiers and positions, including in Jal al-Alam.

Hezbollah earlier confirmed three more of its fighters died in Israeli attacks.

Marc Lamont Hill speaks to Ami Ayalon – former head of the Israeli navy and ex-director of Israel’s security service – about Israel’s violations of international law in its war on Gaza.

Watch the video below:

Qassam Brigades, the armed wing of Hamas, claimed a rare drone attack against Israeli positions inside the Gaza Strip.

It said fighters managed to drop two antipersonnel mines from a drone on an “enemy army headquarters” east of Beit Hanoon, in northern Gaza.

Hamas also said a Palestinian sniper killed an Israeli soldier on Thursday in Beit Hanoon, and fighters ambushed six Israeli troops inside a residential apartment in Hamad City in southern Gaza, killing all of them in close-range combat.

The comments come after the Israeli military showed footage of soldiers raiding residential buildings in the Qatar-funded Hamad neighbourhood, which has also been heavily bombed since the start of the war.

The UN’s Relief and Works Agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) says some of its employees were forced by the Israeli military to falsely state that the agency supports Hamas and that its staff participated in the October 7 attacks.

A report by the agency dated February 2024 said unidentified Palestinians, including several working for UNRWA, were detained and tortured by the Israeli military to make false statements.

UNRWA communications director Juliette Touma was quoted as saying it plans to hand over the 11-page report to agencies inside and outside the UN to document potential human rights abuses.

“When the war comes to an end, there needs to be a series of inquiries to look into all violations of human rights,” she said.

Israel has been pushing to dismantle UNRWA based on its allegations that some employees took part in the October 7 attacks and the organisation works with Hamas.

“Agency staff members have been subject to threats and coercion by the Israeli authorities while in detention, and pressured to make false statements against the agency,” the report says.

Our colleagues at Al Jazeera Arabic report several people have been killed and wounded after Israeli forces opened fire on aid seekers at the Kuwait Roundabout in Gaza City.

More than 100 people were killed last month after Israeli troops opened fire on hundreds waiting for food aid southwest of Gaza City, as the besieged enclave faces an unprecedented hunger crisis.

Gaza’s Health Ministry calls the attacks on aid seekers part of Israel’s ongoing “genocidal war”. It pressed the international community to “urgently intervene” to forge a ceasefire as “the only way to protect civilians”.

Three more children died of malnutrition and dehydration at Gaza City’s al-Shifa Hospital, according to the Health Ministry in the besieged enclave.

It brings the official death toll from malnutrition and dehydration in Gaza hospitals to 23.

The number only reflects the confirmed cases that have reached hospitals. The ministry previously said “dozens” more are silently dying of starvation imposed on them by the Israeli military.

A top Houthi official questioned the details and goals of the US plan to build a temporary port to get humanitarian aid into Gaza.

Houthi revolutionary committee leader Mohammed Ali al-Houthi noted in a post on X it remains unclear whether the 1,000 US troops the Pentagon says constructing the port will serve as builders or protection for builders.

“The Rafah crossing does not need to be built, aid is piling up in front of it, and the only thing that is required is guidance to bring it in,” he said.

Israel will use the “weeks” the US and others say is needed to build it to further use starvation as a weapon of war against Palestinians. He said Washington is only trying to maintain a “guise of humanity” with its support for the port.

The United Nations says the deadly airdrop on Gaza highlights the need for unfettered access by land routes for aid delivery.

“We’re extremely saddened by the reports of people who have been killed during airdrops… This should be a reminder of why we need an immediate humanitarian ceasefire, why we need more access by road, why we need better coordination with the Israeli authorities and better deconfliction,” Stephane Dujarric, spokesperson for UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, said.

“[The] tragic accident is a symptom of the fact that we do not have an environment in which we can do large-scale, predictable humanitarian delivery.”

US President Joe Biden says Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu must allow more aid into Gaza after he was caught on a recording saying he would confront the Israeli leader.

“Yes, he does,” Biden told reporters when asked if Netanyahu needed to do more to let in relief.

Over the past week, US military cargo planes have airdropped food into Gaza as humanitarian groups criticise Israel for blocking access to the besieged and bombarded Strip.

Since Israel’s war began on October 7 following Hamas’s attack, Israel has barred the entry of food, water, medicine and other supplies, except for a tiny trickle of aid entering the south from Egypt at the Rafah crossing and Israel’s Karem Abu Salem (Kerem Shalom) crossing.

The latest update by the United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO) on the ship attacked earlier near Yemen says it escaped unscathed.

“The master has stated that his vessel has not been struck. Further, his vessel has not been subjected to any collateral damage,” it said, citing the security officer of the company operating the MV Propel Fortune.

UKMTO also confirmed crew members are safe and the ship is proceeding to the next port of call. It earlier reported “two explosions ahead of the vessel”.

Houthi military spokesman Yahya Saree was supposed to have a televised address at 10:50pm local time (19:50 GMT) but postponed it until Saturday citing “urgent military developments in the theatre of military operations”.

UKMTO DAILY SUMMARY 08/MAR/2024

DAILY SUMMARY https://t.co/lmRuo9W1NP#MaritimeSecurity #MarSec pic.twitter.com/2qxm0M2pfA

— United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO) (@UK_MTO) March 8, 2024

Yemenis in Houthi-controlled areas came out in large numbers to support the Palestinians as the armed group continues to fire at cargo and military ships in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden.

Yemeni media said “millions” more came out on the last Friday before the start of the holy month of Ramadan. Al-Sabeen Square in the capital Sanaa was again the main site of demonstrations, with many people arriving armed with rifles and daggers.

“We sacrifice our blood for Gaza,” they can be heard chanting in large numbers. “And what’s coming is greater, greater.”

The Houthis professed their attacks will continue until Israel’s war on Gaza ends and humanitarian aid reaches Palestinians.

#فيديو | مسيرة "انتصاراً لغزة.. ضرباتنا متصاعدة" في ميدان السبعين بالعاصمة #صنعاء (مع الهتافات مترجمة بالإنجليزية)#video | Demonstration: "Our strikes are escalating in support of Gaza"
Al-Sabeen Square – Sana'a, Yemen#لستم_وحدكم #معركة_الفتح_الموعود_والجهاد_المقدس pic.twitter.com/nRw8elSJxF

— شبكة سديد (@SadeedNet) March 8, 2024

Canada will resume funding the UN’s agency for Palestinian refugees, International Development Minister Ahmed Hussen says. He did not give a timeline.

Ottawa announced a pause to the funding in January after Israel alleged some staff at the agency were involved in the October 7 Hamas attacks – accusations still under investigation.

“Canada is deeply concerned by the catastrophic humanitarian situation in Gaza that is worsening by the hour. Help must reach civilians as quickly as possible,” the department of Global Affairs said in a statement.

“Women and children are bearing the heaviest toll … Most of the population is severely food insecure and there is a growing risk of widespread famine. Access to life-saving medical services is heavily limited.”

Canada has officially resinstead funding to UNRWA according to a press release from Global Affairs #cdnpoli pic.twitter.com/MiEXpKRFtc

— Mackenzie Gray (@Gray_Mackenzie) March 8, 2024

A temporary port the United States is seeking to build to speed up aid to Gaza will take “several weeks” in planning and execution.

The process may involve 1,000 US troops but none will be put on the ground, the Pentagon says. Washington is working through the details with partner nations in the Middle East.

However, experts have criticised the move as an attempt to divert attention from hundreds of thousands of starving Palestinians, and Israel’s consistent blocking of assistance to the long-besieged enclave.

The injured were taken to the European Gaza Hospital after Israeli forces targeted a car in al-Thawabta neighbourhood, south of Khan Younis.

Video shared on social media, verified by Al Jazeera’s fact-checking unit Sanad, shows the wounded lying on the hospital’s floor as medical workers attended to their injuries.

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A post shared by محمد سلامة (@mohammad_salama.2)

President Joe Biden says he told Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu the two leaders are headed for a “come to Jesus” meeting over the issue of getting humanitarian aid into Gaza.

Biden was recorded making the comment on Thursday night while on Capitol Hill for his State of the Union speech, in what appears to be a further sign of his frustration at dealing with Netanyahu over the issue of Gaza.

In the video posted on social media, Senator Michael Bennett can be heard telling Biden there is a need to keep pushing Israel to allow more humanitarian aid.

“I told him, Bibi, and don’t repeat this, but you and I are going to have a ‘come to Jesus’ meeting,” Biden said, referring to Netanyahu by his nickname. “I’m on a hot mic here. Good. That’s good.”

“Come to Jesus” is an American expression for having a blunt conversation.

France’s foreign ministry “strongly condemned” Israel’s plans to build 3,500 new settlement housing units in the occupied West Bank.

“We call on the Israeli government to immediately reverse this decision, which is unacceptable, illegal, and irresponsible given the extremely high tensions that already exist on the West Bank and the approach of sensitive religious holidays,” it said in a statement.

“France condemns all unilateral measures that undermine prospects for a two-state solution, which is the only way to ensure Israel’s right to security and the legitimate aspirations of the Palestinians. That is why we have adopted sanctions against the extremist Israeli settlers who are to blame for acts of violence against Palestinian civilians on the West Bank.”

France also called for dismantling illegal Israeli checkpoints in occupied Palestinian territories.

Hamas says there will be no compromise on its demand that Israel withdraw from Gaza to secure the release of captives seized in the October 7 attack.

“Our top priority to reach a prisoner exchange deal is the complete commitment for the halt of aggression and an enemy withdrawal, and there is no compromise on this,” Abu Obeida, spokesperson for the Qassam Brigades, said in a televised statement.

Captives are suffering from a lack of food and medication because of shortages of supplies in Gaza, he added.